6/4

6/4


I threw a snowball at Justine. I feel very accomplished : )

There was a lot that I wanted to write, but I can never remember anything if I don’t write it down right away...that's probably why these posts can be so weird. They're what go through my mind during the day but things I probably wouldn’t say outloud. Weird. Anyways...

I’ve been really blessed the past couple days. Just little things here and there. Like I saw Tamara for the first time this Thursday at Bible Club, and she ran up to me and called me name and gave me a big hug : ) Also, when we split off into groups, I was with Matt and the older kids. They paid attention and did verses for what seemed like maybe 5 minutes before they started going crazy, but there was one boy who was focused the whole time and kept coming up to me to say verses in the midst of the chaos. It was amazing to see one of the kids really want to learn more of God’s Word. I also had a chance to hang out with the McClains and Rebecca and her kids at the beach. It was funny I was facing the ocean standing in the water and Audrey grabbed onto me from behind. Then all at once Isabelle, Eden and Ezekiel are all behind me clinging to my arms, legs and waist. I confidently said, “I am like a tree planted by streams of water, I shall not be mov-“ then got hit by a wave and knocked over by the 4 children :)

Last night Brooke was talking about how she hates bugs and how difficult it was when she first got here (Costa Rica is not the place you want to be if you're scared of bugs I've found out) but how God has helped her through that fear. I remember she told Sarah and I how she saw a scorpion next to her and went all Rambo on it and just cut it in half. That's so crazy! And the other night, Matt shared with me a little about their life before Costa Rica and how they ended up here. I was thinking today about how both of them are a great example of faithfulness. Not only having to move your family and learn a new language for a completely different culture filled with many..."surprises", but also to have friends, co-workers, family and even some in the church telling you your crazy.  Yet they were obedient despite that and did what God has set before them.  Likewise, we all have to walk in this way, because Jesus has called us to pick up our cross and follow him no matter what the cost. How seriously do we take that?

I hope to have that obedience. When Sarah and I were here, we went through this book called “Christ Indwelling and Enthroned” (can’t remember who it’s by…probably some “old dead British guy” ;]) with Pastor Phil. In it he talked about being completely surrendered to the will of Christ and the fruit from it (which is also evident in the McClains). He said something like, “He alone can confidently expect victory who has submitted unreservedly and irrevocably to the Lordship of Christ.” There are many who “gladly take life from Christ but stubbornly refuse to take law from him. He is hailed as Savior but ignored as Sovereign…His Saviorhood is gladly welcomed, but He Himself is banished to some backroom of the heart, while Self fills the throne which is His by purchased right.”

Do I reserve myself the right to have my own way in some things? If he indeed is Lord of my heart, my attitude will be one of glad, thankful and entire submission. “All arms of rebellion must be laid at his feet and the throne of the heart abdicated in His favor.”  And this submission and surrender...don't think like it's some great thing you are doing for God or giving to Him.  It is His in the first place.

And all of this sounds pretty intense, yet I LOVE that when in Matthew Jesus says "Pray like this", he starts out with “Our father.” This is how we are suppose to pray, not addressing him as God or Lord or Savior, but we are to call out as His children to our Father :] What a blessing. And through it all, His grace is sufficient for us!

My day thus far: Got to the church this morning and Pastor Phil asked me to run to go to the store and make some copies of a paper for the church while Justine helped Rebecca out. He said that I could take his bike which was over at his house. Here are some things you need to know before I continue.

1. I haven’t ridden a bike in years
2. Pastor Phil is like 3 feet taller than I am. His bike is big
3. The roads are mud from the storm last night

I had to get to the side of the road where it’s elevated a little just to get my leg over the bar, and quickly found out that if I sat down my legs couldn’t reach the pedals ha ha. But I finally got going and only went a few feet before the pedal stopped moving and I gracefully…fell in the mud. So I picked up the bike and looked at the chain. Now I remember when I was little this would happen to my bike, but I always had my big brother right there to fix it. However, after a few tries, I finally got the chain on correctly. I was pretty proud of myself until I realized that now I was covered in mud and I still hadn’t left the front of the McKay’s house. So I got going trying to avoid the giant puddles and the worst of the mud then started heading down the street to the main road. It slopes a little bit so I started going fast. This is when I found out that Pastor Phil’s brakes aren’t the greatest. Thankfully I was able to slow down enough to take the turn I needed. There were a couple times that I almost crashed considering I was trying to stay out of the road since the cars don’t seem too worried about pedestrians and there’s not a lot of room on the side and it’s all mud and I accidentally hit this cement thingy. But I made it to the store alive! And it was closed.

