2 Months Down-2 Months To Go

Well, first thing's first; an Alabama football update. Alabama blew past Ole Miss this weekend with little to no difficulty (Miss. State friends- you're welcome). After being sparked by Ole Miss scoring first, we caught a glimpse of our offense's potential with a final score of 52-7 moving our record on to 7-0 for the season. Yesterday began my favorite week of SEC college football season: Tennessee week. Yep, the third week of October has begun and will culminate in a game against the Vols in Bryant-Denny stadium on Saturday. Oh, how I hate that I am missing it! Roll Tide Roll!

On that note, this is one of the "Top 5 Best Moments of my Life": Rocky Block 2009 in Bryant-Denny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z475wBoEMRg

(I discovered colored font...hence you seeing color-coded football teams. Spicing things up!)

Now then, the big news from the small country on the equator is I've now been here for 2 months as of October 15th, and I have exactly 2 months left before I fly home for Christmas on December 15th. I hope no one back home is offended when I tell you that I have mixed feeling about going back to the States for almost an entire month. Not that I haven't missed my family, friends, and the comforts of home, but I'm just now getting to a point where I'm making a life for myself here. It may be a little strange to go back and interrupt my almost complete assimilation to life in Costa Rica. But don't worry, I still have 2 months to go, and my feelings may change before then. I'll be home on the 15th with plenty of souvenirs and hugs to go around!

Things that have happened towards the end of this month:

1. My great friend and fellow intern, Nicki Raimondo, turned 23! Of course she got to choose what we did for her birthday, and I was so glad she chose to do the hike "a las tres cruces" (to the three crosses)! This hike lasts about 5 hours and takes you to each of the 3 crosses as you ascend the mountain that towers over our town of Escazu. The descent trail is nearly non-existent, and you follow a cow path down the mountain and then a river bed back to civilization. So cool! Of course, us girls took plenty of pictures of the ever-changing scenery. Later that night, our mentors hosted a birthday party for everyone with a birthday this semester.  

The first cross

 The second cross

 Headstands on the mountainside

 Awesome tree

 Hey-oh, we made  it!

Our team with some of our sweet mentors for Nicki's birthday

2. Then another great friend and co-worker, Ali Campbell, turned 28! One of Ali's favorite things to do, like a true Tica, is go dancing. So, that we did! It was a great time with a great group; our YoungLife friends, our Vida Joven friends, and the other friends we've made outside of work. I'm still learning to salsa, merangue, and cumbia, but I enjoy it and it's a cultural experience.

The girls before going dancing for Ali's birthday

 Learning how to salsa dance (in cowboy boots)

 3. Vida Joven Area Este Torneo de Futbol (YoungLife East Side Soccer Tournament) took place in Alajuela on October 9th. We put together an International Schools YoungLife team with two leaders, and four middle school & high school girls from 3 different international schools. The tournament was 5v5 and hosted teams from all YoungLife areas across San Jose and neighboring communities, including Capernaum areas (YoungLife for teenagers with disabilities). It was incredible! We played 4 games in one day, and we made it to the women's final game but lost to Moravia.

Our first soccer game of the day

Team International Schools in green and ready to go

 Sweaty team after the finals 

 Game 2 against Alajuela Capernaum

4. My favorite YoungLife yet was this past Wednesday evening- Tourist Club! I loved it because it was a club you may not be able to pull off in the States with as much appreciation as you can in another country. Tourist Club is the story of our lives here! There were backpacks, fanny packs, crazy hats, sunglasses, and Hawaiian shirts galore. The club attendance was one for the books, and I left with a huge smile on my face for the rest of the night!

Tourist Club celebrating Ali's birthday

 Professional tourists

Scavenger hunt completed

5. Well, folks, here we are after spending 2 months together: your International Schools YoungLife Staff. (Still praying for some male presence...)

 Left to right: Sydney, Jessie, Alex, Ali, & Nicki

As far as where I am with life these days:

-Costa Rica has become my new home

-I am praying through what continuing to do full-time ministry will look like in my quickly approaching future

-We are facing a challenge in our YoungLife area to re-vamp our approach to reaching a world of kids and how to best utilize our now larger team

-My madre bought a dryer for our home here (huge deal)

-The Lord is teaching me just how incredibly able and faithful He truly is

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." -Ephesians 3:20

  

Adventures in Nicaragua

As always, let me open up by informing those of ya'll who live under rocks (or live in a country where they don't broadcast or follow college football--Costa Rica) that Alabama beat Florida on Saturday and now sits at #2 on the AP poll. Nick Saban doesn't care what we are ranked. I kind of do. Roll Tide. Sadly, I was unable to watch that game because...

