Taking time to Re-energize

When I started traveling, I noticed that it pushed me to grow and face fears because I was confronted with things I didn’t see every day. It was then that I decided to say “Yes” as often and openly as I could with all the new experience. This thinking comes in handy when I’m feeling lazy or tired and don’t feel like pushing myself to try something new.

Jacó was beautiful! It was absolutely what I needed at the time. A good weekend to go out and recharge in the sun … and I got to make my first daring move since arriving in Costa Rica. I took surfing lessons. It was such a thrilling adventure. In between the relaxing on the beach and relaxing even more in the hammock, surfing was a challenging. We found a school on the beach and our instructor, Gustavo, was fantastic. There were four of us in a class with our own instructors. They would walk us out on the wave and then tell us when to stand up. I must say … I was not very good. On land, I was as agile as a ballerina (maybe an exaggeration) but on the water, I fell all over the place. The others seemed to figure it out so quickly. Oh well, in the end, I was able to stand up and …almost…paddle myself out! It was such a thrilling experience. At first I was nervous that I was going to look like an idiot, but I made that promise to challenge myself and I wasn’t disappointed.

Our day trip to Volcán Irazú was a success. It was hard getting up so early in the morning; I fought myself the whole way. What we thought was going to be a lot of hiking turned into a short walk to the crater of the volcano and a very interesting photo shoot! We also meet some guys from the US who were visiting a film festival in Costa Rica. After the volcano, we traveled down to Cartago and saw Las ruinas – the ruins of an old church that has a little park inside. We also went to see La Negrita, which is actually the Basilica of the Angels. It was all quite beautiful. It was a sunny warm day; except when the clouds were out, then it was very cold. I had such a good time to reflect and I hope you don’t mind my sharing with you.

I found myself thinking that I had already seen so many beautiful sights, that I was going to grow complacent to the beauty that surrounded me. I was grumpy about being up so early and thinking that I could have stayed home and relaxed, but then I looked out the window and unexpectedly saw the most beautiful view out the bus window. I spent time thanking God for the beautiful sight and these are the insights He shared with me during my reflection:

 “In all this traveling, it’s easy to become complacent and become numb to the scenes that I walk through. To say this is just another mountain or just another beach. How unfair! Each ridge, leaf and wave was created into its own unique masterpiece. So it doesn’t matter if its your first time to the ocean or your fifth volcano this week, look on it with new and hungry eyes open to all that God has waiting.”

“If you hold your breath waiting for the most beautiful view, you’ll be breathless for the wrong reason. Instead look around, absorb the everyday and someday you might just turn around and have your breath taken away.”

I’ve also had some thoughts about what life will be like after this year of service. In the past couple years, I’ve been traveling and learning so much about the world. As I was lying in Jacó, I was thinking to myself “How am I ever going to settle? I want to experience everything! Take in all that the world has to offer! How will I ever decide where I’m supposed to be?” and God gave me this peace – “Don’t thirst for experience greedily, searching and hunting to experience everything. Thirst for Me and I will give you experiences that move your heart and form your mind.”

Well, these experiences were amazing and re-energizing. I hope you have enjoyed reading about them and I’ll hope you enjoy these pictures just as much!

Photos from Jaco

 Volcan Irazu/Cartago

Photos from my work at Posada de Belen

Beauty on the Beach

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal

and give strength to body and soul alike.” John Muir

 I stumbled upon this quote this afternoon and I feel it really describes my adventures this past weekend. While I’ve been experiencing beauty all around me in a variety of different ways, this weekend God painted masterpieces before my eyes. Lauren and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to Tobago with Rosemary and Gussy (two household community members of Living Water). Household members take two weeks of holiday during the year and we were invited to join for three days. I think I can speak for both Lauren and I when I say that it was an unexpected and undeserved gift, but it was definitely a lifetime experience.

Our first visit to the beach - Caribbean blue!

We island hopped via plane and arrived on Friday morning in Trinidad. Thought it was a little cloudy and sprinkling, God proved to work His magic. We had a beautifully sunny weekend all three days that we were there and we got to spend plenty of time soaking up rays in the sea. It was so funny in fact that when we arrived back home, I had multiple people, including people I didn’t know, come up and tell me that I needed to learn how to use sunscreen. Some were kidding, but I did in fact receive a little lecture from a handful of people. Anyway, despite the fact that I now match the Trini flag, we enjoyed the beach.


Some of the tourist-like highlights: We went on a boat with a glass bottom so we could see the sand and the reef through the clear Caribbean blue waters as we headed out to Buccoo reef. We had the opportunity to jump off the boat and into the water to go snorkeling with the fish in the reef. I was a little nervous because of all the jellyfish we had seen through the bottom of the boat, but we perfectly safe. It was amazing to see a reef in real life, but I think it made it so clear to me how important environmental conservation and issues are. Something so beautiful is slowly being destroyed by the way that humans are using our resources. It’s slightly heartbreaking to think about. Now that my rant Is over … it was beautiful. The Glass bottom boat, named Cool Runnings, also took us to Nylon pool which is a very shallow part of the sea with sand that is great for your skin made up of broken down coral. It was surreal to be STANDING in the middle of the sea, looking out at its vastness all around us. 

Lauren snorkeling above the reef

That person with her arms up - that's me standing in the middle of the sea!
It was so shallow and we were miles away from land.

We also went up to Fort King George, originally French and then later British. This fort sits up on the hillside of Tobago overlooking the capitol city and the coast line of Tobago. It was a wonderful way to end our trip and a peaceful place (despite all the noise) for night prayer. I don’t have any pictures for this yet, but they are soon to come.

Now, for the reason this quote really struck home. I often find that I discover God in nature. It’s so easy to see His hand when surrounded by the untouched parts of His creation. Floating out a ways from the beach, many magnificent gifts were given to me. First and foremost, the gift of peace. Turning away from the hustle of the beach and looking out into the vastness of the sea, palm trees and sand in my periphery and the heat of the sun beating down on my back, I was at peace. A calming quiet washed over me. That, my friends, was a treasured moment with God. It was one of the moments where the place I pray and the place I play became one. The sea also did its work on body and soul. I was energized by the swim to the buoy looking below me at the school of fish passing by, but I was also calmed by the conversations that I had with a very wise woman. There were many conversations and stories told on that trip, and I enjoyed all of them, but the ones at the sea really left an impression on me.

Second major God moment: On our first day, it had been a little cloudy but we decided we would head down to a small fort on the island to watch the sunset. While we weren’t expecting anything magnificent, because of the clouds, we settled in to watch. At first, we got what we expected – a cloud covered sky, some colors peeking out among the clouds as the sun set, a very mellow scene. But then God took out his paintbrush and used the sky as a canvas. I’m not even exaggerating a little when I say that this one chunk of changed by the minute. God lit the sky on fire with bright oranges and reds and blew us out of the water with his magnificent master piece. That kind of beauty can only be given by God. 

Mellow Sunset

   

God's Painting

So there you have it. A short weekend in paradise where God used all sorts of mediums to bring both beauty that heals and beauty that gives joy.

For your enjoyment!
Rosemary and I tapped into our inner child on the beach.