Sunday, May 29, 2011

Te Amo, Costa Rica.

Today is our last day & I just came in from standing outside in the rain (yep, it's raining again). I don't want to leave, but I am so grateful that I have had this experience & that I was blessed with the opportunity to see God working in Costa Rica. I am so grateful for the friends I have made here & I can't wait to see them again. 

I don't really know what to say. . .maybe it's because I don't want to say anything. I'm going to miss it here & a piece of my heart will always be here. God brought me here for a reason & looking back on it, I see every single reason why I was here & I see it in the faces of the friends I have made here, as well as those I didn't meet. To my friends here in Costa Rica: we will miss you terribly & we are praying for you every single day. We love you. 

Thank you to all of my supporters! By sending me to Costa Rica, you, yourself have made an impact in this country. Jesus is here & He is not finished with Costa Rica :); that is so exciting! Once again, thank you! I'll be posting one more blog that goes over the entire trip! Right now I just want to soak in Costa Rica for the rest of my day :). 

Te amo,
Abigail

"Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth & the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God."
-Psalm 90:2

Thursday, May 26, 2011

He is Never Ending.

What a crazy past few days it has been! I just got back from Otero's. . .or in our own words, "PIZZA MOVIE!" It's the delicious pizza place [I think] I mentioned earlier; it has an amazing supreme pizza that you squeeze lime on & yummy cheesy bread, all while watching a movie. Tonight they gave us a choice of watching Nacho Libre, ha ha! Well let me tell ya a lil' bit about how crazy, but wonderful these last few days have been:

On Tuesday (our vacation day) we went to Manuel Antonio (prepare to be jealous) a.k.a. THE BEACH! Sad thing to inform you of though. . .on our way to the beach I found that the screen on my camera shattered; I'm not exactly sure how (I think it might have been when I fell the night before. . .yup, I biffed it on some stairs). I haven't had the best of luck with technology recently so my heart began to sink, but a song came on in the car that said, "Jesus is never ending," & the Lord quickly reminded me that He is still King & always will be, so I just kept telling myself that the entire morning. Plus, I can still take photos, I just can't see them or fix some of the settings so it is exciting to take photos & pray they come out right. . .which, praise God, they have been turning out beautifully (all glory to Him).



It took us about 3 hours to get there so we left at 5:30 a.m. For breakfast that morning we stopped at a restaurant that had crocodiles nearby, so we went to the bridge & gazed down upon humongous crocodiles! During the rest of our trip to the beach we saw some of THE most beautiful sights there are to see; mountains covered with tropical forest, beautiful people, & of course, the ocean. We finally arrived, I stood in awe of God's masterpiece (the ocean & sky was blue, islands far off in the distance, & tropical forest all around), & then we immediately jumped in the ocean. . .well at least Tomeka & I did. It was so much fun to be hit by waves, but there was one time where two waves came right after each other & they were powerful. Mariah (another team member) & I ended up hitting heads, ha ha, it was funny, but it hurt! After swimming for a bit Tomeka & I walked the shoreline looking for shells  & soaking the sun up. Guess what?! I ended up finding a sand dollar! Of course we swam some more before eating dinner at a restaurant that was located in a plane that was used to carry cargo in a war (I'm a chick, of course I don't remember what kind of plane it was). On our drive back I rode in a car with April (Josh Amiot's wife), Andrew, Tomeka, & Spencer & we had the most amazing conversation(s). We each told each other our testimony, we shared what God has been doing in our lives, & we talked about things that God has taught us & the things that blow our mind about Him. The 3 hour trip back went by quickly with how powerful our conversation was. It was great to learn from each individual in that car & I believe with everything there was a reason we were specifically in that car together.
Tomeka  & I in the plane at the Avion restaurant.

