Woohoo! Good news!!

I got approved for temporary residency!!

Woohoo!

Thank you, Lord!

I have an appointment with Immigration next Tuesday, October 6th. I'm not sure what goes on during that, but I'm not worried about it. Still, please pray that things go well with that. Yay!

Well, I know I'm terrible at updating this... sorry! I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've updated. That's crazy! Quite a bit has happened in those two weeks. Well, the 15th was Independence Day here, so I got to do a few fun things with my host family. On the night before, we went to a Lantern Parade where the kids from the neighborhood come and make a procession, led by a torchbearer, carrying all different kinds of patriotic lanterns that they bought or made. This is a yearly tradition.

Felipe and his Dad with their lantern

The torchbearer getting ready to lead the procession through the streets

On the actual day, we went to see a parade in a nearby city. Every school usually gets involved by putting together some sort of display, like traditional transportation or dress, or musical presentation. It really enjoyed being able to experience another part of Costa Rican culture that I've never seen before.

Costa Rican flags often preceded each group of kids

this group led the way with a fantastic musical

depicting coffee plantation workers

the ox cart - traditional method of traveling back in the day

little ones in traditional dress--so cute!

ending with a percussion group by a local night school--hence why they look older

I believe I mentioned in my last posts that I'm involved in the worship group at church, and practices have been going well. I'm learning a lot of worship songs in Spanish of course, but we also have an instructor come in bi-weekly to teach more technique. It's so funny to see people warm up for singing. They pant and stick out their tongues as far as they go and crazy stuff like that. haha! ...wait, I'm saying 'they' but what I really mean is 'we' seeing as I also have to do that crazy stuff now too. :D

I've also gotten more involved with the youth group and will be helping with the before-service prayer once in a while. I had just volunteered to get more involved two weeks ago, and the youth pastor had me jump in right away by asking me to do the prayer the next week, which was this past Saturday. I think it went well, could have gone better, but it was my first time so I'm fine with it.

I'm very excited about something that has just started in the group of people I work with. We had a meeting last Friday in which we discussed Community, among other things. But we are now making more of an effort to purposefully grow our relationships both with each other and with God. So, we'll be having a monthly potluck with our pastoral group which includes all the Americans working here, the house parents of the Children's Homes, and another couple from the church who volunteers their time to this part of the Project. We also just had our first weekly Monday morning prayer meeting! It was so refreshing, and I know that it will be so beneficial to us as a group and to me individually. The more unity there is in the body of Christ, the more we will be able to stand against the attacks of that enemy, Satan, who easily weasels his way into our lives and communities if we are not vigilant.

I had a really great weekend! Yesterday, Sunday, was great because we had company over in the afternoon, and I was able to be part of the conversations that were going on. My host mom's sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter Rachel visited. Rachel is about eight years old, I think, and is so much fun! She and I got to spend a little time together in July when she was on 'winter' break from school and visiting with her cousin, Isabelle who lives next door, and she is not shy at all. :) I also got to join in the afternoon 'café' which I rarely do. It's a cultural norm to take a break in the afternoon to eat something, typically bread with cheese/jam/butter/etc, and drink coffee. In my house, it happens anytime between 3-5 when I'm usually working, or I just don't realize that they're doing it. But on the weekends, if I'm at the house, I'll have coffee with them (but I don't drink coffee, just eat). Anyways, it was great to hang out with the fam!

Speaking of hanging out with the fam, mine is coming to visit in March! It's finally official, and I'm so excited already! It's going to be super special because I'm not going home for Christmas, so it'll be the only time I get to be with them while I'm here. Also, I'm so excited that they'll be able to see where I've been spending all my time, and I'll get to show them this country and experience the culture with them. Plus, they're coming on my birthday... but that's because it happens to be spring break for my sister which is why they can come in March in the first place. Yay!

Wow! So many things to tell! I just leave you with one more thing. God has been dealing with me about the attitude of my heart. I've been reading and learning about the Law of the Lord--you know, all those boring commandments about mildew in your house and the dimensions of the temple and blah, blah, blah. Right? You're following me? Well, they are so NOT boring! Ok, reading it can be tedious, but in learning the history of Israel I am beginning to understand why King David went crazy in the Psalms about how much he LOVED the law and how he meditated on it day and night! Anyways, I hope this makes sense, but all that led me to Psalm 50 which basically talks about how God liked the sacrifices Israel was bringing Him every day. But it also said that God didn't need their sacrifices, and He hated when the people did these daily rituals without their heart behind it and their actions reflecting what was in their hearts. And in Matthew 5:23-24 Jesus said that if you come to bring your offerings to the Lord and remember that you have something against your brother, you should leave your offering and make things right with your brother before you come to give your offering. How important is the attitude of our heart to God! Our attitude is a product of our will; you can choose to be happy; you can choose to persevere, or the opposite. Well, your thoughts are vital in this decision making process, no? But Paul says to 'take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ' (2 Corinthians 10:5) and also says that our thoughts should be occupied by things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). I want to confess to you all that my attitude has been less than Christ-honoring because I have allowed my thoughts to wallow in self-pity and selfishness. I want to bring my offering to the Lord with a clear conscience and a right attitude. Although God had been convicting me of these things for some time, I had selfishly held onto my attitude. No more! I have repented and know that the Father is faithful and gracious towards me. I want to take joy in my God and let nothing keep my heart back from Him!
Prayer Requests

-that our community would continually be strengthened, that relationships would be built on Christ the Solid Rock, and that through our unity we would become a witness to His love and be more effective workers in His kingdom here in Costa Rica

-that I would be bold in seeking friendships with the youth and others in the church

-that my Spanish would improve rapidly and I would be able to remember the new vocabulary that I'm learning all the time

-that I would be in constant communication with the Father so that my focus is in the right place and that my thoughts and attitude would naturally follow; that I would be able to take my thoughts captive for Christ

Thank you so much for your prayers and intercession on my behalf and for the work that God is doing here! Please let me know how I can be interceding for YOU.

