Los Naranjos!

Well. Here I am in Banos, Ecuador. It’s a cute little tourist town in the mountains—very cold, and today it’s very wet. Awesome. No, it’s pretty great! It’s our Independent Student Travel (IST) weekend, and we all heard great things about Banos, so everyone’s here except for 5 people from our group (including leaders!).

We’re all in different hotels though, and I’m at a hotel with Kasha, Mckinley, and Jon. We’re going to walk around town some and then get a massage later (at least the girls are). Because I’ve been planting trees for 3 weeks, and I can!

So it’s been what? Two weeks since Bahia? They have flown by! I am enjoying Los Naranjos more every day—from the bugs tearing my feet to bits (I’ve been rockin the socks and flops look to keep them safe) to taking TONS of pictures with my host siblings to staying up late watching Mexican soap operas (so dramatic. Really quality TV there.) (Oh and late being like…9:30 or 10 haha)…I really love it here. Mainly because I absolutely love my host family. My kids (I call them my kids, haha—my host siblings!) give me hugs every time I come home from anywhere. They love to take pictures and draw things and show them to me. Andy is 3 and can be rather annoying at times (praise God that I had “practice” with Joshua!!), but then he comes up to you and gives you a HUGE hug and won’t let go. Nayely loves to sit with me and just watch me read or write. She holds my hand when we walk and asks questions (in very fast Spanish!). My mom is so sweet. She does everything around the house. She laughs really loud (makes me miss you a lot Mom!) and laughs at EVERYTHING. She’s fantastic. My dad is really nice—he’s pretty quiet though. But our family has a great sense of humor, so we laugh a lot together.

A typical day for me in Los Naranjos:
Wake up at least 3 times at night. Two potential reasons: Alex is rolling into me or the rooster decides to hate us and wake us up at 3:30. Stupid rooster. I wake up at 6 to my mom working—making coffee, cleaning and such. At 6:30 my sister is usually up watching TV (SO different from Caitlin—never mind the age difference!). I’m usually up at about 10 til 7 so that I can have my face washed by the time breakfast is ready. Usually that’s at 7. We walk 30 minutes to work (unless by God’s grace, we meet at our house—favorite days!). Then we meet up with everyone and get to work late—not just Ecuadorian time, but Tsa’chilan time.We usually work til 11:30 or 12 (it’s been ending earlier). We’ve gotten much more efficient with the way we do things? Then we head home, shower, eat lunch, cram in seminar reading, and at 2:30 we walk back to the Cultural Center for seminar. I usually go home right after, journal, hang out with the kids, eat dinner, and hang out some more, watching TV and stuff. Then bed time!

I’m learning so much here. The seminars have been really challenging for me—it’s just interesting seeing how responsible I am for adding to environmental destruction…just through the clothes and things I buy. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to change my lifestyle when I come back…and it’s hard.

But God is also just teaching me so much. I have been really struggling with the lack of fellowship—I miss the Church!! And it’s honestly been quite exhausting and very difficult. I mean everyone here is so awesome, and I love them, but it’s just hard not being at church. But by God’s grace, the lack of fellowship has made me read and study more Scripture and meditate on the gospel. I’m reading 2 Corinthians now and it’s just so encouraging. I’m going to try to memorize chapter 4. It will take a while, but I’m super excited about it.

I’ve had a lot of opportunity here among my friends, which I am so grateful for. Keep praying for everyone here—we’re tired! Emotionally, physically, mentally…
But it’s so awesome to see how faithful and gracious God is to me daily.
I need to go, but thanks again for all the prayers—ya’ll are the best, and I am constantly reminded of how blessed I am to have friends like you!
Much love—and read 2 Corinthians 4 sometime this week.

(ps--mom posted this for Hannah and took the liberty to put in the two pictures---they are from Jess Elisberg's facebook page. Hannah still hasn't been able to upload photos---These are pictures where they are planting trees....obviously!)

Hardcore Jungle Trekkers!

