Why Costa Rica?

So many people have the question, "Why Costa Rica?" and I just tell them to ask God because I have no idea what He has for me there. But if you're wondering how He called me there, here's the story:

On July 19, I posted this on my World Race blog :

           

It’s something we’ve talked a lot about. My team and Unveiled (the team we’re working with this month) talk circles around the “what if’s” of it all. Where will you live? What will you do? How will you decorate? How long will you be there? Where will you get money? This is exciting ... this is scary ... this is ... getting real.

Not surprisingly, God has begun to answer all of those questions (and then some) over the past week. Where I’ll live, what I’ll do, and all the other questions we bog ourselves down with.

Katie and I laid in her tent in the mountains this week talking about senseless stuff and laughing about bodily functions. We have really mature conversations. When she changed gears and asked if I was excited, I answered her like this:

“Pretend like I know everything in the world – past, present, and future. Ya know, my knowledge is unlimited and I tell you to go sit at that table. You’re exhausted and all you want to do is lay down in your tent and rest. But I say, ‘No Katie, go sit at the table.’ All you can think about is that you’re tired and want to lay down. However, my knowledge is infinite and I know that in five minutes, you need to be sitting at that table because your boyfriend is going to walk in and propose. You don’t want to get up and go do it because your flesh is tired and weak. But you know two very important things: (1) I know everything and (2) I love you and I would never tell you to do something that is not in your best interest. So against your flesh and your own will, you not only walk to the table but allow me to help carry you there.”

Like so, God has invited me to go an adventure with Him in Costa Rica. In two weeks my World Race will end, I’ll return home to pack my things and three weeks later I will get on yet another airplane headed back south.

That’s right, I’M MOVING TO COSTA RICA!!

I’m sure a million questions are swarming your head just like they did mine. I’m exhausted from my race – my flesh is tired and all I want to do is lay down and rest. But I know two very important things: God knows everything and loves me a freakin’ lot. 

And for whatever reason, He has chosen me + Him + Costa Rica to = magic for this season.

Then later on July 19, I posted this on my World Race blog :

It was one of those times where something happens and you go, “Wait. Could it be? ‘Cause if it is, it all adds up now.” I don’t know that I have fully accepted it myself because quite frankly, God does things in preparation for the bigger picture while I’m still trying to figure out how to get through the little one. But let me backtrack a little bit and catch up with whatever the heck it is He’s doing inside of me.

Sometime around the fall of 2010 God began to sneak things into my heart without my knowing it. Through books, pastors, His Word, and other people, He was calling me to the nations – I just didn’t know it yet. I finished college, interned at a church in Natchez, MS, and returned home to get a big girl job.

Then, in August of 2011 I was hired to worked for Marriott. {It was throughout this year that people, some I knew some I didn’t, started asking if I had ever considered teaching. Others asked right out, “Are you a teacher?” – I thought, maybe I’m putting off a vibe I do not know about}. My degree is in Hospitality and Tourism so working there was right up my alley, sort of. I had no desire to work in corporate-America but I knew this was going to be a means to an end. I like to call it my “tent building season,” like Paul. About the exact time I started working there, I began to notice this desire for the nations that God has slipped in my spirit one year prior. It was all I could think about. How can I go on a mission trip and where can I go? I didn’t have a certain place or people group in mind, all I knew was I wanted to go and I wanted to go RIGHT THEN.

This is an excerpt from a blog I wrote on September 4, 2011 entitled, “One day I will Go:”

“Is it possible that God has not put a certain place on my heart because He is giving me freedom to choose? Is it possible that I learned all those years of Spanish because He is going to send me to Central or South America?”

And on September 29, 2011 I wrote a blog called “Directions, Please?” basically whining about being “stuck” in the States when I felt like I was supposed to be doing ministry elsewhere:

“I ask Him all the time. WHY? I thought I would be called to Lima or San Jose or Johannesburg. Somewhere with real mission opportunities, as if they don’t exist here. I ask Him all the time, “GOD! I’m begging You for some direction. Show me where I’m supposed to be. I’m wide open, Father. My life is Yours, send me! Pick me! I will go, I will spread Your Good News to all the nations.”

In February 2012 I applied for something that would change my life forever. And a few months later, on September 9, 2012 I launched on The World Race for 11 countries in 11 months. I remember writing my first status from Zimbabwe on September 17 saying:

“This is the first time we have had Internet since we left so first of all, HELLO!! We made it to AFRICA!!! My team and I were talking, and we can literally feel your prayers, so thank you. We will be in Zimbabwe for the rest of the month and we all love it here so much. The people are amazing and warm and friendly. This week we are in the bush and will be until Thursday then we are going back to our host in Harare, Zimbabwe. I cannot say thank you enough for all your love and encouraging messages... and ESPECIALLY for your prayer. The power of God is BLOWING my mind and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life right now.”

