Jaco

Wow! Where to begin. We´re in Jaco... and have just had one of the most amazing weekends of our lives. Right now I´m on our buddy Jonny´s computer. I haven´t had internet access since the last time I blogged.... and that was a scary experience. The one internet Cafe we found near our house is down a back ally, last time we were there we got followed by some creeps... they waited till we came out and then followed us part the way home, making stupid comments all the way. We were definitely praying hard... yeah, really starting to realize how we need to be in prayer continually. It´s crazy how real God is here. I feel like there´ve been so many times we´ve been accompanied by big buff angles. :) I get a crazy peace knowing that God is near.
I could tell you so much about the last few weeks.... everyday could fill two pages. I´ll try take advantage of this computer and write down some of the highlights.

Jaco - So, our friend Chad in Canada worked down here for a guy called Jonny. Through Chad we contacted him... Jonny is pretty much the coolest guy ever, after Neil. :) He´s been surfing for like 40 years and he´s pretty much an adrenaline rush junky. I thought I was bad... this guy takes the cake. He´s nuts. As well as being an awesome surfer, he´s like a pro dirtbiker... hitting megga gap jumps and getting suicide hight. Plus he´s a real Christian, you should hear his testimony, amazing! So, Charissa and I have been working flat out at Roblealto everyday since we got here. We totally love our job... but it´ll take me pages to write about it so I´ll save it for later. Basically we work Monday to Friday and get weekends off.... so we gave Jonny a call on Friday. He´s like, come on down I´ll get a room ready for you to stay, surfing is on me. We were so stoked... but we had no idea what he had in store for us. We got up at 5:30am and head to the Coca Cola Station to catch the bus out here. (Which by the way has a really bad reputation for theft... everyone was warning us about it, thankfully nothing got taken. We pack really light... and pretty much blend in with the locals.) We got to Jaco... Jonny offered us a jeep and an ATV to get around in. :P It´s definitely a surfer town, the beach is amazing. The waves are huge and the water is so warm you don´t want to get out. We weren´t expecting anything but Jonny hooked us up with his buddies and we went ATV´ing into the mountains. Costa Rica is so beautiful, I was dying to go into the jungle. There are mountains all around, filled with the coolest plants and animals. We saw toucans, neon green and purple butterflies, really cool birds and frogs. (P.S. I was climbing through the under brush when suddenly the biggest snake I have seen in the wild poped out of a bush right by my foot. It was coming towards me. It was brown and black. I ran back to the others... while a whole bunch of little snakes crawled around, that looked like smaller versions of the big guy. I wanted to go back a get a picture, but when I described it to our pals, they were like no way, it´s a very dangerous one.) Anyway, the ATV treck was such a blast. We went all the way through mud and water to the top of a mountain. You can really rip around on them. We also hiked to a waterfall. Jonny said it was his treat. When we got back he took us over to the canopy tours... the guys there are also his buddies. We got to go on a canopy tour for free. It was so cool. You´re harnaced to a zip line and you go from platform to platform all through the jungle, way up high. (The platforms are kinda sketchy, it reminded me of the ones we built in our cousins forest. Except our zip lines were made with clothe line wheels. hehe) The other´s who were doing it with us were so freaked of hights, I had to laugh... hights are one thing I love. I asked to spin around, go upside down, backwards... and the view was amazing. We were feeling so freakishly blessed, all for free... but there was more to come. The room Jonny had for us was incredible. We were expecting to sleep on the floor in his living room or something. Instead we pulled up to this beautiful cabin he´d built. It had a full kitchen, livingroom, two bedrooms, and the nicest bathroom we´ve had since being here. We were just standing in the door with our mouths gaping, as he handed us the key. We have the whole place to ourselves. We went out for dinner. The restaurantes have such good food... we like a little one on the beach called Rusticos. The funny thing is that anything you order here comes with beans and rice. I ordered fish, thinking I´d get fish... but it was beans and rice with fish.You can´t escape it. Yup, we´ve had it everyday... breakfast, lunch and dinner. Funny thing is we are so used to it we will probably miss it when we go. We had an early night. Jaco is such a party town, and we both much prefered sleep. Pretty much every guy we met asked us to party with him in the evening. This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise. I ate a mango off a tree... it was so delicious. When we got to Jaguar Riders (Jonny´s Company) we were met by another older surfer dude. Jonny left to watch a dirt biking comp... his pals are in. :) His buddy took us out surfing for our first time ever. He showed us a few things on the beach and then we got into the water. He´s a great teacher. He´s been riding since he was 5. It was a lot easier than I´d expected. Both Charissa and I got up first try. I´m so hooked, it was amazing. The instructor was planning on helping me catch waves but I wanted to figure it out alone. It was so much fun. I was riding the waves all morning... and wanted to keep going even when the others were done... finally I had to stop, I could barely paddle anymore beacuse my arm had hit something sharp and was really aching... and I´d swallowed so much salt water my throat was raw. It was so worth coming here for. Again, no charge... Jonny´s treat. We took our instructor out for lunch, he knows everyone here and got us a special order. Seriously it is so much better to do stuff with locals, we got the inside experience. :)
Gonna go Chill on the beach, don´t be too jealous.
Anita
Yup, basically had an incredible weekend.