NOTE--This post is incredibly long. I just kind of wrote a bunch of thoughts. I hope you enjoy it (and please just comment something, I love hearing from people!), but I apologize for the length!


Hey everyone! I am writing from the small town of Bahia de Caraquez. We arrived here at about 6pm—by the way, I am safe. If you heard about the riots in Quito, we were far away from them. So Mom, DON’T WORRY! ☺
Wow. So let’s see. We were in Los Naranjos for almost a week. We arrived there last Friday, and we pretty much immediately went to our host families.
Gosh, it’s hard to sum up everything I’ve experienced in the past week.
I’m rooming with Alex, the baby of our group. ☺ She’s 16 and from California. We’ve been having a lot of fun together. We’re living with Carlos and Anjelica—they are pretty much the sweetest couple. They are so great and generous to me and Alex. We have two host siblings: Nayely (or Michelle….but she introduced herself as Nayely), who’s 7, and Andy, who’s like…4. They are adorable, and I’m kind of obsessed with them.
It’s really difficult for me to process all that’s happened. Already, I know!
We started planting trees on Monday. It’s really hard work. They are literally cutting paths for us with a machete so that we can plant the trees. We’re planting along three different rivers. This week we planted probably 1000 trees….only 7000 to go! ☺ I’ve gotten tons of bug bites—ants, sand fleas, you name it, I probably have it. (Yes Mom, I’m taking my malaria meds.) So yeah, the work here is hard, but it’s good.
And just FYI—you know how I’ve been nervous about Machu Picchu? Well no worries—Alex and I (along with Connor and Eirann who live 5 minutes from us), have figured that we walk at least 10 miles a day. Up and down hills! At this point, Alex, Connor, Eirann, and I live the farthest from everything. As we work down rivers and stuff, we’re hoping we’ll get closer to home.
So Machu Picchu, here I come!
Our seminars have been interesting so far. We’re studying the environment and natural resources, so we’re looking at what it means to conserve the environment and be environmentally responsible, all while considering basic human needs and energy needs…Personally, it’s been really challenging (Hahaha Ty, I miss you!). Being environmentally responsible for me usually means giving up a lot of creature comforts. Or at least feeling guilty for the things I have that are environmentally destructive. I dunno. It’s something I am struggling with, and I’m interested to see how my mind changes over the next three weeks. I’m realizing that I am stubborn on this issue and I don’t want to change my mind. So I’m praying that I’ll be open to new ideas and ways of living. (For those of you who are concerned, NO, I am not becoming a vegetarian, haha.)
I’m really enjoying myself though. I think Alex and I are really blessed with our host family. We are having a great time with them. My host mom is so adorable. She laughs a lot, and I’ve actually had a conversation with her by myself! I can understand a lot more Spanish than I can speak. But yeah, Anjelica likes to joke around with us a lot. A few nights ago we watched one of the Anaconda movies. So ridiculous. Yeah by the way, we have TV and a DVD player. Our house is a one room hut, but it’s warm (not too warm though) and dry. There are two queen sized beds with awesome mosquito nets, and the first night they told us the beds were for us and they would sleep on the floor…Alex and I immediately told them absolutely not, thank you so much, but they needed a bed.
I was really convicted the first night in Los Naranjos as I was walking to our house with my family and Alex…I was carrying my two backpacks—my packs that have made everyone say, “That’s ALL you’re taking for EIGHT MONTHS?”—and I was thinking about how heavy they are. And then I realized, walking next to my sister and Mom, that I probably have as much as they do in their whole house in those two bags. And it’s a lot more expensive. I don’t know. These people have so little and seem so happy. Sure they have to walk a while to get places, and they don’t having running water, but you know what, they have a toilet! And they have a place to shower (we use two buckets, it’s actually pretty nice). And they have food and a TV and movies and school. They seem happy.
And here I am with all my STUFF. We watched a documentary called The Corporation (I definitely recommend it—Jaron especially, you’ve got to see it), and we’ve been talking about how ridiculous our consumer culture is.
Anyway. Sorry for how disjointed this post is. I feel like these posts will only get worse, haha.
So yeah. I’m having a grand time. But please pray for endurance, patience, and positive attitudes as we’re planting. I’ve been drawn to 1 Corinthians since I’ve been gone, and God is teaching me a lot. Please pray that I would continue learning and digging deep in the Word. Also pray that I would have grace to be humble and bold with the gospel.
I miss ya’ll a lot! Sorry for the long post. But thanks for the prayers and concerns. I may have internet next weekend (I’ll be on my Independent Student Travel—probably to Banos). By the way! Everyone here is SUPER excited for my birthday tomorrow. No worries Mom, I will be well loved on my birthday. ☺

