Big Sorry, but Bigger News

Hi Friends!

So I'm really sorry it's been forever since I've written. I kept planning on it, but felt like I was in a waiting place (still really am) and wanted to wait until something was certain before I wrote. So many of you have heard different thoughts and updates, but I'm finally writing to let everyone know.

Most of you have heard that I applied to grad school for this coming fall. I was really excited about the possibility. I got accepted to some great programs. Unfortunately grad school is expensive and the programs I love are even more expensive. So through lots of prayer and feeling like God turned me around about 180 degrees, I've decided to start applying for jobs instead. Crazy...I know. I still feel very confident that now is the time to move back to the US. My experience here has been incredible and I've learned so much. I've learned a lot about myself as well...including that I am much more of a home-body than anyone thought. I'm excited to move back and get to be a more everyday part of life of my close friends and family there. I feel really at peace about this decision and God has really given me all the confirmation I need to know that this is the right decision.

I'll be moving back to the United States of America mid/late July...just under 2 months away.

I've started applying to some jobs (all located east coast) and working in international development nonprofits. If anyone has a job for me, let me know! Though I have nothing set (other than moving back), I feel confident that the Lord is working and has great plans for me each step of the way. Thanks for always being such great encouragements to me.


Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
Psalm 16:5

Main reasons I'm moving back  :)

A Few Life Updates

Hi friends! I've got just a few life updates to share with you all. Things here have been overall uneventful as our main focus has really been on the school and our students. They have national exams that they have to take in order to pass their grade in that subject. So English and Spanish were last weekend and now the rest of the subjects (math, science, social studies, civics) are this weekend. Potentially all of our students passed the English exam, which was really exciting! If you think of our students tomorrow or Sunday, keep them in your prayers. Because of these exams, I've been doing lots and lots of tutoring mostly for math. I've enjoyed working with them, though I'm a little worried for most of this year's new students in math as so many came to us so far behind in math and have learned a lot but I don't know if they've really caught up. We'll see though.

Students: At least pretending like they're studying hard

What else is new with me? Some of you may know (and some of you may not yet know) that I'm working on applying to grad school for next fall. I'm looking at schools all on the east coast between VA and NYC for either an MA or MPA in International Development (or something similar as they all have slightly different names). So on my own time, I've been researching and contacting schools, working on my application material, and praying a lot for guidance throughout this whole process. So (si Dios quiere) I'll be back in the US for grad school in August 2012. (Don't worry...my dog will be coming with me). I'll be back for a few weeks in December due to some great gifts from some great friends and family, which is when I'll hopefully get to visit the places I'm applying to. Please keep me in your prayers in all of this and if you have any connections or suggestions definitely let me know!

My sis and I when I was back visiting her at VT.
I love this picture and it reminds me of moving back!

Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

I think it's important to get away sometimes and just be with the Lord reflecting on who He is and what He has done. I'm getting a chance to get away for a few days at the end of this month. It'll be sort of a solo vacation (which I've never done) but really just me and God and a time to reflect and praise. I'm excited and will report on how it goes  :D

Language School in the City!

I'm writing to you from my bedroom in a host family's house down in the city of San José (more specifically San Francisco de Dos Ríos) and a big change from the rural mountains. I moved down here on Sunday and then had my first day of language school Monday and will be here for 4 weeks.

The first day was really interesting. The first half was orientation and was sooo much English, which was weird to me but informative. Within that I took 2 placement exams: a written grammar one and a verbal one. I was taking the written one and thinking how awful it was and how I might be put in the total beginner class. It was my first time doing some verb charts and things in Spanish and I had to keep trying to say them in my head to maybe get a correct answer. The conversation on the other hand went smoothly and though all my grammar wasn't perfect I felt like I expressed myself fine. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was placed in level 3 (out of 4) for both grammar and conversation. On that same day we had our first day of classes which were really great. (I'll talk more about classes down below).

My host family is really great also. It's a couple and they have 3 sons. The mom, Maribel, is so sweet. She cooks for me and I try and help out with dishes and things as I can. We talk a lot and she's always happy to help me with my homework or whatever I need. I think she likes having another woman around the house. The dad seems nice, but I don't see him or interact with him much. The three boys are Andres (7), Pablo (9) and Manuel (11). They're so funny. Manuel and Paulo are cute and I ask them about their day and what they learned in school, but they like to give me short answers. Andres is my little bud though as he likes to hang around me and help me with homework and talk to me a lot. He's a little cutie and not at all shy. (He's my favorite, but don't tell the others).

The boys Adrés, Paulo and Manuel

My host mom in the middle
(unfortunately not the most flattering picture)

You can see why Andrés is my favorite!

