Its hard to see the thunderhead from inside the storm

Well that's pretty much what it was! Tuesday afternoon we had a huge thunder/hail/lightning/rain storm roll through the campus for about 40 minutes after lunch. We were all sitting inside when the second clap of thunder went off only a split second after the room lit up with a stroke of lightning. Nanda, Bean and I went out to the back porch to sit and listen and watch the thunder. It was an impressive sight to be sure! These videos don't do it much justice, but it is incredible to see a flash of lightning hit the trees around campus (or the lightning rod next to the building) and hear the clap of thunder followed by a roll that lasts for anywhere between 5 and 25 seconds as it bounces off the surrounding hills and rolls its way down the mountain. We found out later that Lindy (who had been in the states for a few days) was delayed because of the storm and actually had to land and wait out the storm for and hour in Nicaragua. Anyway here you go! and a few pictures to go with- Feijão is the resident campus puppy.

Can't wait for more fun storms!

Herradura

So we went to the beach! Zayra and William took the older twins and I to the beach on Saturday. It was a great time! We had perfect weather and there were not very many people there! Ok so where's there?- Herradura on the way toward Jacó and way down the road we would have run into Manuel Antonio. Here's a map- Map. We left early and stopped on the way for breakfast and a gander at the crocodiles in a river along the way. Cool to see them again since we saw them last in 2005 or whenever we were here with the fam. Anyway, off we went to the beach! I'm mostly going to let pictures speak for themselves as usual, but here's the basics- first a nice long walk with William, then back to do some swimming with the twins, then waiting for Zayra and William to return from the clinic (one of the twins threw a rock and accidentally hit Zayra requiring four stitches), pick-nic lunch, another nice solo walk on the beach (with time to pray a bit), and a nice drive home (via the mall- to pick up some new hot-wheels for the kids!)

(new blog feature- click on any picture and it brings up a picture viewer to see them larger!)

BONUS- Forgot to post a shot or two from a first hike with Lynne and Lara! Beautiful day just up and over the hill from campus.

     

First weeks of Costa Rica!

This should have been posted a week or so ago, but now's better than never i guess- My first update email.. (i'll be sending/posting the next update soonish)

I arrived here almost two weeks ago and was whisked right up to the the Whitworth Costa Rica Campus (straight up the side of a 'mountain' to an elevation about 6100ft above sea level north of San Rafael de Heredia- map). We spent a week orienting ourselves to the campus and getting used to each other and the classroom setting here in CR. Exactly one week from arrival our host parents all showed up to share a meal together on campus and get to know us by playing a bit of soccer and volleyball and just taking a walk around our beautiful 27 acre campus. Around 2 that afternoon we piled into cars and headed to our host families homes to move in!

We are each in homes alone (however two of the students are neighbors). My parents names are Zayra and William, they have lived in the same home for 34ish years. We are about a 8 minute walk from downtown San Rafael (map2 thats my neighborhood, zoom out to see the town), and the bus stop that takes us up the hill. They are both wonderful, they have two grown children each with twins. One set of twins shows up twice a week or so to play while their mom takes a break. Their names are Sebastian and Gabriel and they are 3 years old. Overall my family is very relaxed and wonderful. I think it is fitting for me that it is just my parents and I at home most of the time. William works still as the manager of Pizza Hut in the International Mall in Alajuela. The house is quite small, but I love it. My room is decent sized and the rest of the home is bright and cozy.

Campus

Classes are challenging but good. I am currently enrolled in Spanish 301, but will likely go to 201 (no change in classroom or material just easier grading basically) which is good because the last Spanish i took was 111 almost two years ago. We have started Core 350 as well which is going to be great with such a small group. We are going to have quite a bit of say in what issues we look at and which ones we decide to approach as our paper topics. This week we have had one of the leading Latin American Theologians on campus speaking (also the director of InterVarsity ministries in Nicaragua), Freddy Mendez. He and his family have been using the campus as a vacation/resting site for the week. He has covered Latin American Christian history and specifically Liberation Theology. He speaks for the final time tomorrow afternoon. I think dates have just been nailed down for our trip to Nicaragua where we will meet up with Freddy again.

Pasantía- Spanish for internship. We have all begun our internships at this point and it will be awesome to see how everyone is growing and changing through their experiences. We are all doing things in very different areas. Josh- working with the municipality translating legal material into English for San Rafael. Nanda- working with Starbuck's office which oversees proper conditions and pay for growers and pickers. Emily- Teaching violin lessons to students in San Jose. Ticcia- working with 'Rahab' a NGO offering services to prostitutes in the red-light district of San Jose. Sara- working as an assistant (hopefully) in two different medical clinics. Me- working with YWAM on doing all the crazy awesome cool things they do on their campus here. It is the only self-proclaimed YWAM 'green' base and home to the new 'green hands' ministry. Basically the place is a full on farm. They have goats (milk and cheese), chickens (eggs and meat), rabbits (their poop is the best for compost apparently), horses, veggie gardens, pastures, orchard trees, a small fútbol cancha (soccer field) a complete wood shop (with a nice planer where they've been making great looking boards out of the non-native trees on the property), and of course facilities and classrooms for DTS (Discipleship Training Schools) and other YWAM schools. My role with YWAM will be to serve in whatever ways I can on my internship day (Mondays). The basic schedule will start with taking care of animals in the morning (by the way they have three goats that were born two to three days before i got there, and a few rabbits that were just about as young), go to a drug/alcohol rehab ministry with my supervisor, Benjamin to give a short message and spend some time chatting with and encouraging the guys, return to eat lunch at YWAM, then pick up with some farm chores or begin to help with the few building projects. These projects include a decent sized Aquaponics system (veggies grown in water which is enriched by including tanks filled with talapia or some other fish) and a bio-injestor (will use goat poop in a large airtight bag to collect the gasses that are given off which can then be used to fill propane tanks and used for the same purposes as propane). These should be fascinating projects and I'm really excited to be involved with the mission and vision of YWAM, as well as being a part of the young but growing relationship between YWAM and Whitworth here in Costa Rica. 

Independence Day Parade

Independence Day parade

UNA InterVarsity friends

We have done a few fun things here too (not that class isn't fun...). The first night with my parents we went down to the movies to watch 'El Regreso' a new Costa Rican film which just hit theaters. We walked around the town and visited with some of both Zayra and William's relatives. A group of the students and a the three 24/7s (think live-in nanny/teacher's assistant for everything that happens down here) went to the Sounders soccer game against Heredia in Alajuela last night which we won 2-1! This morning we didn't have class because it is the independence day for Costa Rica. We all spent the morning with our host families in the central park watching the parades of student bands and dancers, then headed off to campus to eat lunch and meet up with some InterVarsity students from the Una (a university) in Heredia. We played some fun games, practiced spanish and learned a bit about their culture through some pretty funny skits.

Senior portraits- Joel

Great afternoon with a great brother taking a few senior portraits on the first day of school. Perfect weather and light at Silverbow

Thanks Joel!