Moving, Jungle, Leah

Thanks in great part to our wonderful friends and the team who came down early from Texas, we moved into our new house in record time. In less than 24 hours we completely packed up our old house, everything moved into our new house, and fumigated. Yeah, the only drawback to our new house is the cockroaches. I loathe cockroaches! Though my response has gotten better. I used to yell at Cailah, “Kill it! Kill it!” Now I can actually smash them myself, with only a small scream.


Cailah trying to keep the packing under control.


My new room. It's huge and I have a great view! No more giant window looking into my room the kitchen like at the old apartment.


Big, open kitchen! I love the "pistachio gelato green". It makes me happy every time I walk in.


After moving all our stuff over, the next morning we headed off to the jungle for a week with our last team of the summer. We spent most of the week working on projects around the Bible Campus: painting, laying block, organizing materials, and working in the garden. We experienced several days of heavy rain while in the jungle; one night we even had threats of a hurricane. (I didn’t believe it) Even though the rain appeared to be inhibiting our productivity, it provided great opportunity to build relationships with people on the team. And in the end, we were still able to complete all the projects the Sharps needed help with. My favorite part of the trip was being able to share the jungle experience with Blake and watching him dive right in with his very limited Spanish. We had two Costa Rican teenagers from the city with us, and Blake made it his mission to make them feel a part of the team. It was a complete success! Every time I saw them, the three of them were laughing and joking. I think Blake learned more Spanish in that week, than most people learn in a whole semester!


Blake and Nini. I'm not sure how much work the two of them got done, but they built a strong friendship.

A few days after arriving back in the city, my dear friend, Leah, flew in from California. She is here for at least 6 month to learn Spanish, and I’m so excited to have another friend here. As much as I want to build deep relationships with Costa Ricans, the time, effort, and language required to do so is a little daunting at this point. In the meantime, it is especially wonderful to have good friends, like her, Josh, and our team nearby. This summer has been extremely challenging for me, and I don’t know where I would be without the support of this community God has provided for me.

I’m looking forward to a slightly slower pace in the coming months. I will still be at the tutoring center full-time, but will have more time to plan and develop new ideas. I am also looking forward to building friend relationships with Costa Ricans.


Quality time with Blake in the new house.

New House!

Wow! Today has been one of the craziest days yet here in Costa Rica, but one filled with amazing blessings! Yesterday, I came home to apartment to an awful smell and the sound of water dripping. When I passed the bathroom, I realize the roof was ready to crumbled and there was quite a bit of standing water. Shortly after, the ceiling did fall and water started rushing down as my neighbor in the apartment upstairs continued to use his water even though he knew it was rushing into ours. There have been many quirks and issues in our apartment, but this was the last straw.

Though knowing how long it took us to find this place, we new it would have to be an act of God to find a new, suitable place and in less than 48 hours. (We leave for a week in the jungle on Sunday morning). God is so faithful! We found a great place by 9am, saw at noon, decided to take it and were meeting with the lawyer by 3:30pm. The locks were changed at 6pm and we've spent all night packing, with the help of Blake and Aiyla. Tomorrow morning, the team is going to help us move all our stuff into the new house, before we all head off to the jungle bright and early Sunday morning. I still cannot comprehend it. God is good. Please be praying for us, as we strive to get everything livable tomorrow. Our friend Rachel is house sitting for us, and we want her to at least be able to cook and sleep in comfort. Also, be praying that we get all of our deposits back from our landlord. She doesn't have any real grounds to withhold them, but we are leaving without giving a month's notice.

I can't wait to share pictures of the new place when we get back! We also have an extra bedroom now, so there is plenty of room for visitors.