I'm back!!!!

Hola! Como estas mis amigos? Christmas seems so far away but that was the last time that I was really on here! I had a great time at home visiting my family and friends it was wonderful to see them and spend time with them! And Alex and I thoroughly enjoyed spending 10 days together before I flew back here to Costa Rica. I have been back here in CR for 27 days and 19 of those days I spent working at a Word of Life camp. It was a wonderful but hard experience. The first week the ages of the campers ranged anywhere between 6-11 yrs.old. I worked in the kitchen that week and met a wonderful lady named, Fanny Jiminer. Her and her family which include her husband, Marco and their 15 yr.old son, Jeremias live there all year round and take care of the camp. She definitely portrays the Proverbs 31 woman. She was such an encouragement the whole time I was there. The second week of camp the ages ranged from 12-25yrs.old. It was such a huge age gap but they did perfectly fine with it!! That week I worked with the group that Marco lead which included helping with all the games and being a lifeguard at the pool(rough life! hehehe). It was so exciting to see God at work in the teens lives. Friday night they had a banquet which the guys had been asking the girls to all throughout the week. They went up front w/a microphone and invited them. It was fun to see how creative some of the guys got one of them said a poem and another sang a song to invite the girls. Very sweet :) I didn't attend the banquet but I was able to serve instead which I was perfectly content w/doing that! The third week was the same ages but seemed to have a lot more younger ones. Only 6 girls including myself chose to stay for the third week and help them at camp. It was fun getting to know those girls better. The final week I worked on the maintenance crew this week. We were in charge of washing dishes, etc. after all of the meals and cleaning the bathrooms. It was hard work and at this point I was really missing communication w/the outside world. We didn't have computers with us although I was able to talk with mom and dad a couple times during those week which I was very grateful to do! Guanacaste was the providence that we were in and the small town was called Las Juntas. I fell in love with the town there! It was a small quaint place with cobblestone roads and it was all surrounded by the beautiful mountains! And the weather was HOT too! :) I saw a lot of people on 4-wheelers and bicycles in the streets instead of cars and horses too!! I have pictures that I really want to download but I don't have that possibility right now since my laptop was accidentally dropped in the DR and the screen was shattered. :( I've been back in San Jose since Sunday evening and I've been freezing ever since I arrived! It's been in the low 60s, rainy and VERY windy. I've been back in classes since Tuesday and I'm finding it very difficult to stay focused and learn. Please pray that God would open my mind to learn and give me a deep desire to know the language. My car is for sale in the states and hopefully it will sell soon so that I can pay off my car and pay for the rest of the semester down here in CR. I would also appreciate your prayers about my computer. That God will provide the monies for a new one or a way to fix the screen on my current one. My dad is still looking for a job too so please pray that he finds work soon. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement!

Dios te bendiga

~Cara 2 Peter 1:3

3 days left.....

I leave in 3 days!!!!!!!!!! It's definitely bittersweet...I've met some incredible people here whom I've built friendships with and will miss while I'm gone. I will be in the States for 3 weeks and then I fly to the Dominican Republic to spend 2 weeks with Alex :) Down below you will find the link for new pictures that I posted...enjoy!







http://picasaweb.google.com/caratsweet/CostaRicaChildrensMuseumCRThanksgiving#

10 days and counting...

Wow! 10 days until I go home for Christmas...the time has flown by so fast down here!!! It's been very busy here lately. We've been preparing for exams and Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday. I'm making green bean casserole for 50 people! To make a GOOD green bean casserole one needs french fried onions to top it off. So..I went to at least 3 different grocery stores down here looking for them and what do you know...they don't sell them here! So tonight I spent my evening making home made french fried onions. I've never made them before but there wasn't a chance that I was going to make the casserole without them. It wasn't too difficult either. My friend Jared worked at a restaurant and taught me how to do it. All it took was milk with eggs and flour with salt and pepper to taste. First you put the onions in the milk and egg mixture and then in the flour mixture and fry it on the stove in oil! They turned out great!! I'm really looking forward to making the casseroles :) Hopefully they turn out OK! Thanksgiving down here in Costa Rica will definitely be a unique experience!!! Everyone is contributing a dish i.e. mashed potatoes, pie, casseroles, etc. and the Turkey is provided. :) We have games planned and of course we will be watching the Macy's Day Parade too!

On Friday we have one of our exams for a Spanish class. I'm in a group with 5 others and we have an exciting activity planned. We have the whole hour of class to 'teach' the class. Our theme is 'Vacation'. There will be 4 different stations. Josh and Sarah S. are going to be tourist guides up in the mountains, Ashely N. is a farmer and going to walk them through a 'typical day on the farm', Zack has a cruise ship and Kelsey and I are guides at a beautiful beach. :) Everyone will get a passport which they will take to each station and get stamped. There they will have activities that they will do in Spanish(of course) that correlates with where they are. Then they will write out in Spanish what they did while they were there, etc. Hopefully it all goes well :) Last time we did a group project it didn't turn out that well. It was last Friday and we had a Cooking Show and each group had to make a dish and tell the class how they made it and what they used. Well..my group decided to make parfaits. The night before one of the girls went to the store and bought fruit, yogurt and condensed milk. We didn't try to make it before we presented it to the class. While we were mixing it all together one of the girls tasted the yogurt and came over to me and said 'Cara, I think somethings wrong with the yogurt...I think it might be spoiled!' Well I checked the date and that was fine but then Kelsey noticed that it was NATURAL yogurt not vanilla!!!! So..we doused the yogurt parfaits with the condensed milk and they actually turned out just fine...our teacher loved them so I guess that's all that matters-right!? Hahaha It definitely turned out to be a fun little adventure!

