Day 47: Sex Jokes and Weed

(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 center of the market area. We were meeting Jose (Yisus) to go to his English classes and meet his students. 

Talking with the students was a lot of fun. They seemed to really enjoy (and Yisus said they were very helped by) practicing with native speakers. We talked about a lot of stuff. In the classroom Andrew and I ended up in, we got to talk a little bit about our relationship with God and how important it was to our lives, which was really encouraging and was received...well enough. 

This lasted for a little over 2 hours, then we walked to get pizza and drinks for H@ngout while James, Matthew, and Katie went to get some supplies from Office Depot. 

We joined up with Lagos, Ana Raquel, and Esther at Little Caesar's, where we learned there would no longer be a funeral this afternoon (the family just wanted to get the body back home to Nicaragua). While we waited for the Hot and ...Ready Pizzas, we chatted and chilled. I asked everyone there if they could pick one emoji that sums up their personality, what would it be? Mine was 😅

Whoops, just took a 7 minute Discord break there. Hey, I'm back. 

Pizzas were now Ready and Hot, we carried them to campus (very close), where we un-split our Party and chilled while some students showed up. Fewer people came than expected (because finals), and we had a pretty good amount of leftover pizza afterwards. But, we had some good conversations and got to hangout without any need to leave early. 

Then, Lagos saw some random students walking by, and offered them pizza. So, they came and sat with us and he talked to them about H@ngout and Love and God and invited them to follow them on Instagram so that they could come next semester if their schedules allowed it. One of the guys was named Jason, and he has a cool hat and shoes. His shirt had a frocket on it, and we had a really magical moment: I threw a bean and it landed in his frocket, then he threw it back and it landed in my frocket. So, pretty sure that was divine intervention, lol. 

They left and we still had two full pizzas left. One of the girls invited us to come to hang out in her student group's lounge or something and we ended up chilling there with them until around 8:30. We ate all the pizza! Also, we played Cards Against Disney, which is 100% Cards Against Humanity, but Disney themed. It's still every bit as sexual, just...focused on children's cartoon characters. Our group did a good job of discarding the dirty cards and redrawing, but not everyone shared that sentiment, so a few things still came out pretty beyond my comfort zone. 

After we finished that game, I very quickly suggested a different one, and we played several rounds of Deluxe Werewolf. The werewolves won every time; except the time that I was a werewolf, lol. 

Eventually, the group shrank down and the people that were still there drifted into groups and talked. I overheard the other group a little, as a student carefully explained all of the benefits of weed to them. He shared about how it had immediately cured a friend of his of many diseases and laid out all the laws in Costa Rica. 

That is so very college ministry. Also, a really good opportunity to connect well with students and meet them where they are at, while having a different standard and lifestyle. For a lot of the evening, I had a Spanish worship song stuck in my head, and it just struck me intensely the difference that true hope, true peace, true community, and true purpose have made in my life. I deeply hope that as Lagos and Ana Raquel have now gotten to step more deeply inside the real lives of these students, the light of Christ will shine through them and their students in a way that draws others to Him. And I believe it will. When we are willing to leave the church building and meet people with love and truth in their zone, powerful things can happen. 

Eventually, we realized how late it was and decided to grab dinner before we headed home. There was a Peruvian restaurant across from the campus. It was delicious. We ate ceviche and corazon de res, and some really delicious salsa...it was a really good team moment. 

We finally got home around 10 PM (i think) and everyone pretty immediately headed towards bed. We have an early start tomorrow and probably a long day again.

Not being sleepy, I felt really blessed to get to message Alexis for a little while. Still feels like a long time until I will be back home, but little connection moments make it work. 

I went for a run, as you already know. Wednesdays are 5k days. I ran my 5k in 28:09, which is about 20 seconds faster than last time! At that rate, I will definitely not reach my (seemingly overly ambitious) goal before we leave, but that's ok. I think I have 2 more times 5ks here before I leave. The run felt ok, I walked once, but not very far, so I can't blame my time on that.

My brother emailed me! He and his wife are about to have their second daughter! By about to, I mean, like, NOW. It may have already happened.

There's a Daddy Longlegs on my roof. No, ceiling. They're called ceilings on the inside, Sam. 

There's a Daddy Longlegs on my ceiling! I didn't know they lived here. Hello! I am going to squish you when I am done typing if you're still here!

PRAYERS PLEASE
-for us to walk in step with the Spirit

-for my brother and his wife who are having a baby, like NOW
-for good team dynamics
-for us to rely on God and lean into him
-for the kids who lost their mom
-for a great party day with the CDI kids
-for our team to feel God's hand on them
-for our team in The Balkans!
-for yourself, to hear what God is wanting to say to you

A not-inappropriate card!

There were actually a lot of pictures taken today, but I haven't been sent them yet. Will probs post when I do get them.

I think he's a real spider, only got 8 legs and has 2 body segments and is making a web.

Squish.