A Psalm

I arrived back home in Yakima, Washington last night after a full day of travel. As I neared the end of my internship I thought back to the beginning and what was going on in my heart then. In the weeks leading up to moving to Costa Rica I was terrified and I felt distant from God for no apparent reason. It wasn’t until we were on the plane to Costa Rica that God reassured me. For our final intern bible study we were assigned to write a Psalm. Mine is about this experience.

Of Esther, when she was an

EMI intern in Costa Rica. A Psalm.

My God, will you be with me?

Where I am going, will You lead?

or have I turned to my own path;

wanting my own way?

Even when I purposed to serve You;

when I came to a country not my own,

I doubted Your guiding hand.

Was it really You who lead me here?

Fear engulfed me;

the threat of the unknown.

Would I succeed or disappoint You?

I looked for a sign,

any promise to cling to.

When I was already on my way You told me;

on the journey You spoke,

“You are my daughter.”

I listened, but You said no more.

What was this that I could cling to?

You shield me through the unknown.

My failures change nothing.

My successes change nothing.

I am Yours.

As I walk forward,

I am still your daughter.

El fin

With less than a week left in Costa Rica, we have a lot of work left to finish up our project. Yesterday we sent out a preliminary set of plans to all our volunteers for their review. Today we are trying to get those revisions done and sent out again for their review.

For the last couple weeks I've been desiring to share some of my testimony with my host sister Maria Paula. God convicted me at her age that He alone was to be worshiped, not boys. However, I am generally shy about bringing up those kind of conversation topics and in Spanish I was even more hesitant. I started praying that God would bring an opportunity for me to bring it up. Then I started praying that He would bring it up, because I was scared to. Sunday afternoon Maria Paula and I had to walk to the pulperia to get some corn flour for grandma's tortillas. As she was telling me about the latest boy developments and how she is feeling, I saw an opening for sharing what happened with me and started talking...in Spanish. I told her some of my story and how God told me that He was better than boys. I was in shock that I had actually said something. Praise God for His power to use me despite my uncertainty! She simply replied, "I know." I didn't tell my story the way I usually tell it, but I pray that what I did say was the right thing and that if there is something else He wants me to say that He will pull it out of me like He did this time. :)

Life right now is a chaos of working to finish our project, packing, spending last moments with our host families and fellow interns, and doing purposeful processing of what God has taught us during our six months here. In the midst of all the change and non-routine of this week and the coming month, as I see my family and move back to school, I am reminded that my God is my anchor. He is the constant factor through it all and that is all I need.

At Work cont.

And this is my wonderful office mate Allison Byrd. 

HelloOo!

She is great fun to work with, can tell what mood I'm in (apparently I respond to "Hey, Esther..." with a "hmm." when I'm in a bad mood), and at 10am consistently asks if I want to join her on a trip to the corner store (pulperia-new Spanish word for the day) to buy Oreos and milk. She and Kevin have been working in Revit and Photoshop to create renderings of our different projects. This is a rendering of the Directors' House that Allison architected for our project in Honduras. 

Working to the end

Allison and I have been working hard on redlines for our project. Here you can see Tim redlining our latest set of new sheets. Note the red pen cap.  

Tim is usually pretty focused but I guess we giggled a little too much when we took this picture. 

Tim has been a wonderful supervisor. He is organized and tells us clearly what we need to work on. He does redlines as soon as we have a set of new sheets ready for him so that we can keep the project moving. He is quick to leave his work to answer our questions whenever we say “hey, Tim.” He takes the time to understand our questions and if he doesn’t know the answer gives us clear direction for a course of action. I have really appreciated his words of affirmation, which are not given flippantly nor are they extravagant. A “good job” or “that looks good” from Tim mean a lot and when he thinks that we have done a good job he always lets us know. Speaking of Tim’s organization, if anyone has an event, visitor, or trip announcement Tim always asks “did you put it on the Calendar?” The Calendar is our shared Google calendar. Allison and I have noticed that he always has Google calendar open, typically with his email open on his other monitor. So when I had my camera out the other day and saw this I had to snap a photo.