I WENT TO NICARAGUA LAST SATURDAY!

I am not exaggerating when I say that Saturday of last week through Tuesday of this week was, hands down, the greatest adventure of my life thus far. Packing a backpack and crossing Central American borders via public transportation is how the adventure began. This was a 7 hour bus ride with a 2 hour stop while we were "processed and searched" at the Nicaraguan border. Fun fact: Nicaragua is the second poorest country on earth behind Haiti. (That information was given to me by Alex Ridenour- I have no idea if it's true). Turns out, the bus didn't stop at the beach town we were trying to reach so we were dropped off on the side of the highway, and our backpacks were tossed out of the bus. I knew our destination was San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, but I had no idea where that was on a map. It's a strange feeling not knowing where you are in the world...and nobody else, other than the 3 of us, really did either. I just knew I was on the Pacific coast of Central America. Don't worry- we made it from the side of the highway to the beach, but I won't tell you how.

After finding our hotel, that had "never received" our reservations, we were at the beach! This wasn't the Gulf  Shores or the Destin that we know as Americans...The sand was brown, the water was clear, there were mountains directly behind the beach, and there was NO ONE there- literally, no one. It's rainy season, but it only rained once while we were there. We were also the only three people in the restaurant every night when we went out to eat. Our own private beach vacation!

Our activities while at the beach in Nicaragua included:

-Laid out: That's what three girls at the beach do...but it's amazing how much stronger the sun is at the equator. I consider my skin to be pretty tolerant to sun exposure and I was spraying on the SPF 70 by day 2.

-Read books: I read Tony Dungee's autobiography cover to cover throughout the trip, and I was captivated my his approach to coaching and life in general. What a baller. I would plop down on my towel and say to the girls, "Let's see what Tony's doing today."

-Paddle boarding: We rented a paddle board so we could all try paddle boarding in the ocean. The only time I had tried it previously was in a river, and it's 10x's harder in the ocean- trust me. This is Nicki paddling away...

-Eskimos: This was the ice cream shop on the beach. We were at the beach for 3 days, and I ate there 6 times. Their coffee ice cream was to die for, and a double-scoop cone cost less than a dollar. What a deal! Did I mention everything is dirt cheap in Nicaragua?

-Exploring: We explored the rocky coast just beyond the sandy beach. This was my favorite part, by far. You just don't see places like this in the States. It was beautiful!

-Played Soccer: One of the things I love most about the game of "futbol" in Latin America is that it's such an immediate connection to anyone and everyone. If you show up with a soccer ball, you're automatically the most popular person on the beach. Everyone's always down for a game. I had a blast playing soccer on the beach with the local kids.

-Drank Coffee: This is was Alex & I do best. I'm proud to say Nicki is picking up on it, too. Every morning- 2 cups. Afternoon- another cup. You just can't compete with the coffee in Central America...incredibly addicting.

-Watched Sunsets: I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

-Enjoyed locals surfing: Apparently right before dusk is the best time to surf, because after we were fried to a crisp and ready to call it a day...the local surfers came out to play! I want to learn sometime while I'm here!

More than anything, the greatest part of the trip was getting out of town, taking a break, spending time with sweet friends, and having lots of alone time with the Lord. While it was certainly an exciting adventure, it was also a much needed renewal of energy. I had lots of time to focus on what I'm being called to do here, how I can continue to be faithful in that, and what the Lord is teaching me along the way. Now, I'm back in San Jose, and we've already hit the ground running again...I will walk by faith, not by sight.

Coolest part of my time back thus far: Giving my first YoungLife talk in Costa Rica at an Outback Steakhouse. We hosted a YL dinner event, and it was my week to talk. What a blessing it was to have a different setting to work with; it was almost like having a conversation at the dinner table at home rather than standing in front of a crowd to speak. First time for everything, right?

Finally, I hope this makes you smile. This woman was running with 8 dogs in one hand and a bird in the other. She gave the bird kisses every several yards also...Incredible.

A "Foodie" Does Costa Rica

Well friends, the Tide won their SEC opener with little to no problem- Roll Tide! In the meantime, I am still in Costa Rica.

