Living Intentionally

(This is my house in Shiroles. I love it!) 

I wasn't really sure what to expect with living in host family in Shiroles. 

It's not as "remote" and "poor" as I thought it was going to be in Shiroles. They live simply, but are not poor. They know how to live with what they have. The contrast between here and home is huge, though. While they live simply, largely in North America we live excessively. I have been enjoying living more simply. 

We are staying with one of the pastor's sons and his family. (Dad, mom, 8 year old son, and 14 year old sister of the mom). It has been so good living with them. Any expectations that I had have been completely blown out of the water. Their house is nice and clean and simple. I'm sharing a room with a girl from my team named Kelsey. Much to our surprise, our host family set up bug nets around the beds for us! Which was a relief because I wasn't sure how I was going to set up my big net since it didn't come with anything useful for hanging it. 

They are so welcoming to us and have told us that if we need anything we can just ask and they have really emphasized that we are a part of their family. 

We have been living with them for 5 days now and it's been interesting and a little challenging finding our place in the family. Slowly it's been becoming better, I think as we all become more accustomed to each other. Since we haven't started our volunteer work yet, we've been home all day just hanging out. Throughout the day I ask our mom if she needs help with anything and I've been able to help with cleaning the house and preparing meals with her. I also just ask her questions about she's making it about other things. Sometimes it can be a little awkward with the language barrier, but it keeps things interesting! 

We've gone on little adventures with our family, like visiting the school, going swimming in the river, and picking mamóns which are a type of fruit. 

(This is a mamón. Once you peel it, it looks and tastes like a large peeled grape.) 

On Saturday they brought us to a house where there were a lot of different families and kids. We were there for close to four hours. We ate lots of food and talked and laughed. Kelsey and I thought they were just hanging out, having some good community time. It wasn't until about a half hour before we left, they started singing "happy birthday". Then we realized we had been at a birthday party the whole time. Me and Kelsey had a good laugh about that, because it took us almost 4 hours to figure out why we were there! 

The other day our family told us that they were going to the church and we could come if we wanted to. So we went expecting a Bible study or something of the sort. We arrived at the church to find out that they had come to do yard work at the pastor's house. It turns out they are missionary pastors and we had the privilege of speaking English with white people who weren't on our team. I was very excited about this! While our host family helped them with their yard work, Kelsey helped the missionary daughter with her geometry and I helped Kathy (her mom) with frosting cupcakes. I was very happy with this arrangement since I am absolutely terrible with math! It was really good to spend the afternoon with them and to hear how God had called Kathy to be a missionary. 

These last 5 days with our host family have been really nice and relaxing, but I'm looking forward to starting our volunteer work! We will be helping at the public school, working in the kitchen and doing some gardening as well as helping at the local chocolate factory called "La Casa de Mujeres". 

Since we have had a lot of free time, I've also been able to do quite a bit of Bible ready and praying. God has been teaching me a lot! One of the big things that he has been teaching me is about being intentional. I've found that this is really important when you live with a family who doesn't speak the same language. It is true that my actions speak louder than my words and I am learning more about the importance of loving others with my actions. 

James 2:18 says, "But someone may well say 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'" 

If I believe that we need to love our neighbour as ourselves, then that should be seen through my actions. I want to reflect God's love through my actions and right now that means being ready and willing to help with anything, whether it's pulling chicken meat off the bones, cutting up vegetables or sweeping and mopping the floors. It's not always easy for me to have a ready and willing heart to serve others. I've had to ask God to help me with that, because often times I want to be selfish and don't want to help. But I know that this is important and it's something that I want to grow in. So it's a good thing that our Father is the ultimate teacher and he is just waiting for us to ask him to teach us. 

In short, the jungle is great and in learning lots! 

As always, thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers! 

The Beginnings of Jungle Life

(This the where have been staying at the church in Shiroles and where we will be staying on the weekends for debriefing and team time.) 

Our time in San Jose has come to a close. I was so blessed by our host family! Our host mom made sure that we felt like we were at home. She always asked us if we needed anything or if we needed a change with something. She had a true servant heart. 

