because the xc team can’t stop hanging out...

Can’t stop.  Won’t stop.  The CDS Cross Country team is a family.  We celebrated, again, with a pool party at one of our runners houses!  What a fun day!!  And managed to fit it in before the rain!  It has been such a joy to spend the last three days with these students.  They are SO fun!

Alex and I made funny awards for all of them...they had to guess whose was whose.  It was a great way to remember and laugh about the season.  We also ate...well attempted to eat 8 pizzas.  We failed.  But I had my first taste of Papa John’s here in Costa Rica and it was as delicious as ever.  (Funny though, we ordered so much pizza it took to motos to deliver it...whoops!)

You guys are the best, CDS Cross Country!  

Strength, honor, victory, ‘merica!!

sports banquet!

The celebrations of a great season continue!  Tonight was the all-school sports banquet.  It was a great night celebrating all of the student athletes at CDS.  Here’s our team, looking all fancy...

Most of the team.

SENIORS!

Meet Eliza.  She’s a beast.  We’re going to miss her next year!

You’re the best Brynne!  Excited for next year!

Thanks for sharing the team with me, Al!
Loved coaching with you!

last practice

Today was our last cross country practice.  And, since it’s officially rainy season in Costa Rica, it was pouring rain.  So instead of running we played games.  And by games, I mean game...Spot It.  We had so much fun laughing and yelling (it gets intense) and being a team.  So proud of these kids and the year they had.  It has been such a joy to coach them and watch them grow together and truly become a team.  A family really.  Our kids are all very different.  Their running abilities are different, their personalities are different, their reasons for running cross country are different.  But they love and care for each other well.  They encourage each other, motivate each other, and work hard to give their best to the team.  They laugh and joke and celebrate well together.  And today, at our last practice, we got to soak that it.  We got to soak in the celebration.  We got to soak in everything this year has been.  Seniors are moving on, some underclassmen are moving, but we are still very much a team.  That’s why sports are great.  They level the playing field.  They bring together people who wouldn’t bring themselves together.  They highlight our best and our worst, and allow an endless opportunity for grace and growth.  Thank you so much runners of CDS Cross Country 2013-2014.  It’s been a great year!

Spot It...intense as always.  Love that one of our runners,
Nico, stayed solely because we were playing haha.

Love this team! 

Strength.  Honor.  Victory.  Merica!

TWO MORE YEARS!!!

Yep, that’s right!  I’m officially staying not one, but TWO, more years in Costa Rica!!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to stay in this wonderful country and to continue leading ministry here!  For some, this might be quite the news.  And for others, you probably predicted it before I did.  And although it can be hard to believe some days, it’s really happening!!!

The desire to stay started several months ago, back in the fall.  I started praying about the opportunity, and asked a few others in the States to pray for the opportunity as well.  Before heading home for Christmas I met with the Area Director here to express my desire and get her feedback.  She was ecstatic, but made it clear the decision was up to me.

I spent the first several months of 2014 going back and forth about the decision.  But ultimately, I knew what I had to do.  I had just met with the Area Director, National Director, and the Regional Director to get more information/hear what there hopes and expectations were for someone continuing this role.  I knew I needed to say yes, but I was holding back.  Scared.  Timid.  Unsure...not about staying but about all the details.  Unsure how it was all going to work out.

I was listening to a Common Ground sermon (church I went to in college), and burst into tears.  The pastor was preaching on the cycle of preparation, conversation, and decision we see in the life of Moses and in the life of Jesus.  He shared how we are always in one of those phases.  And as he talked about decision making and following the will of Jesus he said, “Maybe some of you find yourselves in a time of decision and you just need a little courage.”  That was me.  I was there.  I had been there for months but needed some courage.  I doubted how I would fundraise, what my parents and those closest to me would think.  I doubted the Lord’s ability to provide for me, here, another two years.  But I knew deep in my heart that I needed to stay.  That’s why I kept seeking conversations and asking questions.  I knew what I needed to do and I was just looking for courage.

As I talked this through with one of my mentors...she reminded me, “When all you need is courage, you know you’re doing the right thing.”  So true.  She reminded me that the Lord was aware of my circumstances because He was the one calling me into them.  I don’t have to be afraid because He knows what I need.  He is a God who is able to anticipate and provide.  And some days those truths are easier to believe than others.  But I know that this is where the Lord has me.  I’m so excited to continue life and ministry here in Costa Rica.

THANK YOU to all who have loved, encouraged, prayed, sent emails, and given so generously to me and this ministry this past year.  It has been an honor to be in this with you!  And now I ask you to help me celebrate this great news!  Help me celebrate the Lord leading me here two more years!  And also, please join me in praying for the next two years of ministry and for raising the necessary funds to do so.

I will need to raise nearly $110,000 for the next two years of ministry (by September 1st!).  And although that number is sometimes hard for me to conceptualize, I know it is an achievable goal because I am confident that this is where the Lord wants me.  But for now, please just help me celebrate!  There will be more to come about fundraising in the future.  But right now, I want to sit in and soak up this space where the Lord has me.

So grateful for all of you!  Thanks for celebrating with me!

girls night!