This week was another YoungLife/WyldLife combo week. If I haven't already explained how that works: we have YL club every week, but we have WL club every other week with a YL Campaigners meeting on the weeks where we don't have WL. Therefore, these YL/WL combo weeks only happen every other week. A little crazy, I know. On Wednesday we had a Superhero themed YoungLife club and a Birthday Party themed WyldLife. But went over really well, but there is a stark contrast between the two. YoungLife is a much smaller much more "tranquilo" (chill) club, and WyldLife is a controlled chaos. Literally, chaos.

YoungLife Superhero Club:

WyldLife Birthday Party Club: What's a Central American birthday party without a piñata?

Outside of YoungLife/WyldLife, I would like to share with you another joy that I've found here in Costa Rica- food. If you know me well, you know that I am a "foodie". I love to travel and try new foods, I love to talk about food, and I love to take pictures of good food. I need a television show on Food Network. The great thing about Costa Ricans is they love food too, and you can find ANY kind of food you could ever imagine here. I've eaten sushi, chop suey, babaganoush (Israeli eggplant humus), pizza, Wendy's, crepes and enough arroz con pollo to last me a lifetime. San Jose is a food mecca. (It's also a good thing they don't have dryers here because as my clothes stretch out, I get a false sense of weight loss.)

Just look at this chicken & mushroom crepe:

I'll continue to update you as this "foodie" continues her adventure in Central America.

To conclude, here are a few ways I could use some thought this coming week:
-Last week of language school; last chance to soak it all up!
-Two of my coworkers are in desperate need of apartments ASAP and haven't had much luck
-Financial support    

    

1 Month Anniversary

I survived my first month in Costa Rica (which isn't as easy as it sounds when you have to brave downtown San Jose every day)! This week provided me with several reasons and ways to celebrate being in the country for a full month. Allow me to re-cap what I've learned this month and share some of this past week with you.

Before I came here, I was confident that the Lord called me to be in Costa Rica and, now that I'm here, that has continued to be affirmed in what He has begun teaching me. Here are a few of those things:

1) Patience- This has always been, by far, one of my greatest weaknesses so, of course, this is where He has noticeably begun to work. Patience here is necessary for sanity...probably another solid reason why He knew Costa Rica is right where I need to be. Lessons in patience have come in all forms. On a larger scale, I am no longer in fast-pace America. This country operates on what we gringos like to call "tico time". Adjusting to a much slower and much less prompt lifestyle has been huge. Another more trivial example of an every day lesson in patience is the process of doing laundry. Laundry has moved from one of my favorite things to do to my least favorite simply with the absence of the great American dryer. Great patience needs to be exercised if  I want clean clothes here...the weather is absolutely beyond my control.    

This is patience in action (kind of a joke, but kind of not):

I know I should be patient because, after all, Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians that "love is patient". If patience was worthy of listing as of one the first characteristics of love and our greatest commandment is to first love God then others, then I want to continue to learn to be patient so I can love better. See the connection there? 

2) Faithfulness- God is teaching me that effective ministry does not come without faithfulness. Faithfulness means being consistent, so in order to be a "good and faithful servant" I need to be consistent. The Lord has been witnessing to me on being faithfully consistent through the people I do ministry alongside. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; living in a different country is not easy. Because of this, it's also not easy to be consistent. One dear friend here specifically is currently removed from hardship and heartache at home that makes it so tempting to want to pack up and go home to make things better. She has been such a strong testament to being faithful to what we are called to do. She's here doing the best that she can with the opportunity that God's given her. Through her, God has shown me what it looks like to be consistent, and I know He blesses those that are faithful. 

3) The 3rd thing I've learned has not been a lesson from God, but rather a basic observation. Alabama football is rolling right along. Since my arrival, the Tide has gone 3-0...If our football season continues to look anything like it has this first month, I hope my Christmas vacation allows me to be in New Orleans on January the 9th. Roll Tide!   

Now for this past week...! Several events this week made it the best one yet: 

1) We had another YoungLife club on Wednesday night- Twin Club. It was a great time! 

Here are some pictures to prove it:

2) In language class on Wednesday we watched Forest Gump in Spanish. It doesn't get much better than watching your favorite movie in another language. I can now translate many of my favorite quotes. "Lt. Dan, icceee cream."   

3) Thursday, September 15th, was Dia de Independencia (the Costa Rican 4th of July). This meant parades, firework-ish things (no sparks, just noise- much more like bombs than anything?), festive costumes, great food, and NO CLASS! 

