my life

I love the great deal of independence I have here. My favorite part of the day is the morning, when I wake up before my host family and go for a run. I’m always half asleep when I start, but by the end, I’m fully awake and ready to face the day ahead of me. It’s a great feeling to be up when everyone as the people in Pavas are just starting out the day. On the way to the track, I take in the smell of freshly baked bread, which the pulperias (small grocery stores) sell every morning for 50 cents. I pass by vans taking loads of people to San Jose. The people walking around the track in the morning have become familiar faces. I’m so grateful that I can run now! When I get home, I take a shower and make coffee (I have become a coffee addict since being here). I get ready for the day and then bring my journal down to the breakfast table to write down my thoughts before heading out for English classes. The hour bus ride is perfect for reading, praying, memorizing verses, resting my eyes, and people watching.

Estudio numero uno

The long anticipated bible study finally started today and it went so much better than I expected. Thirteen girls total ended up signing up! The number really jumped from the original 4 that were signed up this weekend. I noticed that half of the girls that signed up were in my English class, so I asked to have them in my group. I originally thought the study would drag because they may feel awkward sharing spiritual things, but I quickly found that my main concern was to keep them quiet and focused. I didn’t even have to wait a long awkward period of time for someone to pray for the class; Carla immediately volunteered! We did the study together, going around in a circle so that everyone could participate and answer questions. As with any group of people, there are always some that are more opinionated and outspoken than the others. On some of the questions, all the girls didn’t agree, so they all started talking at once. To maintain some form of order, I made them raise their hands to answer questions… strict I know!

I already feel as though I’m getting ot know the girls better, including their personalities and beliefs through this study. At one point, and I don’t even know how it started, but the girls began talking about the Trinity. Leidy asked “how can God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be one person?” Feeling as though our discussion was going a little deeper than I had intended for the first day, I answered “there are some things that our beyond our comprehension and we’ll have to wait til we get to heaven to fully understand them.” Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting that on the first day. I told them we could talk about it more later on. It was SO exciting for me to see the girls really engaging in the study, looking carefully through the verses to find the answers. When they discovered as a class that the Word in John 1:1 is referring to Jesus, one girl said “wow, I already learned something new.” John one points out that the only two conditions necessary to become a child of God are to believe in His name and receive Christ. One section of the study asks to mark the things that are required to be a child of God. Almost everyone agreed that you have to try to be a good person and give money to people in need. I explained how salvation is a free gift that all we have to do is accept Him and good works will naturally come out of true faith in Christ. Then, one girl innocently asked “then it doesn’t matter if we sin and do bad things when we become a Christian?” So then I explained the other side of that and told her I would have a verse for her next time. God truly blessed the first class and I pray that He continues to give the girls a passion and hunger to study His Word. I kept emphasizing throughout the study today that we can fill in all these blanks, but  go away the same if we have no intention of applying it to our lives. I pray that we will all be able to learn new things from the study and that it would inspire spiritual conversations among themselves and in their families; they already seem to be curious and full of questions. I’m so thankful for this new opportunity and I can tell God is already using in the lives of the girls. I must say that I will be looking forward to Tuesdays now!

Another praise I wanted to mention was that today, I haven’t felt lonely at all. The past two weeks have been the most difficult for me as I’ve been struggling with deep feelings of loneliness. Because of the bible study today, I ended up being at the Refuge til 3, meaning I didn’t get home til 4. The other days of the week, I will be staying longer as well to do interviews with the girls. When I’m around people, I feel so much better as if I belong. My first interview went really well yesterday and I’m looking forward to the ones to come. I’ll keep you guys updated on those. Thanks so much for you thoughts and prayers!

