The start of a new season!

Hii everyone! It's been a long time since I've written a blog post about Costa Rica and I am excited to finally get back into it. I'm pretty sure I've said every year that I would write more, but that expectation has been hard to keep up with. This summer I hope to write as much as possible within my capacity this summer, so be on the lookout for new posts and updates! :)) 

Airport picture when we were leaving Texas! Missing S though, her flight was the next day

The team all together now! 

If you didn't already know, we have made it to Costa Rica as of May 20th! These past 2 weeks have been so full of so many beautiful things, the Lord is really blessing the ministries here and it's so incredible to have the opportunity to see it all firsthand. We arrived here and there were already 2 teams here doing different things, one from Ohio and the other from Indianapolis. The Ohio team had been here for almost a month at that point and were focused on campus ministry here at the National University of Costa Rica. They've been meeting new students, sharing the gospel, inviting to H@ngout, discipleship meetings and so much more. The Lord really used them in so many powerful ways and we're excited to continue the things they have started! The Indianapolis team was here putting on a Vacation Bible School at the elementary school, where most of the kids from the CDI go. This team had a lot of energy, fun crafts, games, and so many fun things for all the kids to enjoy. 

As you might imagine, our first week was very busy because we were helping with everything, which was such a joy and incredible to have that opportunity! Definitely not a sustainable rhythm for the summer, but a fantastic first week. Something very exciting this year is that we now have more Spanish speakers on our team than non-Spanish speakers. A lot of our role during the VBS with Indianapolis was helping translate games, the crafts, the gospel and so much more. Which for me personally has been one of my favorite things about this trip so far because this is the first year that I have come and now feel that conversation in Spanish comes more naturally and I feel more confident in my abilities! If you've followed along with my previous blogs in years past you might remember that I've talked about wanting to be able to communicate well in Spanish. It's been really sweet to see how the Lord has been answering that prayer throughout my learning experience and is giving me the confidence to keep going. 

Anyways, our first week team included Matthew, S, Serene, Johan, Lucas, Rachel, and I. We often split between staying at the VBS, going to CDI, serving on campus, or painting/cutting weeds at the school. I won't write in too much detail as that would be a lot, but I'll include pictures that have shown some of the things we've done 😄 

Before I dive into more specifics about the trip as a whole I wanted to write down where I've been at personally mostly because I want to look back at this later on in life and also to share with all of you to be praying for me and our team here. Hope you enjoy reading this blog! 

One of my biggest life updates is that I recently graduated from Texas A&M University with my Bachelor of Science in Allied Health, so a Whoop to that!! It hasn't felt like a major difference yet of being out of school, but it is definitely a new season that I am navigating. Also, another really amazing life update (most of you who read this probably already know, if not well here you go😆) is that for the past 6ish months I've been in a relationship with Lucas! Which is also a very new season of life for me,  I'm enjoying every minute of it though!😊 It was super sweet to have Lucas here as part of our team and getting to be in one of my favorite places ever together. He was such a big part of our team and we all miss him being here! Since he left last Thursday I've been sad and  have missed him a lot. We're going to be long distance for almost 6 months I think as I will be going to Washington, D.C. in August for an internship. I know it's going to be hard and has already been, but I trust the Lord a lot and already see how he's blessing our relationship from miles apart. Thank you Jesus for all that you're doing and have been doing for us! We both would love the prayers for our relationship in this new season we are in, thank you so much. 💜 

Lucas and I got to go on a little date during our free day last weekend! The food was SO good! 

As I navigate this new season I am also navigating a new role on the Costa Rica team. This is my first year that I am in a leadership role along with S and Matthew as my co-leaders. At times it has actually felt overwhelming and sometimes difficult, especially as we function well in different areas. So finding a rhythm and team leadership dynamic has been new, different, and sometimes challenging. I think we're finding a good groove though and have been working very well together, just took a bit to figure out. I really enjoy leading alongside Matthew and S because they both bring something so unique to our team. S is always joyful, ready to listen, and ready to be obedient in all the Lord asks of her, she's one to look up to! Matthew always is ready to seek the Lord first and is always looking for ways to bless others through conversation or just in anything we're doing, also he has a great appreciation for nature that I sadly do not have, but can appreciate it by watching Matthew lol. I'm looking forward to continuing to lead with them and grow in this new role that I was blessed with!

