Five and a Half Weeks!

WOW! It seems like yesterday I was juggling four 50 lbs suitcases out of the airport and having my senses overloaded with all the new sounds, smells and sights. It seems like yesterday when I got a headache after a day of classes or 2 hours of church all spoken in Spanish - and I still didn´t know what was being said! That was five and a half weeks ago when I wished time would just move a little bit faster than the snail pace I was crawling.

NOW...now I wish time would just take a breath and allow me to catch up! I have finally gotten into my busy routine of classes, Bible study, ministry, friends, outings, meetings for everything, oh yeah and studying to learn Spanish! Who knew that time moved even faster out of the country!

I am learning much about myself and God´s amazing love for me. I can´t wait to share with you all the highlights of the lessons I am learning. I can´t wait to share with you all the incredible fingerprints of God that I have been privileged to see. I can´t wait to share more praises and prayer requests with you so we can take them to the foot of Christ´s throne.

I´ve been busy and have slacked on my postings but...don´t worry! Soon I will get you all caught up with what is going on in this journey that I am so blessed to be called to. I am enjoying it here and can´t wait to one day, hopefully soon, love it here.

I am thankful to all of you who are supporting me through prayers, financial gifts, and your friendships! Love you all and miss you all! May the grace and peace of our Father be yours!

Independence Day Began with a BOOM!

Monday, September 15, I had the privilege of sleeping in due to no school for the celebration of Costa Rica’s Independence Day. I was in the middle of a great dream when I was thrown from my bed due to the sonic boom that I swore shook my house and then by the two smaller semi sonic booms! What was going on?

Car alarms began to go off and then there is was again! A flash of light, the sonic boom followed by two smaller ones – still sonic nonetheless! I ran to my window to figure out what had just happened. I wondered if we just had one of the 200 earthquakes a month that we get. Or were there booms going off? Again there it was! This time I spotted the culprit from my window.

The flash blinded me and then the sonic boom drowned out my thoughts. Nanoseconds before the two smaller sonic booms I saw the white smoke drifting through the night sky from fireworks! They weren’t even fireworks - just stupid noise makers! Its one thing at night to have this occur but it was 5am on the dot! 5 AM!! Are you kidding me?

I thought surely the police would take care of it. (I forgot I wasn’t in the states.) My backyard neighbors finally quit only for others to do the same thing all at once for about 10 minutes!! I couldn’t believe it. Once my heart started to beat at a halfway normal rate I was able to fall back to sleep.

Later during the day I was conversing with my Tico padres (parents) inquiring if they had fireworks that evening. They told me no because they do theirs at 5am! What! This is a cultural thing! Not people just being annoying? Oh I couldn’t believe my ears! I couldn’t understand the reason (since it was told to me in Spanish, even if it wasn’t I still don’t think I could have understood.) I did get the drift that something happened at 5 am on September 15 – I think it was when their freedom was finally declared so this is how they celebrate it!

The rest of the day is filled with children beating on drums in parades in every town! Every school of all ages participates and it seems like everyone here plays the drums. I got to see the end of a parade in downtown. The rest of the day was spent traveling to the top of the mountain (30 minutes) to have lunch. It was so amazing to look down on the entire valley and even be above the clouds!

All I know is that I’m glad Independence Day is celebrated only once a year. I’d have to pull out my hair to be awoken like that more than once a year J It is fun to see how every culture is different in their celebrations of what is important to them. Next year I’ll be prepared!

View from close to the top of the mountain. The rain was coming in. To the right is Cartago and San Jose to the left. View of San Jose and more. Isn't it incredible to see the rain!

My Brain is Tired!

Wow! Two weeks of language school has gone by and I'm not sure what language I speak anymore! My English seems to be getting worse and my Spanish...well that's just a broken mixture of Spanish, English, and a lot of charades. I'm glad I talk with my hands a lot already! However, my vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds daily. I was even able to comprehend a lot more at church today. Even several sentences together!

