Hace Un Año

January 27, 2013.
My life got flipped, turned upside down.
It was a big day. 
I made a big decision. 
And being an 18-year-old high school senior, it was (and still is) probably the biggest and best decision I’ve ever made.

I decided to not go to college in the fall.
*gasp*

Four days or so before, my friend gave me an article about this thing called a “gap year”. A man had written about the benefits of taking a year off before going to college so that you have a better idea of the real world and what you want to do in it.

“I think I’m going to Africa for a year before going to college,” my friend said.
I thought she was crazy, but I was happy for her to get to experience a place she had never been, living among the people and bound to learn so much from her experience.

But as for me? “No way. I’m going to college. Because that’s what people do. So that’s what I’m doing, too.”

I wanted to want to go to college. And well, it took about four days for the gap year idea to kill me on the inside, and without saying a word to anyone, I made up my mind that I was not going to college in eight months.  I started researching organizations all over the US and Latin America. My goal was Guatemala, but I had some stateside fallbacks. But I still hadn’t told anyone anything. And being the melancholy introvert that I am, I printed the article and left it on the kitchen counter for my parents to read and I left for church for a leadership meeting. I told my friends there, then I went home and faced the parents. They were semi-surprised (they said they thought I wanted to join the Peace Corps earlier in the winter), but the immediate response was “that’s an idea… But Central America? Alone? For a year?”

I had researched everything from schools to orphanages to camps to teaching opportunities and I had absolutely no idea what I would choose. I started ranking my 80+ bookmarks on the computer based off the information I got from their websites.

The next week at church, the middle school youth pastor at my church said his friend did a gap year in the Dominica Republic with an organization called SCORE International. I had heard of it, and I was pretty sure it was in my bookmarks, so I went home and looked it up. It was somewhere in my top 10. But I didn’t know much about it and I spent all day on their website, looking up videos of it on YouTube, and decided to apply. It seemed legitimate and it looked fun on the videos. The application had two options: Dominican Republic or Costa Rica. I checked Costa Rica because it’s much closer to Guatemala, where I really wanted to be. I sent in the application, had a phone interview about 3 weeks later, and was accepted on the phone. 

So, I had finally found it.
I was going to spend a school year in Costa Rica with some amount of students from all over the country, learning Spanish and taking Bible classes. It wasn’t until June when a Facebook group was made so I could see who I was spending the following year with. And once I was added, I have to admit I was a little scared. People kept getting added to the group and I kept being the only person who had gone to a public school. I also hadn’t ever been on a SCORE trip to the D.R.

I didn’t know what to expect at all, so I hopped on my plane exactly 5 months ago today, met two of the girls in Dallas, and we flew down to our new home.

I’ve tried picturing myself as a college student this year countless times, and I can’t see it. I would not trade this time here for being there for anything.

I have 50+ new friends that I would have never met. I would have made other friends there, but there’s something about this group of new friends from all over the United States, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. There’s something about having friends who don’t speak your native language that motivates you to learn and study (I’ve never been a studier) so you can speak to them.

I’ve learned what its like to live in a house with 36 people and share a room with four.
I’ve learned more Spanish than a book or class could have taught me.
I’ve learned how to go months at a time without having alone time.
I’ve learned how to have an intelligent conversation about the Bible and theology.
I’ve learned what it’s like to deal with a gluten-free diet on a pre-set menu (it’s really not that hard, but I thought I was going to die in that first month).
I’ve learned not just how to get out of, but how to live out of my comfort zone.
I’ve learned that all types of personalities can live in one house and get along. ALL types. It really works, guys.

There’s something about living together in a foreign country that makes you close, no matter how much time you’re stuck together. 

People I probably wouldn’t have been friends with in high school are going to be my lifelong friends now. 
People who live here will continue to reach their country, and students in this program will end up serving the Lord all over the world.

That blows my mind. I wouldn’t know any of them if I had gone to college. If God hadn’t flipped my plans and my parent’s hearts upside down, where would I be? Thankfully, my plans won’t ever succeed against God's. I’m so grateful He opened my heart to His call and turned my plans around to agree with His. 


“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” Proverbs 21:30

Turrialba Camp!

We just got home from a week of “camp” in a town southeast of San Jose called Turrialba. It’s the perfect town! It’s quiet and in the mountains, but still has a lot of things to do. We helped out at Primera Iglesia Bautista de Turrialba with their VBS and youth group all week and lived with Costa Ricans in their homes.

This is the view from the top of the mountain we went to on Saturday morning!

The church was AMAZING. Everyone there was beyond hospitable and helpful all week. They were SO nice, I can’t even explain it! The leadership in the church was so solid and involved! The adults especially, but even among the high school and college students. They all played such a big part in pulling off the VBS and I couldn’t be more thankful to have spent the week getting to know them. 

