God is Good

 All good things come to those who wait.  At least, I think that’s the lesson God is teaching me right now.  These past few weeks have been FILLED with moments of sitting and waiting for things to happen from sitting in a hospital waiting room to chilling at the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border to waiting at a bus stop—eventually the ball will start moving and the doctor will have the results, my passport will be stamped and the bus will come.  Just not on my time schedule :)

My parents, Rhys, and my aunt and uncle came to visit me for two weeks (remember, Sarah was already here).  While we had our moments of tension and terror, we also managed to have a blast!  We stayed in a beautiful house in the mountains overlooking the beach, toucans and howler monkeys living in the surrounding forest.  We went ziplining, toured a mangrove reserve, horsebacked to a waterfall, hiked a volcano, visited town upon town and managed to never get ourselves fully lost.  We were adventurers let me tell you!  I loved seeing my family, spending time with them playing games and swimming in the pool and experiencing the beauty of Costa Rica.  I’m sad that it’s over.

I’ll recount just one story of our trip because it was a miracle nothing worse happened.  One day, we decided to horseback to a waterfall for the day.  We arrived on a beautiful sunny morning only to find that all of the horses available to us by the tour were extremely agitated that morning for whatever reason, nipping at each other and all around unsettled.  Mind you, this was the first time Rhys and my mother had been on horses and only the second or third time for the rest of us.  Needless to say, we were all a bit unsettled as well.  While I was attempting to calm down Rhys’ horse (before the tour had even started), I heard a commotion behind me but didn’t think anything of it—until I heard, “Is Glyn ok?”  WHAT?  I turned around in my saddle as best I could and caught a glimpse of my dad on the ground, his head in his hands, surrounded by people with very concerned looks on their faces.  Turns out, something spooked my dad’s horse and she reared up, tossed my dad and then (because my dad still had ahold of the reigns) fell on top of him.  He was at the point of passing out.  Thank God there was a bilingual nurse also there for the tour and helped my dad.  On his behest, we continued the tour, had a beautiful breakfast and lunch and enjoyed the gorgeous waterfall beore he finally let us take him to the hospital.  6 hours of waiting in the hospital when good news reaches our ears: nothing broken or severely injured a.k.a. he’ll be fine with some strong pain medication.  After joyful tears and a meager $125 bill, we were on our way.  Praise the Lord!  Needless to say, he still needs prayers for healing :)

The Cathedral in Leon

I also had the opportunity this weekend to travel to Leon, Nicaragua to explore a job opportunity for Guissell.  Christian Reformed World Missions is offering her a learning/job opportunity to help develop an internship program that will be compatible for local Nicaraguan intergrants, such as herself.  She has the amazing opportunity to live in beautiful Leon serving with fellow Nicaraguan friends in marginalized communities, all the while learning and doing new things.  I am so proud of her that she has accepted this once in a lifetime opportunity—all we need to do now on our end is to make sure we get the things done here that we wanted to do (which shouldn’t be a problem).  Way to go Guiss!

So, after a CRAZY set of weeks, I am back finally to the office to continue my routine here at Casa Adobe.  While I welcome the normality, I also fear the downtime I will have to think about all the things and people I miss.  Please pray that I will handle this transition gracefully and that I feel renewed with energy and excitement to continue in my job.  Stay tuned!! 

Back to the Basics

One Sunday afternoon, shortly after our Casa Adobe Bible study, a few of us girls were chatting about how we thought the day went.  We loved the company, the food was great, we enjoyed the discussion—all in all a good day.  Then I admitted quietly (or at least I thought it was) that I didn’t really get today’s bible study, that I had a hard time understanding what it was all about.  Tali and Daniela’s ear perked up and made me repeat what I said.  Apparently, they didn’t get it either :)  The relief in the room was almost audible.  In fact, they admitted that Bible studies were really hard for them because their knowledge on biblical things is not that extensive and so they don’t feel they can contribute that much to any discussion.  So, I mentioned that we should start our own Bible study, one where we start from the beginning (literally, in Genesis) and go from there.  Much to my surprise and delight, they both agreed.  So far, with our busy schedules and such, we’ve only managed to have one Bible study, but it was a great one.  We started with Genesis 1-3, the story of not only the beginning but also the end and, to boil it down, of why we need a Savior.  Even though it was back to basics, I found our discussion so refreshing!   We ended our conversation with two HUGE questions:  what is Sin and how is it different from Evil?  And if God is good and perfect and all-knowing, why did he plant that dumb tree in the Garden anyway?  I guess we’ve quite deliberately stumbled upon a centuries’ long debate—so much for starting with the easy stuff!  Next time, we will pick up where we’ve left off, bringing with us some “research” we’ve been able to find in the meantime.  I look forward to it!

I’ve also been immensely enjoying living at the new house.  We love the adventure of cooking there: experimenting with new foods and flavors and being extra careful not to cook too much.  We are also enjoying the challenge of making storage options out of nothing—you have no idea how far cardboard boxes, twisty-ties, and cement blocks can go!  It’s not beautiful, I’ll give you that (unless you go cross-eyed or squint your eyes or something) but it works.  And that’s all that matters right now.  Another new adventure for this week: washing laundry by hand.  Gotta say, I admire those women before washing machines were invented—what biceps they must have had!  After washing a pair of jeans, Sarah looks over to me and her eyes said it all: only wash what we need to survive.  So, we washed our socks and underwear and called it quits.  We can borrow Casa Adobe’s washing machine later :)

Sarah and I playing chess in the park in San Jose

I also can’t tell you how much I enjoy having Sarah here with me.  I’ve grown so used to her being here that I just know I’m going to have a hard time adjusting to her absence again.  Not looking forward to that one.  In the meantime, I shall just go on pretending as if time is not actually flying by, that she does not in fact have a return flight already booked, and that she does not actually have a life of her own to go back to.  For now, she’s mine :)  

And I just want to shout out that MY FAMILY IS COMING TODAY!!  I get to see my mom and dad and my aunt and uncle and, above all (sorry mom), I get to see Rhys!!  Man have I missed them all.  Pray for safe travels for everyone and that I don’t smother them accidently with my hugging :)  Stay tuned!