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.