Let's just say we arrived home, some red & some brown (well Tomeka & I brown), extremely exhausted. Next morning we headed to a school in Tirrases (which means "thrown away ones") with the group of UCR students we have been working with this past week; Tirrases is located in pretty much a dump, which most of it is closed down & the landfill covered. As I stared out the window of the bus, I noticed it got dirtier as we got closer to our destination & the Lord began to do some work in my heart, even though I didn't realize it until later. We arrived & I wish I could describe to you how beautiful these children were; I couldn't stop saying, "Oh my goodness, how cute," ha ha! We performed skits, shared our testimonies (we were allowed to speak of Jesus as much as we wanted & we emphasized how valuable these kids were), & what kind of people would we be if we didn't play GAMES?!?! So we played soccer, samurai, potato sack race, & red light, green light. I took photos galore & I can't wait to share them with you.




Olman giving me besos.
I'm going to jump back to right after we performed skits & shared testimonies; right after Chi Alpha was finished, the kids rushed at all of us (Chi Alpha & the UCR students). It was like drowning in hugs, smiles, & gorgeous faces. The first lil' kid to hug my legs was Olman (spelling?); this adorable little boy with all his front teeth missing. I couldn't get him off of me! Soon after I was flooded with these kids wanting their picture taken, which of course I was happy to do for them :). It took a lot of energy juggling giving hugs, taking photos with them, & taking photos of them! When we were getting ready to leave, my friend Oscar (a super cool UCR student; they're all cool) told me these children's parents don't take care of them & they don't receive a lot of love. It broke my heart & I started crying. . .I didn't want to leave them, I just wanted to love on them some more & tell them not only how much I love them, but how much Jesus loves them. On the bus ride home I told Tomeka I think that I had a better time with those kids than I did at the beach & it's the truth, I did. I am so proud of my friend Tomeka too; she is studying social work to help children like that & she told me on the way home the Lord just confirmed through that experience that helping children is what she is meant to do.

Today was a good day as well; we spent some more time at UCR talking to students & getting to know them better. We also played fĂștbol with Wilbur & a couple of the students we've been working with, David & Oscar, & Flora & Stefanny came to watch. Pretty much David, Oscar, & Wilbur rock at soccer & kicked all of our butts, ha ha! I have so many other stories of how God is moving & I can't wait to share them in more detail, but because I'm on someone else's computer, I must say goodbye for now. I hope you, who are reading this, are doing well & I am praying for you. Once again, thank you to all of my supporters, I wouldn't have these stories without you.


PRAYER REQUEST: Please be praying for one of my leaders, Duncan & his family; he is going home early to be with them (his family). Him & his family are rad & I couldn't imagine not knowing them, so please be praying for him! Thank you!


Love, 
Abigail 


"A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

-Ecclesiastes 4:12

Monday, May 23, 2011

Dios es Rey.

It is raining, yet again, but us Coloradoans LOVE it! It is so warm & sounds so beautiful while sitting out in the hammocks or taking a nap with the windows opened.

So I haven't posted anything recently just because we have been so incredibly busy & sadly today, I can't tell you ALL about the past couple days because 1) I'm on my friend Lauren's (thank you Lauren!!) computer & 2) we're about to go visit a Bible school in a different town here in Cost Rica. I just wanted to quickly share with you what God is doing here. . .

We had the opportunity to go to the basilica in the town Cartago, which is near San Jose. It was a beautiful basilica, but what made it interesting was they had a spring of water they called holy water & it is used to heal people. They also have a statue of a woman (I can't spell her name) they believe runs around & heals people. They'll make silver charms of the body part they desire to be healed & bring it to her & pray. . .if the prayer is answered they bring the charm back to the church as a testimony of healing. We also had the opportunity to go to the ruins in Cartago; it was absolutely stunning. We had a Mexican night (which was put on by our awesome Mexican missionaries that we are also working alongside) & it was soooooo much fun! A Mariachi band showed up, we ate delicioso Mexican food, & it was amazing fellowship.




performing one of our skits
Yesterday we went to church & I have never had so much fun at church. The prayers, the worship, the people were beautiful & I can not put into words the joy that the Lord poured into my heart. Even though the worship was in Spanish, my entire team was singing & lifting their hands in praise to God! A few words of my favorite song we sang yesterday was, "Dios es Rey," (God is King). Powerful morning! God is moving in this country & today was evidence of that. Today we spent our entire morning on campus meeting new people, inviting them to upcoming events, performing skits (seriously, we were surrounded with beautiful Costa Ricans smiling & laughing), & giving our non-Jesus testimonies (we are not allowed to speak of God, Jesus, or of church on campus). We have spent most of our time building relationships with these awesome kids; that is what we came to do. . .not to vacation, not to do whatever we want, but to get to know them as people & create friendships & serve them. I can tell you right now I already have incredible friends here in Costa Rica. They're legit, ha ha! (quick funny story: I have taught a few of my new friends what "legit" means & what "hang out" means!) I am in love with these people & their culture. :)
playing games on campus!