The way back was a little smoother except I almost hit a puppy… ok yeah I know that sounds horrible but at the time I had 3 options- 1. Go towards the puppy and hope it moves in time 2. Veer into a ditch 3. Hit a truck head on. Thankfully the puppy moved ha ha.

So that was within the first few hours of the day. Justine and I went grocery shopping with Rebecca then stopped by the copy shop now that it was open. So I just ran in real quick and asked for 20 copies. 20 is vente. I didn’t say vente, I said venti as if I was ordering a large coffee at Starbucks ha ha. I know I’m not that great at Spanish, but that’s pretty pathetic.
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Justine and I were walking down the road and someone yelled, “hola!” from one of the houses, but we couldn’t tell who. So we kept walking and then I heard, “Meekaehla!” and Daniel waving frantically. Totally made my day! I have never liked being called Michaela for some reason, but I like it when the kids say it. Gustavo came to Las Manos del Alfarero for the first time since I’ve been here and he would keep looking at me and say my name, “Meekaehla” over and over. So I just responded, “Gustavo.” :) While Matt was teaching that afternoon it was hard to keep a straight face and be stern with Gustavo because he kept saying, “Thank you! Thank you very much! I love you! I love you!” It was sooo funny!

5/30-31

I was sweeping the church and noticed my dirt pile kept trying to run away from me. So. Many. Bugs.


April 31

Lately God has put it on my heart to be able to share the gospel in Spanish. So I’ve been studying a lot and been practicing out loud to Justine (she’s so sweet, listening to me rambling in Spanish). Monday is Christian Surfers so I was really excited to go out and see what exactly God was going to do with my two years of high school Spanish out on the streets of Tamarindo. So I had spent extra time studying Sunday and went to bed early so that I would be good to go for the next day.
That night I got about 3 hours of sleep.
The next morning was really busy as well as the afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up going that night. I thought I was going to crash. But still, though I was really disappointed, I was super blessed that day. For the first time I did some songs in Spanish for Las Manos Del Alfarero. To most people this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when it comes to singing in front of people, I’m terrified, though I’m slowly (slowly slowly slowly) getting use to it. And this was in Spanish! But God gave me grace :) And the McClain kids ha ha. I went over to Matt and Brooke’s and played around with some of the songs I had been practicing with Isabelle, Audrey and Ethan and they helped me out at club.


April 30

I was talking with Darla (another girl who went to PFR) and she was saying that she’s going to go to college for elementary education. I told her that when I was in high school that was what I was thinking about doing after I graduated. Then I somehow ended up at this real crazy place in Olney…
It’s so weird just standing back and looking where I am. It blows my mind that I get to serve in Costa Rica. 2 years ago to this day, I was in rehab. 1 year ago around this time, I was graduating high school and had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. Even a few months later when I found out I was accepted into Potter’s Field, I believed that I was just going to do the 6 months and then be done (great heart, right?) and go to college in Billings. And this is where I am now…God is awesome :)
You always hear people say that God doesn’t always show you what He has in store for you because you probably wouldn’t believe him. That always bothered me because I thought, “Who cares, I would just want to know!” Yet I can step back now and look what God did and how I ended up here- it’s amazing to see the work that God has done. He is sooo good!

pictures!

Wow, so I finally figured out how to add pictures to this thingy ha ha. So here ya go:

This is the world's smallest scorpian...about to be squished by my shoe

That is Leidy in the back, who I played frisbee with :)

This is Neideli

Neideli again...so cute!

