Livin' la Pura Vida

Our first full day in Costa Rica!! The day started with everyone being woken up at what is to be our latest time of the week: 8am. 18 girls, two bathrooms makes for a chaotic morning. Our hosts at the AMCA house have been so great with keeping us well fed and giving us the sustenance to take on the day. Once our bellies were full and our caffeine levels were maxed out we hopped on the bus with our trusty driver Juan and headed off to church at CED where we were greeted with fresh fruit and coconuts. The service began with worshiping in song (all in Spanish), some songs were new, but others were familiar. The people were more welcoming than we ever could have hoped for. One of the worship leaders took the initiative to address our team in English and invite us to the front to kneel before God as she spoke words of encouragement and blessing over us, reaffirming to us that we have a purpose here. The passion and energy throughout the church were incredibly powerful and we felt so uplifted and inspired by them. During the service, we had who we all agreed to be the most entertaining translator. After the service, we traveled back to AMCA for yet another delicious meal before we left to play our first match of the week against The Bank of Costa Rica volleyball team.

The match was a lot of fun and it was really cool to be able to connect with them through the sport of volleyball since we were not able to connect as well through language. The floor was quite slippery which made for some memorable plays :). About half way through, we were visited by an adorable stray dog that continued to come in and out of the gym. He (or she, who knows) even joined the spectators in the stands. After the match was done, we were given the opportunity to join the team on the court and Kristen shared her testimony and prayed with everyone. They were very friendly and seemingly receptive to us and our mission. Overall a great first match!

We arrived back at the AMCA house where I (Hannah) wandered down to the kitchen where I was faced with my first completely solo Spanish interaction to find coffee (the things I do for that stuff). All of the avid coffee drinkers on our team were excited to find out how great Costa Rican coffee is, which the AMCA staff makes sure is always available. After a caffeine fix, we headed to the mall for dinner, then back to AMCA for team time which included devos, a time of prayer, and preparations for tomorrow. Day one was very promising as to what the week will hold for us. Looking forward to the ways God will work in and through us. Hasta manana! All for Him.

- Hannah, Dani, and the team (P.S. Kristen and Brooke wrote the update from yesterday, in case you were wondering :) )