Costa Rica, Week 2

This week I felt like I had a lot more direction that last week. I have a better idea of what I'm going to be doing. It's still going to take a while for things to start coming together, but at least I didn't feel like I was just wasting time sitting around.

One of the goals given me was to strengthen the church's relationship with ECU, the equivalent of InterVarsity in Costa Rica. So, Tuesday I met with a guy who attend my church who is also the general secretary for all of ECU in Costa Rica. We had a great time. I described to him what the Grove City chapter of IV is like and he described to me what ECU is like. ECU actually exists in high schools here as well as in universities, which I think is pretty cool. Campus Crusade for Christ and Navigators and a few other Christian ministries exist in Costa Rica as well, but haven't gotten much beyond the UCR (University of Costa Rica). So, ECU pretty much has the monopoly on student ministries.

We decided that we want to have an activity with the young people from church to tell them about ECU and get them involved in it. YAAY! Something concrete to plan! And this is the cool thing-the youth that get involved in a ministry like ECU are strengthened and get experiences and training that they might not be able to get through their church. So, they grow in their faith, are involved in ministry, and become stronger and more mature spiritually and can thus contribute more back to their church. So, that was really fun and exciting for me.

On a side note, the guy I met with also basically asked me to be a staff worker at the local public university. Gotta love Latin America! Being on staff here is just a volunteer thing and isn't near as intense or demanding as being on staff in the States (God bless you IV staff, I love you!). But, I know it's more than would be wise for me to take on right now. I would like to attend some meetings though and support them as a chapter. I do have a lot of experience that I could and would like to share with them, but I don't want to leap in just yet.

I had another great meeting with someone on Thursday afternoon. This guy basically runs 3 ministries-one for men who feel like they've been burned by the church, a hiking group (yeah hiking!!!), and a kids field day camp thing. It was so beautiful to see this guy's passion to serve the Lord and tell other people about Jesus. He showed me a whole bunch of pictures and everything. It was great! I'm hoping I'll get to help out with one of his kid's days next month.

I'm feeling pretty settled in at the Viera's. It's nice to have a mostly set routine. We're all coming and going all the time, but I have had time and meals with everyone, and it's been really fun. It's so good to be with these people in real life instead of hearing from them over the internet every so many weeks! Last night was really special. I've posted before about the Vieras and their Friday night tradition. Well, it continues. I've been praying for the Vieras every Friday night for about 2 years now, even though I'd only spent 3 Fridays with them. So to be with them last night was so beautiful and special. They're telling people about their new adopted gringa daughter/sister. It's so sweet.

I also feel like I'm getting to know some other people at church better. It's really fun to be with the other ladies who work at church (receptionists/lady who cleans). And there is one family from church that is really sweet and I feel like I'm really connecting with the wife/mom.

So, there's a brief picture of life this week. (jaja! Brief.) This is a good outlet for me to share what's going on. Thanks for reading!