We are sure at this point that we will not be able to completely finish our project. We had been planning a water system that did not rely on a well, but the ministry recently dug a well and hit water! This is great, but it changes all of the plans for the water and wastewater. Thus, we have not received anything from our water engineer. We would still appreciate prayer that we could get the rest of the project finished. It will be a lot easier on Tim to wrap up only the water section rather than have multiple sections to finish. The structural plans are undergoing a lot of revisions right now. As we create the plans inconsistencies make an appearance as well as methods that can’t be used in latin America. Our office director, Micah, who is a structural engineer, has been helping with our structural design since he has more experience with central American construction than our structural engineer volunteer. Pray for quick communication between them as when as quick, good decisions. Brad and Kevin’s project is now finished. They were blessed with some really high quality volunteers. So they have been recruited to help on our project. Kevin and Allison have been working on renderings of the new buildings for fundraising and Brad and I have teamed up on the structural redlines. Here is Brad studying one of our structural sheets. (He didn’t even know that I took the picture.)

Maria Paula

I have enjoyed hanging out with my younger host siblings here in Costa Rica. Over the last couple of weeks my host siblings have warmed up to me even more, coming into my bedroom to see what I am doing and hanging out with me there. One evening last week all three of us were on my bed: Maria Paula playing games on my laptop, Emanuel drawing colorful pictures in my journal, and me reading. This weekend as I cleared my bed of my Bible and journal, Maria Paula asked me if I read my Bible every day. I said "Si, casi" and she asked me why. I told her that I wanted to learn more about God. Last night as we were painting our toenails on my bedroom floor she asked me why I didn't go around in short shorts and low cut or spaghetti strap shirts. I told her that guys have a harder time thinking pure thoughts if you wear those kind of clothes.

Please pray for my dear sister, Maria Paula

I am amazed at the impression that my habits can make without me being aware of the fact that anyone notices. I don't think of being an example when I am reading my Bible. I do it because it is vital for my relationship with God. I praise God for using those things to provoke Maria Paula's curiosity and that these questions came at a time when I had sufficient Spanish to answer them, though I feel that I could have answered them better. I crave your prayers for Maria Paula, that God would draw her to Him. I feel that her  current trajectory is heading towards looking to boys for happiness. She doesn't care much about God, though her parents love Him. I would also appreciate prayers for myself, that I would continue to faithfully love God, and that He would give me the right words for her.

The last 3 weeks

It has been a while since I’ve written. We interns had to leave the country for three days to renew our visas. Visas only last for 2 months, so you have to renew them if you want to stay longer. We took this opportunity to visit Panama. We didn’t go to the Panama canal as it is on the opposite end of the country. Instead we went to a group of Caribbean islands off the coast of Panama. We got to go snorkeling, hiking, and kayaking, and I was amazed at the variety of God’s creation. Amidst the diverse lush foliage surrounded by blue ocean it was hard to imagine the brown and gold hills of eastern Washington. Yet God in His limitless creativity made those also, with a beauty all their own.

We would appreciate prayer for the completion of our project. We only have about six weeks left here in Costa Rica and some of the volunteers on our trip are about a month behind schedule on getting their work to us. Thus, it will be difficult to finish the project on time. Pray that our volunteers would spend the time it takes to get their portions of the project to us very quickly and that we could compile it and refine it before we leave so that the EMI office here doesn’t have to work on it next term in addition to their new projects.

Recently I have been dealing with some homesickness, as well as anticipation for starting grad school. I am excited to start studying math again, to be teaching, and to be living in a new town with new roommates. There is a lot to look forward to, however, I don’t want that anticipation ruin my appetite for right now: enjoying my host family, working with EMI, living in a different country, and learning what God is teaching me. So I would appreciate prayer for focus to finish well and savor my time here.

Mi Familia Tica

This weekend I went with my host family to the wedding of one a previous EMI intern who had lived with them. He was getting married at this beautiful place in Costa Rica and Emanuel got to be the ring bearer. They accept us interns into their homes like we are their children. Alejandra introduces me as her "hija gringa" (which could roughly be translated as "north american daughter"). I finally have a picture of the whole family so I thought I would write about each of them.

Alejandra, Juan Carlos, Maria Paula, Emanuel, and me

Juan Carlos is a graphic designer. He loves to ride his bike and study God’s Word. He also likes to read (which apparently is rare for Ticos). He doesn’t talk a lot, but when he does he is pretty funny. He is a great cook and likes to try fancy recipes from magazines. El es muy tranquilo. (sorry sometimes the Spanish just works better)

Alejandra loves to talk. I like it because we can still have conversations even without me talking! She likes to pretend to dance in the living room. She works hard to get us all out the door in the morning on time and with breakfast. She also works hard around the house. The only chore that she really doesn't like is ironing. (Ticos make sure everything is ironed. They are very conscious of looking nice.) She is pretty light skinned for a Tica and has green eyes. Posiblimente puedo parecer una Tica. She calls Juan Carlos her boyfriend all the time.