Now that both the other teams have left we are now finding a new routine and have more incorporated rest time and have a better idea of what the rest of the summer will look like. Since our long-term team is made up of 6 people we decided to break off into smaller sub teams that will take more lead in certain areas. Matthew and S are leading the campus side and doing more of that planning while Serene and I are leading CDI side. Johan and Rachel have been given the space to choose each week where they would like to serve mostly and of course they have a say in planning for each of the ministry areas. For example on Thursdays there is a small bible study on campus with students from H@ngout that desire to grow their relationship with the Lord more or even just learn more about what it means to follow Jesus. Each week they can either trade off or pick where they feel is best for them. I really enjoy this sub-team idea because there is more opportunity for people to focus on the things they are more passionate about and for minimizing the feeling of being overwhelmed with planning for everything. I think it's going to be really good! We'll see this week how it all plays out :)

This feels like a good starting place now to upload some pictures and then give snippets/paragraphs of all that we've done so far on the trip!😁

The day after we arrived we got to go celebrate our friend Monse for graduating college! 

Monse and I have been friends since January of 2023! I met her when I made a solo trip to Costa Rica for 2 weeks. Monse is such a dear friend and I'm so happy that I got to celebrate with her.😊

The next day was H@ngout day! We along with the 2 other teams all joined on campus to spend time with the students, eat good food, play games, and have good conversations. There are so many new students in H@ngout that I didn't recognize so it was really fun getting to meet new people and also see familiar faces. 

Trevor, one of the leaders on the Ohio team, gave a short message on the treasure that we have through Jesus and that it's a free gift that we each can receive at any time. It was a very beautiful message and I think the students really appreciated it. 

The rest of the time everyone played games, continued conversations, and just fellowshipped with each other!

Looks like a serious game lol 

Later on Lucas played some music and we found out that multiple other students can play the guitar really well! Just Rachel and I couldn't haha

That evening we had the students over to watch the soccer game between Saprissa and La Liga, 2 very important professional teams here in CR. 

Throughout the week we had been helping with VBS with the Indianapolis team. 

During this part of the VBS, we were helping the kids walk through the gospel bracelets. It was so fun to help walk through this activity in Spanish!

Each day at the VBS the students got to hear bible stories, our prayer is that these stories would stay with these kids throughout their lives. 

Some of the guys got to cut down tall grass and weeds. Here's Lucas and Daniel, a student in H@ngout! 

About midway through VBS days we would split our team up by sending some to go to CDI and some to stay the VBS. It has been so sweet seeing all the kids that I have made friends with throughout my times of coming here each year. Watching the kids run up to me and say my name has been so sweet, I love them a lot!! 💛

Just a fun picture of us at the CDI!

Us 4 walking over to VBS on Friday 

Over the weekend we got to take a trip to Monte de la Cruz where hiked a bit, played games, some even learned martial arts lol, and ate Choripan which is an Argentinian favorite! 

I thought this was such a fun picture of a few of us, we were watching one of the guys from the Indianapolis team teach the students martial arts for defense. It was such an amazing day and so fun just getting to know everyone better! 

Sweet friends! Rachel on the left is my roommate for the summer! I'm super glad her and I get to spend this summer together and become better friends 😊 and of course I love S and getting to be in CR again with her!!

Look at this view! This was our view from the top of the mountain at Monte de la Cruz 😁

There's so much more that has happened in these 2 weeks! It's difficult to recap everything, just know the Lord is doing amazing things here! I'll keep blogging as much as possible, but hopefully this gives y'all a good start on the updates. 

Prayer Requests: 

• For each team member to continue to seek the Lord in all they do and we do.
• Awareness of God's presence
• See the Lord working, see His fruit
• New routine and schedule flow
• Team dynamic, as well as team leadership dynamic
• All of our times with H@ngout students
• CDI Devotionals and English lessons 
• Rest for all of us, including Ana and Carlos
• This new season of life I am in (including Lucas and I's relationship :))

Thank you so much for reading and for all your prayers! I hope you enjoy it, sorry if it's a bit chaotic and unorganized or some slight misspellings/grammar 😆😂