Me enconto Costa

The week has flown bye! It's easy to do when your time is spent with the Lord in a beautiful rain forest. What a blessing it is just to enjoy life, and not be bound by grueling schedules. I am realizing quickly just how hectic I had been allowing my life to be back in the States. There is such a joy in rest, and I feel like the Lord is teaching me to really rest while I am here.

Yesterday was a fun day. The girls and I went to the beach in the morning because the weather was gorgeous. The beaches here are way different then Wrightsville Beach. The sand is black and the jungle basically come right up to the sand. It looks incredible to be in the ocean and have a lush tropical forest right behind the beach. We walked from the place where we were dropped off about thirty minutes to the Whales Tale. This is a famous landmark in Uvita where the land (a peninsula) jets out in the shape of a whale's tale. As we began walking out on the peninsula, a mass of red began moving across the sand. At first I couldn't tell what it was, but when I looked closely I could see that it was a herd of crabs scurrying across the sand. These crabs were beautiful, and the brightest red I have ever seen on a crab.

Hannah one of my GOP girls was stung by a jellyfish and has a huge rung around her thigh and down the back of her leg! Honestly, for anyone of us to get stung, Hannah is by far the toughest...so we praise Jesus for that. There is an abundance of wildlife here in Costa Rica, and everyday is full of surprises as the Lord blesses us with cool new animals. This morning I discovered a tree full of 5 toucans. They were stunning with bright yellow and black feathers. I just am praying against the discovery of snakes and tarantulas though. Every night I hear howling monkeys but I yet to see them.

I drove the car up the mountain the other day for the first time! If you could see this mountain then you would really appreciate my accomplishment. Driving in San Francisco was amazing practice though and definitely helped me yesterday. The mountain roads here are like driving the streets of San Fran...if they were muddy, covered in with huge rocks, and surrounded by deep jungle! My girls were great encouragers for me and I am thankful for their cheers and rejoicing as we made it up the steep hills. As I was driving through the forest it felt like I was in Jurassic Park...minus the T-rex : )

Everyday the weather's had this horrible habit of starting to rain around noon and continuing into the evening. This has been baffling us the past few days, and low and behold we found out this morning that we are in the midst of a tropical storm. This is great news because it means that it shouldn't be like this too much longer. Be praying, right now our water is out because the rainfall was so heavy it busted one of our pipes, and so we are currently out of running water. Diego is up on the mountain trying to find out where the pipe is broken, so proclaim safety and divine direction as he looks for the pipe.

Ok...there is much more to share, but I think this will be all for now. I pray for you my friends, that you find great rest and peace in the Lord today. He is such a wonderful God. All glory to the name of Jesus. Hasta luego!

-Christine-