On Saturday we travelled by bus to the jungle. There were a number of hiccups along the way, but God never ceased to amaze me in how He provided for us all the way to Shiroles. 

Our journey started off with our group being dropped off at the wrong bus depot. We ended up asking a series of very helpful people along the way for directions. We eventually made it through a very sketchy part of town to the correct bus station. I was so relieved. It was a lot easier to find the other bus station than I thought it was going to be! We then went to buy our tickets, only to discover that the bus we needed to take to Bribri was already full! Thankfully there was another option! We ended up buying the last 7 tickets for a bus that went to Puerto Viejo first and then to Bribri. Although this was a minor set back, Puerto Viejo was right on the beach, so we got to have some beach time! It all turned out great; we were all so excited to go to the beach that it didn't even matter that we had to wait an extra hour! The beach and the ocean were beautiful. It was a really nice time to just be able to relax and marvel at all the beauty. 

After about an hour in Puerto Viejo, we took a bus to Bribri where we waited for two taxis to happen to drive by so we could make it to our final destination, the church in Shiroles. It seemed more likely that one group would have to go ahead of the other, while the second group waited for another taxi. This would have been interesting because only our leader knew where the church was. But much to our delight a taxi truck stopped for us and agreed to take all 7 of us at the same time! We all made it to the church together, safe and sound. It was really awesome and reassuring to see that all day God was providing for us. 

Yesterday we went to church and I was absolutely blown away. The little congregation is filled with a passionate love for Christ. It was amazing for me to see this and to be a part of the body of Christ in the little village in the jungle. I am among people who know God and are being romanced by His great love for them. 

Tomorrow we will be moving in with our host families! I am very excited to start living with them and getting to know them! I am looking looking forward to all that God will be doing in me, in my team and in the people in the community!! 

Pura Vida!

With this being my first post from Costa Rica, I have so much to tell! First, the country is just as beautiful as I remember. Everything is lush and green with mountains in the distance in seemingly all directions. 

Second, I am loving the Spanish. Even though my brain feels over loaded at times. We have been taking Spanish classes at the Costa Rican Language Academy and it has been excellent! I have a great teacher and I have been learning a lot as well as taking fun classes like dance and cooking! We have three weeks of Spanish classes in total and next week is our last week. But before I get ahead of myself, let's go back to the beginning of my time in CR:

 

We started our Costa Rica experience by being picked up by our team leader and promptly going to McDonalds. Once our hunger was satisfied, we went to a hostel where we stayed for two nights. Shortly after arriving at the hostel, we realized that all 7 of us would be staying in the same room... there's no better way to get to know your new team than that! Our first full day in CR we explored the downtown area of San Jose. It definitely feels good to be back! In the beginning I couldn't believe that I was actually back in Costa Rica. Even today I was thinking about it as we were riding the bus to the language academy. I had the whisper of a dream tucked in my heart that I might return to Costa Rica. And now I am living in the reality of that dream. What I had hoped would one pass, is actually happening right now. Because God is a good Father who loves to give good gifts to His children. 

As I have been reading my Bible and spending time with God over the past few weeks, I have seen lots of patterns and connections. (Please read John 15 and Romans 15:1-7) 

God has been teaching more about the importance of loving one another as Jesus loved us as well as the importance of accenting one another. I think to have a unified community it is essential to love one another as well as accept on another. This frees everyone to be who God created them to be, instead of constantly feeling like they need to justify themselves. By loving and accepting others, we affirm the truth that they have value and worth and that who they are and what they like matters. When we love one another well, we are also looking out for their best interests and putting their needs ahead of our own. I love Romans 15:2. "Let each one of us make it a practise to please (make happy) his neighbour for this is good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually]." 

It is my prayer that God will teach me how to love well. It is also my prayer that Psalm 63:1 will be the posture of my heart. 

"O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." 

Feel free to email (jayda.hooge@gmail.com) or message me in Facebook! 

God bless you and thanks for reading! 

Jayda