Costa Rica

Hola amigos!!
It´s been a week.... and we finally got internet connection. It´s actually been really good to be completely seperated from our world. No phone, no internet, no one who speaks English. =) Charissa and I work from 9 to 4 and the bus is so slow that we don´t usually get home before 5:30. (That is if we get on the right bus, we have to take 2 busses to get to work... it´s crazy. The bus is packed... and the drivers are insane. We really made a mistake today, but I don´t have time to tell you about it.) Since it´s almost dark out we´ll have to run home pretty soon... it´s definitely not a good idea to stay out in the dark, at least not in this part of town. I wish I had time to write some of my journal entries down... but unfortunately I´ll just have to keep this short.
We love it here! Both Charissa and I feel like we live here now, and we wouldn´t want to be anywhere esle. These people have stolen our hearts, especially the little kids we work with.
Roblealto - Quince de Setiembre is where we work. It´s in one of the poorest area´s and also the most dangerous. Roblealto is a really cool organization. They provide street kids with shelter, food, education, and most of all share the love of God with them. Charissa and I are so impressed with the attitudes of the staff. They truely give 100% into what they do. Margerita, who I work with is seriously such an inspiration. She get´s to Roblealto at 6:00am and leaves after we´ve gone home. She´s a mother to the kids. It´s awesome what love can do. I could write a ton about Robleatlo but I´ll have to save that for later. Basically, Charissa and I change up working with babies and little kids. (Got to play soccer with them today) I´ll be teaching art to the older ones too. We honestly feel like our little efforts are nothing compared with how hard the staff work. They are amazing!
We are staying with a sweet grandma, named Mariza. Her house is next to a cemetary. (All the graves are above ground... kind of creepy.) Her and her family have made us so welcome... already we know we will miss them when we go. They feel like family. Mariza told us we can call her Mama. =) We´ve had beans and rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner..... everysingle day. =) haha Good thing we like rice and beans. (The always add a little something different like squash, chicken, bananas, mangos... but the main course is rice and beans.)
I have to go right now... it´s almost dark. There are so many things I want to say but no time... hopefully we´ll be able to get to an internet again soon. Everyday we learn so much.
Thanks for your prayers!
Ciao

The Journey

The journey begins on June 17th, God willing. My good friend Charissa will be traveling with me. Costa Rica is our first destination. We’ll be there for 1 month. From there we head to Peru, Chile, and Argentina. (Possibly also Ecuador… we’ll know once we get to Peru) Our schedule is pretty much flexible, other than the flights… what’s in store for us, we have yet to find out. I’m sure we’re in for lots of surprises. Learning by living. Whenever I have a chance I’ll try post some pictures and stories.
I hope that through this blog you can be in on our adventure!
Please pray that we may hear God’s voice and act on his directing… and that God would give us the grace to be FAT: faithful, available, teachable. =)
Thanks for your prayers!
~ Anita

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139: 7 – 10