There is no place where we can go where Christ is not already at work before us - no nation, no home, no place of work or entertainment, no hospital, no place where the homeless, unemployed and untended sick huddle together. We do not have to go into the hostile or indifferent world anxiously, defensively, or belligerently. We can go thankfully, confidently, and joyfully, because we go not to take Jesus into the world but to meet him there. ~Shirley Guthrie
Michi and I with our Costa Rican beers. ;) (Obviously, i need the bigger one, ha,ha - Michi had been saving it for me all week). This night, we played dominoes (Michi, Sara, and a friend of theirs).
Finally, some pictures with Valerie. Valerie is Johnny´s girlfriend (from Maryland - i mentioned her previously). Brian (who is staying here an extra wk - also in previous pictures) is Valerie´s brother, and made Conexion a slideshow, a promotion DVD, music cd mixes, and a projects DVD.
So, the job for today was to clean the church office upstairs because the Kansas City team of about 27 ppl are coming in on Saturday and their job will be to make this upstairs area into 3 seperate offices. They will also be painting the entire church (warehouse) inside and out. Many professional people are in this Kansas city group (painters, construction, etc.). I have no idea what all they will be doing, but i am excited to see. That place is SO dirty and dusty, this day is the dirtiest i have been since i´ve been here. I was covered in LAYERS of dirt/dust! That´s why i look gross in all these picutes. ;)
So Jherson looks a lot like Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean, especially when he dresses up like a pirate! I am not sure i can explain many of the events that happened last night at this going away party, but...i may post the pictures anyway. These people are insane!!!
Last night was a going away party for Jason, Carolina, and Brian (on my left). Brian has been here for 2 weeks taking pictures for Conexion and making a DVD for Conexion. Brian is Valerie´s brother.
What a fun group. The guy in the red hat is Michi!!! He and his wife Sara just got back yesteday (they are the ones whose house i am living in). This guy is so full of love for everybody! I told him yesterday that i have 8 more days here, and he told his wife Sara yesterday, "Do you think 8 days will be enough to spend with Christie?" lol. He was serious too. Yesterday they bought my bus rides and dinner b/c Michi said, "You can pay another day, but for right now, i am so happy you are here and in my home!" Talk about feeling loved. They are such a blessing to me. I was going to try and stay somewhere else this wk (a fews days here and a few days there) b/c i didn´t want to be in their way, but they said well, you can visit other ppl, but you need to spend a lot of time with us. I am so happy they are back! Michi also works full time for Conexion.
This Johnny and he is Jherson´s cousin who also works for Conexion full time. I think he´s 20 years old. He does a lot of runs to the airport, taking and dropping off groups. He is a lot of fun. His girlfriend is Valerie from Maryland and she lives here now and also works for Conexion full time. Hopefully i will have some pictures of her soon too.
Don´t think i´ve posted any pictures of this guy yet. This is Jherson with his AWESOME wife Paula. Jherson is the guy i am working for this summer and founded Conexion.
Do you realize that we will spend more time in eternity than we will here on earth?? I mean, we all know that, but do you really ever stop and think of it that way very often? i think it is so easy to get caught up in work, school, bills, friends, families, and etc and not THINK about everything else. I am continuing in my reading of, "One thing you can´t do in Heaven," by MArk Cahill and that is where i got the thought. It makes you think. And it makes you think that you better spend some time researching where you might go after you pass this life. And do not resort to the thinking that "nobody knows what happens after death..." Our life here is just a little speck on a timeline of eternity. Shew! Pretty fast. Isn´t it worth some research and thought? Think about it.
If you don´t know what you believe or do not believe in anything, Mark Cahill has another book called, "One Heatbeat Away" Your Journey Into Eternity which is thought-provoking and a quick read.
IF you ARE a Christian, i REALLY recommend you read the one i´m reading, "One thing you can´t do in Heaven"!!! Read it read it read it!