Please continue to pray for the team! I also had a life-changing decision come up in my life last night so I need prayer for wisdom, understanding, & an open heart! :) Thanks everybody. . .can't wait to tell you all about the trip in person & show you photos!

Love,
Abigail


little old man in the street market :)
p.s. I'll leave you with a little humor: Saturday morning we went to a street market to buy fruit & I ended up being asked if I was married by a guy named Jose (his mom told him I needed to finish studying first), another guy gave me a free avocado, & right after that this old man (he's from Pennsylvania & he's lived here in Costa Rica for 62 years) came up to me & told me I was cute & that I needed to "Take that damn thing out," (my nose ring) hahahaha! So now the team teases me about having 3 boyfriends. Remember. . .



Dios es Rey!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Muchos Amigos.day2


Funny story: I promise you, the guy driving the train laid on the horn every time he passed by last night & wouldn't let up on it until he got far past our house! Ha ha, let's just say there wasn't much sleep to be had. :) That's okay, it's hilarious. Our day started out with meeting a group of UCR students that are required to participate in 300 hours of community service, so we will be joining them this upcoming week. We played ice-breakers to help us get to know each other more. We made a ton of new friends through these games & we had so much fun. I learned that my catch-phrase while I'm here is "Puedo sacar su photo?" which is "Can I take your photo?" The amphitheater we were in playing these games was overflowing with laughter (it seriously felt like we had known each other much longer) & even though the language barrier can be difficult it's awesome to see God working through that. Tomeka (the girl in the white & purple shirt at the end) is bomb at Spanish & I'm enjoying learning from her as well as learning from los Ticos (I guess that's what they call Costa Ricans, ha ha). I thoroughly believe being submersed in a culture makes one learn a language much faster; in my case/experience, it does! 



After eating lunch we came back to the house to rest & prepare for our night tonight. Some of us team members went with Josh's wife, April, to this Bubble Tea place. It's tea with tapioca balls in the bottom & you can choose between various flavors & it also comes in smoothie form! It was really good & we ended up meeting these American students & they told us what there was to do around San Jose. It was great to meet them & invite them to our upcoming events like our Mexican night tomorrow night & our movie night next week. 


After walking back to our casa we sat in the JcCafe. Missionaries Scott & his wife, Trisha have a ministry right inside their garage. They turned their garage into an awesome coffee shop; they invite students in & provide free coffee & snacks to build relationships. They use this as an opportunity to share Christ with them & they sometimes will give them extra snacks if they memorize scripture &/or answer a Bible question. While hanging out there for a little while, I met a legit guy, Wilbur. He speaks 7 different languages, such as Italian, Spanish, French, & English. He was incredibly friendly & intelligent. In the midst of it all, there was another downpour! I'm not kidding when I say Costa Rica rain storms are the best! The thunder & lightning was right over us; I could see & feel God's power as I sat in a hammock in the opening of the garage. He is so beautiful & I love that not only do I see Him in Colorado, but I see/feel Him here in Costa Rica too. Today has been amazing making muchos amigos; the people here are absolutely beautiful! From the color of their skin to their sweet hearts I see pure beauty & the love of Jesus. 

