The Power of Prayers

Hey all! I know what you're thinking (or what you should be thinking at least) "What's this?? TWO blog updates in two days? Oh no, she's going crazy!" (I'll allow some modifications to the previous statements due to creative liberties, but I'm sure you were thinking something along the same thought lines...yep, thought lines are a thing now).

Anyways, I just wanted to give an update because today was so radically different from yesterday that I had to share; and I titled this "The Power of Prayers" because I have no doubt that the awesomeness of today was in great part because of the prayers you all prayed yesterday.  So thank you, thank you, thank you.

So usually Sundays are kind of rough days--so much Spanish at church all at once, singing songs I don't know and not completely understanding them even though I can see the words, hearing an hour+ long sermon in Spanish, greeting people and chatting in Spanish, trying to make sure I give the expected responses (like saying "Amen" when someone says "Que Dios le bendiga" (God bless you) which is a pretty natural and expected greeting in Church) and stuff like that.  But now I'm starting to get the hang of things;  sure I don't know every song they sing on Sunday mornings, but I know two or three well enough to continue singing along while waiting for the slides to catch up (for a line or two), so that's cool.

But what was really great today was that Laura was singing with the mini-choir that's there on Sundays and so we had to get there early--that meant that I had about an hour and a half before church to do whatever I wanted, and instead of playing Solitaire on my iPod, I prayed. It was an awesome prayer; by that I mean it was heartfelt and Spirit-led and it made me realize just how much I wanted to be here in Costa Rica, doing what I'm doing.  I also had time to sit and reflect, and that helped me realize that what I want to do, and basically the only things I'm capable of doing here, are to learn and love.

That realization brought so much peace to me, I can't even begin to describe it.

On our way to church, Laura asked me "Do you want to go out to lunch after church" and I replied with a simple, "yeah, sure" (all in Spanish of course), and that mini conversation sparked the awesomeness of the day that followed.

After church we went to a mall to have lunch, shop a bit, and see a movie.  Well, the first thing we did was buy our movie tickets to make sure we got good seats.  We decided to see The Internship at 3:45...at the time it was 12:30; we had a ton of time to spend before the movie started.  Now before I go further, you need to know that this mall (and basically every mall here) is totally American.  The food court has American chains, and a few Asian ones, but mostly American: Quiznos, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy's, KFC, there was even a Chili's on the lower level.  You can also pretty much find any clothes or shoe store that you'd find in the States.  Just being surrounded by so much American culture was actually really comforting for the homesickness.  It was really comforting to see that EVERYTHING here isn't foreign, and that there are many parts of American culture here (not saying it's all great, I mean should we really be celebrating fatty fast food chains getting around? Well, today yes, lol)

So we had a lunch of KFC, and after a few failed attempts at conversation starters we finally got a conversation going about immigration and globalization--I'm finding these are the kinds of topics Laura like to talk about, which is great because I find it totally interesting, too!)  After lunch we had about two and half hours to spend before the movie, so we went shopping.  I WISH I had taken more pictures of the product there were!  We were in the Christmas section because she wants a few more decorations for the apartment.  Now, in the States, the color scheme is more or less: red, green, gold/yellow, white, and maybe a little bit of blue.  Here, it's all that and more!  Pinks, purples, light blue, dark blue, black!, light green, so many colors!  There were snowmen dressed in little vests of pink, light green, and purple, Christmas trees decorated in purples and blues and greens--making combinations I'd never seen before (and you won't get to either because I don't have pictures...sorry).  But it was pretty cool.

Now, one of the places we went, was basically a party store (like kid's parties). Piñatas all over the ceiling, loads of candy to fill said piñatas, as well as tons of Christmas decorations and other (super cheap!) things.  One of the items this store had in stock was a wide array of wigs.  Yeah.  We tried them on.  And yeah, we took pictures.

 

It was seriously so much fun.  It was so great to be able to joke around and laugh with Laura--it was seriously a bonding moment that was much needed.  Bonding over wigs...that's a new one for me!

We spent the next hour and a half (!!) shopping for Christmas decorations, but the time seriously flew by.  We were able to bounce decoration ideas off each other and basically just enjoy each other's company.  It was so much fun!  Also, we got some pretty cool decorations. (Pictures will follow)

After shopping around a little more, it was finally time to go to the movie.  We watched it in English with Spanish subtitles (totally awesome--so little brain-power needed to understand what was happening), there were about 12 people in the theater with us, and I was always the one laughing alone because jokes just don't translate well.  It's not that everyone else couldn't enjoy the movie, it's just I was pretty much the only one that could enjoy the nuances of the jokes whereas everyone could enjoy the physical and situational comedy.  Makes me miss seeing movies with Annalise in Argentina, at least we could laugh together! (Wow, A, two shout outs in two days, you should feel special!)

Being surrounded by American culture, and watching a movie in English was really just what I needed--not to mention getting to have fun and just hang out with Laura.  Seriously, SO MANY good things happened today, it was such a blessing!  This is such a perfect way to start the week. Oh! I forgot to tell ya'll, starting Monday (tomorrow) I will no longer be working in the daycare, but with the women in their "group times".  I'm so excited!  And I'm SO glad that I will get to start when I'm on such a high note instead of on such a low note.  Again, I want to say thank you to all who are praying for me.  It's days like these that I hope you can see the very real impact your prayers have on my life.  Thank you so much!!  Prayer really does change things.

Ok, now for some pictures you've all been waiting for.  It should be noted, however, that most of these decorations have been up since before Halloween, there are only a few new additions.

The tree in the dark

Little snowmen figurines

The green and gold globes are new, and ready to be hung by the ribbon, pictures to come when that's actually done

Snowmen on chairs and on the table

And here's the tree in the light

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you so much more for praying.  Much love to all of you! (Also, all this Christmas shopping really makes me want to say Merry Christmas!!)

Peace and Blessings,
Kiki