Have i mentioned that it rains here EVERY afternoon. Since i have been here, it has rained every afternoon except 2! Usually only for a few hours, more or less. This is typical summer weather. This picture is from the door looking out front door onto the balacony. I think the weather here is great. It is so cool at night (probably around 60) and only a little hot during the day time (80) until it rains.
We had a little get together for the last night of the chicago team. We did these fireworks which are so fun. And yes, Kevin, I did them too! (when a friend of mine, Kevin, came home from Costa Rica over the 4th of July, he showed us how to these in the backyard!). It´s actually a little scary when the sparks start coming down on your head!!! (apparently, i wasn´t spinning it fast enough). I had one land right on top of my head and burn it a little! Oops! No big deal though, felt fine the next day! Ha,ha! Looks awesome, doesn´t it???
Before we headed to our all-nighter at the Romeria, we took the Chicago group to a school to play with kids. I had been to this school the previous week to do the same thing. This little girl Valeria recognized me from the last time and came RUNNING to me! (I couldn´t believe she remembered me - i was with a whole different group of people). She looks all shy here, but this little girl is a handful. She is one of the teacher´s daughters. She had me running ALL over the place. She likes being spun around in cirles and being thrown into the air. She also likes to hold your hand and run everywhere with you. We lost her shoes like 5 times! She is so cute - and precious.
We broke the kids up into about 6 different stations and we rotated them about every 20 minutes. We had jump rope, tug of war with tires, wiffle ball (sp?), dancing, the moonwalk jump thing, Bible stories, etc.
My station was the jump rope, which is the best one, in my opinion. the time passes so quickly and it´s a blast! Plus, i love jumproping! Plus i got to learn how to say jump rope in spanish, along with "get in a line", and "you next, you next!" "one more time" and "try again" and etc. :)
This is Jason and Carolina. They have been here since i´ve been here. They are from College Station, both in college, and have been down here for 6 wks working for Conexion. We do a lot together as we are not part of any of the groups here, we´re just around all the time helping out. Carolina is a HUGE help b/c she is fluent in Spanish. Last Friday, we got most of the say off and Monika took us to another city (can´t remember, ha,ha) and then to downtown San Jose´where we just walked around a lot.
So, a young life group from Chicago has been here all week. One of their last nights here, their leader requested a "home stay," so that the kids could get a little glimpse into Costa Rican life and hopefully get to try some traditional Costa Rican snacks/meals. So, my friend, Bimbo, in this picture here hosted 2 of the highschool guys. He picked me up and i spent the day at his house with him, the two guys, and his family. They offered us "snacks" which consisted of many diff´t containers; including, rice, meat (beef), cooked plantains, pita bread w/ sprinkled cheese, beans, etc...yeah, snack. That could have been our dinner! Then we were offered rice pudding which had huge raisins in it (the size of green grapes!)! It was awesome! Then about 7:30pm, we left to meet my friend Monika and the two girls she was hosting for the evening. I stayed the night at Monika´s. We went to this restraurant...
We went to this restraurant called Chicharronera Acserri. They are known for serving chicharron which means pork. I think pork was the only thing on the menu and it was really good! I am not sure i can explained the rest that happened here, it was so weird. Everything was normal...ordered...got our drinks...got our food...almost finished eating...until...these guys started walking out playing instruments and all these people with costumes came out and started dancing all over the place. IT was so loud, it was impossible to have a conversation and so strange to watch. They played probably for 20 min before walking to another area of the restraurant to continue playing. Each constume had a plastice mask over their entire head and when they danced, they jumped up and down and spun in circles. It was soooooo cool.
I think i´m going to be posting a TON of pictures of Monika...she is the most fun person i have met! She´s so crazy and such a blast. Her and Bimbo make my stomach hurt everytime they are around b/c i´m always cracking up at them. I am going to miss them SO much! (Monika here with Rob from Chicago)
These are Monika´s parents and the two girls from Chicago (Cassie and Drew). Monika´s parents were so awesome and nice. Her mother served us breakfast and was happy to talk with us. She was so hospitable!