Midnight Musings

No, it is not midnight right now, but last night I got woken up around midnight... to raucous singing and loud drumming a couple days ago. It was not a parade and it was not drunken Ticos celebrating the latest win of their beloved soccer team (actually, Costa Rica lost their last two games in the world cup semi-finals). It was a group of my Tico brother's school friends carrying out a beloved (questionable) tradition. Apparently, when you graduate from high school it is tradition for a bunch of your friends to come in the middle of the night and serenade you. Yes, it was definitely unexpected, and I was slightly disoriented from having been woken up from a deep sleep. But, the good news is that they didn't stay long. :D Also, school doesn't get out until sometime in November, so I'm not sure why they did it so early... Oh, well!

Life is full of surprises, isn't it?

Surprisingly, about a week ago I made huge strides in the brochure that I'm working on. I went from floundering around just trying anything to having a very nice, professional layout and design to the inside in three days!! Praise the Lord! Now, if I could ever get Steve to look at some of the off-shoot designs I made with different color schemes... ;D But I digress.

This will not be an extremely comprehensive update because frankly it's been too long since I updated, and any of the things I wanted to tell you about, I have forgotten... In light of this, I will be trying to update more frequently whenever I feel I have something to share instead of trying to do a longer post once a week/every couple of weeks.

I do want to let you know that I started sleeping better the day after I posted that prayer request, so thank you all for your prayers! The Lord hears us that's for sure!

Also, if there is anything you would like me to update about on a regular basis, please let me know. I'm happy to oblige!


Prayer Requests

-Please pray that God would deepen my relationships with the Costa Ricans that I know.

-Please pray for wisdom in understanding God's plan for this community and this church and how I fit into that plan. Pray that I would have open ears and a willing, bold heart.

Thank you all! Please send me an e-mail if you have any prayer requests for yourself. shaina.lex@gmail.com

Two Months and Counting!

In my two months in Costa Rica, I think the past week or so has been the busiest.

Two Saturdays ago I helped take care of 18 kids from the ages of 10 months to 10 years. Well, I wasn’t the only one, and I didn’t take care of them all at once, but it was still a lot of work. The house parents of the two Children’s Homes get one day off per week, and they have to be out of the house during that day. Usually the administrators of the Homes have sufficient help covering that day, but this time they asked me to help too. I played with them after breakfast, went to the park and ate lunch with them, stuck around during naptime to make sure they behaved, fed 10 of them dinner, then helped put them to bed. It was a great day all-in-all; and the only difficulties came when it was dinner and bedtime. For that I was helping in the House that had ten kids, most of which are four years old and under. Boy did it get crazy! Phew!

But I must have enjoyed it because I volunteered to help out again if they needed me! :D

In the baptism class that I have been attending with the two kids from the Children’s Homes, we have started doing homework, two chapters each week. So far they have completed chapters 1-4, and it takes about an hour to do each chapter. This has been an interesting and fun experience as I have virtually no experience tutoring young children. I learned pretty quickly that they have a short attention span, and I am now learning the virtue of patience. But they’re really great kids and very smart, too! It’s hard to get home from a day at school and sit down again for two more hours to study.

I have joined the praise and worship team at church as a singer! I’m excited to get more involved with this community and my hope is that it will naturally lead to building relationships with more people. Trying to make friends has not been easy.

Another weekly thing that I’m excited about is being an English conversation partner with a girl named Priscilla. She plays bass in the church’s band so we will be seeing a lot of each other every week!

Funny cultural faux-paux time! There was a block party in my neighborhood this past Saturday afternoon, and it was scheduled to start at 3pm. Well, counting ‘Tico Time’ the correct thing to do is arrive late. So, Candace (a missionary here for 6 years) and I went at 3:30 thinking we would be appropriately late, but when we got to the location we found out that we were the first and only ones there! (Apart from the party coordinator, that is.) Oh, silly gringas! We then got to sit and wait for the next hour until more people started to show up. What did I learn from this? Wait to go with a Costa Rican :D

Prayer Requests:

-I haven’t been able to sleep very well lately so please pray that I would be able to find a way to sleep better.

-Continue to pray for relationships to develop more.

Thank you so much for your continued support! I am praying for you all today so please let me know if you have any requests. My e-mail is shaina.lex@gmail.com

If you would like to contribute financially to my ministry here, please see the sidebar under “How to Give”. All of your donations are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

Be blessed!

Tim and Johanna--'grandparents' for the kids in the Children's Homes, also English teachers in the daycare two days a week.

Me, Janita (cooks lunch when teams work at the projects. She's fantastic! And she just got back from a trip to the States where she visited Wisconsin among other states. She said she loved Wisconsin the most ;D), and Candace (she was the intern coordinator but has just passed that job on to another missionary couple in order to focus on other tasks)