I have four hours of classes a day; two hours of grammar, and an hour each of language and phonetics. All my teachers speak only in Spanish - every now and then using very little English. I at first hated the thought of my teachers only speaking Spanish but I am already thankful for it. I have already had two examines and have a third one on Tuesday.

Who knew I would study so much every night! Depending on how much homework I have, I find myself studying at least 2-4 hours a night! That was not something I thought I would do. Who me study? Well yes it's true, I'm officially studying now!I am excited about being able to communicate with others and I so desperately want to do it now.

• Prayer Requests Please pray that I will be able to pick up the language quickly and will do well in class. Please pray that I will be patient with myself and not get overly stressed out. Also pray that I will do well with time management and won't procrastinate. And most importantly that I will relay completely and only on Him to be my strength to learn Spanish!

My Favorite Day So Far

On Saturday six of us spent the day walking around downtown San Jose. It was such a blast. We got to look around in the National Theatre, a beautiful cathedral, and even got to go to the National Museum that had a butterfly garden in it! I wish I could show you all my pictures but here are a few to recap the experience for you. Downtown is full of pigeons everywhere. I was excited when a sweet Tica gave me some corn to feed them. What I thought would be fun kinda was a little scary when the attack of the birds began. Overall it was fun and I laughed the whole time. I would even do it again. I was just afraid they would poop on me! Here we are in front of one of the many cathedrals in town. (This is not the one we went in.) One thing awesome about San Jose is that there are little and some big parks every where! In the picture are my friends Laura, Amanda R., Mandy, Amanda L., and myself. Brendan, a brave soul to hang out with five girls all day! He is attempting to eat a piece of fruit the wrong way. YES that is a fruit. You actually open it up and inside is this white squishy thing with a big seed in the middle. You basically stick the whole thing in your mouth and "chew" on it. It taste just like a grape but ten times better! I do admit I was afraid of this fruit and it took 2 1/2 weeks for me to finally try it. I love it. I just have a hard time with the squishiness of it. This little guy, or one of his cousins chose to hang out on my leg for a few while we were at the butterfly garden at the museum. Here I am on the back ledge of the museum overlooking some of downtown, San Jose. I still can't get over at how cool the mountains are, especially when the clouds are lower than they are. Isn't God's creation beautiful!

What does God Think About Us?

Have you ever stopped and wondered what God thinks about us? I have many times and have assumed He is disappointed, frustrated, or angry with me. I don’t understand why He puts up with me. Other times I know He loves me and cares about me. God thinks about you and me! It’s not just now and then and it’s surely not about how bad we are.

Psalms 139:17-18 says, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!”

How incredible! If you have ever been on the beach or in a sandbox you know that there are millions of grains of sand just stuck to you for days to come! His thoughts are more than those grains of sand! Wow! These thoughts are not about how He wishes we would get our act together, but about how much He loves us and cares for us!

I was given a beautiful verse in a card when I left that tells us just how much He loves us. Zephaniah 3:17 “For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song.”

Really? He rejoices over me with great gladness? Really? He exults over me by singing a happy song? (I have been meditating on this verse this week and I encourage you to as well). It’s God’s pleasure to rejoice over each of us. I wonder what exactly His voice sounds like as He sings His happy song over me.

I can’t help to think we get a glimpse of His voice through the swirls of the wind through the leaves. When the rain taps on the ground and as He crescendos His voice it’s a huge down pour! When creation says good morning in its various tones. When the clashes of thunder roll through the skies and vibrates all that is around us. When the waves crash on the shore. Even the sunset and sunrise seem to sound His happy song.

So what is my response to this amazing truth? It’s surely not what it has been. I fall so short of expressing my love to Him and my actions and thoughts fall even shorter. He says that His love will calm all my fears. But it requires me to believe His love and accept His love. It requires me to accept that He does take great pleasure in rejoicing over me and sings His happy song over me, even when I feel less than acceptable.