4) Nicki and I took a trip to Alajuela, Costa Rica to see Volcan Poas. It was awesome! Part of the reason it was so interesting is because it's still an active volcano. You can't see any lava in the daylight, but you can see smoke billowing from the crater. If you ever saw Dante's Peak growing up you can relate to my excitement of experiencing my first volcano. 

Looks exactly like what you would expect a volcano to look like (I think): 

Please be praying with me that the next 9 months are as wonderful as the first! May He continue to mold and teach me how to be patient and faithful among many other things and may all the glory be His.

"We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." -Hebrews 6:12

  

Pajama Party and a Snow Storm

First off, can I get a "Roll Tide" for that win over Penn State this afternoon? 2-0 is great start to the Tide's season!

In other news, another week in San Jose has past, and it was certainly the busiest one yet! In the previous post I gave ya'll a heads up about our first YoungLife and WyldLife clubs this week and our garage sale fundraiser this morning. Now that the week has come and gone, I can report that all were a huge success! I'll elaborate a little more on each event and post some great pictures so you can see what you missed out on and/or supported through thoughts and prayers.

On Wednesday night of this week we had our first YoungLife club of the semester. The theme was a pajama party! As many of you  know, we YoungLife people believe that any game is 2x's as much fun when you play blindfolded. We had a blindfolded pillow fight, fed each other cereal while blindfolded, and played an intense game of blindfolded Pictionary. Because YoungLife's blindfold theory is absolutely correct, we had a blast!  In retrospect, one of my favorites things about the night was being able to experience every aspect of club in a new YoungLife area/country.  No two areas do things the same way, and it's very interesting to see what works in certain cultures and learn new ministry techniques. Those of you who know me well also know that one of my favorite parts of YoungLife, other than the obvious, is program. It felt great to be back in front of high school friends providing laughter and fun, even if that means drinking an absurd amount of shared toothpaste and chewed up oreos (skit reference).

After one day of recovery and re-grouping, Friday night was the first WyldLife club of the semester and, as tradition would have it, it was a Costa Rican Snowstorm. This took me back to my days of working at the Ranch (5th & 6th graders) with Pine Cove camps. It has been quite some time since I spent time with middle school students, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and look forward to being a WyldLife leader! The idea of this club theme is to let Costa Rican middle school students experience the snow storm they will never have. We made each other into snowmen, had a Q-tip war, made bologna snowflakes, and finally....had an all-out snow ball fight! The San Jose version of a snowball fights means you start with 300 flour bombs, then move on to marshmallows, and finish by covering all of your closest friends with shaving cream. When it was all said and done, it really did look like it had snowed!

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the night entailed:

This morning (Saturday), we woke up bright and early to get started with our annual YoungLife Garage Sale fundraiser. We had been picking up and storing donations for weeks and had tons of great stuff for sale.  Last year, the fundraiser provided several WyldLife camp scholarships and this year should be more of the same! It was awesome to be able to share what YoungLife is about with people from all over our neighborhood and provide them with some great deals.  When you really think about it, the sale ends up providing a way for the people who are not wealthy to provide camp scholarships to students who can't necessarily afford to pay for an entire camp trip. I love the way that comes full circle. We also had several sweet moms and committee members provide baked goods to sell. It was a great day and great to see God's providence in action!

This where and how it all went down:

A series of unfortunate events:
-My CDS girls' soccer team was eliminated from our tournament today in a 3-1 loss. However, it was awesome practice for when the season officially starts in November, and I'm pumped about spending a few days each week with that group of high school girls.
-I've been having some crazy allergic reaction to something in Costa Rica. I call it my Costa Rican chicken pox, but it's really like 24/7 hives. At first, I just planned on toughing it out and hoping it went away, but now I think it will take some medical treatment so it doesn't interfere with my daily life here. I could definitely use some prayer with this one because I've never dealt with serious allergies before.  

Here's to a Sunday of rest and re-energizing for another week!

Game Day In More Than One Way: Football and Fútbol

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year- a game day. Game days are up there with Christmas and my birthday and luckily, during football season, they happen once a week! This may sound silly or trivial, but one of my biggest concerns before moving out of the country for the year was missing Alabama's football season. Not only can I not be at the games, but they're difficult to even find on TV here. Yesterday was the first Alabama game day of the season, and I tried my best to make the most of it! I started the day off by putting on my Trent Richardson jersey and a Roll Tide bow in my hair. I went to breakfast with some friends before kickoff and ate a Costa Rican favorite, gallo pinto. I am never shy about my pride for the Tide. Even if no one here knows where Alabama is or what "Roll Tide" means; after they meet me...they absolutely will.

