Costa Rica STT

(a.k.a. college ministry) Looking forward to watching that  title get a lot more reads than usual, lol. Ok, 11:22 PM, let's do this! Probably won't be a short write.  Actually, before I write this, I still need to go for a run, and my head is full of a really weird cocktail of negative and positive thoughts. They will be much better sorted and communicable post run. Ok, 1:11 AM, let's do this! Now, before you judge me too harshly for how long that took, I got ready to run, went for a run, stretched, worked out a little more, then waited for the couple in front of our house (neighbors) to stop making out, went inside and sat in the doorway to cool down, took a luxurious shower, sent some messages, then came back to this post. So, not a bad 2 hours, productivity-wise. Today started out ok. I woke up many minutes before my alarm and left my room. Then, later, after my wake-up time, went back to my room and got ready. We Uber'd to Heredia , arriving around 8:30 AM in the ce...

There were a lot of good things about today. A lot of really good things about today. But, sometimes, a day just isn't really good anyway.  I'll skip right to it; one of the single moms of two of the CDI kids (the two whose names I finally got recently) passed away today. I'm not fixing to put their story on display here, and I don't know a lot of details, but it's really sad. They spent the majority of the day at the CDI, at first in the bodega con Lagos, Ana Raquel, y Georgen , because they feel very loved and supported by them. For the second session, they came and existed around the other kids in the CDI, generally looking dazed.  The church here is doing a really beautiful job of supporting these guys and their more distant family in the middle of this. There will be a memorial service tomorrow, all planned and organized today by the church here. Mourning with those who mourn is one of the deepest and hardest forms of love. The only harder form of love, in my o...

Ok, time is 10:08 (notably divisible by 9). I was once, long ago, asked how long it takes me to write my blog. I didn't really know, but gave an estimate. Let's find out.  Good day. Please Pray. The End. Ok, only 1 minute, yay! Ha. Ha. Ha.  Woke up marginally late today at 9:27 and went for a run. Today was a 3-miles day and it went ok. Ok, some time lost there, I just took a break from writing to check my running schedule and update it with my green square. Still no reds! Running may have been a good idea. I've been coughing ever since. (I see you, body...don't fight me, we're tryna be friends. Remember the decade of all soda and almost no water?) Yes, I just threatened myself. Anyway, run went ok, except the aforementioned coughing thing. It started raining as I finished, so I didn't stretch or do anything else though. Tomorrow is rest, but I kinda want to run some more. I won't have time though, and Wednesday is another time-myself 5k.  Ok, so I ran. Got ...

Can I just say, when a "definitely less than 5 minutes" phone conversation is almost 35 minutes long; you probably like talking to that person.  Ok, today Andrew, James and I decided to join in the weekly futbol  game at the Sabana  park. Mateo ha enviado un mensaje a Tony , to invite him, but we never heard back, which was sad since we really want to get him connected to the church here. So, I got up at 8:01, to leave by 8:10, and we did. As we reached the end of our little cul-de-sac, I heard, "¡ Oye, Sam, oye! " It was Tony ! He came with us to play. We walked to the park, and I tried to navigate conversation between the 4 of us, where 1 person spoke Spanish fluently, but not English, 2 spoke English, but not Spanish, and I speak some of both, but definitely more English.  We got there and had a huge crew today. 16 or 17 people came. I learned that Saul y Justin 's dad is named Abel , not Josue  (*sigh*, now i have to wonder if i've ever called him Josue ...

I'm in a room with 4 other guys right now. It feels strange and really cool. Our women are at a retreat this weekend, so today was just me hanging out with myself, but now we've picked up our 3-man team and they're here with me! We will now be a 7-person team, though I realized yesterday that we only have 6 chairs at our kitchen table, since two of them were at risk of breaking and Doña Helen  took them away to fix them. I woke up today and walked into the living room to see if anything was needed of me before the girls left. It wasn't, so I went back to bed. I woke up 5 minutes after my 9:36 alarm, which was a real blessing, since I needed to be at the CDI at 10:00! I would have felt terrible if I slept through my alarm and they couldn't get it. Thanks, Jesus.  I dreamed last night about a Fellowship-Church-wide game of capture the flag, where I kept trying to chase people down and tag them. Some people managed to dodge me last-minute (way to go, Garret), but I cau...

Pacing was weird today. It was a very slow and fast day.  Ooh, actually that's how my run went, too. I woke up and went for a 3-mile run today. I'm in a weird in-between spot where 3 miles isn't a long run, but it's not easy either. So, I yo-yoed my pace too much and ended up walking a bit. But, it was a good workout still. Hopefully, I'll be stretched out enough for my run tomorrow to go well.  After running and showering, I did laundry and chilled for a while, then decided I would clean just my room. Our plan was to clean together as a team when everyone was back. So, I cleaned my room. Then, I thought, maybe I'd just sweep the outside clothes-drying room. And then just the living room. I ended up cleaning most of the house, which was very cathartic and relaxing. There's something spiritual about taking a room that's messy or dirty and working it until it is clean and organized. Cleaned, ate some leftovers for lunch, watched some Ted Lasso as a team. T...