Pinto and Rain

Costa Rica. Home of beautiful beaches, whales, rainforest....LOTS of rain, and LOTS of PINTO!
Oh Pinto. It's become a little joke here. Every morning we had the same thing for breakfast--pinto (beans and rice) and eggs (scrambled or fried). Or we could have toast. We actually had a lot of options, it's just that pinto was a constant.
So I'm in San Jose right now. We fly out to Quito, Ecuador tomorrow where we'll be for a few days before heading to the Tsa'chila community in Los Naranjos. I'm super excited to meet my host family and to figure out who I'm staying with!
Costa Rica was a great way to start the trip. We had some great seminars and did some awesome things. After I last blogged, we went kayaking in the mangroves! So fun. My kayak partner was Mckinley and we had a grand time. Seriously, we probably had too much fun haha. We sang and laughed hysterically because we had to duck to not hit branches and we got stuck and there were bugs and it was so great.
We had a really neat ceremony last night. We lit candles and talked about what we hope to gain from this year, a powerful moment in Costa Rica, and someone we wanted to thank from our time in Costa Rica. We're already becoming like family, I think. I mean we'll definitely be family by the end of this. But it's been really fun having conversations and getting to know people.
Thanks to everyone who continues to lift me up in prayer--please continue to do so! I was able to listen to a sermon by David Platt today, which was great. It was on the freedom that comes from grace, which is something the Lord has really been showing me this week. He taught from Galatians 1, and I was so encouraged. Platt said that the gospel is FREE and that it is FREEING. Praise God! Because I don't talk openly about the details of what the Lord is teaching me, I've been journaling a lot. It's going to be really neat looking back at what God teaches me this year.
So anyway. Ecuador is going to be great. We're going to be doing reforestation--planting trees in the morning! So fun haha. And we'll be bathing in the river. Yayyyy! With snakes. I won't have a lot of internet in Ecuador. Sooo this is goodbye for now! Please pray for endurance; grace to love Christ, the gospel, and everyone here more; that I would be diligent in taking my malaria pills and in applying sunscreen (haha); and that I would be bold with the gospel.
I love you guys! You are all so wonderful, and I am really grateful for your support.
PS Check out my facebook for pictures!

Orientation!

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged! I only have a few minutes, so here's what I've been up to!
1. Orientating--I know this isn't a word, but we've been doing various team building activites (Bucket of Dreams--crazy.) and having discussions. Seminars are really interesting--everyone wants to be here, so our discussions are meaningful.
2. People--my program leaders (PLs) are awesome. Like so great. It's gonna be a fantastic year with them. We're all a "nomadic family" (as my PL Loren says haha). Everyone is so nice, and we're laughing all the time.
3. Surfing--honestly, not a big fan. I am SO NOT GOOD at it. I was getting killed by waves and my swimsuit was bothering me and I never got up. However, I'm really glad I tried it. It's just one of those things I'm glad I did.
4. Rainforest hike/waterfall--we did a hike up to a waterfall. It was SO humid and hot, we were all POURING sweat. So great. Then we jumped in this really cold pool underneath a waterfall. It was amazing. We ate lunch there too!
5. Ziplining--we did that today. So. much. fun. Holy cow. Half the fun was the people who are in charge of the zipline business. And the trip up the mountain. We were ALL in the back of a truck that essentially had no back. All 19 of us. So crucial.
6. The Man Cave. This hasn't actually been something I've been doing. However, I hear things from the Man Cave EVERY. NIGHT. We only have 3 guys on this trip (not including our PL, Scott). They form the Man Cave. And they all get along SO well, it's absolutely adorable. And totally ridiculous. And LOUD.

