I'm getting this sinking feeling...

...well it is more of a settling feeling. Only two weeks down and I am somewhat able to comprehend that this is my new home, my feet are my new car (windshield wipers not included), learning spanish is my new job, and my umbrella is my new favorite accessory. New discovery; my left front pocket of my pants is actually good for putting things in now that it is not occupied by an ever ringing cell phone... quite liberating! Other new discoveries include; headboards with crushed red velvet on them, lemon-lime flavored mayonnaise, and asthmatic dogs are no cause for concern (no less surprising though).

School has been a challenging aspect of life, not so much the language part but more just being a student again. There is a huge benefit in the fact that I am forced to use what I have learned and studied in my everyday life... just a bit different than those Organic Chemistry classes (still don't know what I was thinking taking those). I have been going to a small cafe everyday after class to do my studying, and have been fortunate enough to meet Susan and Jose who hardly ever have any customers except for my study mates and me. It has provided us with some great opportunities to converse with folks in our new tongue. God bless this place for a population of people who are willing to speak slowly and be patient with a gringo such as myself! Pura Vida!

The more that I hear the more I am convinced that God has put me in the right place. The consensus between Costa Ricans is that if you were to go into Los Guidos (the community of focus for our mission sites) you will not come out alive. It is a place that has been given up on by many, left to destroy itself. Within the last year, three mission organizations have decided to pull out their commitments in Los Guidos, calling it “a lost cause.” The young idealist in me has a Grand Canyon sized crack in his heart to hear of anyone referred to as a lost cause. The broken and scared little boy in me knows that we are all lost causes, and thus the need for the sufficiency of Christ. If our mission is to fix the problems of this community we will fail. If our mission is to eliminate poverty and hunger we will fail. If our mission is to eliminate underage prostitution we will fail. But if we have a much simpler goal of allowing those around us to see the light of Christ in us we will all succeed. We are crazy for going into this place. We are crazy to care. We are crazy to think that the few of us that are broken for these people will be able to change a thing. But, “If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” 2 Corinthians 5:13-15

I still don't know the roads we'll take, but it seems like we're heading in the right direction...