Day 22: Getting it Backwards

I think tomorrow will also start early.

Look, I'll get around to talking about today, but we're currently going in reverse chronological order. Ooh, that's fun; it's like announcements at HG. Let's do that.

Tomorrow, we're getting lunch with Tannia's familia, but before that, Izzy and I are going to go play futbol con Lagos y....well, not really sure who all. I think they do this every Sunday, and he wanted to include us. But, as you obviously know, tomorrow, my inflexible running plan that I have created for myself says that I am supposed to run 4 miles. It's a big jump. 33% jump from my here-to-fore longest scheduled run in Costa Rica. So, I don't want to push it back or so it after playing futbol, so I'm going to do it before, like a moron. I will be worthless during any sport activity afterwards, lol. Lo siento, Lagos, I hope I don't embarrass you too badly in front of any friends who may or may not be there. 

Tonight, I will go to bed. I may do the Wordle first, to redeem myself after yesterday. I will very likely send some flirtatious messages to Alexis over Discord. 

Before that, though, I will have typed this blog post. I just watched Ragnarok with the team, which was a lot of fun. Such a great movie. Taika Waititi (whose name may not be spelled thus), is an excellent director. We watched the movie after eating dinner, which was pretty decent, considering.

I cooked tacos tonight. I didn't really know what I was doing. I just turned some red and bloody meat into cooked meat and put some really random spices into it while it was cooking. I enjoy chopping up vegetables, though our knife is not very good. But, that also means I don't accidentally cut off my fingers when I cut things poorly. Anne, if you're reading this, I am sorry. I have retained some of what you taught me, but am still not very good at it. Also, I was thinking about my family today and I miss them. They're a real blessing to me and I am very, very grateful they are my family. 

Before cooking, we watched a differenter movie, though I was really only 70% awake. It was Batman vs. Superman, and it was better than I remembered. I didn't say it was good, mind you, but definitely better than I give it credit for. We watched it while Matthew went for a walk and caught up with a friend of his, who is also a member of the church here, named Gustavo. Gustavo is an interesting guy; he travels a lot doing various kinds of ministry-y things. He's taking seminary classes and has a lot of cool thoughts and insights into things. I don't really know what to make of him though; like, I can't get a feel for his vibe, w/e that is supposed to mean. But I've also been tired and distracted both times we've interacted.

Basically, I was pretty out of it after the things we did today. Before we watched the movie, we went grocery shopping because we were already in the area. It was pretty darn efficient today. We got in and out quickly. We had made our list and plans for the week while munching on sandwiches (and a pizza) at Quiznos. 

Quiznos ended up being our lunch spot because it was right next to the CDI, and we wanted to go to the grocery store, but needed to make our list and needed to eat lunch. But, we knew that if we had gone home to eat, we would have waited until Sunday to get groceries. Better to ride the momentum train and get everything done. 

My computer scrolls through background and screen-saver pictures. I have a folder on my computer that I put fun HG or life pictures into and it randomly picks from them and rotates through. As I was typing, the picture was Benji and Taylor dressed up as Christmas trees from the Lighthouse Christmas party. It made me miss the fun, goofy, Jesus-loving energy of our college homegroups. I was going to screenshot it, but it changed to the picture of Alexis and I eating pie in my backyard the morning I left for Costa Rica. It's the one that was in my prayer email this month. 

Tangent. 

Ok, we were at the CDI, which is close to Quiznos, because Georgen drove us there for a meeting. The meeting was with Lagos, Ana Raquel, Doña Maria, Georgen, our team, and a couple: Paul y Telma. Paul and Thelma run a Christian camp here in Costa Rica. They have a cool story of how God brought them to himself and brought them together and brought them to Costa Rica to do camp ministry. Speaking of Benji, he does camp stuff. He's probably doing camp stuff right now. Maybe take a minute and pray for all the summer camps happening this summer. There's lots of life change and lots of hard things that can happen at church camps. Power for good, power for hurt. Pray that God moves in power and blesses campers and counselors both. Anyway, we talked for a solid 2 hours about hopes and plans and structure and logistics of their camp. It sounds like it will be really cool. Someday before we go, I will probably lay it out in more detail for y'all.

We got to the CDI at 10:00 on the nose, because Georgen is cool and God worked things out. The gym we were at was actually down the street from the school that the CDI kids go to. I wonder how far we would have gotten if we walked before we realized where we were. 

The reason we were at a gym is because there was some kind of exhibition/inauguration/event/thing happening there. There were speakers and awards given out and snowcones and a clown and a band and some futbol teams made up of kids and the karate school and the Añoranzas dance team. We walked to that gym as part of a parade made up of the aforementioned groups. It was chaos and fun and really cool. It was really encouraging to see how woven into the life of the neighborhood and community the church is. The connections they have to the events and groups that are central to, and building up, this neighborhood are amazing. I'm so impressed by this church. 

The parade started at Parque Barrio Mexico. We didn't know it was a parade, but we were glad to come help and be part of it in any way we could. We walked to the park from our apartment, and didn't get lost, even though my Wayfinding skills are not on par with Matthew's. I was nervous we wouldn't get there in time, but the whole things started an hour late, so our 10 minutes early was sufficient, lol. I think our kids were very excited to see us and be seen by us in this different setting. If you know someone in one setting (HG, church, school, work, w/e), it unleashes a whole new dimension of connection to see them in a different setting (home, school, family, friends). This is part of why we love having homegroups in different people's houses; it feels more real. 

I got up pretty early today. My plan was wake up at 7:20 to leave by 7:30, but I got up at, like, 6:39 to make sure Matthew's alarm worked, and then went back to bed until 7:20. So, I'm pretty tired. I hope I survive my miles tomorrow. 

SREYARP
-for God to be glorified in the life of this church
-for my teaching Friday
-for rest for our team
-for me to get good time with God
-for gospel opportunities with the H@ngout students
-for the CDI kids to feel very seen and supported by this church
-for healthy team interactions (crazy)
-for us to move in rhythm with the Spirit (oooh, change-up)

Añoranzas Dance Team

CDI Karate Squad

Paul y Telma