Right now Tomeka & I are just lying here in our bed (she's helping me type this out because I keep spelling things wrongs -she just corrected me on that- ha ha). Can't wait to see what God has in store for us tonight! :)

Love, 
Tomeka & Abigail :)





p.s. the photo at the very top is of some of our new friends from this morning. the next photo (from left to right) is of Spencer & I in front of our casa & the photo of just me was during our walk back from Bubble Tea. Next photo is of the JcCafe & Wilbur is the guy in the purple shirt :). Last photo is of Lauren, Nate, & I having fun in the rain!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Humidity.day1

the view from our deck.
The humidity was insane! My high altitude & dry air body definitely did not like the humidity, ha ha! Well everybody, we just finished our first day in Costa Rica! I am in awe of this country. It is absolutely beautiful with its tropical trees & colorful flowers, but THE most beautiful thing about this country are the people. Despite the humidity, I have fallen in love!


muy bonita!
This morning we started out at a private university just down the railroad tracks from us (yes, there is a train track right out front of our casa & trains drive through every 20 min. I might be exaggerating, but it sure feels like it! ha ha), & we spent time hanging out with university students. Nate & I were in a group with the missionary we're working with, Josh Amiot, & we met a beautiful young lady & her boyfriend. We had a fantastic conversation with them; we got to know them & now I consider them my friends. Right before we left, Lauren & I met these awesome Costa Rica students sitting by the railroad tracks. They were so friendly & I couldn't believe how open people were with talking with us. My Spanish is a little rough, but it's coming along! My whole team is picking up on it quickly & it's so much fun to start thinking in a different language. It's beautiful! After going to the private university we walked a couple blocks to eat lunch; every building here in Costa Rica has graffiti & I really like it! It's actually really neat & interesting to look at.

only some of the sick graffiti.

this is on the UCR campus!
playin' frisbee

I'm trying to keep this short & sweet because I'm using my friend Lauren's computer, so I apologize for being so vague! After lunch we walked to the University of Costa Rica & walked ALL around the campus! It was absolutely gorgeous; I wish I could describe it, but it's far too difficult! They have bambooooo & these huge trees! Hopefully my photos will load tonight! We ended up at the futbol (soccer) field on campus & started playing frisbee. Lauren & I ended up asking a young man & young girl (who were dating) if they wanted to play. They didn't speak English so it was difficult to explain what we were playing, but thank God for a translator right?! The young girl who played with us was so beautiful. I want to tell you her name, but I can't spell it, ha ha, but trust me, it's a gorgeous name! After playing for awhile, these two other guys ended up joining us & seriously, I have never had so much fun photographing people as I did in this moment.



soaked by the rain.
Then, out of nowhere it started to POUR rain. I'm not kidding. . .that is not an understatement! It was so rad because the rain was so warm. We ended our night watching Taylor's (Josh, the missionary's son) soccer game. These kids are epic; they are amazing at soccer & I couldn't believe how young they were! For dinner Josh showed us this pizza place with the best pizza I have ever eaten. The owners are Christians & they serve this supreme pizza that consists of meat, tomatoes, & lime! Delicioso! You wouldn't think so, but I promise it was! We're back at the house right now & we are so exhausted, but it was an amazing day. I see Jesus in these people here & in the conversations we've had with students already! God is at work here in this country & I'm so thrilled to share it with you! Thank you for your prayers.

Te amo, 
Abigail
Tomeka & I


"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
-Ecclesiastes 3:11

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Arriving in Costa Rica.

Hola! We arrived in Costa Rica tired & excited around 8 p.m. (Costa Rica time) & now we are all at this really neat house that is owned by missionaries here. The flight to Dallas went really well & I was also able to see my youth pastor in high school, Greg Lynas! It was so great to catch up with him & then our flight to Costa Rica was good too! I slept most of the time, but a woman across the aisle from me opened up her window & I got to see the sunset from the plane! It was gorgeous & inexplainable! God is so good & I can't wait to see more of Him during this trip.

So far we have met some missionaries we will be working alongside with & we are having so much fun sitting around getting to know each other & learning each other's language; the room has been full of laughter so far (love it)! The buildings are so different from what I am used to & the people are beautiful! The whole trip from the airport to our lodging I could not get over how awesome the trees are here! There are palm trees & other trees that look like they came straight from the savanna (Kimmi, Lauren, & I were trying to think of a way to describe them, but it's difficult; guess I'll have to take some photos)! Hopefully I will be able to post a lot more photos from the trip soon! I am so excited to share with all of you what God is going to do on this trip. Thank you for your thoughts & prayers!

Love, Abigail