I'm back in Costa Rica after a long, yet very enjoyable, vacation in Texas. I arrived last night and moved in with an amazing family. They are so sweet and they treat me like part of the family, so it is not hard to feel welcome here! Today was the first day of orientation and I will be tested today to see which class I will be in for the trimester. I'm not very hopeful that I will be placed in a very "advanced" class because I have been away from speaking spanish for almost a month. That's ok, there would be more homework in those classes anyway.

I am so thankful to my family and friends that made my visit home a good experience. I miss you all so much, but I am looking forward to getting back into the language and the culture here. I can receive mail here at the language school at the address below. Make sure you put my name on the package because everything for all students goes to one place!

MY NAME
Instituto de Lengua Espanola
Apartado 100-2350
San Jose, Costa Rica
America Central

Will, Alli, Hannah, Chris, and I have had an amazing opportunity this summer to work with some members of the Methodist church of CR to work toward building a Children’s Home. The goal is to provide a loving, Christian home for kids without one. Many of the teams that have come here every week for the summer have been working toward getting things on the land ready for the first house to be built. Last week, the first cinder block was laid to begin building walls for the first house. The family that will live in this house arrived this week with their triplets. They have committed their lives to help raise their current and future children in a loving environment. Please pray for them as they transition into life here and prepare their hearts for welcoming in some new children.

As we stood on the land where the house will be, I heard laughter in the wind and saw smiles in each shovel of dirt and concrete. I prayed on that land that the kids there would be filled with the love of Jesus and know that so many people love them so much that they gave vacation time and lots of money to come there to help build a place for them to live. Ray and Lidia Zirkel, and Will Hasley were in the US when construction of the house was scheduled to begin, so I had the amazing opportunity to lay the first block. I felt so honored to be a part of that moment. The team that was working there at the time circled around as we prepared to start building the home. We prayed over the block as a representation of all that will be done there in God’s name for the children. We sang Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place as we laid the block on top of rebar, concrete, and dirt that so many have worked for years to prepare. It was such a powerful moment to think about all of the people that will be blessed by this ministry, by those blocks.