At the end of another beautiful week, I can hardly believe that we have completed a month and a half of our journey here. I apologize again that is has been a long time since I have had time to write... I am spending less time on my computer and more time with the people that God has put in my life.
We had another great week of our regular schedule of class and volunteering and it's becoming obvious that we have grown exponentially in our language skills. Lindsay, Cole and I were talking the other day about how for the first time we can just listen and understand the conversation without having to intensely focus and hang on every word. There is a certain exhaustion that comes from working to understand and comprehend the Spanish language, 24-7.
This week 10 new German students arrived. Needless to say, of the 30 students already at the school, 27 of them are German and so 10 more Germans was just icing on the cake. I would just like everyone to know.... WE DON'T SPEAK GERMAN. Try being in another country, where you already don't quite speak the national language, and then hearing yet another language that makes NO sense. It's rather comical most days.
I give God the glory though for how He has allowed us to learn and grow and the incredible ways that He has answered prayers. My American house sister Rebecca and I have been spending a lot more time out every night, getting to know some of her friends better and God has opened some beautiful doors. We sat in our neighborhood bar "Malibu" the other night and God provided two opportunities to share Him with folks around me.
I am continuously amazed by His faithfulness. I have also learned that I daily forget and fail to look for the ways that He answers prayers, which only further propels me into this place that I don't need to be, and so when I finally open my eyes to the light that has been illuminating the outside my eyelids the whole time, I realize that God has been working His good and glory here all along and I chose to be blind to it. In praying for community the Lord has begun to bring people into our daily lives, people that challenge me to plant my feet even more firmly in the truth that grows daily in my heart. I am reminded that living "in" the world, means constantly fighting against living "of" the world, with the world. There is a dissonant harmony that exists because we are called to love, but not to settle, to be sowers of peace and righteousness, but not to succumb to the lies of sin and human nature.
We also journey out this week to the capital city of San Jose for the opening night of the National Guitar Festival in Costa Rica. It was one of my favorite experiences here so far... reminded me so much of being back at Brevard at a concert, or in Winston in the Steven's Center. As we sat down and waited before the concert began, the audience was asked to stand as the President of Costa Rica was seated. The President was there!!! He sat up in the front and he even got up to speak before the show started. That in itself was absolutely worth going to the concert. However, the music was nothing short of spectacular and brought me back to memories of watching my friends at school last spring. The performer was Jose Luis Martinez from Spain and he arranged or wrote all of the music that was played. Accompanied by an ensemble of brass and woodwinds, I was in heaven. One of the things I miss most here is being part of a group of musicians, and being able to worship God through music. What a blessing that opportunity was though.
To conclude...
Pray and pray big. God lives within us and we doubt His ability to move and work and reveal His glory. It's not the other way around... He doesn't refuse to hear our prayers and then life doesn't work out the way we want it to. Not it. The beautiful reality is that He is faithful, despite our resistance and laziness. Even when we fall down on the job, He arms firmly lift us back up, and then He walks beside us as we remember what it means to use our legs and walk, and then run, in the light of the glory of God.
In the words of Christian worship band Superchick in their song "We Live":
"We live, we love, we forgive and never give up, cause the days we are given are gifts from above and today we remember to live and to love."
How do we live... and who do we live for?
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