Shorter and shorter posts, but still posting, lol. Today was a tired day. 7:20 start. Woke up with an hour-old text from Izzy saying she had a headache and didn't feel good, asking if she could rest today (obvs, yes). So, Katie and I loaded up the macaroni and cheese (and some sandwich supplies, because it didn't feel like enough) and headed to the CDI. Lagos and Ana Raquel were opening it up when we got there (so good to have them back!), so we got everything ready, chatted a bit, and then the kids started showing up.  We had a small crew for the first session today, which was nice. We did need to use the sandwiches to supplement the mac and cheese though. Also today, a lot of the early group didn't have school because one of their teachers was sick or something. So, several of the kids stayed later and there was some overlap between the two groups. In that space, Katie went to get more sandwich supplies so that there would be enough food for everyone.  The devotional time...

Pretty good day today. Though I'm posting late, so we'll see how in-depth we go.  Lagos y Ana Raquel han regresado , which is dope. It's very nice to have them back! We still were "in charge" of H@ngout today, because they wanted to see how we did it.  I woke up around 9:54, I think, and got out of bed eventually. Katie and Izzy made the pasta for H@ngout today; I went to find drinks, forks, napkins, and some bread to go with it. I did not find bread. As I walked, I practiced my testimony, because it was advocated for me to share mine today.  We got to H@ngout late, which is kind of our norm. I was casually freaking out a little on our drive over. I really dislike getting places late naturally. I really, really dislike getting places late when I'm in charge of something or hosting it. I really, really, really dislike getting places late when I'm in charge of something and being observed in how I do it. Not that Lagos and Ana Raquel are, like, fixing to jud...

We got to the CDI early today! I was worried, since we're the ones who are opening it up right now, since Georgen esta en Honduras . She's doing a training for CDI leaders put on (and funded, i think) by the hub church in Honduras . I almost spent a summer in Honduras , doing Honduras LT. I went to Monterrey  though (and I'm very glad I did - it changed my life), because I was asked. Do you ever wonder about decisions like that? Ones that are Big and both options are Good? What in my life would have been different? Better and worse? It's very freeing, being able to trust in God. Otherwise, I would actually go crazy when I had to make big decisions. Anyway, those are my unsolicited thoughts on my life as concerns Honduras . I woke up at 7:20 today, which felt early. It only felt early because I've been casually drifting back towards nocturnality. I am, by nature, a morning person. If you're ever around me in the morning after I've had semi-decent sleep, pleas...

Today was aight. I stayed up far later last night than I should have, so I slept in pretty late. But, I still got a little time with God this morning, and I had already swapped my Monday run for my Tuesday rest, so I had no urgency. Katie wasn't feeling well, so Matthew, Izzy and I brainstormed a bit about the devotional/discipleship time for the kids today and came up with something much better than the bones I had.  We walked to the CDI a little early, because we wanted to check on our tree. One of the branches had drooped a little, but by-and-large, it was ok. Izzy fixed the branch, but we decided to get duct tape after our time at the CDI today. I felt nervous for today, because it was just going to be Izzy, Matthew, and I, with Doña Maria  and however many kids decided to come. But! Esther  came today. She even came early. Also, Reychel  was there, too. I don't know why, but I just figured if Georgen  was gone, she would be too. Also, only 8 kids came today...

There probably won't be a lot of flavor to this post - ok, that's not meant to be a pun - what I mean is, it probably won't be super interesting, since I'm kind of not in the mood to listen to myself type. Not in a negative way, just in a "mostly bored with my own brain" way.  It was a really good day. We got to have breakfast today with Tannia 's family today! They invited us over for Gallo Pinto , and we got to spend the morning hanging out and talking with them. It was an amazing breakfast and a phenomenal conversation. We got to spend time with Don Rodrigo  ( Don  and Doña , from my understanding, are used to show respect, but in a friendly way? Less formal than "Mr.", but still respectful), who both looks and sounds a lot like his son, Rodrigo . Tannia  had a partido de futbol  that was pretty important today, and it was Father's Day, but they had us over anyway, which was really sweet. They are a really kind family.  This was a weird Fa...

Did you know that the fox in Sonic the Hedgehog is named Miles? Tails is a nickname...because...tails. His real name is Miles Prower. I grew up reading it, then you say it out loud and roll your eyes. I bet you really wanted to know that. I share that, simply because I walked a lot today and it came to my mind. Anyway. I woke up today and went for a run. I ran 5 miles! It was much harder during the day than it had been at night. Something about the sun. But, I lived. I did walk a couple of times, sadly. Final goal will be to run all 5 during the day, without walking, without distracting myself with music. There's levels, ya know? After I ran my 5 miles, I stretched (always stretch) and sat and drank water and then showered. Then I walked another mile and a half to and from the AM/PM to get some saldo . Apparently, Movistar , the stalwart phone company, got bought out by a company called Liberty. Or, I guess, Liberty . Sounds French when I try to say it in Spanish. I saw Manny  agai...

You're all very lucky, you narrowly missed a Bon Jovi reference for the title. But, we are living on prayers, so please keep praying for us. So, last night I went for a walk. I decided I would head over to the AM/PM and maybe get a sandwich or something, but it was closed. So, I kept walking to the park and then past the park and found an open McDonald's. I got a burger and sat and listened to music until they closed and then went home and went to bed. I'm not sure why I did. I think I just wasn't ready for sleep yet. Sometimes I wonder if nights when I don't want to go to bed would be better spent praying instead of walking around or watching TV. It might even be seen as an invitation to do so, because all three times it's been extreme on this trip, I think there's been spiritual warfare happening in other people's lives. Anyway, we walked to the CDI today and made a tree. We've been memorizing 1 Corintios 13:4-7  (italics because i pronounced that ...