A great Tuesday

Hola!

This week has been full: classes, conversations, walking, and homework. I have not had time to update my blog as often as I would like, but that’s just how it is I guess :) You guys don’t’ need to get bored with my blabbering anyway.

But I do want to mention that yesterday was a really awesome day. In the morning, we did not have class but instead had time to work on our final group projects. For these projects, we are deciding whether or not Americans should be involved in Latin America. We also have to come up with an actual plan that we are going to carry out. This is such an awesome assignment: it is so applicable and real-life. I honestly do not feel like I have had a single “busywork” assignment. It’s been awesome!

Anyway, we worked on our projects all morning, and then I went with 3 other girls to have lunch with a speaker who had spoken to our class earlier this semester. This man’s name is John Stam, and he is originally from the United States. He and his wife live about 2 blocks from where we have class, so we walked there to just continue chatting with him and hearing more of his story.

This man is just delightful. I could talk to him for hours. Unfortunately, we were only able to spend our lunch hour with him before heading to class. He and his wife have been living in Costa Rica for 57 years. Yeah, that’s not a typo! Doing the math and making an educated guess, I would say he is about 85. I have never seen an 85 year old with so much spunk and passion for life still. He is brilliant with such a deep and analytical mind. He is an amazing man of God, and I truly was humbled and delighted to talk to him. We talked about all kinds of different things: if all people are going to heaven, what he thinks about evangelism, how he got to Costa Rica, and more. He just talks and talks, and he has an awesome sense of humor, too.

After exchanging email, we walked to class for the afternoon. When class was over, I went with my friend Rene to downtown San Jose. She had invited me to go out for coffee with her “second dad” from the United States who was here on business. So we made our way down to San Jose and met this man and his business partner. Again, this was just a wonderful conversation, and it was such a privilege to meet this man. He is also a wonderful Christian man who really seeks to live his life for God. Rene, this man, his colleague, and I had coffee at a nearby restaurant where we proceeded to talk for a couple hours about different important things in life. One of the things I loved so much about this man was that he truly was interested in our lives. He wanted to know what we were learning, what was going to be different when we went back to the United States, what we would see differently at home, and just several questions about our experiences.

He was so intuitive to what we were learning and experiencing, but we were also super interested in asking HIM questions! He is a dad of 7, a successful business man, and has several years of life experience to share. We talked about capitalism, economics, Wal-Mart, how rich people should look at poverty, and how to handle the feelings of guilt that comes when you go back to America. It was so good to hear his thoughts and opinions because he has literally traveled all over the world, and he has a lot of wisdom to share.

When it was time to leave, I felt like I could have talked to him for so much longer. I felt a sincere connection with him, and the whole conversation was incredibly comfortable. It was not like I was the outsider in a conversation between Rene and her second dad. No, they both totally embraced my presence in the conversation, and I felt completely welcomed. It was absolutely delightful, once again.

When we got up to go, it was after 7:00, which means it is dark outside. Dark and downtown San Jose = do not be alone. The 2 men graciously walked us to our bus stop (3 blocks away) and waited until we got on. I was really glad they walked with us, actually, because it is really kind of sketchy at night. We decided that there is never a feeling of being safe in San Jose, day or night. You constantly have to have your guard up and be aware of who is around you.

Overall, Tuesday was a wonderful day, and today was good too. I thank God for his faithfulness, and I thank him for blessing me with wonderful people to encourage me. Thank God for the seemingly random conversations that I have had in the last week (missionaries this weekend, John Stam, Rene’s friend). These are all people that I probably will never see again, yet I feel truly grateful for these interactions that I’ve had. I know that God’s sovereign hand was present in all these conversations. He led me to these places, and I’m so thankful for it.