So basically, i'm having a great time.
Some prayer requests:
-that when I'm lonely or homesick, I would continue to go to God's word. I am hoping to have quite a bit of Scripture memorized by the end of this. Pray that I would desire to study the Scriptures.
-that I would love my teammates, regardless of any circumstance.
-that I would remain healthy and well rested.
-the same for my teammates.
-that I would be a humble servant to those around me.
-that I would always enjoy and appreciate God's creation around me!
-that I would love Christ and by his grace, become more like Him.

I love all of you & really miss ya'll! Thanks for your prayers! Hopefully I'll put up some pictures next post. :)
PS Sorry for any spelling errors, this was typed so quickly!
PSS this PSS is for Raisinets. You should totally be here. :)

Safe and Sound in Costa Rica!

Sooo I´m here!! I´m on the computers at our hostel--we´re only staying here for a night. I´m updating this because everything is in Spanish and no one can figure out the at symbol, so we can´t get on Facebook or email. Encouraging right? :)We go to the coast tomorrow to where we´re staying the rest of the time. Everyone seems really nice & we´re having a good time! I was on the same flight to Miami as Connor, so we got to talk. I sat next to Mckinley and Kasha on the flight to Costa Rica and we had a good time. They are super fun! Okay, I´ve gotta go eat DINNER. I´m hungryyy.
Love you guys. Miss you already!!
PS--Annetta I missed my phone today.
PSS--Jaron this PSS is specifically for you. Thanks for the Raisinets!!
PSSS--SB i almost cried when I read your thing. I love you.
PSSSS--Mom and Dad (and Josh and C&C). I love you lots and miss you tons. Mom, could you send this update to people?
Byeeeee.

The Gospel

“The saints’ delight is in Christ: He is their joy, their crown, their rejoicing, their life, food, health, strength, desire, righteousness, salvation, blessedness: without Him they have nothing; in Him they shall find all things. ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal. 6:14). He has, from the foundation of the world, been the hope, expectation, desire, and delight of all believers.”

–John Owen, Communion with the Triune God, Eds. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1657/2007), 236.

quote courtesy of Tolle Lege, and John Owen of course.

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul." - Spurgeon

So this is it. I'm leaving tomorrow (today technically!). I am beyond excited. And it still won't sink in until I'm walking away from my family at RDU.
I have been completely packed. Repacked some tonight. I'm trying to stuff some last minute things into my carry-on (I swear, it's heavier than my big pack). Finished up readings as best I could. I'm getting nervous. Incredibly excited, but really started to realize the weight of what I'm doing.
But I am so grateful that I know John Owen's words are true: Christ is my delight, my salvation, my righteousness, my life. Without Him I have nothing, and in Him I find everything I could ever need or want. He fulfills every desire and provides immeasurable hope.
And you know...I still worry. I worry that I will trade the power and beauty of the gospel for other things. That before I know it, I won't recognize the gospel I believe in. And that it will be farther from the truth than I can imagine.
I'm not just worried about this because of my trip. I'd have these same concerns if I were heading off to college.
But the Lord has given me, and all my friends in college, and honestly every believer, the incredible opportunity to make choices and to be refined. So I am praying that I would make choices that glorify God and reflect the love of Christ. I'm praying that I would love every person I meet with a love that can only come from Christ. I am praying that this year, I would allow the gospel to soak into my soul like rain. That I would let it fill the places where it has torn away sin. That it would cause me to completely renounce myself and to only proclaim Christ. I'm praying that because of the gospel, I would desire to read and memorize Scripture so that I can sharpen my mind and heart. I'm praying that by God's grace, I would be bold with the gospel and live in light of eternity in each experience I have. And I'm praying that I would be continually grateful for the life God has blessed me with. I am amazed at the love I've been shown the past week saying goodbyes. My family, friends, and the Trinity community have gone out of their way to show me how much they care--I love all of you and I am glad to know each of you!
Anyway, I know that many of you will be praying these things with me--please know that I am grateful! I am blessed to have supportive friends and family who are also believers in Christ. The body of Christ is something that we should not take for granted, and I hope and pray that after this year I will treasure the church even more.
So here I go. I am leaving everything up to a God who already knows everything that will happen to me this year. He knows when I am going to rejoice, when I'm going to grieve, when I'm going to be lonely...But He is sovereign, and He is faithful.
I'll update here as soon as I can! Please pray for safety and health for the rest of my team: Rachel, Rayn, Eirann, Jon, Connor, Mckinley, Kasha, Mary, Lauren H., Luisa, Alexandra, Faith, Madeline, Lauren K., Jessie (leader), Scott (leader), Loren (leader).
I love you guys!! Thanks for everything--see you in eight months!! :)

