Day 19: Improvements

Moses, it's late. I need to write my email soon. I meant to tonight, but I don't think I'll have time.

It rained a lot today. It rained hard today. 

Woke up this morning at 7:56 AM (i like to set alarms to numbers that are divisible by 9), to have time for a morning run before we walked to the park to worship together at 9. I decided that I didn't care anymore and would let today be a red square in my google spreadsheet. So I went back to sleep until 8:55. 

I woke up and we walked to a medium-sized park near our house and Matthew led us in some worship. We walked back to the apartment, and Katie made the mac and cheese for H@ngout. We hopped in an Uber and rode to Heredia, got to campus a little late, but everyone was chill about it (pura vida). We should have gotten more mac and cheese, but there was enough for everyone to have some, and the chips made for a decent meal. Lagos brought me 3 hats today to help protect my poor little coco, and I chose one that says Toledo on it. I sent a picture to Doug. 

I got to have good conversation today with Isaac, and Lagos shared some fantastic truth about how the purpose of H@ngout and what he expected of and hoped for the students that came. Love. Love is what it is about. Providing opportunity for students to experience God's love in a non-religious context. The things he shared today have the door wide open for gospel conversations with the H@ngout students. Lagos and Ana Raquel also gave out buttons to all the students that say "Love is the Way." H@ngout exists on instagram if you want to see pictures of all the students, btw.

After H@ngout, we walked across the street to get bubble tea. I got to talk more with Isaac, and found out he is a twin, which is pretty cool. I learned the Spanish word for triplet is trillizo, (or trilliza, if you're a girl and a triplet). Twin is gemelo, but I already knew that word. I like Isaac, I hope we get to talk more. But, as we were talking, it started  p o u r i n g  about 2 minutes after I said, "huh, I guess the clouds were just joking and it won't rain today." Isaac had his computer in his backpack, so he sought shelter. 

We walked back to campus and sat under our normal post-H@ngout overhang for a while. Once the rain eased up a little, we walked over to a new coffee shop Lagos wanted to scope out and talked and talked. I had limonada, which is Spanish for limeade. Don't get it twisted. It was really good. It was really tangy. 

After the post-post-H@ngout hangout, we Uber'd back to Chepe to get ready for dinner and rest. Not necessarily in that order. 

Shoot, I need to hurry if I want to get this posted before midnight (a.k.a. tomorrow, but still today).

Our Uber driver was super friendly and I really enjoyed talking to him. He talked a lot. We talked about language and motorcycle licensing in Costa Rica vs. Texas and travel and God speaking to us....the usual. It was great. 

We needed some supplies (including some maybe medicine for Katie, who isn't feeling great), so I ran to the store, then came back. I read a bunch while Matthew cooked.

Matthew planned to make dinner tonight since Tony, a guy he met, was going to come to dinner. Tony couldn't make it, but Mateo still cooked. It took like 3 hours and - for me - it was worth every minute he put into it, lol. It was amazing. Homie can cook. After dinner, Izzy and I did dishes and talked about the gospel and H@ngout. She had some great questions and insight. I'm super proud of this team, y'all, dang.

After after dinner, everyone kinda disappeared. I got to talk on the phone with Alexis for a little while, which was lovely. I'm super bad a t phone conversations, y'all. Like, if I've ever talked to you on the phone, just know, I felt weird. I don't know why. Maybe I feel like I need to be able to scope out non-verbal cues to read someone in a conversation? I think maybe that's important because I try really hard to be in sync with people when I talk to them. I'm sure there's some fear or insecurity motivation in there. Anyway, we got to talk. 

Afterwards, I did something that I'm not sure if it was wise or not. I went running. I ran to the park I normally run in, and it was really, really dark. I'm not particularly afraid of getting mugged or whatever, but I decided not to run in the park because it looked sketchy. So I ran around, listening to Kendrick still (my mp3 player decided to work again?). Now I'm back, sweaty, a little dehydrated, but green box for today in my google sheet. 

I don't think I'm going to put any rambly thoughts or send an email tonight. 

PRAYER
-for us to walk in step with the Spirit
-for us to live unashamed of the gospel
-for good opportunities and good responsiveness with the H@ngout students
-for wisdom in loving the CDI kids
-for Lagos and Ana Raquel to be blessed
-for good team dynamics
-for Katie to get better soon

Walking in the rain with the homies

Worship in the park

Esther and Ana Raquel post-H@ngout

Me in a hat and rain-proofed

Button for the H@ngout homies

Man these pictures are blurry. Is it me or the camera?

Anyway, POSTED BEFORE MIDNIGHT, BOOM.