Home and Thankful

We are all home safe. There are pictures and text messages flying around like crazy. As memories flood us we have felt varied emotions. I keep thinking of a moment when we discovered our empty lunch containers that we had thrown away the day before at the bottom of a hill. The kids had dug them out of the trash and eaten our leftovers before discarding the Styrofoam. At that moment and many since then I have been overcome with the intense need of the people at Tirasis. At the same time, however, I am keenly aware of the intense need in my own heart. When we ache for the people there, we are connecting with the heart of God as He aches for their needs. But the answer for them is the same as the answer for us. It is the light of Christ that will light up the darkness. For the secret is this...Christ in you. We were happy to come home but I have heard a few say they feel like they left their hearts in Costa Rica. I believe I will forever be changed by the sweet eyes of Michelle and my the hands and feet of my high school friends as they lived out what it means to love Jesus. Thank you to all who made this possible. We are overwhelmed by this experience and feel blessed beyond measure to have watched God work.

Manuel Antonio

We woke up at barely the break of dawn...pink and dark skies all in one...and we hopped on our bus to travel to Manuel Antonio early Friday morning. We have surprised the girls with a trip to the beach to stay in the most beautiful house that is half a mile from the rainforest national park and half a mile from the beach.

When we arrived at Manuel  Antonio  we went straight to the National Park and hiked into the beach.  On  our hike we saw sloths, deer, lots of lizards,  raccoons  and so many monkeys.  The beach is absolutely breathtaking. Rocks jetting out encasing the most perfect cove. Turquoise water declaring the glory of God. I feel like I keep saying this but it was almost too much!  The sound of so many girls giggling and squealing and running with all they had into the water. What a gift to be part of this trip!!! 

We spent a few hours relaxing in the sun and swimming in the warm and clear waters. At one point a monkey friend came to visit and ran with gusto to the line of towels and stole Hannah V's bag of Cheetos. He knew what he wanted and he grabbed it to share with his friend. Hilarious and scary. Hahahaaaa.  After we had all of the sun we could take (and more than we could take for some haha) we went to eat at an open air restaurant. PIZZA AND BURGERS!! It was a nice break from rice and beans. 

Our devotion from this morning was out of Psalm 19 where The Message version says:

Gods glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon...their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded. But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth everywhere. 

If ever those silent voices were screaming out it is here in this place. The gifts from the greatest giver on full display. I could cry typing it. 

And now...breakfast from our personal chef!!!

Vida Joven Club 2

Last night we visited our second Vida Joven club. It was incredible. Watching our girls as they interacted with the local teenagers (Ticos) was amazing. By the end two groups had definitely become one. We ended the night with a trip to a local ice cream place. Amazing. 

La Cometa Day 4+5

So sorry for no post yesterday. Ugh.

Wednesday was a rough day. We all seemed to be in a slump...tired, sore and a little sickly. It was our longest work day by far. The highlight Wednesday (and every day at La Cometa) was our dear Randall hosting "classe de chocolate". Nothing perks up 19 women like chocolate in the middle of the day. It is a hilarious class where he tells us about local chocolate. That evening we got to spend time relaxing and a few girls joined Randall and Alex on a grocery store trip where we bought loads of junk food for the group. Haha. Quite a transition from a week of rice and beans.

Today has been far and away the best day of our trip. We worked hard and got to see our work completed we spent time learning more about the community. We spent time with the locals who have become our friends. People like Michelle and her sister Stacy and her mom Julie. Marco and Mary Laura from La Cometa. Santi, the McGuyver of San Jose. Local teenagers Brandon and Michael and Louis and Rachel. We picked paint splatters off the ground with our fingernails an told our life stories.

Today has felt like the kind of day when the veil between heaven and earth is so thin you think you can almost touch the eternal. It has been full of laughter and tears...the hardest and most beautiful things some of us have ever seen.  At one point today I remember looking at the mountains inthe  distance, clouds hovering above them and the sky seemed to open and the sun broke through,sparkling rays and brightest beams...and it felt like the most clear picture of today for us. That the Holy broke through in sore arms and chipped fingernails and smiles on little girls and hugs all around. What a joy to be on this trip if a life time.

To end the day we hugged our sweet friends and kissed them Adios and drive away in a bus. We turned to see two tiny girls, Michelle and Allison running after us full of giggles and "ciao"s. It was almost more than we could take.

Some pictures

We are having so much. Last night we visited a Vida Joven (Young Life) club. It was incredible...so much life and laughter. They made us feel right at home and even out is in the games.  So far it has been the highlight of our time....which is saying a lot because we are having a blast. 

Today, for some of us, literally began at sunrise. (Picture above) after breakfast and (lots of) cafe we headed to our worksite Tirrases and the community center. The center is called La Cometa (the kite) and it a place full of opportunities to enable teenagers in the very impoverished community to dream and meet their future goals. What a gift to be part of this. 

The community below where we are staying. Wishing the clouds weren't covering the mountains. 

Our dorms for the week!!! Also...a plantain tree just for us. ;)

Day 2

We are here and we are well. We were blown away by where we are staying. It is called a Country Club but is more like a small camp. Tennis courses and pools and a great place to eat and meet. They are feeding us a lot of interesting things. For the most part we love them.   It was also so wonderful to meet our hosts Alex (she's from Knoxville and has been on YL staff in CR for 3 years) and Randall(YLCR's national director). They are wonderful.
Today we started our work project today. We are working in a very impoverished neighborhood on a community center. The center is a place run by the government to give less a place for tutoring or music lessons or even ballet. Young Life has been building relationships in the neighborhood and the work we are doing in this building is helping in this process. We did lots of cleaning and painting and de-spidering. It is amazing how many local teenagers came by today to hang out and see what we were doing.   It gave us all good reasons to practice our Spanish. Some of us are better than others. Haha
Soon...we will eat dinner and go to a Costa Rican YL club. We can't wait!!

See ya later America!

We are on the plane heading to San Jose!!