Ten months later I found myself in Nicaragua fighting high fevers, rashes, body aches, exhaustion and chills. I was miserable enough to go to the local doctor even though it was advised to stay away from those. (I need to write a whole blog on that experience in itself). After giving a urine sample in a baby food jar, I knew it was time to go home and get treated. The two and a half weeks I was at home was spent recovering, visiting friends and family, and preparing to come home and be a teacher. Throughout the race God had been softening my heart to teaching and now I was researching, getting information, etc. to come home and do what I needed to do to be a teacher .... IN THE STATES.  {Jesus must have been giggling at this point}.

On July 2, 2013 I flew to Costa Rica to join my team for month 11 of the race. I was excited and revived and ready to finish this thing with a bang. I could not wait to complete month 11 and return home to begin the next big thing Jesus had for me. I arrived to find out we would be living in a school/church doing random ministry things around the San Jose area. I heard great things about Melissa, the principal of the school, from my team so when we were invited to dinner at her home, I was eager to meet her.

Being the curious little thing that I am, I began asking her questions about how she became a teacher/principal, how she ended up in Costa Rica, and other personal questions that no normal adult would ask. But like I said, I was curious. This conversation led to her dropping the bomb I was nowhere near prepared for. Ria and I looked at each other with mouths dropped when Melissa looked at me and said, “What are you doing after the race? Do you want to teach here? Try it for a semester and if you love it, you can stay! By the way, I have an extra bedroom upstairs.”

Then on July 24, I posted the final blog: 

The following days would bring many prayers, thoughts, and weighed conversations. The first thing I did was tell my parents and from there, I began talking to different members of my team about it. I sought godly counsel from my mentor and a friend at home, two people I trust spiritually. Everyone, including my mom, felt good about this opportunity. I would never tell you to make a decision based on other’s “feelings,” but the fact that even MOM had a peace made this whole thing seem like it might be real.

I asked God for confirmation and He knew it had to be tangible and clear because He just threw a curveball that I was not ready to swing at. See, Costa Rica was no farther on my radar than month 11 of the Word Race. In fact, I had tentative plans to return to the Philippines at the beginning of 2014. {If you remember my time there for month 5, you know the fire in my heart for that place and those people.}

I wanted to go home on July 31 and do nothing.

I wanted to sleep for a week straight.

I wanted to visit friends and family and supporters without that elephant in the room reminding you that your time with them is running out because you’ll soon be leaving again.

I wanted to wear normal clothes again. Eat normal food again. Cook in a real kitchen. Sleep in a real bed, in a real bedroom, with 5 real pillows.

I wanted to be home for my birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas. {I’ve been gone the last two Thanksgiving holidays – Ironically enough, I was on a mission trip to Costa Rica during Thanksgiving 2011 and on the race Thanksgiving 2012}.

I wanted to spend all day with my mom running errands and watching movies.

I wanted to stop. And rest. And grieve the loss of 6 very important people who have become my family.

I wanted to have time to process through the last year.

I wanted to simply live life in the States for a while. {Never thought I’d say that one.}

I was excited to go home and experience all of these things. I had my plans, my agenda. And while I was asking Him for direction, I wanted Him to work His will into my expectations of what would happen after the race. I wanted to do what I wanted to do and nothing otherwise.

But God invited me into otherwise.

Because He somehow convinced my stubborn heart that the greatest blessings come from counting the greatest cost.

So I said, “Okay God, let’s do this. I believe this You. I know that You are a good Father, the best Father. I know that you are on my side, fighting for me, cheering for me. And I know that you have my best interest in mind. So if this is the next step, then let’s go. One step at a time.”

And that’s what we’re going to do. God and me, one step at a time. What’s after December? Only God knows that. All I know is that He asked me to (1) come (2) right now (3) for one semester. Everything after that is up to Him and I will walk in confident faith that He will show me “what’s next” when it’s time.

Many of you are probably asking some of the same questions I did. Please feel so free to send me emails or Facebook messages – I would love to tell you more of this story. For through our testimonies, God is glorified.

So, without further ado, here are my God’s plans for the weeks ahead:

• On July 31, I will fly into Hattiesburg, MS.
• I will spend about 3 weeks at home – visiting special people, support-raising, and preparing final things to move.
• Around the end of August, I will move to the CR with whatever I can fit in suitcases (at least it’s not just a backpack this time).

• I have committed to teach 3rd and 4th grade for one semester at Glory Christian School in San Pedro, Costa Rica.
• Yes, it’s true. I cannot do this without more of your love and support. I’m so grateful for all of it you’ve been dishing out over the last 11 months and now, I’m asking you to graciously send more of it. (Your encouragement and support feeds my spirit).
• CLICK HERE TO SEE A SUPER LEGIT VIDEO MY SQUAD MATE, ANNA, MADE FOR ME! SHE'S A PRO!! 

Until then..... 

Mucho amor,