There’s so much more to discover in this verse and I’m excited to dive deeper into it and also to accept these amazing truths and rejoice in the Lord because He is amazing!

Contact Me!

I know you're wondering "How can I stay in contact with Sunshine?" I'm so glad you asked! Here's how:

email: sunshineloveland@gmail.com

Snail mail: (which I would love to get) Sunshine Loveland, Instituto de Lengua Espanola, Apartado 100, 2350 San Francisco Dos Rios, San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America

Care packages: Now I know some of you have inquired about sending care packages. I would love to receive these but there are issues with people actually getting them at all or without things missing . The other issue is that I may have to pay duty on it depending on what it is.

So if you would like to send something it would be best to send it priority mail (which I know is unfortunately expensive) but all that has been sent this way has gotten here. Don't send electronics, expensive items, or money. Try to keep the package small so it won't be sent to the post office - this way I can avoid paying for it. If you have questions about things please ask so I can ask those around me.

Alone Time?

Today, more than ever I am beginning to learn the importance of alone time. I have always needed some and have enjoyed it but never really knew how much I needed it. It’s so hard to get that here in a culture that doesn’t always provide much alone time. Also to be alone outside in nature may not be the safest idea. So how do I get this alone time?

God is trying to teach me time management – but in a much different way. Not how can I get everything crammed in my day but how to make Him my priority and find time with Him even in the midst of life, even when I don’t feel like I have that sacred “quiet” place. God is not a place, He is everywhere and I need to learn to take advantage of the little time I have alone; walking to school; getting lost for an hour on the bus (as I did today); shower time; even getting up 30 minutes earlier and so on.

This journey to Costa Rica is not about getting here and how much I can do but about growing in my knowledge of Christ and into a deeper relationship with Him. Please pray that I will take this to heart on a daily and hourly basis. Also pray that I will find that special alone time with God, in unexpected places, to pour out my heart to Him.

Isaiah 43:9 "But you are my witnesses, O Israel!" says the LORD. "And you are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be.”

Adventures in San Jose

Saturday, a group of us girls took a 20 minute bus ride to San Jose to check out downtown. It was fun and a mix of old Costa Rica with new Costa Rica. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Taking Flight - a tico boy plays in the midst of the pigeons (that were everywhere).

A man that was at the artist marcado, carrying all he owns

The girls with a random statute. There were mant if these type of statues around town.

Another statute inside Latino Cafe, a coffee shop we had lunch at.

Laugh or Cry

Today was a true Costa Rican day. I began my walk to school for the last day of orientation. I made it to Parque Okayama and realized I left my umbrella at home! It was too late to turn around since I was half way to school. I would not be returning home until after 4pm and it would definitely be raining in some form.

Thankfully my amiga had two rain devices and let me borrow her rain coat. My meetings ran late and it had began to rain steadily. So I tried to get my new bag, I got from the market, up under the coat and began my 20 minute walk home in Old Navy flip-flops. If anyone has these flip-flops and have walked a little in the rain you know how slick they are! Combine that with the already slippery tiled, mossy, and muddy side walks and you got one huge America's Funniest Home Videos adventure.

As I was walking, the bottom half of me was getting soaked and it was chilly outside! I thought to myself, "I really want to start complaining about this but maybe I should just start praising Jesus." I chose the latter and had fun with Him in the rain. I even wanted to start splashing in the 6 inch puddles but chose not to make more of a spectular of myself than I already was.

I got home and my madre couldn't believe the looks of me, like some half drowned rat. I took off the rain coat and there on my white shirt are huge blue stains! from my new bag! It has bled out all over me! All I could do was laugh and asked my madre for help. It also got on my green shirt but she only had bleach so what can you do? Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to a supermarcado and get some oxyclean.

God is awesome even despite what could have resulted in me being very bent out of shape. I love that He will use a simple choice of making our attitude one that laughs about things instead of complaining. I pray that He will give me the strength to make the choice of praising Him in all things!

Other lesson learned today? Don't forget the umbrella!