I've been getting to know more people at my church and in the youth group so that's been really great! Yesterday one of the guys from our church went bowling with us :) Josh, Zack, Tim, Marlon, Kelsey and I left after lunch and spent the afternoon bowling and playing pool. It was fun!! I won the first game, came in second on the 2nd game and played left handed on the third game...can you guess what place I was in for that round...yup..definitely last place!!! But it sure was a good time :)

Tomorrow we are going to the Children's Museum here in Costa Rica. I'm sure it can't come anywhere close to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis but it should be a fun time! :) Tomorrow afternoon we don't have any classes...YIPEE! We will spend time getting ready for the Thanksgiving dinner:)

Well, that's all for now...chau!

pIcTuReS

I've posted new pictures! One album is from a fun day w/the girls and the other one is from our field trip to the National Museum here in Costa Rica that we went on yesterday(Nov. 12) I will be adding more from the Museum later when I have more time. Enjoy :)



http://picasaweb.google.com/caratsweet/NationalMuseumInCostaRica#

http://picasaweb.google.com/caratsweet/DAyAtThESPa#

5am and waiting for daybreak!

I don't know why but I'm up at 5am! Spanish classes have been going well. I've been trying to have a more positive spirit and to enjoy it even though I'm not grasping all of it yet. This past week in Costa Rica has been a good change that I've greatly enjoyed. On Tuesday, the day we begin our school week, they divided out the more advanced students and that has been a tremendous help for the rest of us. Not only does it allow more one on one time but it also lets us progress just a bit slower so we can grasp the concepts better. It has been a lot less stressful w/not trying to play 'catch-up' with the more advanced students so that they aren't completely bored. I enjoy my teacher, Mary Mata, she is very patient and kind and helps in anyway that she is able. All day on Saturday, Nov. 8th we went to a church in downtown San Jose for something called Teens Involved. It is hosted by Word of Life and it conists of 4-5 local youth groups competing in Bible narratives, preaching, solos, and choirs. It was so encouraging to see 12year olds preaching! It was a VERY long day w/not much to do since I didn't compete. We left the Villa at 7am and didn't return until 6:30pm. It was good to see so many young kids involved in those different ministries. I attend Impacto w/4 other GAP students..Ashley M, Missy, Zack, and Josh. Today after church one of the Pastors is taking the 5 of us out to eat. I really enjoy Sundays even though I'm only able to get part of the message I LOVE singing along w/my brothers and sisters in their own language! I love to worship my God and my Savior whether it's in English or Spanish, it's such a precious time. Tomorrow morning about 13 of us are leaving early to go up to the mountains and to go ziplining! I'm so excited!!! There are less then 30days left until I'm back in the States. Whew, the time is flying so fast! I'm continuing to pray and trust that the Lord will provide the necessary funds for me to return for the 2nd semester. Here in Costa Rica some days are really hard to be here(especially when it's different then what I thought or had in my mind) and I just want to throw up my hands and go home but then I'm reminded that God has me here for a purpose and that is to be used by Him and for Him(in any situation). These days are not about 'frolicking in meadows and picking daisies' but humbling myself and doing whatever He asks of me even though I find that to be a difficult endeavor AND to do all these things with a cheerful heart. Please continue to pray...

Dios te bendiga!

Correo!!!

So I mentioned in another blog that I've been waking up early and going running w/a group every morning. I have NEVER ran in my life...except back in my school days when we had to run in gym class and then in V-ball and softball my freshmen year of HS. But other then those times nada. So I'm pleased to announce that yesterday morning I ran my first mile! It took me awhile to get to the point that I could run that long. It's so difficult to run up here in the mountains I can barely BREATHE but I made it. :) This morning I pushed myself and ran 2 miles-it felt great!!!! I will stay w/2 miles for another week at least and I hope to be running 4-5 miles by the time I'm home in December. Who would have thought that running was so fun and rewarding!? LOL Well, I REALLY need to go get started on my homework since there is a lot of it tonight!

Dios te Bendiga!!

Volcano pictures

Hola! Yo estoy cansada perro estoy muy buena. I hope you all enjoy these pictures from the Volcano that I visited several weeks ago. I finally got them downloaded on my computer. :) Wish I could share more with you all of what God is doing down here but it's late and I have a very early morning! LOL

'til next time :)

Chau,

Cara

http://picasaweb.google.com/caratsweet/Volcanopoas#