Thankful List

It can be hard not to get negative while I’m here. So here is a list of things I’m thankful for. I’ve divided it into different lists: 1) things in Costa Rica that I love and will miss when I’m gone 2) things I’m thankful for in the US that I will never take for granted again and 3) events or people in general that have been answers to prayer. The lists might get muddled or criss-crossed once in a while, but that’s okay. We’ll all get the idea. This will be an ongoing list–I’ll update it once in a while when with more things I come across something. I have a feeling this could get very long. Right now the American one is really long, but I have a feeling that the longer I’m here, the longer the Costa Rican list will get.

[This may be something that is more for me to read later, I won't feel bad if y'all don't enjoy it as much as me, hehe. It will be fun to read this when I've been home for a while.]

Praise and answers to prayer

• Being fully funded. Obviously, important and something I’m so very very thankful for.
• Support. you’ve all been so great. Reaching financial goals was amazing, but the ongoing support I’ve received from everyone has been priceless. I can’t tell you how much it means to me down here.
• Safe travels. I got here safely. That’s pretty cool. AND my luggage wasn’t overweight! (49.5 lb and 50 lb! haha) I got here without any problems.
• A great and restful orientation to CR life.
• A wonderful host family. Seriously, it couldn’t have been a better match. They’re fun and very patient with me and their hearts are precious–they looove the Father. The friendship I’ve formed with them will be one I maintain for the rest of my life.
• My cell phone works! I bought it off e-bay and was a little concerned it wouldn’t work down here, and had no way of testing it in the US. But it worked! What a hassle it would have been if it hadn’t.
• Improving Spanish. Progress comes and goes, but I definitely am improving and am thankful for the opportunity to do so and looking forward to improving more in the future!
• The opportunity to be refined and have the Christ life inside of me be appropriated into my daily life more and more.
• The 20-somethings community at my church and the friends I’ve made.

Costa Rica things

• Accents. I LOVE it when people here try to speak English. Not because it’s entertaining (although it definitely is), but because for how hard I’m working to learn their language, it makes my heart soar when they’re trying to speak mine! Especially when I’ve had a long day and speaking Spanish is a lot of work!
• Insecticide. ‘Nuff said.
• Facebook to keep connected with general news on my friends at home.
• Video chatting/audio chatting over the internet. It’s free and, when it works, can make my day!
• Cocanas–these delicious coconut-based cookies they have here. I love them.
• I can use my normal plugs here. So thankful I didn’t have to worry about any voltage changes!
• Glaxo–Davíd and Loania’s cute dog. I love having a pet to love on and he is SO cute. Except when he gets out and goes in the streets and gets “sucio” (dirty/muddy).
• The satisfaction of killing cockroaches, haha, morbid, I know. It always leaves me feeling empowered.
• Loania’s delicious food.
• Savoring every bite of things that I don’t usually get to have here (chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, mac’n'cheese, peanut butter, cheese, etc) because it’s an expensive and rare treat!! I’ll never appreciate those things as much as I do here, no matter how hard I try!
• Chicas. I love my Bible Study girls. and the community of people my age at my church in general. They’re all great and I’m starting to make some good friends. Specifically my friend China! She’s been so good to invite me to things and make me feel welcome and I love her heart!
• Videochatting! it’s so good to get to see my parent’s face, my boyfriend’s face, my sister’s face, my apartment that I miss so much, my dogs at home that I miss so much.
• My friend Lori, in the office. She’s been a specifically sweet blessing to me. She’s a Packers fan AND a documentary fan, and she has “Planet Earth” and “Life” and all the goodies, AND she knows all the good restaurants She’s also been on the field for a long time, so she’s so patient and understanding to listen to me and give me good, practical advice on how to manage.
• The mountains surrounding me!! They’re sooo beautiful.
• The flowers. So different and unique from the US. I love it.
• The open markets and open store fronts. They often don’t have doors/front walls to their stores. Because they don’t have heating or air conditioning because it doesn’t get hot or cold enough to make it necessary. It’s just open to the air. The just have a gate they close over the whole store front at the end of the day. It’s a very… fresh and free feeling.
• Fruit. I mean, seriously. How delicious is the fruit here? So good.
• Besos. I like the way they greet, with a kiss on one cheek. I still blush every time, but there’s something very… friendly and innocent and wall-breaking with it.
• COFFEE. They have THE best coffee here. And it’s cheap. I want to bring home bags and bags…
• “Monedas” (coins). Their coins here make me feel like I’m a conquistador with a satchel of gold. Everytime I pay a bus driver my usual 225 “colones” (the name of the currency here), I feel like a rich old explorer giving money to the poor. They’re just really thick and weighty and their smallest coin is the size of a quarter. I like it.
• Stores being in walking distance. I love walking to the “Palí” down the road to pick up some groceries and maybe stop at the Panadería on the way home for some fresh caramel bread. Or hopping down to the tiny corner restaurant for some nachos when I want a snack (but I have to remember to ask for no ketchup & mayo!)
• The Central Valley. San José and 1.5 million of Costa Rica’s population lives in the Central Valley. I live up the side of a mountain overlooking it. It always reminds me of Castle Rock, CO and I love it.
• A family of missionaries to love and be loved by. So very thankful for people to spend American holidays with, hehe.
• Stores like AutoMercado and PriceSmart, that carry a lot of US foods that I miss so much. Sometimes you have to pay for it, but it’s so nice to have a taste of home sometimes.

