Day 1b: Llegamos :)

a.k.a. (Rusty) and (Disorganized), but Successful and Blessed.

Looks like we made it! Look how far we've come - ok, that's enough Shania Twain.

It's taken me a couple of tries to blog this blog. I feel very rusty in many ways, including rambly, word-vomit story-telling (which doesn't seem like a thing that one would get rusty in, but hey).

So, as you start to read and follow and pray for this trip, I want to start with a disclaimer and warning: This trip is not nearly as organized and well-executed as it has been previous years. Maybe those of you who have come before laughed at that, but hey. 

(it's about to get real)

Though this past year has been one of the best years of my life, it's also been really hard in a lot of ways (mostly self-inflicted, lol). I think when it comes to ministry, God has been realigning my heart, but the fruit of that is that for the majority of this ministry-year, I've been ministry-depressed. It's just been harder to motivate myself to stay all-the-way-on-top of things. Still been getting stuff done though, by God's grace. 

That gets combine with the fact that this year I am leading the team by myself. The last 2 years, Katie co-led the team with me, and brought a lot of drive and excellence to the work. So, this year, I'm re-learning the ropes, as it were. 

Well, that was a pre-tangent.

So, after spending the morning doing a bunch of last-minute prep work (some people packing, some people laundry, some people going to the bank, some people cleaning, some people hanging out with their fiancée....), our team met at the choficina at 1 PM to load up and head out. I hadn't advertised the send-off (organization), so there wasn't a big crowd, but after some milling around (rusty), we had a really encouraging prayer time and loaded up. 

A big thank you to Doug Walton for agreeing last-minute (yesterday) to help drive us to the airport. I meant to line up someone a long time ago, but (organization). Doug's car went directly to the terminal, whereas Evan's car went to a pre-paid parking lot, since the 1-week team will need his car there to drive back.

We found each other in the terminal, and after some initial uncertainty (rusty), we all got checked in and drifted in clumps (organization) through security and to our gate. 

Tangent: I like to pack light, and take an inordinate amount of pride in that ability. So, when we come to Costa Rica, I wear my bigger, heavier clothes and pack my lighter clothes. 

By the time we were at security, I was kinda sweaty (warm clothes), and triggered the scanny machine, so the poor TSA agent had to frisk me to make sure I wasn't hiding anything. I even got swabbed for GSR!

So, we walked to the gate together, and set our stuff down. I sent the team to get some late lunch and we chilled til the plane was ready, and loaded up. 

I love Southwest Airlines. They're my favorite. Southwest Airlines seating system is first-checked-in-online, first-seated. I forgot to check our team in yesterday and did it at 4:30 this morning, so we were pretty late in the seating order (organization), but we still somehow got seats together in the back of the plane, and I even got to sit by Alexis for the flight (blesssed!).

We landed around 7:30 Costa Rica time (-1 hr from Texas), unloaded, headed to immigration. Costa Rica's immigration is not unfriendly. They mean business though. They only really want to know a few things: 1. Why are you here? 2. How long are you staying? 3. Where are you staying? Generally, if you can give them those answers, they're super chill. But, if you don't have an answer, they get a little sticky. 

So, to prepare for this, we like to have proof of our return tickets and the address for our Airbnb on hand, so we can tell them our answers. I forgot, however, to write down the actual address of our Airbnb for the team (organization), so we were an annoyance to the immigration officers, but they stamped us all through eventually. I really felt the Spanish rust today, though I've been practicing some. I am so grateful for Matthew and Sheryl in terms of Spanish fluency and for Izzy in terms of Spanish go-for-it-ness

Ana Raquel picked us up via a bus service and some random guy named Abel helped us load our baggage onto the bus (for a little propina). We came to the amazing Airbnb that the Diaz-Alvarez family had for us and got settled in a little, then walked to Taco Bell to get dinner (blessed).

The team dynamic has felt a little weird, since I feel a little rusty in group leadership. It's now been a full year since I've led any group in anything. I'm excited to see how our team comes together as time goes on, and as I find my role in leading this group under the Holy Spirit's leadership.

It's such a blessing to be here with Alexis, y'all. I can't tell you how sweet it feels to get to sit next to her at things, and hold her hand as we walk. She's so fantastic.

Tomorrow we're going to jump in head-first and do a bunch of stuff, so pray for us!

PRAYER PLZ

-for our team to walk closely with God

-for God's continued blessing and provision

-for me to shake off any rust

-for God to bless the work we do tomorrow

-for good connections to the Ohio Team and the H@ngout students