Maria Paula will turn 14 next week. She is likes makeup, clothes, high heels, and boys. She is outgoing like her mom and greets me enthusiastically when I get home. We have connected by riding bikes together, as well as me listening to whatever she has to say about boys, and helping her with math homework. She is very social and loves to hang out with the interns. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons we will walk to the center of town, get ice cream, and hang out at the park. She and Emanuel like to watch a reality TV show called Combate, where team Naranja and team Azul compete in a variety of games.

Emanuel is 8 years old and absolutely loves to ride his bike. When he can’t ride on our deadend street he rides endlessly in circles on our small patio. He is very responsible with his schoolwork. He likes to try to scare people and "help" me make bread and cookies by eating the dough. (They love my Mom’s homemade bread recipe) We play whatever game he comes up with: cards, hide and seek, mean dog…  When we watch Combate Emanuel will jump up and join the Azul victory dance. As I get near the house after work I often hear him yell, “¡Mamá, Esther viene!” 

Weekend Adventures

So I told you about daily life, but not my weekend adventures. On Saturdays I typically do something with the other interns. We went surfing at Playa Jaco, where I got majorly sunburned. My legs hurt for a whole week afterwards. Note to everyone who is as white as me: reapply sunscreen every hour or don’t be outside between the hours of 12 and 2 when you are near the equator. I never stood up completely on the surf board, but did manage to get up on one knee and one foot. Kevin had been surfing before and taught us how to get started. We had to figure it out from there.

Oh, yes we surf...and we probably have a band too. (Kevin, me, Allison, and Brad)

Waiting for a good wave to catch. The waves were huge, so we mostly rode the surf.

One foot up!

...and down I go, but it was such fun!

We also went on a hike to a waterfall that we had heard about. Brad had tried to find it the weekend before, but turned back too soon. The whole epic is told here:

We have also watched football (soccer) games on TV, watch a Tico friend play saxophone at a local café, hung out with visiting family, traveled to a national park, and gone on a tour of museums in San Jose.

We typically spend Sundays with our host families. Spending a whole weekend in Spanish is very helpful to learning the language. I’ve gone on bike rides with my host sister, made cookies with my host brother, travelled to a nephew’s birthday party with my host mom, and just hung around the house. There is a lot more of doing nothing than I am used to. Church is also in Spanish, so a lot of energy is required to pay attention and understand. What has blown me away is that even when I don’t understand most of the words that the pastor is saying I still seem to learn something or come away convicted. It has been clear evidence of what Jesus said: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit …will teach you all things” John 14:26

Everyday

I haven’t told you all about my everyday life. First, I wake up. Usually this is earlier than I want to and I can’t fall back asleep because after 5:30 am my room is full of light. I have a perfect ½ hour walk to town and start work by 8 am. Every morning we spend about a ½ hour either praying, worshiping, or having a devotion. Then we get to work. Right now most of my work is in AutoCAD doing redlines. Tim, my supervisor, marks changes for me to make in the plans (in red ink), I make those changes in AutoCAD, highlight the red ink to show that the change has been made, reprint the fixed plans, and he marks them up again. That is redlines. We slowly converge on the final product.

Doing Redlines

I have been working on two different projects. Both are in Honduras. One is the project for Munoz Ministries, which I have already written about.  I had been working on redlines for the other project, Rancho Oasis for Youth, for a while and was familiar with the building plans, but I didn’t know what it would be used for. Then I started working on the report for that project and got to read about their vision to provide a place of safety and healing for kids in extreme poverty or abusive situations. They want to pair these kids with animals that have come from similar situations and use that responsibility and care to help heal both the child and the animal. They would combine this with the gospel and discipleship. Like the Munoz family they have a huge vision which includes tutoring, English lessons, vocational training, and sustainable agriculture. I was once again reminded how wonderful it is that I am not just doing redlines for a multipurpose building, but that this building will enable these missionaries to fulfill the vision that God has given them!

Below are some pictures from our technical presentation to the rest of the office when we got back from our project trip to Honduras. We outlined the preliminary design and got the advice of the whole office about additional ideas and concerns.