So now on to my typical day...I wake up around 8 and have breakfast, get ready and head over to the Institute, which the entrance is literally less than a block away from where I'm staying. I then spend the morning studying for 2 to 3 hours. One of the nice things about the workbook is there are lots of extra activities that I can do, plus since I never studied even the basics I'm going back and doing a lot of those too. I then take the long walk (2 minutes) home and eat a quick lunch before heading back to the Institute for class that starts at 12:35. My first class is a grammar class with Lissette. She's a great teacher and explains things really well. She's happy to go back and quickly review things that we might not understand. We're moving really fast (we did Pretérito Perfecto on Monday, Pretérito Imperfecto on Tuesday, and along with a few minor points Futuro today), but I love it because it's pushing me and gives me lots to study outside of class. I'm definitely trying to take advantage of this time here. In that class it is me, Mary (she's Korean, in her mid-thirties and is currently working at a bilingual school in Nicaragua), and A.J. (he's from the D.C. area, mid-twenties and is planning to move with his wife and 4 month old to Belize in the fall). It's a small class which is awesome, though I seem to be the one always with lots of questions. My other class is the conversation class that is supposed to build on the things we're learning in our grammar class but to really be comfortable using it. My teacher, Dixiana, is very lively and very blunt. It forces me a lot to try and speak well which is good though not easy and we're always put on the spot as this class is also only 3 people. In this one it's me, Mary and James (he's in his sixties and him and his wife have worked short term in different areas though live in Florida...they both say they don't yet know what they want to be when they grow up - he's funny and definitely keeps things interesting). Today in class we were practicing narrating stories and as you probably know I'm not a good story teller in English and so it was really hard for me in Spanish, but great practice with the past tenses. After class I spend most of the rest of the night mixed between a few more hours of studying and homework, getting work done for ADE, and talking with my host family (OK...I'll admit and some time watching House online). Today right after classes I took a nice little walk around there area as I was feeling a little bit of cabin fever stuck between the Institute and the house a block away. It was good to get out and I found a nice park I might have to try out for a few of my study hours in the next few days.

One of my many study areas

Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what I'm up to, mostly just studying. I'm so happy to be here and have this opportunity, which I'm definitely trying to get  the most out of. Before I left, my students were telling me I had to come back with perfect Spanish (impossible, but I'm gonna get as close as I can). I'm excited to see how God uses this time and the work I'm putting into this. I was encouraged today by Galations 6:9 (go ahead and look it up!).

Viví. Vivo. Viviré.

So I lived in the cabin, then moved into the Dozier house for a week and now I'm down living at the center! Let's just say it's been an exciting few weeks. The owner of the cabin that I was living in (that had been free rent for the past few months), just sold it. Then we had a visitor and all lived at the Dozier house. Now Kim, Mikki, and I are all living down at the center.

You can watch this video that Tim, past intern and awesome writer, just put together the other week. He was living there, but now he's gone and us girls are there. Enjoy :)

I'm HERE!

I'm finally here! I don't yet have internet where I'm living, so right now I'm sitting at a cute little internet cafe not too far from my house. This is really the first time I've been able to just sit and yet I'm still having to get a lot of work done. There is so much to do. It makes sense though: starting a nonprofit is a ton of work! But it's so exciting and God is definitely working.

Here's what I've been up to over the past week (the first week of December):

  1. Arrived in Costa Rica

  2. Painted/helped build a chicken coup

      Drank coffee black with a bunch of Ticas (Costa Rican women)

      Began learning Spanish with the help of the Dozier kids

  3. Painted the center (a beautiful house that was donated to us to host groups, but needs a lot of work)

      Learned how to catch chickens...and let me tell you it's not easy

  4. Painted the house some more and sang Christmas carols in San Jose both in English and Spanish

  5. Painted the house some more (do you see a trend) and sat through a 3 hour conversation all in Spanish

  6. Went to the local community's church in Spanish

      Celebrated Jordan's 13th birthday

      Saw a monkey in my backyard, talked to it and named in George

  7. Woke up to a tarantula in my bathroom, which I caught at 6 in the morning

      Working a lot on organizing our spring break Spanish immersion trips (let me know if you may be interested!)

      Now probably off to paint the house some more...

Thanks so much for your awesome support and encouragement for me! You all are great :)

The Packing Process

This whole process of packing for 3 years is really not easy. I should be eliminating things, but somehow instead I seem to be buying a bunch of things. I'm so random. So the things I bought for moving to Costa Rica: Chacos, a headlamp, a new CamelBak, "Redeeming Love", the new TOMS shoes Botas, and a case for my iPod. Yet of course there seems to be more I need (or I guess want) like a good fleece and a quality but compact iPod dock. Oh and movies and music too. But through looking for all of this, buying some, and searching for the big Black Friday deals really makes me glad that I won't really have anywhere to shop or much need to for the next few years. I see things or great deals and then I somehow start to think I need them. This whole materialistic US culture (and time of year) easily distract me.

Anyway...back to packing: I'm trying to split up all my stuff into 3 groups.

  1) Stuff I'm bringing with me
  2) Things to get rid of

  3) The few things I should save

Going through all my stuff thinking this way, definitely makes me think what really matters and honestly how frivolous most of the stuff we have (or at least I have) is. Definitely makes me think a lot...


Well I fly out December 1st, so there's a lot to do and more importantly a lot of people to see :)

Things are Moving Along

So I got my business card last night! Though if I didn't already know what it says I wouldn't understand it all, I'm pretty excited. Not only do I have a business card, but I have an official ADE email address and title. Also more good news is that the website is making huge progress and almost up and running. Things are really coming along and I'll be heading down there to join the rest of the team in exactly 2 weeks. Though there's a lot to do this week and next, I'm starting to get stuff done and am getting ready to go.

My Exciting News

So here's the first update on me and the plans for why I made this blog:

I'm going to Costa Rica! I'll be headed down at the beginning of December to work helping to start a Christian nonprofit in the mountain village of Vara Blanca and will be there for at least 3 years. The nonprofit is called ADE (Association for Development and Education) and that is exactly what we will be doing, development through education. It's an exciting thing to get to be a part of, but with that there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of having to trust God. I'm excited to see the ways that God is going to stretch and challenge me and ultimately draw me closer to Himself during these next few years (as I've already seen simply through the decision making process).

Thank you, friends, for sticking with me through the process of getting here and I'll definitely need your prayers and encouragement as I don't expect the next few years to be easy; however, I am excited for the adventure that I'm embarking on knowing that I could never last by myself.

Blessings,

Lindsey

**Read Mark 10:13-31 (and take special note of verses 29+30)