We have been trying to plan a girls night sleepover/hangout since Service Project in April.  And thanks to Memorial Day, we were able to pull it off!  Love these girls so much.  Loved laughing and eating too much popcorn and gooey half-baked cookies.  Loved teaching them Fishbowl and sharing life.  Loved showing them the community they have and offering them a space to be themselves.  Grateful for this year of ministry and the relationships that have resulted.  Really for me, it was a night of celebration.  Celebrating what the Lord has done this past year and what He will continue to do in the hearts of these girls in the years to come.

vision nicaragua

I had the awesome opportunity to meet up with some friends in Chinandega, Nicaragua this past week. Linda, a good friend and mentor, and a college roommate Kayla, were leading a group of girls from Butler on the service trip.  This “plan” for me to join them had been in the works for awhile.  Pretty much since I knew I was going to be in Costa Rica and they knew that they were going to be leading the trip.  And it worked out that I needed to leave CR to renew my visa, so two birds with one stone!

We worked with an organization called Vision Nicaragua.  The area of Chinandega is home to several sugar cane plantations.  It is the primary source of work in the area.  However, routine exposure to the pesticides that are used in the cane fields cause kidney disease.  For that reason, the men in the area die really young (between 20 and 30).  The sugar companies are aware of the health risks, and workers’ blood is routinely tested for indicators of the disease.  As a “protection for their employees”, workers are terminated from the company when this indicator is detected at a level “too high”.  So needless to say, this area suffers from deep levels of poverty perpetuated by these social factors.  Most of the men in the area have either passed away, leaving their widowed wives and children, or are unemployed and chronically ill.

So that’s the context we found ourselves in for the week.  Every day we went to a different village.  Vision Nicaragua has a local doctor on staff.  He sees these dialysis patients (although most of them are not on dialysis...it’s not a feasible medical option for them) and other ailing patients.  There were some medically trained members on our team and they helped Dr. Michael triage patients and distribute medical care.  As a group, we also gave out 100s of toothbrushes and instructed proper oral care.  While the clinics were in session, the rest of us played with the kids.  Hundreds of kids!  I literally have never seen so many kids in one place.

And it was awesome!  We got to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  We got to love them just for being kids.  We got to play and laugh and dance and run and sing.  We got to share and give and receive.  It was such a blessing to see the world through the eyes of a child for a week.  And not just any child.  A child who faces the harsh reality of poverty every day.  A child whose heart is full of love and joy despite his circumstances.  A child who lives freely despite the world being against him.  A child who loves deeply without words.  A child, despite his vulnerable situation, sees hope, possibility, and life to be had and to be lived.

Meet Jorge.  Full of joy.

Vision Nicaragua walks alongside these kids and their families.  They strive to truly know the people in their community so that they can assist them in the best possible way.  They offer comprehensive assistance.  Everything from building, updating, and maintaining widows’ homes to offering medical care to facilitating food distribution to organizing the sponsorship of high school and university students.  But they are able to do this, and do this well, because they are present in the community.  They are familiar with their needs and struggles and are able to serve them out of the richness of lateral relationship.

It was a great week, personally, for me as well.  The Lord gave me new eyes for Latin America.  Yes, I live in Costa Rica.  And yes, I see things here every day that would be shocking to most of my friends in the States.  But I also live a very “safe” life in Costa Rica.  For the most part, I don’t have to be overly exposed to poverty unless I choose to be.  It’s like living in any big city.  Life is advanced and developed.  Sure there are homeless people and struggle, but if I’m being honest, it can be easy to ignore.  So even though my normal now is Costa Rica, this trip allowed me to step outside that.  It gave me new eyes to see my neighbor.  My neighbor who lives in the wealthiest gated neighborhood in San Jose, or one of the poorest barrios of Nicaragua.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  We can all share and encourage one another if we are willing to get close enough.  If we’re willing to rub elbows and enter into the hard but beautiful work of doing life together.

Nicaragua is a beautiful country.
This is a field bordering one of the villages.

Sunset at “The Project” where we stayed.  

Locals enjoying the local beach.
Enjoyed some time to process the week before the rain came.

surprise!!

Tonight was one of our students' birthdays, sweet 16!! (Although it's not quite the same here...the driving age is 18). He is one of our kids who went on Service Project without having been to YL before. Service Project was a huge week for him. His heart and life were deeply changed.

His parents have noticed the change in him and have been very supportive.  She was planning a surprise birthday party, and asked Alex and I to invite all of his new Young Life friends!  It was so cool to see her realize that her son had a new community and that she wanted to include them in this celebration!

last club of the year

Wow! I can't believe it's already here, but last night we had our last YL Club of the school year. It was another great night with lots of faces who haven't been around in awhile (for some, years)! It was Senior club, and we celebrated all the graduating Seniors who are a part of (or had been a part of) YL. It truly was a celebration! It was also Alex's, our Staff Associate, last Club (she's been here three years). It was a great night! We played this hilarious iPod game where kids listen to songs on an iPod, hum them, and then their team has to guess the song. We played it at Service Project and they requested it again. Our kids get super into it and it's hilarious!! And very competitive haha.

But it was a great night, “ending" things on a high note, although ministry never really "ends". Still lots of excitement that we hope to carry into next year. Kids have their AP and final exams coming up, but they're all excited to have YL events this summer and next year, too!! It's been such a joy to see the Lord blow open hearts of so many kids this year! I’m excited for the future of ministry here and for kids to really come to understand what it means to know, love, and follow Jesus!