Allison and I presenting

Listening to the guys' technical presentation

After work I walk home and spend the evening with my host family: talking with my host mom in the kitchen (though she is usually doing the talking and I say "oh, si"), watching TV with my host siblings (I've watched more TV here than in my entire life previously), or hanging out with the my host siblings and the neighborhood kids on our dead end street (once again, I mostly say "oh, si?"). Then early to bed for the next day...

Breaking News

I was recently accepted to the University of Idaho for graduate school in mathematics. I had applied to University of Washington and Colorado State University also, but was not accepted. Though I would have preferred to go to those universities over UofI, having only one choice helped me know that I was choosing to go to grad school because I actually wanted to study math and not because I could go somewhere new, different, and glamorous. On a long bus ride home from the beach I was talking with God about whether or not to go to grad school. I thought that if I got support then I would go. The next morning I received an email offering me a TAship. After more prayer I decided to go because God has given me a desire to learn more math and now has given me the opportunity to do it. I am going to be a mathematician! I'm a little apprehensive because it has been a year since I have taken a math class and math is difficult. I am exited to go back to community that I know, while still knowing that it won't be the same. Lord willing I will come back having learned something and will be able to share more of Him with you all. 

If any of you know of housing or girls looking for roommates in Moscow, Idaho I'd love to know about it. I remember how God provided housing for me at South St. with my dear Lindsey, Ana, and Madison and other wonderful girls along the way and I trust and am excited for what He will do for me in the future. "Lord, keep me from the forgetfullness of the Israelites, who saw how You provided over and over and freaked out anyway."

Familiar Things

In a different country, climate and culture here are a few things that remind me of home:

1. Roosters crowing from the first a.m. until daylight.
2. This awesome 1989 Toyota van. They are scarce in the states, but here they are abundant and in good condition. I love these vans because I drove one when I was in highschool. They have great clearance, can hold skis down the middle, seat seven, have no hood and big windows so you can see everywhere. Also, they look sweet. I get a pang of home every time I see one. This blue and gray one is my favorite.

This one is in the parking lot outside our office

This one is on my street.

1. These chocolate eggs are from Denmark and you can’t find them in the U.S. We visited Denmark when I was 5 and these were our favorite because they have a toy inside. Usually it is something that you can put together, like a little car. On the back of the instructions are pictures of other cars in the set, leaving you wanting more. I felt like a 5 year old girl when I saw these at the store, as I was pretty much squealing with delight.

Picture Book

 Here is a little bit of Costa Rica via photographs...

One of the views on my walk to work. The mountains here are massive and green.

Kevin, Allsion and I at language school. Brad was in his own advanced class. We learned a lot and got eaten alive by little black bugs.

Kevin, Brad, Allison and I eating lunch at a local restaurant. Many restaurants are open air so that the breeze can blow through. Unfortunately, this restaurant didn't feed us enough, so for dessert we ate the lemondade limes with sugar. They were surprisingly delicious.

Pop often comes in glass bottles, which makes it more fun to drink. Here we have Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Canada Dry. Also, things here are made with sugar instead of corn syrup, so they taste a little different than in the States.

The coffee here is very good. Atenas, the town I'm living in, exists because it was a coffee trading post. There is a coffee proccessing plant here. This picture is of coffee beans drying in the sun at that plant.

We spent a week's worth of afternoons building this cabinet and a bookcase at Residencia de Vida (Residence of Life). Residencia de Vida will be a home for some orphans who have slim chances of ever being adopted. Sheri, who wants to adopt these children, needed locking cabinets for medicine in order to be approved to offically open Residencia de Vida.

Below is a series of pictures of my host brother, Emanuel, playing in the spray of a hose. I just thought they were cool pictures.

Our church had a baptism and family day at a camp outside of town. This is our pastor Jeremy (At least that is how you say it. It is spelled a lot differently in Spanish.) baptizing one of the jóvenes, Cristian. 

Okay, this picture is actually of Honduras, not Costa Rica. One striking difference was that here in Costa Rica most roads are paved, but in Danli, Honduras, only the main roads are paved.

Sobre Honduras

There is so much to tell about this trip. In overview, an emi project team is made up of design professionals, 12 of them on this trip. We had a landscape architect, architect, water/wastewater engineer, civil engineer, structural engineer, alternative energy engineer (which can be important for isolated sites), electrical engineer, and surveyors. 

Tim (in orange) is the project leader and is on staff here in the C.R. office. Allison and I (standing next to eachother) are the two interns. Kneeling in front is the Muñoz family.

