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 fútbol 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