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Hola Familia y Amigos! We started our day with devotion led by Diego, a Students International staff member. We focused on Philippians 2:12-18 and talked about how fear and faith go hand in hand. This hit home for me because the biggest reason I wanted to be part of this team was because I wanted to break out of my comfort zone. This trip brought about a lot of fear since it is my first time out of the country, I am not fluent in Spanish, and I am working with total strangers from different parts of the world. However, in keeping faith and truly believing that God wants me to be here, I am having one of the best experiences of my life. I never understood what people meant when they would say that they "felt called" to do something. I just felt like I needed to get out of my comfort zone and the following week at church, flyers were handed out announcing the summer exposure trips. Costa Rica had the best dates because, as a teacher, June and July are my favorite months.
Somehow, I managed to find wonderful sponsors in my family and friends, and I just felt like it worked out. After talking about this a little bit more with my teammate Kevin, he pointed out to me that it worked out so easily because God was calling me to be part of this amazing team and this life-changing experience. Apparently, my plans and God's plans lined up this time! I will always be thankful for the great experience God has granted me. I have learned quite a bit about my relationship with God and myself. For all those teachers out there, if nothing else I have learned first-hand what it is like to be a language learner in a native environment, and I will definitely be taking new techniques back to my classroom.
After devotion, our team split off and headed to our sites. I am so lucky to have been placed at the Social Services site which is similar to an after school program in the states. Today was a "planning day" for the staff so at Social Services we cleaned and planned activities for the week. Now let me show you why my site is awesome-- tomorrow we are taking the kids for a hike, Wednesday we are taking the kids to see How To Tame Your Dragon 2, Thursday Ashlynn and I are putting our teacher skills to work by organizing and adding to the database of activities for SI, and on Friday, in addition to the verse activity that Ashlynn, Chloe, and I prepped, we are having a Going Away Fiesta since that will be our team's last day here. Ashlynn and I were excited for the chance to be creative today at our site after Chloe, on of the SI interns, had a great idea for an activity involving the verses Matthew 6:26, 28-29 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them [...] See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." We plan on discussing the verses with the kids and then having them create their own bird or flower to add to the paper tree that we made. Of course, Ashlynn, Chloe, and I felt it was completely necessary to make our own flowers and birds for examples, of course.
Following prep work at our sites, our team met back at the office where we met some of the business women from the Micro-Financial Site, and we were able to buy some homemade souvenirs from them. Then, we went to downtown San Jose and continued to help the economy of Costa Rica by buying even more souvenirs (Mom, you're going to LOVE yours!). When we returned to the office, we had an informal team meeting to discuss highs and lows from the last couple of days. It has truly been amazing to be part of this team because I feel that we all clicked from the very beginning. We have teammates ranging in ages from 17 to...well, we will just say more experienced ages, and yet I can honestly say I have had great conversations and laughs with everyone.
We only have a few more days in Costa Rica! Please keep our team in your thoughts and prayers. All of your support from home is definitely felt and appreciated. Don't worry Mom, I am still alive! :)