Steps and Mountains...

I thought I would send a quick note to let those of you who have prayed for or supported me that I received news yesterday that I have been accepted to be an ambassador for the United States as a Davis Merit Scholar at Armand Hammer United World College.
This means I will spend the next two years there studying the International Baccalaureate curriculum with 200 students from 97 different countries. I will be learning about things from Theory of Knowledge to global issues in an environment that thrives off of its diversity.
I’m so excited about that God is beginning to open doors and show me what he has in store for. I was running the other morning and stopped to look out at the huge mountains that surrounded me, and the way the sun was beginning to rise out on Nicoya. I listened to the song “The Words I Would Say” by Sidewalk Prophets and was overwhelmed by emotions when I heard the words
“Be strong in the lord and never give up hope. Your going to do great things, I already know. Gods got his hand on you so don’t live life in fear. Forgive and forget but don’t forget why you’re here. Take your time to pray, these are the words I would say.”
These are the words I had always heard from God, from my family, and from the community that holds me on Orcas…those are the words that held a strong foundation under me when I was shaking. When I looked out at those big mountains, I was in awe that God made them with His hands. They suddenly didn’t seem so impossible to believe or too big too conquer, because I have that Man that made them in me... I could feel the wonder of God in his vast creativity when he made the earth, and the sun came over the mountains, hitting the gulf miles away. I doubt I will ever experience perfection, but I seem the closest when I am being honest. When there is only genuine honesty, it seems to be when we can best learn about the perfection we find in God. That sunrise was the most beautiful image I’ve ever seen, and I’ll keep it in my mind forever. I heard the words “don’t forget why you’re here” and knew God had me has for a reason, a new one every day. I don’t doubt the reason it was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen is because I saw it alone. There was such contentment in solitude at that moment, without feeling alone, that I knew God was there. I know He’s been with me all along.
God has so many plans for us and it really does just take stepping out to where we are uncomfortable and lost that we find Him. The only thing stopping me from my dreams was I. Being out of my comfort zone for a long period of time has been the most powerful experience I’ve ever had. When I went back to the states for my interview with United World College I just cried for like my first few days home. My guard was completely down and there was no one I had to be brave for anymore, including and especially myself. Still, there was nothing better than coming back and putting on my confident shoes because once I wear them enough I don’t even realize I have them on anymore and that confidence becomes a little more part of who I am. Every time I see those mountains, I’m just as in awe, but a little less afraid because I have a great, humbling God in me that is bigger than them. I watch the mountains continue to get smaller and smaller as I grow.

I'm posting the lyrics to a song I wrote called Step, that tells a bit about how I've felt lately about trusting God.

Step

Verse:
I learned a lot by observation
What to, and not to do
I counted stars at night
Wondering how they shine through
All this to be surpassed
With brilliance of things I never knew
I took a walk down a narrow road called my life
I took a look around to see what I could find
There I found
A Man with an offering
And seemingly He'd been standing there
All along

Chorus:
A tell-tale of life
Starts with one
Step
Without promise it won't be hard
There's no catch that says
You won't fall down sometimes
Step
There's always a hand to balance
To hold while we dance
As we step in time to this life

Verse:
There're people who believe in love and those who have opinions
There're faces elderly with lots of worldly wisdom
Where to guide us for each New Year's resolution?
Aren't we defined by our observations?
Where to begin if we say every day is a new day?
Each step, another chance
formed by what is, a backwards glace

Chorus

Bridge:
Each step was deeply pondered
Before your birth
Still each one directly impacts this earth
There are steps you'll learn were wrong
But they're the ones that wrote this song

Chorus


Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love always,

E

Quick Updates

It's been a long time since I last wrote, so I thought I would give you some updates.

I arrived back in Costa Rica about two weeks ago after my time in the states. I went straight to the Caribbean Coast to do my Junior Project with an indigenous tribe of people called BriBri. I learned so much while I was there and it's hard to fit into the short amount of time I have to write. I feel to blessed to have gotten to see a culture that lives on less than $1 a day, how the United Nations says 80% of the world lives. The indigenous people didn't recognize that they were in poverty until Western culture began to influence them, because by their standards, they weren't in poverty. I wrote an essay about poverty once, and while writing it, I realized I have no place to define it. The people who are IN it are the only ones who can say what it is like, and they are often the least heard. I spent time in BriBri with a 16 and 13 year old the majority of the time, showing me around. They both were attending public school and were curious as to why they learned things like algebra and European history when it's so irrelevant to their lives. They are two of very few indigenous children that attend school. The education the indigenous children need is about the medicinal plants around them, the stories of elders, and how to weave palm leaves to construct a house. Western culture is not survival to them, because money hasn't met anything until now. The indigenous culture of BriBri is beginning to collide with Western culture and the indigenous people are losing their traditions. I loved spending a week their learning about cultural differences and I hope to go back again to continue to ask the many questions my project raised.

The SUN is going away...the three months of summer in Monteverde ended and now it is "winter" again...today there was a loud tropical rainstorm in the afternoon and I think this will be a constant for my last few months here.

Costa Rica has come up with new traffic laws and have been reinforcing them. With exceptions...I climbed in the back of a truck with a few other people, and everyone in the front was on each others laps. The "trafico" watched us pack in like sardines and as we drove away from him, the driver of my car waved and the trafico smiled back with a huge thumbs up. The government is also considering changing the laws about drunk driving, because some of the best soccer players have been thrown in jail and couldn't play in the games, and even the government officials are big fans of Costa Rica's soccer team and don't want to be blamed for any losses.

I was thinking about BEAUTY the other day, where I find beauty, and what beauty is. I thought about beauty in nature and in words, and then in love. Love is like beauty in the way that it looks and feels different to everyone

I thought I would just send a quick HELLO to everyone, and a few updates on what I've been up to.



Thank you to all of those who donated to the Monteverde Friends School for the Walk-A-Thon, it was a big success and a lot of fun!