The big turn-out today and the way the study exceeded my expectations reminded me of Ephesians 3:20-21

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

A week with Sarah Jane

Sarah Jane, my HNGR adviser, visited me all last week to see how I’m fitting into my context. We took my host family and supervisors out to dinner, which was a lot of fun. She also accompanied me on my trip to Nicaragua to renew my visa. We stayed on an island in Nicaragua and challenged ourselves with a treacherous 8 mile hike up volcano Maderas. It was a steep uphill climb for the first 4 hours and then we retraced our steps back down the volcano. Most of the time, I was afraid I was going to sprain my ankle again because of all the rocks and mud patches, which we slid through. It cleared up for us right when we got to the lagoon (which used to be the main crater of the volcano, but it’s now extinct), so we did get to enjoy God’s beautiful creation for a bit before continuing on again. We could hardly walk for the next couple of days. The rest of the time we spent relaxing on the finca (farm), journaling, and having various conversations.

One particularly encouraging part of Sarah Jane’s visit was the progress we made towards my independent study project. Instead of doing a quantitative study of a large pool of people in Carpio, I have decided to focus my study on the girls I see on a regular basis at the Refuge. The Refuge consists of about 30 girls who are at risk or are currently suffering domestic violence. For the past two months, I have been teaching English classes to the 7th grade girls in this program, who will eventually have to pass the test in order to advance to the next grade. I want to look into the ways the classes at the Refuge have impacted the girls’ educational and vocational goals. I’m really excited to start interviewing and get to know the backgrounds of the girls I spend so much time with better. I’m also praying that my independent study will give the girls a chance to express their opinions and that it will serve to help the staff at the Refuge understand more about their students.

Breakthrough day!

I couldn’t be more pleased with the way physical education class went today! I came to class not knowing what to do and was honestly just planning to play soccer again. I started a conversation with Jarett and she asked if I could teach them how to play baseball today (there was a short termer playing catch with some boys close by). I thought that was a great idea. I asked Cido, the sports director, if they had the equipment and he got out a bunch of gloves, balls, and bats. When it came time to introduce the grand idea to the girls, they did not buy it. They pleased and begged me to play a soccer game against another group of girls in soccer instead. The whole point of Phys. Ed. class is to give the girls an opportunity to learn sports other than soccer, which they play ALL the time. When I told them no, I got some more disgusted looks; I hate being the bad cop. While they were standing there, I quickly split them into two teams and gave one team gloves. As I tossed the ball with half the girls, they started to get into it. All the girls standing around would cheer if they caught it and boo if they didn’t. I decided to take advantage of their interest and put the bases down, which ended up being pieces of cardboard held down by shoes. Then, Alana, my new intern friend, showed up and got the batting team chanting “Si se puede” Yes, you can! I headed up the pitching, which was a lot of fun. Once the first girl hit the ball, we had a ball game. For the majority of the girls, this was their first time playing baseball. I taught each girl the basics of holding the bat before pitching to them. We taught them the rules along the way. It took me awhile to explain the rule about not running to the next base if the ball is caught in the air. My favorite part was when Leidy caught the ball and instead of throwing it to the third baseman, she chucked the ball at the base. Everyone had a good laugh. At one point, the other team was up 17 points. Somehow, we managed to score 20 points in the last inning, winning the game. It was definitely a breakthrough day, as many of the girls that normally sit out and watch joined in. A lot of girls in my Tuesday English class were there today, and I was glad I got to hang out with them outside of class. After disciplining on of the girls last week for talking in class, I thought she would never talk to me again. Today she was my team’s first baseman and really enjoyed learning how to play. They were talking about the game during lunch and how they want to play again someday. Hopefully now that they’ve seen how fun it is to try new sports, they’ll be more accepting of trying different sports in the future. I’m glad I got to share a sport I enjoyed in my childhood with the girls today