United States things (this list makes me feel snoody and spoiled, haha, but I can’t help it!)

• Cheaper prices. Things here are SO expensive, especially imports. A normal bag of chocolate chips here costs $5. A big thing of Jif peanut butter: $16. Special K cereal with strawberries: $5. A crappy Compaq computer here that would cost $350 in the US is $900 here. Clothes are also super expensive. I’m so glad I came with as much as I possible could so I wouldn’t have to buy much here.
• Technology. You just never know what will and won’t work in CR. My internet connection is always the mystery of the day.
• Downloading/Streaming music. I can’t use my Amazon Prime account here With my account I have access to thousands of great movies and TV shows I’d love to watch, especially when I have a headache and culture shock and am dying to watch something that is not dubbed into Spanish, but Amazon won’t let you watch them outside the US. Neither will Hulu. That was a depressing discovery.
• Having connections. I don’t know where to go for things I need here–everything from things I need to buy to computer repairs to good restaurants. Thankfully this is something that will improve with time.
• Feeling comfortable. This is also something that improves with time, but this whole experience has been entirely outside of my comfort zone and God has been good to me in the middle of it, but it is emotionally exhausting.
• Face to face conversations in my own language with my family/boyfriend/friends. Choppy internet video chatting just doesn’t cut it sometimes.
• Hugs. They do “besos” (kisses to the side of your cheek) here as a greeting, but I would give anything to be wrapped up and held tight in a big hug by my little brother, Lance, or my boyfriend, Blake, or my friends Alli or Kelsey, or my daddy…
• Transportation. I miss having a car and being independent. Here, I am dependent on buses and taxis and rides from other people. It’s frustrating sometimes.
• Knowing how to get somewhere and not constantly losing my bearings. Here, it takes conscious effort to remember which direction is north because the roads are not at all straight or organized. They are twisty and turny and I lose myself all of the time.
• Velveeta cheese. They don’t have it here, except for in expensive slices.
• Books in English. I love and am SO thankful for my Kindle (a pre-CR gift from my awesome-licious sister, Annie), but once in a while there’s a book I really want that isn’t available on my Kindle and I can’t find it here in English.
• My bed. They use hospital mattresses here. Some use real ones, but hospital mattresses are more common. I miss my normal mattress.
• Washer and dryers. They have a different version of a wash machine here where you put the clothes in one part, let it swirl and wash your stuff, then you move it to the other part and spin it for however long you set it for. And they don’t have dryers, they hang dry, which normally I don’t care about except that 1) my jeans don’t shrink so they fit funny and 2) it’s humid right now because it’s wet season so it takes like two weeks for things to dry.

My new blog!

Hey friends, my priority for this blog is to keep you updated during my time in Costa Rica and how God’s using it in my life and the life of the people I meet there. I’ll use it to keep you updated on preparations leading up to my time there and prayer requests, as well.

While I’m there, I’ll be focusing mainly on helping with administrative work in the Multiplication Center with International Teams and also helping with all sorts of ministry within the community, but primarily focusing on building relationships with the women there. They have a great team there already in place focusing on women’s discipleship and I’m told there are women waiting for me to get there so they can take me under their wing. I’m so excited to get there and learn from the people there. I love culture and linguistics–I can speak Spanish at an advanced level, but not yet fluent–so it’ll such a great fit! I have so much to learn and so much to share.

Thanks for checking in! Check back for updates soon