Each weekday, we got to the church at 8 (which means around 8:20 in tico time) for breakfast. We had gallo pinto, pancakes, fruit, eggs, and more depending on the day! And they don’t do small breakfasts- it was a heaping pile of food each day for every meal (luckily we had hungry boys who were always willing to help). We didn’t have much to do in the mornings, so we helped the church members prepare some things, prayed as a group, did devotionals, read, slept, and talked. We did that until lunch at noon, filled our stomachs to the top (then gave the other 90% of the food on the plate to the guys again- not kidding, it was SO MUCH food). Then at 1:30, kids started coming in for VBS at 2!

In our free time in the mornings, we hung out at the church, but we also went to the park a few times!

On Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, I helped out in a class of 10-12 year-olds (except we had three 13-year-olds and two 14-year-olds). And get this. There were 17 boys and 4 girls. And man, they were rambunctious. All but 6 of them lived in a neighborhood called Noche Buena, which from what I’ve heard is similar to La Carpio where we work on Thursdays. They loved talking, but they didn’t feel quite the same way about paying attention. And causing trouble? Their specialty. I was pretty discouraged to see them acting like that, and sadly it didn’t stop all week. They did, however, improve on their willingness to dance. They didn’t move on the first day while we sang and danced in the crowd, but once they heard the threat to make them sing and dance on stage, they started busting out all the dance moves they had from the pews. The only time they were calm was when they did their word-searches (they’re called “sopa de letras” in Spanish, which means “letter soup”. I just think that’s funny). Even though I didn’t see any improvement, I can’t see into the hearts of those little guys. Maybe something they heard this week will stick with them so that they can take it back to Noche Buena. Please be praying for their well-being in their homes. I don’t know any details about any of them, but I could see enough that they don’t haven’t grown up in homes with a solid Godly foundation.

This is my friend Vero. She was hilarious and so patient when I didn't understand her Spanish! She and I were in a constant tickle war for the week... She didn't really tickle anyone, though. It was more poking my sides.

On Wednesday and Thursday we went out into the community. Wednesday we went out to the UCR campus and played basketball. “Played” might be a stretch… I played one game, shot 5 times (and missed every time), then watched the rest of the games. The university students we played with were hilarious and had no idea how to play basketball, so at least we were on the same page. On Thursday we went to an albergue (like an orphanage, but the kids are there because they were taken from their homes). We all partnered up as soon as we got there to make balloon animals. I was with a girl named Leticia who was really quiet, but so nice. We had no idea what to make, and we decided leaving them straight and calling them snakes wasn’t good enough, so we tied them together to make a heart last minute. Then we went inside and had snacks and drinks, then sang some songs. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would! Hopefully whenever we go back to visit, we can go there and see everyone again! The afternoons out in Turrialba were short, but I really liked getting to see other places!

I stayed with a young couple whose names were Lynn and Manfred. They lived close to the church in a cute little apartment. Lynn’s brother Luis Daniel is staying with them while their mom is in the US and he very generously let me sleep in his room for the week (gracias, Luis!). Since we were at church all day, we didn’t spend much time in the apartment, but I got to practice quite a bit of Spanish! Manfred taught me TONS of “costaricenseismos” (CostaRicanisms) that I could use. Fun fact: they also say “it’s raining cats and dogs”. I can also call people sassy and a few other random things that I probably won’t end up using, but oh well. It’s fun to know!

About half of the GAP students went to the VBS, and after that week, I feel like we bonded more than we would have in a week at the Villa. It was just a really fun week of hanging out and getting to know each other more. We also learned new kids songs and dances (and that’s always something to bond over). There will be a video on Facebook soon with all the funny video clips I got while we were there!

Prayer Requests: 

-Noche Buena kids. There were about 50 of them. They live in some crazy home situations.

-One of the girls in my group, Vilma. I don’t know her story, but there were always three girls around her. One on either side and one either in front or behind of her. And it wasn’t like a middle-school girl clique where some girl was escorted by her posse, though. They looked like they were guarding her. She was really quiet and sweet, but something was wrong with how the other girls stood around  her.

-Tomás. We went to Cosechas one day and while we waited outside, we talked to a very drunk man named Tomás for about half an hour. He spoke English and we tried asking him where he learned, but he was too far gone to give an answer that made any sense. One of my friends tried to ask him about what his beliefs in God were and told him that he doesn’t have to suffer or cope like this, but still he gave no answer. At the end of the conversation, he said he would stop drinking, but the chances of that are slim. Just pray that God brings someone to share Jesus with him when he’s sober so he can be fully present in the conversation.

-Focus. Now that we’ve left Turrialba, it’s easy to wish we could go back. It was fun, relaxing, and we felt like we learned a lot. Coming back to the Villa is nice, but there was something so peaceful about a small group in a quieter town. Also, it’s easy to be distracted by what’s going on at home with my family and friends. I want to enjoy these next few months completely!