Official English teacher

Well… I’m an English teacher now. I have been really this whole time, but until now, I have been playing more of an assistant role. Phil, an intern, has been the main teacher for the past 2 months. He would bring in a worksheet for the class, and I would help out in whatever way I could. Phil left for the States last Tuesday, passing the baton on to me as the new head teacher, I guess you could say. Although I miss the energy and enthusiasm he brought into each day, I am really enjoying the new responsibilities of planning lessons lessons and teaching. I was worried I would be completely on my own, trying to think of creative ways to teach each class. Right after Phil left, God blessed me with an assistant, Alana, who said she would be willing to help out. She is taking a break in between high school and college to volunteer with CFCI. Yesterday, we made plans for how we want our classes to go. We want to start class each day with one student praying, followed by teaching a Bible story in English. We looked through the closet and pulled out lesson plans from teachers that have come in the past. I had no idea we had that resource until the other day. Since then, I have been looking through those papers and I’m starting to put together a make shift curriculum. At this point, I really wish I had taken some education classes so I would know how to make lesson plans and such. Patricia, a lady that taught these classes last year, gave me the idea of doing a point system to encourage the kids to come to class, do their homework, and study for the tests. So, Alana and I are going to make a chart and the kids will get a prize when they reach a certain amount of points. We also talked about going on field trips once we figure out if that’s a possibility. Most of the kids are ages 9-11 and are taking the class because they don’t receive English class in the only school in Carpio, but need to take an English test to pass into the next grade. Planning all of this got me really excited, and I hope the kids will both learn more English and learn more about God’s love for them as we love on the kids.

beach trip+host family=:)

My family is really excited about going to the beach this weekend. They’ve been talking about it and planning it for more than a month now. This is the big, fun family trip of the year and Joy and I get to be a part of it. Tomorrow night, all 13 of us are going to hop into a van to enjoy the beach all Saturday. Just yesterday, Bri went out and bought floats for the girls. I learned that Joy and I are going to be the honorary lifeguards as no one really knows how to swim. I guess I really have taken that part of my childhood for granted.  I really hope Saturday is a nice day because it means so much to them. I also think they’re looking forward to showing Joy and I another part of Costa Rica. I’m really excited for a break from my routine and a chance to just bond with my host family in a new context. I can only get to know so much about them around the dinner table and around the house. I’m also looking forward to trotting a little on the beach (oh I forgot to mention that I sprained my ankle 4 weeks ago and I’m still in the healing process).  Please pray for continued healing and good bonding time with the host fam this weekend if you think of it. Thanks for reading this

I need some fellowship

One of my assumptions going into HNGR was that my family would be really strong Christians and that they would go to church every Sunday. My family rarely goes to church and when we do go, I feel like it’s because I asked if we were going. We have been to three different churches so far. During the service, Emily cries a lot and I feel bad for my host mom who has to take her out of the service to quiet her down. My host dad has soccer games most Sunday mornings, which my family likes to go to, so I always join them because I don’t want to miss spending time with my family. I really long to have a group of believers that I can feel a part of and that can challenge me spiritually. My faith is becoming more real and personal, but I am lacking that crucial aspect of Christian fellowship. I was also really hoping to discover a new lens through which Christians here define and experience their faith. It looks like I may have to venture out and find a church on my own since my family doesn’t seem to have one.

medical assistant slash translator

So… it’s been awhile since I’m updated my blog. I think it has a lot to do with settling down here and becoming a lot more involved with the different ministries… Laziness probably plays a role too! For the past couple of weeks, I have found my place working with short term groups that have come down for summer missions trips. Last week, I helped translate for a doctor that was a part of a medical missions team. I have never been assigned to an official translating job before, so it was definitely a learning experience for me! Doctor Joe is your typical doctor, scatterbrained,  full of random knowledge, talkative, and good at making orders. Or at least that’s what I think of when I think of doctors. He was actually a great guy and he taught me a lot. He loved it when kids came in with their mothers so he could blow up a plastic glove and draw a face on it for them. I ended up becoming his medical assistant during the week as he taught me so many medical terms; I quickly became overwhelmed. It was hard at times because I hardly knew any medical terms in Spanish and Nicaraguans (which make up the majority of the population in Carpio) use words I’ve never heard before. Being a doctor is like being a detective. I got used to asking all sorts of questions about the pain each patient had. We saw tons of patients each day, each one coming in right after the other. Although doctor Joe was a diabetes specialist, he saw patients with just about anything.  There were a lot of earaches, headaches, coughs, fevers, and back pain. There were also patients with hemorrhoids, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and we saw one case of leishmaniasis (a parasitic disease which causes a nasty open wound… I couldn’t even stand to look at it!) I’m probably not cut out to be a doctor.