We went to the site early in the week, then to construction sites and hardware stores to familiarize ourselves with the materials and methods used in the area. The rest of the week most of us sat at our laptops architecting and engineering. 

We are designing two houses for the first phase of the project. One house is for the Muñoz family and will include guest rooms that can house mission teams. These rooms will only be used for mission teams until the other building, a house/dorm for mission teams, is built. Electrical, water, wastewater, grading, and drainage will also be designed for the site.

       Testimonies have always been one of my favorite things. Testimonies stick with me more than most sermons. Every morning we would hear the testimonies of 3 team members. I was inspired by these middle class design professionals, who are in the middle of their career and life, and who desperately want to serve God well. However, the highlight of my trip was hearing the testimony of Jeovanny, who works with the Muñoz family. Allison and I had been practicing Spanish with him during the week. He spoke about the same amount of English as we speak Spanish. So we made a deal that he had to speak English to us and we had to speak Spanish to him. This helped my Spanish a lot; I wasn´t afraid to speak to him because he knew what it was like to not really know a language. I also realized that in language it isn’t necessary to say something exactly correct in order to get your point across. Kind of obvious, I know, but as a perfectionist I was struggling to say anything if I didn’t think I was saying it correctly. Anyway, getting back to my story, we asked Jeovanny to share his testimony in English during a long van ride. He grew up going to a catholic church with his grandparents, but remembers thinking that he did not need God. By 15 years old he was staying out late, smoking, and drinking (in this culture Christians shun smoking and drinking more than in the USA). One of his friends invited him to a Christian church, and as he attended with his friend, God started working on his heart through His word. One night he dreamt that he had accepted Christ. When he woke up he thought, “that would be a lot better in reality.” So he accepted Jesus that day. He got married at 20 to one of his teachers who was 7 years his senior. They had a beautiful son, but he had problems with his stomach. He was often sick and was in the hospital often. He died at 8 months old on the way to the hospital. Two years later, Jeovanny’s wife was sick also and died in the hospital. That was two years ago, when he was 27. Jeovanny told us that before these things happened he would go to church and read his bible, but it wasn’t really part of him. Since then his love for God has grown and he has a strong desire to serve Him. That is why he joined the Muñoz’s ministry a little over a year ago. His smile contains so much joy. Then Allison and I shared our testimonies with him in Spanish. Praise God for the unity He gives His children! Culture and language difference didn’t stop us from sharing how the same loving God had worked in each of our lives. 

Me, Allison, and Jeovanny in the front of the 13 passenger van. (Yes, Jeovanny was driving)

Muñoz Ministries

Hearing more of the Muñoz’ story, their work, and their vision was one of the most encouraging parts of the trip. 

Marlon is from Honduras and had a desire to learn about God from a young age. He grew up in the church and loved to serve. He went to university and got a good job with the government. He liked his job, but God kept saying, “I want you to serve me full time.” Marlon would answer, “That is fine God, I can keep my job and serve you half time.” He wanted to serve, but didn’t want to quit his job. However, he didn’t have peace in his heart so eventually he put his hands up and said “ok God, I’ll serve you.” He then quit his job to begin serving God full time.

Trisha was working as a nurse in Louisiana when she was asked by a trip leader to go on a missions trip to Honduras. She agreed thinking it would be just a one week thing. However, when she came she wanted to come back. She took a few more short term missions trips. On one of these trips God told her that Honduras would be her home. The only way she could see that happening was if she moved to Honduras as a full time missionary. So she did, leaving behind a longtime boyfriend, a job she loved, and security about the future.

Marlon and Trisha visit remote villages to share the gospel with them. On Trisha’s 2^nd short term missions trips they shared the gospel with the village, but later, when Trisha, Marlon, and the rest of the team were in their tents, the people of the village came to kill them. They began dragging away Trisha’s tent with her in it. The rest of the team stopped them. At the time Trisha was thinking, “God, is this how it is going to be when we share the gospel? I don’t know if I want to do this” However,  Marlon shared the gospel with the men who had been trying to kill them and those same men accepted Christ that night. Then Trisha thought, “God, if this is what it takes for people to come to You, I’m in.”

Marlon and Trisha met on Trisha’s very first weeklong mission trip. They served together as friends for a few years before noticing eachother. They got married in 2005 and now have a very cute little girl, Madison.

