Weekend in Nicoya

Wow! It’s been too long since I have been on the blog. I have been busy trying to finish up the lecture phase of my Discipleship Training(DTS), and it’s been super hard to sit still at night without falling asleep!
We had a long weekend, as we traveled to a wedding about an hour away for 2 of our fellow YWAMer’s on Saturday, then drove another 4 hours to Nicoya. Heidi just completed her DTS, and Isaac is on staff but just finished his Children at Risk School and Outreach. The wedding was so beautiful, and it was really neat to see how God brought these 2 faithful people together. There were about 250 people there, most of whom were YWAMer’s.
Nicoya was wonderful, even though it was considerably warmer than the weather we are used to here in San Jose. We went from wearing beanies and jackets, to tank tops and shorts. It’s been pretty chilly here, and apparently it’s never this cold at this time of the year. One of my teammates mentioned that he believes that God is preparing us for Germany with the weather here in San Jose. Some of the German missionaries went home for several weeks and have returned saying that it is very cold there.

I really enjoyed this weekend in Nicoya which is in the Guanacaste province. It was absolutely beautiful as we were surrounded by huge mountains. We were out in the middle of nowhere, like out in the country, but with hint of jungle. For the first time ever, all 3 YWAM bases here in Costa Rica got together to fellowship for the weekend. There were a ton of kids, and since there were so many of us, some folks camped on the property in tents. We had a BBQ Sunday for lunch where the choice dish was pork smoked to perfection and deliciously seasoned. I rarely eat pork, but I decided to eat some to get full. They bought the pigs from a local farmer and slaughtered them the day before ( gross, I know).

A group of locals came by Sunday morning to take us on an optional hike, so I decided to go to get some good exercise. I was tired, as I had to be up at 6am to help with breakfast prep, I but knew it would be a great experience. I had no idea how hard the hike would be, but discovered later that the mountain was incredibly steep. I have never been on a hike for that long and on a mountain that steep, and I honestly was afraid that I was going to fall and hurt myself. We had an option to not go further at the first lookout point, and the guide told us that he had to go to work and needed to finish with us quickly, so he said we would not be able to stop the next leg of the hike. He warned us that it was really steep, but I wanted to go anyway. Well, I wasn’t prepared to hike fast and steep since I am not an experienced hiker, nor am I in great physical shape. However, I really wanted to take on the challenge, and almost had a heart attack a few times when I slipped, but… I made to the top!!!!!!! (The guides had machetes, and one cut me a good sized stick to give me some leverage. It was super helpful, but your legs are still doing a lot of work.) The view was amazing, and totally worth the trip! As Pedro (teammate) and I reached the top of the mountain, one of our friends said, “Vale la pena!” ( worth the pain!) I took a few pics, but they don’t compare to the live view! What a blessing to see God’s handiwork from the top of a mountain that we climbed!

 I was also totally stoked to see monkeys for the first time here on the way to the mountain. They were just sitting on tree branches way up high, and once we started making some noises, they talked to us. They were really cute, but too high up to get good pictures. While we were hooting and hollering at the monkeys one of the ladies on the hike yelled at us from up ahead to be quiet, as the locals heard bees. They told us to walk quietly past the area where they believe they heard African Killer Bees! I immediately got quiet and my heart jumped to my throat!! I have spent way too much time watching Animal Planet, and I knew these bees are extremely dangerous. Thanks to God, we left the area without seeing one bee.
 


 

Another group wasn’t so lucky later that day. A large group, including several kids went to see some local waterfalls. I wanted to go, but was wiped out after hiking for over 3.5 hours. We were on our way to eat dinner, when we were informed that the group had encountered a hive ( still not sure if they were bees or wasps), and several people were stung, including a few that were stung over 4 times. I think one little girl got stung 7 times! Evidently it was pretty scary, because the kids were the ones who came upon the hive first and started screaming. Their parents immediately ran ahead, but once they got there, they yelled for the rest of the group them to turn around and run the other way. It was really a dangerous situation, and apparently they group had to split, because they were not able to pass by the hive again since the trail was so narrow. Then, one group got lost, had to cross a river, and finally were able to find the other folks. As far as I know, everyone is ok, but are dealing with some swelling and itching. One of our staff here at the base was telling me today that she has some major swelling, so she may go to the doctor in a few days if the swelling doesn’t go down. Another staff member was going to take her kids, but at the last minute decided not to go. She was so glad that she listened to the Lord when He said not to go because she is highly allergic to bees and wasps.

The weekend was tiring (traveling by car makes me sooo tired!), but worth every minute! We had worship around a bonfire both nights, and the sky was absolutely gorgeous as we could gaze upon all the stars. We even had smores on Sunday night! God seemed to be aware of our songs, as we saw shooting star after shooting star. One of our teammates said she saw 33 shooting stars between the 2 nights! I enjoyed spending time with people, but I was so tired after the hike Sunday, I spent most of the day by myself. In addition, God was dealing with me about something( and loving on me too) , so I just wasn’t in the right mindset to be with people the whole weekend. That is one thing that is really hard about being with people 24/7. I love people, but sometimes, I just don’t have the energy to be with them. It’s hard to choose between God and people, especially here. Please pray that I would have a good balance of time with God and time with people.
More to come…