Pastor Phil teaching at club Thursday

The look on Dylan's face = someone please translate for the grina

He has the cutest little boots ha ha

trying to catch a frog outside the apartment

view from our door

our cute little cabina :)

5/29

5/26


My coffee cup says, “Eres la major mama.” I’m so glad ;)
I got another chance to kind of connect with the kids again. There was a really quiet girl named Leidy who was keeping to herself a bit, but as I tried to start up a game with the group before club started, she was really the only one who kept saying she wanted to play. So her and I threw a Frisbee around. I know this doesn’t sound very significant, but it’s difficult (for me at least) to reach out to the older girls in the group. So it was cool to just spend some time with her :) I also met and talked with a little bit a girl named Neidelli. She’s only 5 or 6 and speaks very slowly in Spanish which is probably why I like her so much ha ha. I am so blessed to have another chance to come to Costa Rica and spend even more time with the kids. I ran into Gabriel walking to Matt and Brooke’s and he was so excited and kept saying hola and waving until I got closer to him then talked a lot and really really fast in Spanish that I didn’t understand (not that I usually can understand the kids, but it's harder with him especially...Ethan says usually can't understand him either). I'm going to miss these kids soooo much!

5/29

Justine and I were sick all day Saturday. Not sure what it was, but both of us were achy, Justine had a headache and I was sore inhaling and exhaling. But it wasn’t too bad, as long as I didn’t, you know, move or breathe or anything crazy like that. I had to walk to Matt and Brooke’s to tell them that we couldn’t go to the beach with them, then after sleeping from 9-3pm realized we were pretty much out of food and walked to the pulperia down the street. On these two occasions that I rolled out of bed, and just grabbed shorts and t-shirt, I ran into one of the guys who goes to the church (who just said hola and looked at me funny), Eddy, Rosiris’ and her dad, Gabriella, Neysi and Dayana, all at different times. It was ridiculous ha ha… and I’m sure that if I looked the way I felt, it was a scary experience for them ;) But on the bright side, this time I didn’t wake up to the smell of a rotting rat and have to use a spoon to open up the box fan and get it out…yaaaaay… :)

Anyways, please be praying for us. I think it’s spiritual warfare. I got sick 3 times the week before I left to come here. But we’re both doing well today, and excited for church this evening!

Oh yeah also, Justine is totally getting the hang of living in Costa Rica.  There was a HUGE cockroach on the floor and without hesitation she got the broom and somehow flushed it down the toilet. I'm so proud of her ha ha :)  Also I decided that besides the Bible, the broom is the missionaries greatest tool- gets rid of and kills scorpians, cockroaches, spiders AND leaves your floor nice and clean. Amazing! ;)

2/24-2/25

2/24


Well I told the kids today that I live in the state of mountain. There’s a fine line between Montana and mountain in Spanish, and I missed it ha ha

It was so awesome to be able to see all my friends again! I’m so excited for the work ahead of us. It’s going to be stretching though. Brooke asked me to pray about (aka you should really do this ha ha) doing worship with the PFR kids and also doing choir with the kids on Wednesdays. I think that she might be greatly overestimating my musical abilities, but I guess God kinda uses under qualified people a lot :) And praise God that Spanish is starting to come just a little bit easier. I was actually able to understand and have a small conversation with Victor (which was impossible before) and asked the kids a lot of questions and talked to them in Spanish. I still need to be diligent in studying every day.
Oh also, Justine saw her first scorpion today (and it’s only day 2 ha ha). It was funny because she’s the one who found it so I went into the kitchen expecting to find a huge scorpion on the wall like the times before, and it was smaller than my pinky! It was actually kinda cute…I considered keeping it but didn’t know if they were like rattle snakes in that the younger they are the more venomous they are. I have realized how blessed I am to not be afraid of the numerous bugs and insects here in Costa Rica. Please pray for Justine as she makes the adjustment! Also for obedience and God’s will and hand in absolutely everything that I do here. .

5/25

Today was our second day with the kids and was a total blessing. We went to the plaza and played kickball. It was a good opportunity to get to know the kids a little better. There’s a few that left the program and some new ones. It’s amazing how children’s minds work. I was sitting with one of the girls, Jessica and I asked her in Spanish if she wanted to read. So we sat and went through a few books. The books were in English so she would just talk in Spanish a little for each page, completely making it up. I have no idea what she said ha ha. But if I would took away for a second or get distracted she would catch me eye, command me to “mire” (look) and then continue talking. She did it at least 3 times. It was so funny! Then we walked to the plaza to play in the field and she was just babbling in Spanish and every once in a while would stop and stare at me waiting for an answer. I just kept nodding then finally told her “Um, soy una gringa, lo siento pero no puedo entender mucho espanol!” She simply laughed and kept on talking.