One of my favorite things about this trip is that while working I was able to remind myself of their work and the greater purpose of the buildings we were designing. Our work would help the Muñoz ministry to continue to take the gospel to villages in Honduras and teach them more from the Bible. I can’t find the words to describe how refreshing and motivating it was to work with a purpose that I care about: to bring others to Jesus.

On to Honduras!

We have been in language school for the last two weeks, studying Spanish. This really helped me and it is exciting to learn a new language, but I’m still not very good. I can understand twice as much as I can speak. This week we have some more orientation in the office as well as preparation for our project trips. Allison and I along with Tim Clem, the project trip leader, will be leaving on Saturday for Honduras, Lord willing. We will be meeting up with the rest of the project team at the airport there. There are 10 design professionals coming from the US, the UK, and Canada. We will be working with a missionary couple there: Marlon and Trisha Muñoz. Here are the details of the trip that Allison and I wrote:

The Mission: The Muñoz family has graciously opened their home for years as a base camp for visiting international mission teams. Together, they travel into remote villages in southern Honduras along the Patuca River. By hosting about 15 short-term mission teams per year, they have been able to build relationships with remote indigenous people. They share Christ with them, learn their physical, spiritual, and social needs and connect others to serve with them meeting these needs. Many of the indigenous people have said “You have come and shared such news with us and we have believed. We want to know more and learn how to walk the path of the Lord.” Marlon and Trisha have a vision to continue being effective and expand their ministry to these people. Because they have slowly outgrown the capacity of the home, they need a more dedicated space to host mission teams. 

The Vision: The Muñoz family has acquired a 63-acre parcel of land about 25 minutes outside of Danli, Honduras. They are hoping to develop this land into a missions base and training center. Their passion is to grow new believers and church leaders, especially those from the communities off of the Patuca River. This center will also provide a much needed place for baptisms, church events and conferences for local churches. In addition, they have a vision to use this ministry base to teach preventative medicine, teach pastors a trade so they can support themselves since most of the time their congregation doesn’t have the financial capabilities to do so. They plan to build a home on the new property and raise their family there so they can continue being intimately involved with the ministry work. 

Our Work: The EMI team will design a master plan for the site, providing a detailed design for a multi-purpose facility that will house mission teams and serve the community. We will also design a new well to provide water and design the connections of power lines on the adjacent property to provide electricity. We

also hope to use solar energy for sustainability. The Muñoz family is excited to see the design God will provide through the EMI team.

We crave your prayers for health, unity, and the ability to design a facility that will help to further His kingdom.

Cultural Tidbits

Daniel, Maria Paula (my host sister), and Maryfer (Brad's host sister) in the minivan-bus

Last weekend Kevin, Brad and I went to Puntarenas with the youth of our church here. It was an outreach event and we played a bunch of rough house games in the sand and sang songs. The gospel was shared around a very unnecessary campfire. The sand stuck to all the sunscreen we had just put on. It was pretty fun. We took a 12 passenger minivan there and back. On the way back we stopped at a “convenience store”: an outdoor store of fruit, refrescos (beverages), and snacks. Everyone piled out to buy drinks and snacks. When we got back in the van everyone was passing snacks back and forth and sharing drinks so that I couldn’t even tell who had originally bought what. I leaned over to Kevin, who had bought a Fresca, and said “They are sharing everything. Everyone who wants some, gets some, and they pass stuff around so that everyone can have some.” So, Kevin said, “Anyone want any Fresca?” (in Spanish, of course). Immediately, there was a “yes” from the back and a second later “There is Fresca?” and Kevin’s drink was being passed around as well. In the U.S. I would expect snacks to be shared with the person next to you in the van, while drinks would only be shared with really good friends. I'd been told that the culture here was more communal, but it was fascinating to see it express itself.

My Host Family

I have been with my host family for two days now. I think my Spanish has doubled since I arrived at their house. (note that it didn't take a whole lot to double my Spanish) My host mom is amazing and talks slowly and distinctly, so that I can understand. She thinks of different words or uses motions if I don't understand. And she can usually tell if I don't understand by just looking at my face. I guess it says, "no entiendo" pretty clearly. They have been an amazing picture of grace because it is so obvious that they love me even though I am clueless as to their language and culture and can't really reciprocate that love. It has made me realize even more how great God's love is for me, because He love's me even though I am clueless and incapable of  loving Him or doing things right. 

I have my own room with a hand drawn mural of a dragon on it. There is also a mural of Lighting McQueen behind the portable closet. 

