Spring Break and beyond

Hello everyone!

I am back again in San Jose, and today we started our next round of classes. Honestly, it is going to be a really busy 2 weeks, which means that this blog is going to have to be short and sweet!

I would love to tell stories about our spring break trip, but I simply don’t have time to do that right now. In short, we went to Volcan Arenal for 3 days. During this time, we saw the beautiful landscape of Costa Rica, hiked a bit, went zip-lining (amazing), and visited a hot spring. I went with 5 awesome women and was really blessed with good conversations and fun company. One thing I hated about this trip wast hat we went to a tourist town. This experience has truly wrecked my ability to ever be a tourist. I absolutely hated that feeling. If you want to know more of my thoughts on tourism, we should talk about it :) When we got back to San Jose, there were a bunch of taxi drivers who were waiting for our bus. They automatically assumed that since we were white we were ignorant tourists. It was so wonderful to feel competent: after I told the taxi driver where we lived, he tried to rip us off by telling us it would be way more expensive than it should be…it felt wonderful to say “no” to him and walk away. It felt wonderful knowing that I actually knew what I was doing and where I was going. Overall, spring break was really great, and I’m thankful that I had the chance to go.

Today we started our next round of classes. In the mornings, we are going to have classes about faith and connecting our faith with our actions. These classes sound interesting, and I’m looking forward to them. In the afternoons, half of the students are walking to another institution to have more intense spansih study. This means that every afternoon, I will have Spanish literature classes and Spanish grammar classes. I really think I am going to like this institution. They are really to the point, and I am looking forward to having a bit of a schedule again :) Seriously, it’s tough traveling so much in 2 weeks, living out of a backpack, and never knowing what the next day holds.

My physical health has been rough still, and please pray for God’s healing and guidance on that. I would love to talk more about what things are like with my relationship with God right now, but I simply don’t’ have time to do that. Right now I am thankful that God really spoke to me last night and for the wonderful conversation I could have with my friend Rene. I also am still praying that God just gives me intimacy with him, and I pray that he continues to reveal truth to me in his way and his time. I am just continuing to pray that I would know the truths that are in the Bible instead of the truths that I have just assumed were true. Here are a few questions that I’m wrestling with right now, just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about and how to pray for me:

-          What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit?

-          Does everyone have the Holy Spirit?

-          If I have the Holy spirit, why don’t I have the power like is talked about in the New Testament?

-          What does it mean to have God’s peace?

-          What do you have to do to be saved?

-          What is a Christian actually supposed to look like?

I thank you for your prayer support and for all the encouragement that I receive. Again, I thank God for you all. Now, even though I’m going to like these Spanish classes, they are going to be a lot of homework…which means that’s all I have time to write right now. I hope that everyone is doing well and really finding rest in God.