Game day ready: Here I am eating my Costa Rican breakfast. Roll Tide, ya'll!

As the title suggests, it was not only a game day for the Tide. The girls' soccer team that I coach at Country Day School had a game on Saturday as well. It was our first game in a week long tournament in Sabana, and my first game as a coach! Now I've played a lot of soccer in the States, but nothing is like fútbol in a Latin American country...nothing. Mostly because there is nothing else. If you open the sports section of the newspaper the whole thing is only one sport: fútbol/soccer. I now live in a one-sport world, and I am so fortunate to, first, have plenty of experience with that sport, and second, have the opportunity to jump right into their world. Unfortunately, we lost our first game 3-1. I'm hoping for a better outcome in Monday night's game!

Here is Coach Sydney and the CDS Lady Panthers in our first game of the tournament on Saturday night:

Now I have two types of game days to get excited for: Football and Fútbol. With it being college football season and having soccer going on at the same time, I'll have several days of the week to wake up and think, "It's Game Day."

Young Life/WyldLife Ministry:
It's about to get crazy here with international schools' YoungLife and WylfLife ministries. Everything starts this week! If you would like to be praying for our team and our area, here are some dates and events you should know:
-Our first YoungLife club is this Wednesday (Sept. 7th)
-Our first WyldLife club is this Friday (Sept. 9th)
-Our YL/WL Garage Sale  fundraiser is this Saturday (Sept. 10th)

A sincere thanks goes out to everyone who has been prayerfully supporting me and our ministry here in San Jose. Please email me personally if you want to know anything more about what's going on! (semcwaters@gmail.com) If these first 3 weeks of my time here have been any sort of window into what the Lord has in store for this semester than it's going to be incredible!

"Look at the nations and watch---and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." -Habakkuk 1:5

A few of those days...

The past couple of days have been days (as my co-worker and friend, Ali, says) where you find yourself looking around and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I live in Costa Rica today." There are also days when I find myself thinking, "It would be much easier to be living in the States right now."- but that's life. Anyways, the big news is: It has hardly rained in 2 days! That may be one of the reasons it's been so easy to appreciate being here recently. 

In addition to the dry weather, I've been able to hang out with friends. All kinds of friends at that: brand new friends, friends in high school & middle school, old friends, and even a really old friend! If you know me well at all, you know I love meeting new people. I've made some great new friends with my classmates at our language school, people we go to church with, and other young adults living & working in San Jose. It's fun to be in a big city where there's plenty of new people, but I've also been very appreciative of the time I've been able to spend with my closest friends here- the girls I work with. Building relationships comes quickly when you're all living & working in a foreign country together. And then, to top it all off, I've been able to spend time with a very old friend from the States that happens to be in San Jose as well until the end of this week!

This is my friend, Ali, and me at a Crossover concert at the Jazz Cafe in Escazu:

The best part of my week is Tuesdays and Thursdays when we have CDS girls varsity soccer practice. That's when I get to spend the most time with my middle school & high school friends. I also get to work off all the rice I eat everyday. The opportunity to help coach sat right down beside me at the local coffee shop in the form of the guy's soccer coach who said the girls could use some help (such a God send). It's been awhile since I've seriously trained for or played soccer, but it's been an absolute blast so far! The head coach's name is Octavio. He's the most "Costa Rican" man I've met since I've been here. I also can't understand a word he says. I'm not even positive that most of it is Spanish, and neither are the girls on the team. He yells strange words and instructions at me and I run around trying a few different things until I've figured out what drill he's wanting to run. We're a great coaching pair. Our first game is this Saturday evening, so yall be thinking about us Lady Panthers playing in San Jose! 

Here's some pictures of our practice today: Enjoy!

Not to be negative at all, but now that you know what's been awesome about today and the previous few, I'll let you know what's not fun about living in Costa Rica right now: 

College football season started in the States today. And sadly, that means nothing to people here. 

I wouldn't trade what I'm getting to do now though for sideline passes to the Alabama/Tennessee game in Bryant-Denny stadium...and that's sayin' something!

Roll Tide, ya'll!