CRYLSP13.

Costa Rica Young Life Service Project 2013.

This is where I was for the last week. And what an amazing week it was! So, in Costa Rica instead of taking high school friends to Young Life summer camp like in the states, we go on service project during Semana Santa (Holy week...the week before Easter that is celebrated throughout the whole country). It's a cool way to be able to take International school kids out of their comfort zones to serve the poor areas of Costa Rica.

Last week, we went to Talamanca, Costa Rica - one of the only places in the country where there is still an indigenous population. The organization we worked with, VidaNet/Pura Vida Missions, has a base in Talamanca so we worked along side their staff and other ticos in the community. Our big project was building a basketball court for the youth of the community - in this community, there are a lot of problems with the youth getting into drinking and drugs at an early age. So the hope of having a basketball court on the ministry's base is to give these youth other options of how to spend their time.

On top of building a basketball court, we also got to play in a soccer tournament with the locals and spend time with the children. Each afternoon, we held "school" for the kids - which was basically teaching these kids healthy ways to live - for instance, drinking lots of water is good for you or how often to brush your teeth or ways to eat healthy. Things of that sort.

Anyways, one of my favorite things about the trip was that we had Young Life club every night. Two girls, Elena and Tiffany did program (upfront skits/in charge of games), Josh (a previous Costa Rica YL intern) played the club songs and we even had a special YL speaker fly in for the week, Kent Williams. After club, the Costa Rican team each had "cabin time" with their high school friends, where they were able to process what they had learned in the club talks. Each night, we were able to hear the story of the Gospel of Christ. It was so neat to see how we can take the principles and values of Young Life and change them to fit into the culture we live in, here in Costa Rica. I love that! I love that the Lord has blessed this ministry in such a way that it can be twisted and re-molded to fit whatever circumstances geography might bring.

Another one of my highlights of the trip was the work and laughter that came. We worked really hard (and were able to finish the basketball court!), so much so that my body screamed at me every night before bed and every morning when I woke up. But we also laughed really hard. At club, at meals, on the work site....it's amazing the joy that everyone had in the midst of such hard work. It was truly life giving.

And lastly, I feel as though the Lord continually confirmed and affirmed me this past week that this is where I am suppose to be. In Latin America, working for Young Life. It was so fun to get to practice my Spanish. It was so fun to wake up at the crack of dawn to spend time with Him. It was so fun to go to bed feeling dog-tired. It was so fun to get to hang out with high schoolers who are craving something more from this life. I remember this feeling from when I lived in the Dominican Republic for the summer - that was the first time I felt this - but it is the feeling of being truly alive.

Never do I feel that more clearly then I do when I am in Latin America. What a gift the Lord has given me. I know that hard times will come but I never want to forget what I have felt in these first weeks here.

"If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking"

This is me. Sinking into God's ocean of grace. What a beautiful thing.

**stay tuned for pictures later this week**

clink.

I still feel God working...just clinking away the hard spots on my heart.

clink.clink.clink.

The anger. The hurt. The burden. The sadness.

It’s all falling away as I experience God’s truth. Which I do, every day that I am here. What freedom.

I am finally coming to understand what it means to accept your past as the past and just let it be. It cannot be changed or ignored. It shouldn’t be changed or ignored. It is interlaced with who I am now but it is not who I am now.

Jesus is who I am now. And there isn’t a single part of my heart that He hasn’t touched. There isn’t a single part of my past where He wasn’t around.

clink.clink.clink.

How intriguing that the Lord took me out of everything familiar, everything I thought defined me, to teach me such a valuable lesson. The riches of His teaching overflow. Right along with His blessings, mercy, love, grace, truth, righteous…if only we would open our hearts to let it all pour in.

And let it pour.

Let it wash away all the walls around the pieces of my heart that I thought I was better off protecting. The way I pick and choose which parts to let Him touch. Or so I think.

But the truth is, there isn’t a single part of me that isn’t touched by Him. There isn’t a single part of me He doesn’t care about. There isn’t a single part of me that surprises Him. He works everything out for my good.

clink.clink.clink.

Every big thing. Every little thing. He cares. He always has and He always will.

And He will keep clinking away. Because He loves me exactly as I am and He loves me too much to let me stay this way.

And I will keep responding to Him. I can’t help it. I have no choice. It’s like breathing for me now. Responding to the deep connection of Jesus. Respond. Breathe. Respond. Breathe. Respond. Breathe.

and clink.clink.clink.

Another piece of the wall falls away.

Another layer of hardness being removed.

Another way Jesus shows His love for me.

randoms.

Many a things have been happening in good Ole Costa Rica so I thought I´d share via pictures once again!

Last weekend, I went to the beach with my host mom, Olga, 5 of her sisters and her mom. None of whom, spoke English. It was an adventure to say in the least! But they all took good care of me and despite the language barrier managed to laugh a lot, especially at all my gringa ways :)

All of the girls at dinner

With my host mom, Olga

Sunset at dinner

 

 

And last night, Costa Rica held it´s very own "Mega Club", where 600 kids and leaders from Young Life/Vida Joven, Wyld Life, Young Lives and Capernium all came together from all over the country to have a huge Young Life club! It was an amazing experience to get to be a part of. Not only did all of these kids have the opportunity to climb a rock wall, play silly games and sports, get a free t shirt and eat dinner - they also were able to hear the Gospel of Christ presented to them during club. What an awesome opportunity.

 

Where club was held in the tent and the girls Jen and I got to hang out with all night.

This was thier first experience with Young Life, ever!

Just keeping it real with Marty Cadwell, president of YL International South.

