uuuhhhhhh....

Well it's colder here, not raining as much but cold. Erin and I have both been sick this last week and we're just feeling out of it. It's been just over 3 months and I think we're experiencing a little bit of culture shock. (more Erin than me but the "we" makes her feel better) It's just hard. If I could tell you how we feel it's just a long uuuuuuhhhhhhhhh. Not bad but not good either. 

Don't get me wrong, we still love Costa Rica and are excited about being here, but we are just now understanding the sacrifices that we've made. 

For 1) You don't come to Costa Rica for the food. If you know me and my family you know that we like to eat... and we like to eat meat... That's not really an option here. The food is mediocre at best. The food in restaurants is ok but we can't eat out all of the time. Meat is tough and has no flavor. We miss other types of food too. They have some of the same brands as we do at home but it's all double the cost and it doesn't taste the same. Food we miss: Black olives, Good chocolate, asparagus and BBQ steaks.

2) It's hard being the "rich" in a culture that you want to make an impact. The people here are so poor that we are rich. Everyone expects a handout from North Americans because we can, and people before us have given to them. I was standing on the street talking to Jeff and these kids walked by and said in english "give money please." It's hard to say no to the giving money thing and still let them know we care and want to help. I want to "teach them to fish" though, not just give them one.

3) We miss our family and friends. On top of that, we are constantly making friends and then they leave. MTI was great but we made friends and then left them. We'll probably never see most of them again. It's the same here... We have friends at school but most of them will leave either in December or next May. It gets kinda hard and just piles up after a while.

I guess I really needed to just vent a little. Also, we would really appreciate your prayers as we continue this transition. I don't think that anyone can ever really be fully prepared to make a large transition in life like this. When you pray ask God to give us peace and joy. Also ask that He would draw us in closer to Him. The natural tendency is that when life gets tough you slip in areas of discipline.. true for us right now. Pray also that God would continue to increase our ability to love and be loved. Sometimes we just want to stop loving because it hurts to loose it... But God is in the love... and the loss. We need to experience both.

I can't say enough that we appreciate all of you who support us by reading our blog and those of you who support us financially and in prayer, but WE APPRECIATE YOU!! 

Thanks for reading!