That week was the first time I got to see the reality of what goes one everyday at the health clinic. I think doctor Joe was frustrated because he could not prescribe all he wanted to because they simply didn’t have all the medicine he wanted there. He learned to give out what they had. He also wanted to have a lot of them get lab work done, but since they don’t have medical insurance, they can’t afford getting blood tests. So many of these people go without treatment because they simply lack money and insurance. One day, Tomas came into the clinic with high blood pressure, inflammation of his checks, pain everywhere, and hemorrhages in his eyes. Doctor Joe said if Tomas was in the States right now with insurance, he would immediately be admitted to the hospital and put on dialysis for kidney failure. His family doesn’t have medical insurance, but his wife cleans a doctor’s house, so she said she might be able to get Tomas a doctor’s appointment. I really hope he was able to get the treatment he needed. With so many of the patients that came in, I really wished that doctor Joe could just diagnose their illness and give them something to fix their problem permanently to put them out of their pain. Sadly, he was sometimes only able to give them something that could temporarily ease their pains… long term healing usually required lifestyle changes, more expensive pills the clinic didn’t carry, or physical therapy,

One day while we were working at the clinic, doctor Joe talked about how we are both in the same boat this week because we both had limitations. Sometimes I had difficulty translating what the patients were telling me and at times doctor Joe was unsure with how to diagnose the patients. I think this is how God chose to humble me that week and show me that He is strong in my weakness. At times I felt less that adequate and not skilled enough to being translating, but God still worked through me to be able to help and bless these people. It’s so neat how God can still use us even though we are fallen and imperfect. God gave us the opportunity to do the best we could for each one. I think that statement reflects the general philosophy of the clinic; do the best you can and love the people for who they are.

