I meant to write this about three weeks ago, but have managed to find as many ways to procrastinate as possible. It’s been a challenge to readjust here, but I have learned a lot the past couple weeks and am excited to see what the rest of this semester has to bring!
Camp weeks!
Our first two weeks back, we spent in Santa Rosa. Week 1, we had kids club Monday-Friday. We had our usual crew as well as Jordan, one of our interns, and Tyler, another student. The kids would come around 8 and play group games for a while. After that, we would have a Bible lesson, memory verses, and some other activities. After the lesson, we would usually play some more group games. It was a lot of fun to play with the kids and practice our Spanish.
Since the kids’ club was only in the morning, we often tried to do something fun in the afternoons. We went swimming in a waterfall, explored La Fortuna, and did some other fun stuff we normally wouldn’t have the time to do.
The second week was youth camp, which was a little more intensive. Monday-Wednesday, we had evening lessons and activities. Tuesday, we also went swimming with the group in the morning. Thursday morning, they came early and stayed until Saturday afternoon. These couple days were a great time of Bible lessons, getting to know each other, playing games, and spending a lot of time with the students. We had a little over 20 students, which was a lot compared to the 3 or 4 we normally have for youth group. Some of them didn’t know each other coming into it, but there was a great sense of community throughout the week.
Throughout the week, the lessons were all revolved around God’s holiness. We looked at Isaiah 6:1-7 and Isaiah’s encounter with the Holy God. Although it was in Spanish, so I only got bits and pieces of the lessons, I read the book “the Holiness of God” by R.C. Sproul afterwards and absolutely loved it and the ideas it spoke on! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.
Bible Classes
We have had three weeks of class since camp. The first was Biblical Counseling, the second was Biblical Finance, and finally Marriage. It has been a lot of fun digging back into these classes and learning more about the Bible.
Counseling was a much more personal class. We learned a little about counseling by actually doing what a counselor would do in our small groups. Though it’s always hard to dig deep into your own heart issues, it proved beneficial both personally and in my relationships. Finances was a highly practical class, so we learned a little about what the Bible says about money and then a lot about how to actually handle our own money. Marriage has probably been my favorite out of these three classes. We spent a lot of time in Genesis, looking at God’s original design of marriage and the effects of the fall and sin on that design. I really enjoyed just digging straight into the Bible and allowing that to change some of my perspectives and expectations.
Spanish Classes
Spanish has switched up a bit. We took new placement tests and the classes were switched up according to our progress. I am in the same level class, but with all new people and a new teacher. It took a little bit of adjusting to learn with new people, but I think it has been beneficial. It’s challenged me to adjust to a new teaching style and, with less people in the class, I don’t have as much room to hide.
Story Time!
Last Monday, all of us did the Tres Cruces hike! It was a long, but super fun hike! We ate lunch on top of the mountain, overlooking the city. It was nice to get out and go on a little adventure!
Prayer Requests
- Sickness! There’s been a bug going around the villa, as well as possibly a few parasites. Pray for our health and that any sickness will not hold us back from continuing to invest and be present where we are.
- Focus. Pray that we will all be able to continue working together towards our goal of growing in Christ. It has been easy for me to lose sight of that goal and it takes daily surrender to maintain that sight.
LeAnn Dienner - Costa Rica 