La Primera Semana

I've only been here for just under a week, but so much has happened. Cailah and I found an amazing furnished apartment to rent that is only a 5 minute walk from our school. We got all of our stuff moved over from the Dixons and Janzens' yesterday, and have spent the last two afternoons trying to figure out how to set up our house. It's so wonderful to have a place that is our own. It helps make the move seem more long term, and not just a 2 week mission trip. Which in turn, I think will help me adjust better. Thank you so much for all your prayers about housing. I'll post pictures in the next few days, once it's not such a mess :-)

We also have been attending language school in the morning all this week. Since it's the "off-season", Cailah and I are the only people in our level. It's great to direct our learning and really focus in on the areas we need to work on. That being said, I often get frustrated in class, because I see how much I have to learn. Please pray that I would have patience with myself and that I would really be able to take in all that we are learning.

I was greatly encouraged tonight when Cailah and decided to have a fun and relaxing evening going to see High School Musical 3. (I'm a huge fan!) We specifically checked to make sure it was in English with Spanish subtitles. Imagine our surprise when Zac Efron started speaking in Spanish!!! All of the dialogue had been dubbed over in Spanish, but the songs were still in English. Cailah and I were both pleasantly surprised that we were able to understand almost everything in the movie and enjoy it along with all the 12 year old Costa Rican girls in the theater!

Costa Rica!

I have arrived! It seemed like this day would never come, but now that I'm here it is completely sureal. My mind truly cannot process it just yet. I am thankful to be here and even more grateful to have the amazing support network of my teammates, The Dixon and Janzen Families and Cailah Pritchard. This morning when I woke up, Tracy Dixon was making pancakes, and I felt like I was at home for our traditional Saturday morning breakfast. It's so wonderful to be around people I know and love as I begin this new stage.

Tomorrow Cailah and I start language school and then in the afternoon we are looking at an apartment we really hope we can get. It's less than a 10 minute walk from our language school, in a safe neighborhood, sounds really nice, and is within our budget. Please be praying that it works out.

I promise to write more, when I have more to share. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers and your encouraging emails; they mean a lot to me. Lots of love to you all.

New York

For some crazy reason, when purchasing tickets for Costa Rica, it was $300 cheeper to fly through New York instead of straight from California, and I am so glad. I had an amazing 5 days in New York hanging out with my brother, Benje. My dear friend Josh was also came down to visit from Boston, and then my cousin, Jeremiah, came up from Washington DC. I had a great time hangout, enjoying some amazing restaurants, wandering through the MET, going to see a great new musical, and just generally being spoiled. It was a great last few days in the State's and a really special time with my brother before I moved. Here are a few pictures from my time there. Notice the heavy layers of clothes; Costa Rica is quite a climate change!

Single mom of 5 (+2)

I have always had a lot of respect for mothers, but this week that respect grew ten-fold, especially for single moms. While we had an amazing week and a half together, I felt like I was constantly playing catch up and I never managed to get anyone to soccer practice quite on time. But I also realized, those are the details of life, that aren't always that important. Nobody's life is permanently altered because they were five minutes late for the warm-up or because the laundry didn't all get put away before going to bed. Instead, the important things are the memory making time like homemade pizza night or playing dress-up's together. This last week and half was full of crazy moments trying to rush everyone out the door with shoes, backpacks, lunches, and homework; but it was also brimming with lots of special moments playing together and sharing life. I am so thankful for the time we got to have together, though I still can't wait for my parents to get home this afternoon!


Baking with cousins Zach and Josh,, who stayed with us for a week while their parents went on a much deserved vacation.






Homemade personal pizza night. The kids wondered what happened to their older sister: they got to have pizza for dinner, didn't have to eat salad, and had ice cream sundaes for dessert!













Karlee came up on Sunday and helped organize a yard clean up. It looks great!

MTI

I don't know how to even begin sharing with you all of the amazing things God did during my 3 weeks in Colorado at MTI. God is faithful! I arrived at the retreat center feeling very emotionally and physically tired from a busy week of traveling all over the state saying goodbyes. I wasn't looking forward to building new relationships when I knew I would just have to say goodbye again. But God softened my heart and put me in the center of an amazing community of people who are all getting ready to embark on a similar journey. During our 3 weeks there, the staff taught us to share our lives through our raw and honest discussions in class, which facilitated so many areas of growth in my life. In the evenings, we had plenty of time to just be silly together playing games (Body, Body, anyone?), eating ice cream, and exploring the beautiful nature surrounding us.

I am so thankful for this community of dear friends. Through my time with them I was able to share many of my excitements and fears of moving to a new place with many both foreseen and unknown challenges that await me. I also learned how to say healthy goodbyes that help us cherish the impact our friends have made on us and grieve the loss of the physical proximity. This process leaves us ready to say full hello's to new people as they enter our lives. I know this is going to be crucial for me as we will have many short-term teams coming down to Costa Rica, and I want to be able to fully invest in each team that comes down.



I am so overwhelming grateful for the time I had at MTI. Everyone there, staff and participants, were such a blessing! I am so glad Students International said I needed to go this training, even though i was a little hesitant at first.