A typical day in the life of Lauren Hutson

I’ve been here for a month now, so I thought it would be a good idea to write out a typical day here in Costa Rica. Of course, each day is always different, I just want to give you a taste of my life. I get up most days at 5:45 to get ready for an early 6:00 run. When I wake up, I think back to the various sounds that I remember from the night including a mouse that chews on my dresser and a dog practically right outside my window that barks every morning around 4. I am fortunate to have Joy, another intern, across the street to run with almost every day. We run about three blocks to get to the square shaped concrete “track”. Many women get up early in the morning for a brisk walk with their friends, making our run a large obstacle course. No one really follows track etiquette here, so there have been many near collisions. It’s normally really sunny in the morning when we go running; I’m starting to get used to the weather here in Costa Rica with bright sunny mornings, humid afternoons followed by evening thunderstorms. By the time I get back, my host mom is up making breakfast for the family. The family enjoys eating toast and gallo pinto, a Costa Rican dish of rice, beans, and spices, while I am content with eating a bowl of Raisin Bran. Every since I picked out Raisin Brain grocery shopping one time, my family continues to replenish the box once it gets low. I take a quick shower and fill my bag with my journal, water bottle, and umbrella. Mandy, my host dad, normally leaves for work a little before me. He spends a long time telling his girls how much he loves them, gives them kisses, and prays a prayer of protection over them. It’s so cute to watch Dana and Emily wave goodbye from the porch. Then, it’s my turn to leave. I tell my host mom when I’ll be back (which is usually way off) and then say “hasta luego” to everyone.
I catch the bus around 7:15 to make it to English class by 8 ish. My hair is still wet when I get on the bus, but I’ve found that Ticos pride themselves in having clean, wet hair in the mornings. I spend the hour bus ride getting my mind focused on God; it’s’ nice to use that time to pray. The two buses I take to Carpio cost a little under one dollar one way. Once the ride starts getting bumpy from all the pot holes, I know I’m almost there. Getting off the bus, I always find my students waiting outside the building. Once Phil gets there, he gives me a rundown on the worksheet and we begin teaching English class. We have 3 classes, each one lasts an hour and a half. The class size ranges from 3 to 10 students and everyone is at different levels. We start out asking them questions, doing some vocabulary, and incorporate a Bible verse which they copy into their notebooks. One week, for example we went over fruit vocabulary and had them memorize the verse in Galatians about the fruit of the Spirit. Afterwards, we got some pineapple to give to the class; pineapple is really cheap here and I like to buy it every one in awhile. Class is over at 12. Sometimes I pack a lunch and others I let my mom know I’ll be back to eat a late lunch at the house. I usually come back on the bus with Joy and we talk about how the day went.
The home situation when I arrive is different depending on the time and the day. Some days my sisters are home playing while my mom is busy cleaning the house. Other days I have the house to myself because Dana is still at school or the girls are at grandma’s house across the street. I usually play with my sisters and talk with the neighborhood kids that always seem to be over and then go to my room for some peace and quiet. I like to write about the day while it’s still fresh on my mind in my bed with my laptop in my lap. I venture downstairs every one in awhile to see what my family is up to. Sometimes my mom and I chat while she prepares dinner. Dana loves going over to grandma’s house to play with her cousins, so we sometimes go over there later at night to socialize. Dana and Emily eat dinner early; they always eat chicken nuggets and rice with ketchup because that is the only thing Dana will eat. Brinet and I eat a big plate full of rice, beans, salad and some type of meat a little later on. Some nights she cooks this really yummy pasta dish because she knows I like it so much! During dinner Brinett always turns on her favorite soap opera called “Tormenta en el paraiso” (storm in paradise). It’s basically like any other soap opera you’ve seen where the acting is super dramatic. Currently, two guys are going after the same girl and the girl doesn’t know which one she wants. Sometimes I can’t help but to start cracking up when it just goes over to top, like when the guy who is trying to win the girl over from the other guy confesses his undying love for her on one knee with a bouquet of roses with really cheesy music playing in the background. I’m getting used to eating dinner in silence with the TV playing and the girls running around, but on occasion my mom will start a conversation about something and I end up learning so much more about my host family.
I go to bed around 9 because I’m usually tired by then and have found that I need a lot more sleep than usual here. It’s funny because I always beat my family to bed, but I enjoy going to sleep listening to my parents playing with the girls. If I’m lucky, I get to go to sleep listening to the rain hitting the tin roof (a phenomenon I mentioned earlier, but amazing nonetheless). I love you guys and thanks for taking the time to read this 

rice…beans… and PASTA!

My host mom and I had some bonding time last night. Every night since I’ve gotten to Costa Rica, dinner has been pretty much the same; rice and beans served with some form of meat. For whatever reason, my host mom asked me what I would like to eat for dinner. Trying to be polite, I said “I like whatever you make.” I quickly discovered that she really wanted to make whatever I wanted for dinner and she was simply going to stand there until I gave her an idea of what to make. Since I’m so indecisive, it took a long time for me to think of something quick and easy to make. I finally decided fettuccine Alfredo was a good option (pasta is my favorite food). I felt so responsible and independent when my mom gave me money to go to the pulperia (small grocery store) to buy the ingredients we were lacking. However, what I thought would be an easy fettuccine recipe turned into a bit of an ordeal. The pulperia didn’t carry Parmesan cheese or flour and we had no way of going to the store because my host dad wasn’t home. My host mom ended up calling relatives to borrow food. We began seperating out the chicken while waiting for her sister-in-law to arrive with the Parmesan cheese. What I didn’t realize was that Parmesan cheese is a specialty item here in Costa Rica; it costs about $4 for only one and a half cups worth. Ooops! Although we had some difficulty getting all the ingredients together, it was exciting cooking dinner together with my host mom. The sauce turned out a little thicker than expected ( I still have a lot to learn about cooking). My mom didn’t seem to mind though; she ate 3 helpings worth! Next time, I’ll know not to use a recipe with Parmesan.