I love kids :)

5/23 Costa Rica parte 2!

Costa Rica, the lastest frontier for PFR interns. These are the voyages of Michaela, Justine and Natalie. It’s a 10 week mission: to explore strange new cultures, to seek out new lives in Christ and serve with fellow brothers and sisters, to boldly go where no interns (wel,l prior to Sarah and I) have gone before!
Don’t judge me I woke up at 4 a.m.

Matt and Ethan picked us up at the airport. As we drove to Villarreal (our flight was to Liberia, about an hour away from Villrreal) we got to talk to them a little about what’s been going on. Then Matt started talking about the bugs (I was just waiting for this ha ha). When Sarah and I came, we were informed that the “season” they were going through were locusts, jumping spiders, and scorpions. This time I guess it’s toads/frogs, giant flying ants, and large june bugs. I still think this sounds suspiciously a little like Exodus 7-11 ;) Ethan threw in that since it was rainy season there’s tons of more bugs ha ha. I wish it were light enough at that point to see Justine’s face. But I’m loving being back and I know Justine is excited. Matt and Brooke added some things to the cabina including a big voltage regulator that Justine found also conveniently works as a “squish every moving thing that you see” regulator. When we first arrived we didn’t see any bugs so I tried to be encouraging to Justine and tell her maybe they’re all gone now that there’s activity. 3 cockroaches later she’s clapping and stomping before she enters a different part of the cambina ha ha. She would make a great Pentecostal…very enthusiastic…

Lastly here’s just a list of things that blessed me that I made at the airport while thinking about the month I had at the Ranch:

-meeting the two interns, Justine and Natalie, that I would be going to Costa Rica with
-meeting Pastor Jim, Patti, Pastor Gennarino, Margaret, Klein and Leanna
-praying with the interns in the morning
-Hearing about Gabriella from Dawn Marie
-dodging reverse pot holes of death with Katie
-finally finding someone who will call me something other than Michaela
-working in the admin: 10 minute warning!; the ducks are flying over the bridge; just inconspicuously get a mint from Kelly’s office; “WALT? ANETTE. NO, ANETTE! JOHN’S GIRLFRIEND!?NO JOHN’S GIRLFRIEND!”;
-shopping with the guys and buying my first packaged shirts from the boys section
-sitting on the dock with Chris, Cortney, Michelle and Tony in Whitefish and hanging out
-seeing Potter’s Field keeping Coffee Trader’s and the Red Caboose open single-handedly
-Canoeing and laughing as Chris tries to pull us through 3 inches of water and ends up in 3 feet
-Searching for potatoes and muffins in the Piedemonte’s backyard with Selah
-Creating experiments with Gabe
-Holding baby Spencer
-playing that weird version of Uno that Tony never quite got ;)
-answering my cell phone in town “Potter’s Field Ministries, this is Michaela”
-Playing guitar and singing with Matt for 4 hours and trying not to laugh when he sings worship songs low and sounds like Johnny Cash
-Hearing Michelle’s song
-finding out how well Justin and Tony play mom: Just drink more water right? :)
-family dinner prepared by Pastor Jim and Patti <3
-worshipping and fellowshipping around a fire
-Spanish class: PescaBlanca
-Answering phones and coloring Dora and Blues Clues with Selah at the front desk
-Ballet in Bigfork with the girlies
-Bible study at Pastor Jim and Patti’s
-Singing “Girl Named Tennessee” by Needtobreathe loudly with Katie, Michelle and Justin in my car
-watching Beauty and the Beast with Tony
-Seeing a moose 3 days in a row
-John MacArthur cult ;)
-Katie and her “incident” at Bruce’s
-IMing Eden, Ezekial and Elijah “Do you has a puppy?”
-Sushi with JoJo and Kendyl and sitting on the dock admiring the weird dead squirrel things in the water
-Going to the lake at Bigfork and skipping rocks and going for a short swim for Katie’s flip-flop
-trying to analyze paintings with Matt and Chris (which we totally rocked)
-Dandelions with Kelly!
-being blessed more than I thought possible by my brothers and sisters in Christ