Pura Vida!

I'm sure you have heard "Pura Vida" is like Costa Rica's motto. Living here and becoming accustomed to the culture has made me begin to take in to account how meaningful that saying is to the people here. Most Ticos say it casually "Como esta mae?".."Bien, pura vida!" but the more I've heard it the more I sense how much it means. It's their blessing to one another, a greeting...a reference to pure life. David, my homestay brother, taught me to greet the driver of the yellow school bus that serves as the Monteverde bus with "Pura vida!" so that he doesn't charge me the "gringo" price :) Last night I sat leaning against the concrete of my house, surrounded by palm and lemon trees and a lush garden and remained in the ultimate silence of this pure life, watching the sunset until it began to get dark. The beautiful fading yellow light hit where I was at one point, then gradually moved, leaving me in darkness. I remembered what a friend of mine told me when we were in seventh grade about that brilliant light from the sunset. She said it was the type of light where even the ugliest person could look beautiful..
Isn't that light God? When we are in it we are beautiful, almost ethreal..content and at peace. When we leave it we are left in darkness, that though we try to light up on our own, there is no beauty like there is in the Son. Seeing this taught me so much about sharing that light. It's not something you can pick up and give..it's something a person has to enounter on their own. The best I can do is know that light and spend my time in it, then through me, people may see that there is a real light that exists and seek it. In God's love I have the power to be and through that the power to share. What a gift!

A few nights ago, a family friend came over with tamales for us. They are a common gift here and soo delicately fascinating! It is some sort of homemade tamale wrapped in bananna leaves. Often after school, a couple comes and sells their homemade cinnamon rolls and bread, pushing them in a stroller. Then there are the younger kids that climb up into the trees and pick some native fruits for me... I still have yet to find out what they are though :) All the food is so interesting and new! The other thing that has taken some getting used to but I really enjoy now is walking-twenty mintues to school, forty five to most friend's houses, an hour to the market..it's the pace of life here! God has blessed me and the routine of my life here is setting in, this is home now and I am enjoying learning and growing as this new comfort zone develops!
Thank you for your prayers and support,

Love, Emma