What´s Young Life withtout a free tshirt?! (as if I needed one more to add to my collection...)

 

 

Spanish is coming along slowly. I can tell I have improved over the past month but know that I have a longggg way to go! So far I am enjoying language school and the learning process. There have been a few moments of frustration (to be expected) but ultimately so far I am so happy to finally get to be able to learn this language that I have wanted to learn for a while, that it makes it worth it. That was one of my takeways from going to the beach with my host family...knowing that one day I can go back with them and get to speak to all of them in full conversations! That will be a fun day. It also made me soooo thankful and gracious for my time here in Costa Rica where I can really focus on just learning Spanish before heading to Nica. WOOHOO!

 

Next Saturday - Thursday I will be on Young Life´s Service Project for the high school kids spring break (here, called Semana Santa, or Holy Week aka the week before Easter Sunday). We get to go to another part of Costa Rica that is less fortunate and help build a basketball court, host a soccer tournament for the local kids and just get to hang out and love on the people in this neighborhood. Should be yet another adventure.





As of tomorrow, I will be in Costa Rica for one month! So in honor of the one month mark...

Here's to many more!

address.

For anyone wanting to send me some fun snail mail while I'm in Costa, here is my address:

Ella Salley
Instituto de Lengua Espanola
Apartado 100-2350
San Jose, Costa Rica
America Central

OR

Ella Salley
Spanish Language Institute
SJO-8609
P.O. Box 025240
Miami, FL 33102

(The second address will be cheaper for packages but might take longer to get here. It takes about 2 weeks for mail.)

eucharisteo.

Well, yesterday started out with the usual Monday morning meeting with the rest of the YL Costa Rican team, where we talked about Mark 8, shared prayer requests and prayed for each other. This was the first time Jen and I took the bus to the Vida Joven office in San Pedro, so we got a little turned around in taking the bus back to San Fransisco de Dos Rios (where our school/homes are located). And, as it turns out, we took the wrong one. And the wrong one took us 30 minutes outside of where we needed to be, making us 45 minutes late for school. Thankfully, Jen and I knew this was bound to happen eventually. We were able to laugh about it and accept it as part of the transition process.

But, nonetheless, it wore me out. When we finally made it to language school, my brain was not in the mindset to learn Spanish. Even more tiring was attempting to switch my brain back to learning. And so when I got home, all I wanted was a bowl of ice cream and a nap. But was greeted with something so much better…

A bedside table/book shelf!! I know, it seems like a such a small/insignificant thing. But when my host mom, Dona Olga, brought me up to my room, I could not help but jumping up and down with joy and thanking her over and over again. A place to put my books! I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving. And then I could not help but laugh. Never would I have ever thought that I would be so thankful and excited for a bedside table/bookshelf. But I was! And I am! Even as I sit here typing this, my eyes well up with tears of joy and thanksgiving.

And through this small gift, I can see the heart of God more clearly. And I think back to the word “eucharisteo”. Gifts of grace. Grace moments.

"These are for you - gifts - these are for you - grace - these are for you - God...so count the ways He loves, a thousand, more, never stop, that when you wake in the morning you can't help but turn humbly to the east, unfold your hand to the heavens, and though you tremble and though you wonder, though the world is ugly, it is beautiful, and you can slow and you can trust and you can receive each moment as grace."

"Slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life...life changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time."

And so I count each moment here in Costa Rica as grace and I become more conscious of how He is continually shaping my heart and I fall even more deeply in love with Jesus.

And here is the rest of my room, for those who are curious. It is my little humble abode in the midst of a crazy life.

unconditional.

“Do you believe that I love you with an unconditional love?” God asks me.

“Well I thought that I did…” is usually my response.

Once again, the Lord is peeling back yet another layer of my hard, stubborn heart to show me how works based my faith has become. He began this process over a year ago, yet every huge transition in my life has centered around this question in my heart of unconditional love. A love with no conditions? With nothing I can do or say to change this love? Nothing can be done to make it decrease and nothing can be done to make it increase? A love so full of grace and truth that it almost seems unbelievable?

Not everyone has found this Love. But I believe it is the core of what every heart longs for.

And so, when all the frills of college faded away…when everything that I had built my life around suddenly no longer existed in my world…I was left exposed. And what was exposed was not pretty.

A heart that had poured out every last drop for other people because it did not believe it was worth being poured into.

A soul that was stretched to the limit in ministry therefore could not hear the whispers of love from Someone else.

A mind that knew many things about this Love on a head level but would not let it reach heart level.

And so He began to peel. And peel. And peel. I imagine my heart as this thing…unrecognizable, battered, bruised, hardened. And slowly the Lord put different circumstances in my life to remove each layer…slowly and painfully, yes. But carefully and lovingly as well.

And so He begins to peel another layer away. This layer that seeks perfection and superiority. This layer that does not understand how to extend grace, inwardly or outwardly. This layer that is this antithesis of the Gospel.

The deeper He goes into the layers the more wretched I realize my heart is. And just when I think I understand God’s love, He puts me in a different situation where I am wrecked again. On and on the cycle goes.

But it is a beautiful cycle. It is one that I could not live without. Because with each disgusting layer of my heart being peeled away, I have a new understanding of how deep and wide and long and high this Love for me goes.

And so now, I am learning again. Learning a deeper sense of what being centered and grounded in Christ looks like. And I hope I never stop learning. I hope He never stops peeling back these layers of my heart.

And I am confident He won’t - because Jesus never stops chasing His bride.

“Do you believe I love you with an unconditional love?” God asks me.

“Teach me how to believe.”