"But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
--Isaiah 43:1-3a

Good Stuff

I love being able to talk to people about issues and things with substance. One of my professors on my trip to England two years ago called it "ruminating conversation." I am going to miss many different people while I'm gone, but there are two people that I find particularly understand my interests and tastes in...well everything. And we always have ruminating conversations. I'm sure I'll find other people on my trip to have deep and intellectually stimulating conversations with on a regular basis (when we're not having seminars of course), and these conversations will certainly sharpen me. But I always find it a joy to discuss things with people who have the same worldview and similar ways of thinking.
So I will miss those conversations and people a lot!
Anyway. Here are some things from the past few weeks (mainly books and music and such) which have raised discussions between me and some of my friends. I hope you find them somewhat interesting!
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. This book is excellent. It's thought-provoking, interesting, well-written, and eye-opening. It has really made me think about what I believe and how I view the world that God has given us. I personally think it's worth everyone's time.
Ben Folds. He's making a new album apparently and Jaron Moore (click on the link to check out his blog--it's pretty great!) posted this video on my Facebook today. I really like this song, as well as the spoken bit. And the video is cool too!
Artist a Day. This website comes up on my google homepage, and I love it. Some of the art isn't my favorite, I guess, but every once in a while, a piece comes up that I just sit and stare at. I love that about art. When we're in NYC for TBB, I'd love to go to the Met for a day. I didn't take the chance to do that when I was last in New York, but I should have. If I had time to just do what I want (wouldn't that be wonderful?), I would spend time going to museums and learning about art. Right now it's more interesting to me than music. (If you know me, that's a big deal-ish.)
columbinus. One of my best friends, Victoria Oliver, was in this play this summer. She's a senior in high school at UNC School of the Arts this year. She's marvelous. Anyway, a friend of hers who is also going to UNCSA as a senior this year directed this show. It's about the shootings at Columbine. The cast was young (17-21 years), but they did a fantastic job. I was really impressed, and I saw it twice. columbinus is a powerful show. And everyone should see it. Literally everyone. It's raw and emotional, and exposes the stereotypes and labels we subconsciously (or even consciously) give each other. It's humbling, terrifying, and heartbreaking, all at the same time. But it was completely worth it for me.
Last, but certainly not least, I will leave you with a poem I found a couple weeks ago. It's by Emily Dickinson. I found it randomly--I believe a friend of mine brought up Emily's poetry (yes, Emily and I use each other's first names), and I just googled her. A website came up with her poems, and I saw this one.
"There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul."
I love the language she uses and the way she capitalizes certain words. This is basically why I want to teach English Literature. Books and writing can say so much. :)

Thanks for reading my random thoughts!
One week!