Investing in Eternity: Pura Vida

Dad seeing me off!

Love you!

I am officially settled in and living in Costa Rica! It still doesn't seem real, and even though I've only been here two days, it seems like I've been here forever. The two staff members, Laura and Sarah, and the four other interns I live with are awesome and made me feel right at home. I flew out of Norfolk at 2:00pm on Wednesday and landed in Newark at 3:30pm. I had a two hour layover, and the plane departed at 6pm; however, we sat in "plane traffic" for an hour! (who knew there was such a thing). I arrived in Costa Rica at 10:30pm (12:30pm U.S. time). My flight was supposed to arrive at 9pm; however I had no way to tell Sarah that it was delayed, so they were quite worried when I showed up 1.5 hours late! I accidentally came out of the wrong exit and was bombarded by men yelling "you need taxi!" "you need taxi!" I finally squeezed my way through them and made it to Sarah on the other side. One of their friends, Vale, drove us about 20min. to our apartment in Aranjuez, an area in San Jose. Praise the Lord for answered prayer with safe/smooth travel!

We live in an apartment complex, and rent part of the second floor and first floor. There are four other intern girls that I live with. Our apartment has three rooms - double beds in two rooms, and a single bed in one room. We have a living room and two bathrooms. If you walk out the back of our apartment, the staff members' apartment is right next door. We have the LightForce office downstairs, which also has three rooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The laundry is on the fourth floor, along with the "workout room" - an open area on the rooftop with a treadmill and open space to workout.

fresh fruit is abundant in CR!

Friday morning we had a staff meeting and a worship, prayer, and get-to-know you time with Sarah, Laura, Megan, Cara, Jessica, and Jamisen. Afterwards, we discussed some projects for the summer that we want to develop, and then I met with Laura and had "orientation". I learned more about the four different minstries that they focus on - street ministry, casa agape, passion for purity, and children's prevention/awareness. I will talk more about these programs as I experience each one. Laura and I went to Walmart for groceries - yes, they have Walmart in CR! Cara, another intern, and I braved the streets of San Jose for an afternoon run, but found out that running through San Jose is like running through downtown New York City. The sidewalks are crowded, the taxis/cars in the street will not hesitate to run you over, and there are virtually no street signs, making getting lost very probable! Needless to say, we will probably be running on the treadmill everyday to avoid death. That night we went to Moravia for dinner and had the biggest fruit smoothies I have ever seen!

Today we went to Playa Jaco and Playa Hermosa for a team bonding day. We left our place at 6:30am and took a 2 hour bus ride to the coast. It was the perfect day! Costa Rica is so beautiful and tropical. The water is the perfect temperature, however, there are huge waves and a strong rip current, so we had to be careful in the water. CR is known for its great surf, so as we struggled to not get killed by the waves and pulled out to sea, tons of surfers run straight into the elements and actually prefer these types of conditions. Tomorrow will be my first time joining the street ministry. We will be partnering with an organization called YWAM and going out into San Jose from 10pm-1am to serve coffee and food to prostitutes. I am excited for all of the things planned for this summer, to develop relationships with the locals here in CR, and to learn more about the work that LightForce does to combat sexual exploitation in CR. It is a vast issue here, but is a taboo subject with any of the locals ("ticos"). Please pray for protection for our team and unity as we decipher what the Lord's will and direction for LightForce would be for this summer and the upcoming year.