Learning me a lot of Spanish

This past week and week to come, all the interns and I are in Tuis, Costa Rica for language school. Tuis is a very small town on the east side of Costa Rica, with only one store and two resturants. Its definitely been an adventure thus far!

Two saturdays ago, Tom (our leader with eMi) dropped us all off in Tuis. Then we were each taken to our new host families homes. I was dropped off first, to find out that my family knew pretty much no english and that I am definitely in need of learning TONS of Spanish! So I tried my best and exhausted all that I knew pretty quickly, but the family is so nice and tries to talk slowly to me in Spanish. ha!

Its been so great to get know all the people here in Tuis. Everyone seems to be connected to one another somehow- either by family or friends. I have never experienced such a rich community as the one here in Tuis. To make things even better, a lot of people here believe in the Lord and strive to be so welcoming!

So the language school we are at is called CISA and is run by two guys named Hector and Daniel. They both are only 31 years old and started the school including working with the indigious in the remote villages located in the mountains. In fact, they started a home located right next to the school that houses about 7 people from the indigious village that are handicapped in some way. The ministry here is so incredible. There is also a church here that Hector and Daniel started and lead every sunday. Both Hector and Daniel are examples of what having much faith can produce. Since they started the church, mission, and school only 5 years ago!

Anyhow, every month Hector and Daniel take people with them to go visit the indigious villages in the mountains. To bring supplies, medical supplies, teach the people the importance of brushing teeth, help build things, and much more. So not knowing prior to coming to language school, all of us interns decided to go on this trip with everyone. So, at 6am this past friday we were off with the group. The trek to the village included a 2 hour drive on a bed of a truck on very bumpy dirt roads with incredible scenery surrounding. Then a 6 hour hike down a 3,000 ft mountain and across many valleys, including riding a zip line across a huge river. It was unbelievable!! There were many pictures taken during the trip so I will post them soon! Also I have many more details and stories to tell about this trip to the indigenous!
So thanks for reading!
Photos: 1. Us interns 2. CISA 3. Us interns hanging out with the indigenous.

Defend the cause of orphans...

"Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” Isaiah 1:17

My second week in Guatemala was spent at an orphanage called Casa Bernabe. It is located on the hillside just outside busy Guatemala City. We arrived on Sunday, just in time for their church service to begin. Ali and I rushed to put our bags down, to join in the church service starting on the second floor of their main building. There were kids everywhere, boys and girls ranging from a few months old to 18 years old. As the worship music began (in Spanish :), I started thinking about the situations each child at the orphanage had to face in their lives thus far. How each child somehow became motherless and fatherless, by nothing of the child’s doing most likely, but of choices made around them that affect them so deeply. Thank goodness orphanages exist and that they provide hope, shelter, and food for these kids!

Casa Bernabé provides a home for orphaned, abandoned, and handicapped children. There are over 150 children at the orphanage; they are divided up by age and gender into several houses, under the care of missionary house parents. It was so amazing to see the love and commitment of the house parents. Each set of house parents were taking care of over 10 kids each, talk about a demanding job! One of the nights, all of us were assigned to a house to watch over the kids to relieve the house parents for a few hours. I got assigned to the baby house, which housed about 15 babies ranging from 2 months to about 1 year. I could not believe the work that goes into taking care of that many babies! I am ashamed to say, but it was the first time for me to change a baby’s diaper, and I can’t imagine doing that all day!

A big issue that the orphanages in Guatemala are struggling with is that due to corruption within the system, the Guatemalan government has currently restricted adoption. Therefore, stopping the flow of orphans coming into orphanages and then getting adopted into a family. So, orphanages are being forced to turn away many orphans due to the lack of resources. This very sadly leaves many children with little hope. Prayer is definitely needed for this situation. Please also pray for more resources and volunteers for this orphanage.

So, the eMi team and I met up with several design volunteer professionals from the States to work on helping the orphanage. The orphanage requested a school expansion in order to house the large number of students on campus. Our team was able to begin the architectural and structural design for the school, as well as complete a precision survey of the site. I was able to help out with the structural and architectural designs and drawings for the school. It was so exciting to see how the things I have learned in school can be used directly to bless people. I was also motivated to learn much more so that I could be a lot more helpful.

Throughout the week, we all worked on the project and got to spend time with the kids at the orphanage. On the last day we were there, two unfortunate things happened. Three boys ran away from the orphanage, it was very sad to hear, but we pray that the boys returned safely. The other sad thing was that my camera disappeared and we all are about 99% sure it got stolen. But thankfully, there are 3 other interns with me that all have cameras and are letting me take pictures. So I’ll still be able to have pictures to share.:)

Anyways, also on the last night, all of us got to share pizza and sodas with the older teenage boys house. It was great to eat with them and hang out afterwards. There was a boy that Ali and I got to hang out who really stood out, named Raphel. He was a good basketball player, knew really good english and kept singing “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys. It was awesome!

I feel so incredibly blessed by this experience so far. I have been learning a lot from just seeing how people live and am very encouraged by the faithfulness of the Lord. Its funny how when you leave the environment that you are most comfortable in to an environment completely foreign, is the time when you can step back and reexamine the important things in life. It’s also a time to question what you believe and challenge your thoughts against your actions. So to say the least, life is interesting and I’m holding on for the ride.

Much to write about, where to start...

Where do I start...there is just so many thoughts that have been going through my head. The past two weeks in Guatemala have caused me to question much of how I live and how the Lord calls each one of us to live. When confronted directly with poverty, many questions arise to why have I been extremely blessed with much when there are so many barely surviving each day? Why is there such a huge gap in living conditions between all peoples in this world? How can people who have been so greatly blessed turn their backs on ones who were born into horrible conditions? Oh how easy it is to stay ignorant and complacent, thinking everyone in the world is doing okay. And to think that if people aren't doing so well that you won't be able to help. This is so not true. It is going to take ALL of us to join in our own way to fight for the end of poverty.


For more reason than true reverence and respect for human life, each one of us is called to "freely give, just as you have freely received." (Matthew 10:8)

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Anyways, these are some things that I have been pondering and wrestling with. Our team has safely made it back to Costa Rica. We are back working in the office in Atenas. I will write really soon about how the rest of my time in Guatemala was and post pictures. Thanks for reading!