The week is flying!

Hola!

I don’t even hardly know where to begin. I could give you a run down on every day, but really its been so full that I don’t’ think I have time to do that. So I’m just going to stick with the generalities of how things are going. I really, honestly like it here. I love my family so dearly, and they are just wonderful. Today I have the morning off and I am in the house alone for a few hours. This is such a wonderful break from the busyness of this week. I’m so thankful for this time alone. I managed to wash my clothes…at least I think so. It’s really quite the process! I only had 1 contact in and was half sleeping this morning when my mom explained how to use the washing machine thingy. They are definitely very different than what I’m used to. It probably took me over an hour to do 1 load of laundry :) part of it is with a machine, and then part of it I had to do by hand. Then I had to transfer it to this other part of the machine, and then hang it on the line to dry. It just is a much bigger process here!

Wednesday night I went to church with my family where they hae a youth group type thing. i spent half of the night with my sister in the adults and adolescents group, and then I went with my mom to be with the middle school aged children. They were nuts! I think we have church again tonight, but im’ not sure.

Yesterday was really good. I helped teach English classes in the morning, and I tutored a 24 year old woman one on one for about an hour. In the afternoon, I gave the test for the math class, and then had a little time to talk to the other missionaries. The other missionaries here are really great, and I’ve enjoyed talking to them.

I feel very blessed with the wonderful conversations that I have had with different people this past week. I have been able to connect really well with my family and the other missionaries. There were also 2 conversations last night that were fun to have. One was with a woman who came by our house selling things from Nicaragua. She is from Nicaragua, and she makes a living by selling Nicaraguan things door to door here in Costa Rica. I talked to her for probably 45 minutes about her life, Nicaragua, and her experience of being an immigrant. It was wonderful. The other conversation was at a couple’s house from church. My family and I went to their house to talk about this camp that the church is putting on next week. While we were there, the couple’s son came home. He actually went to a British school in Costa Rica, so English was really his first language. I had a good conversation with him as well. I also felt blessed when I went to church on Wednesday night and got to talk to several people there.

I also feel incredibly blessed with the ability God has given me to speak in Spanish. I feel like my Spanish just all of a sudden improved since I got here on my internship, which is weird because I still speak English a lot with the other missionaries. In fact, yesterday I had 3 people sincerely compliment my Spanish. In the morning when I was getting ready to go, my mom told me that she loves when I talk in Spanish because I speak so fluidly. The 2 people I had conversations with last night also said that they never would have guessed that Spanish was difficult for me to learn. I feel so blessed by this ability because it allows me to communicate so much more naturally with these people. I am not near as worried about messing up a sentence because I know that they understand me anyway. I am also able to ask pretty much any question I want to ask them, and I don’t usually feel “stuck” with what I want to say.  God is so good for giving me this and allowing me to connect with people in such wonderful ways. I love that the good conversations I have are with native Spanish speakers too.

God has been faithful to me since I’ve been here, and I continue to ask that he sustain me every day. I know that I am fully dependent on his grace, and I pray that he shows me clearly what this really means in my daily life—to be dependent on God. I want to be fully finding my satisfaction in him. I am thankful for the blessings he has given me, and I pray that he sustains me and gives me patience and peace for this weekend.

I have no idea what the weekend holds, but I know it will be 100% different from my other family. Here, my mom pretty much doesn’t sleep. She gets up at 4:30am most days and goes to between 10 and 11. They are always bustling around, and if I’m ever in the same room as my mom or sister, there is a conversation going on. I don’t think they like silence :) thankfully, I love them dearly so I don’t mind the constant talking!

Today I am going out for lunch with my mom. I am going to take a bus and meet her at her work. I do not gather that they go out to eat much, so this is really a special treat for us. They are very tight financially, as I think I mentioned, yet they are so generous and loving to me. In fact, last night my mom bought me something from the Nicaraguan woman who was here. I was so humbled that she bought me this because I know they cannot afford it. Even though things are tight, she wanted to buy something for me. She said, “Quiero comprar una cosita para mi hija,  la hija de mi corazon.”  This translates to: “I want to buy a little something for my daughter, the daughter of my heart.” :)

Okay, time to go, but I want to apologize for the scatteredness of this blog! I guess this just reflects the lack of order in my life right now :)