This is the view from my bedroom window onto our gated patio/carport. The potted plant on the right is a pineapple plant. It is really lovely here.

I would appreciate prayer for time to spend with God and process. I am just here. I haven't had time to think about why or if I like it or whether my heart is in a good place. I want to be relaxed as I humbly rely on God. Of course, I crave prayer for language acquisition and the ability to love my host family well.

Also, here are the blog addresses of my fellow interns, in case you want a different perspective on EMI or Costa Rica.
Brad Montgomery: rockclinger.blogspot.com
Kevin Winner: awinnersjourney.blogspot.com
Allison Byrd: allisonincostarica.blogspot.com

The Team

We arrived in Costa Rica last night

Me, Brad, Kevin (obviously), and Allison during orientation in Colorado

Here is my promised profiling of the Costa Rica team:

I have been labeled a Granola, which was verified by the fact that I rock climb, ski, drive a Subaru, and wear Chacos. I am the most lacking in Spanish skills.

Brad is always moving, tapping, looking around, and zooming ahead of the rest of us. He has a B.S. in civil engineering with a structural emphasis from Vanderbilt University. He also enjoys rock climbing and together we convinced Kevin and Allison to pick up the sport. They are now outfitted with climbing shoes and harnesses. God has blessed him with languages, because he is conversational after having only 2 years in highschool and 1 year in college.

Kevin is an almost hipster skater. He studied architectural engineering at University of Texas, but has spent the last year and a half doing skateboarding ministry in California. He has just been diagnosed with Chrone’s disease, so it would be great if you could pray for his health. He likes pretty much any outdoor activity and is the 2nd best at Spanish.

Allison is a southern sweetheart from North Carolina. She studied interior design (more like interior architecture) at Appalachian State University. She has had a passion for missions since going on a missions trip to Mexico in highschool. She is humble and willing to laugh at herself. We got to be roommates during orientation, so we are already close.

Endurance

          I am at orientation in Colorado and God gets all the praise. My flight on Friday was scheduled to leave at 8:50am, but was delayed twice because it needed repairs and the necessary parts had to be flown in. Unfortunately, the buses which I was going to take from Denver to Colorado Springs don't run after 8:00 or on Saturday, so I would have to find some other way to get to Colorado Springs. After a third delay we were switched to a different plane and left at 8:50pm. God knew what he was doing though and provided a ride to Colorado Springs without even having to take the bus. My cousin Spencer was at a concert that was getting out late that night, and instead of spending the night in town as he had planned, he kindly picked me up at the airport on his way home to Colorado Springs. We got to talk on the way down, which is rare because we live so far apart.
         Needless to say, after hours in the airport I was exhausted and felt frail. On the plane, which carried only 11 of us, I read Romans 5:2-5 "and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." I could definitely tell that my endurance had been stretched, so I rejoiced. However, I could tell that I was holding on to control and that having all of my plans turned upside down was not sitting well with me. I couldn't sleep because of anxiety. Not extreme anxiety, but my mind wouldn't stop to rest. It took the whole plane ride and a wait for Spencer for me to give control back to God, and not just give him control, but rest in His arms content with whatever He would do next.
         Now I am at orientation with 26 other interns who are technically minded, love my Jesus, and want to serve Him. I smile every time I look around at all of them. Allison, Brad, Kevin, and I, the Costa Rica interns, got to finally meet. I'll secretly study them this week so that I can give you a character portrait next time. Thanks for praying because on Friday I was thinking maybe I'd never make it. I guess God still wants me here. I'd love prayer for good sleep because I lost a few hours on Friday and haven't been sleeping well (new place, excitement). I'd like to be well rested so that I can pay attention and learn everything I can during orientation.

The Body

On Friday I leave on this adventure. This past week I have been extremely nervous as I considered a new culture, new language, and new people with nothing familiar as a safety net. My sense of excitement diminished as well as my view of the big picture of serving God. "I don't know Spanish" was the resounding thought in my mind. This weekend I visited Pullman, where I attended WSU for the past 4.5 years. The church that I attend there is supporting me, and I made the trip so that I could share with the whole congregation what I will be doing, how God brought me here, and the impact that they have made on my life. They prayed for me. The rest of the weekend was filled with friends who prayed for me, got excited for me, gave me advice, told me that I would be fine, and beat me at card games. This whole weekend I have been thanking God for His people, as He used them to encourage me. Even though I still don't know Spanish "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices" Psalm 16:9