This is a long post. But I have to catch you up!!
(In this picture I'm passed out on Anette's lap. Haha. You can see my head if you look closely.)
Christmas Day on the YWAMDP base was awesome. We woke up and had brunch which was AMAZING. My mouth still waters when I think about those pumpkin and chocolate waffles. Mmmm... Later we got to visit staff casitas where they made us delicious food and provided us with movies and music and wonderful company.
The next morning at 6:30am, Team Costa Rica said our goodbyes to the rest of our DP family with lots of hugs and tears. So so sad.
We headed by boat to San Pedro where we walked to the airport and took a tiny plane to Belize City.
We caught a taxi from there to the bus station where we got on a sketchy school bus and rode in beautiful country for six hours. We stayed the night in a town in Belize. Got the hook up with a penthouse suite. It was suite.
We took a water taxi from there to Guatemala. The ride was supposed to last around an hour, but one of the two engines on the boat died, so we had to go super slow until another boat came. We switched to the new boat in the middle of the ocean!
By the time we got to Guatemala, it was too late to get to the border, so we had to stay the night. God had it planned out though. The guy who we gave hot sauce to so he would drive us to Honduras had a place for us to stay! Bunk beds, showers, a basketball goal, and delicious food. He and his wife were such sweet hosts. We left from there on Sunday morning and took a small van to San Pedro Sula, Honduras where we had arranged to stay in a hostel.
From there we had to buy bus tickets for Monday morning to get us to Costa Rica. Except there weren't enough tickets for us Monday or Tuesday morning. We had to stay in Honduras two extra days.
Our team was super flexible about it, but it was a hard thing for our leaders to swallow. Understandably so. The plans they had made for us weren't working out, and as people leading a group of 13 through Central America, it's a little stressful when things don't work out as planned. Especially since we found out that San Pedro Sula is actually a dangerous place to be. (It's called the murder capital of the world on Wikipedia!)
We prayed about it as a team and felt that God wanted us there for a reason, and we made the decision to go in full force to figure out what it was His plans were. We were on a mission that God stopped all travel plans to send us on, and it was our jobs to get over fear and exhaustion from traveling and go out to the people of San Pedro Sula.
Travis, our fearless leader, decided that the safest place we could be would probably be inside of the mall. We prayed and God pointed out specific people by clothing or locations, and we did what we call a "treasure hunt" to find the people God showed us. Some of the time we walked around and prayed aloud as we saw things that we felt needed prayed over, and sometimes we went up to strike up conversations with strangers. The language barrier made it pretty intimating for some of us (me), but God was so present in our time there. It was awesome. Our groups went out with the intent of showing people Jesus in whatever way we could, and I truly believe God used us for that at the City Mall in San Pedro Sula. :)
We met up at the movie theater in the mall after our time of ministry, and watched the new Star Wars movie together. I don't love Star Wars, but it was pretty good.
When we left the mall, we had to cross several busy streets to get back to the hostel. Travis was crossing while cars were stopped at a red light, and between lanes, a motorcycle showed up out of nowhere and hit him! The funny thing is that Travis hardly moved at all. The man and the motorcycle fell. Travis walked away with a bruise, but the motorcycle's mirror broke off. Travis wins! Haha. It was not acceptable to laugh at it at the time, but I did a little bit. He's fine!
Wednesday morning we left our hostel at 4am and loaded a REALLY NICE bus where we rode for 12 hours to the next bus station in Managua, Nicaragua where we slept for the night. We left bright and early the next morning to travel another 8ish hours to COSTA RICA!!!! We got off that bus in San Jose, then got on another bus to get to another bus and eventually got to where we are staying for the next couple of weeks. (Potentially.)
Costa Rica (and really, all of Central America) is so beautiful, and the place we're staying is awesome. I feel so incredibly blessed not only to already have been able to take part in such a cool trip, but also to be in such a gorgeous location with these amazing people.
These past two days we've been resting. Lots of pool time, some ultimate frisbee and handball, and sleeping. I'm also reading a crazy book. Of course.
So sorry for the long post. But it's been a long week. Ha.
I also stole a lot of the pictures in this post from the Team Costa Rica public group album on Facebook. Go there to see the rest of them!
Pura Vida!!!
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