Slideshow

This is a video the youth group in Monteverde (specifically, Isaac) made for me right before I left Costa Rica. They played it in church and I cried the whole time. Leaving all my friends, students, and adopted families was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
If you have been wanting to see a highlight of my year, take a look. =]

Letters

I love letters. I really do. I've sent so many while I've been here. It's major progress for me. My mom used to bribe me and/or take away privileges to get me to write thank-you notes. I enjoy writing them now. I think the key is good stationary. Here, I have a great excuse to use postcards. I love using postcards. I may make my own postcards when I get back. There's just something about them that feels so familiar...It's like you're right there with the person. You get to see what they see.

But there's also this other kind of letter. It's called a fundraising letter. I plan to send out around 150 letters. Maybe more. I have 40 ready to go into the mail right now. Fundraising letters are tricky. You never want to sound desperate, even if you are. You want to capture the attention, give reasons for supporting, leave a way out if the person doesn't want to contribute, and this must be accomplished in one page. No more, otherwise you will bore your reader. No less, or the reader will assume it's not worth their time. Psychology, folks.

I hope my letter is good. I plan on spamming the world with it. In fact, yours may be in the mail within the week.

If I don't send one to you, it's probably because I don't have your address. I'm not kidding when I say I'm sending it to everyone. Spammmmm!!!!! But the good kind. It's to support a good cause.

Actually, I'm going to put my letter right here. Just in case you don't get a letter and you feel moved to contribute.

Here goes!

Dear (Handwritten name goes here)

I have been given an exciting opportunity to be a servant and a minister this year. Through the Student Missions program at Walla Walla University, I have spent the last 7 months (and will spend the following months until June) as a volunteer teacher at Centro Educativo Adventista de Monteverde in Costa Rica.

My last 7 months have been a great adventure and there is more to come. I arrived in the middle of the school year and a new one is underway. We have a new principal and I am the only remaining volunteer from the last school year. The school requests the aid of volunteers not only to help teach English but also because the Adventist community is very small. There are few Adventist teachers but despite the small community, we have been presented with a unique and wonderful opportunity.

Our Adventist school is the only Christian school in the area of Monteverde. This makes it very appealing not only because of the good education we offer, but also because of our beautiful values. More than 80% of our students are not Adventists. This is an amazing opportunity to develop relationships and spread the love of God to our students and to their families as well. 

I would like to ask you for prayer support. First, I need prayer for myself: my continued safety in my new home. Also, that God will continue to prepare the hearts of the students, their families, and the community. I know that God will use me to be His ambassador while I am here. God has given me this opportunity to share the gospel both by example and through relationships. Secondly, I need prayer that I can raise money to help the school and its students. I aim to raise $10,000 dollars. Please consider being on my prayer team for these needs.

I want you to know that the school did not ask me to send out these letters, but because I am part of the teaching team, I know the school’s needs and am acting accordingly. The money raised will be used for 2 main causes. First, a roofing project that was started last year but was never finished. The second, and in my opinion, the most important cause, is to give financial aid to students. There are many families, whom I know personally, that desperately wish to send their children to our school. Because of the high cost-of-living due to tourism, they struggle to make ends meet and paying for a private education is not an option. We never want to turn children away from our school, but without payment, we have no choice. Tuition is roughly $1300 for a year ($110/month for 11 months). It breaks my heart that these children do not have the means to receive a Christian education and it is something I want to help change.

I appreciate your willingness to invest in this ministry. I hope to raise the money by June 2012, before I leave, but a gift at any time would be great. If you decide to make a donation, your gift will be tax-deductible. Please write any checks to the Chico SDA Church and label it Monteverde Adventist School. 

Thank you for your prayer support and possible financial support as well.

Many blessings,

(My beautiful signature goes here)

The actual letter is not in italics and I included an addressed envelope to the Chico SDA Church. Being out of the country, I couldn't get US postage so I figured an already addressed envelope was the least I could do. A little nudge, so to speak.

Chico SDA Church

1877 Hooker Oak Ave. 

Chico, CA 95926

At a glance...

As some of you know, the Costa Rican school year is opposite to the one you are familiar with. It's actually really convenient because rather than saying "the 2011-2012 school year," it's just one year we're dealing with. We start in February and end in December. Easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy.

So, while I wasn't around for all of it, I have picture from almost all of it. The school year, I mean. I made a slideshow for the kids and they all got to take the dvd home to have forever. I'm quite proud of that.

I know some of you are thinking "Oh boy...A 7-minute slideshow of kids I don't even know? Good holy!" but, come on! Just watch it. You have time; I know you do. If not to see how precious and awesome these kids are, then just do it for me so you can see a snippet of the life I'm living.

P.S. Click on the video because it's no fun to watch it when it's this small. =]

Overdue

It's really a good thing for me that blogging is not like the library. If my blogs were due every 2-3 weeks, I'd have so many fees to pay. I'm also glad that blogging is not homework. If my blogs had due dates and got graded, I'd get a good grade but I'd drag my feet the whole way and then BS my way through it.

As it stands, I get to write what I want, when I want and how much I want which, for the last month, hasn't been much. But here I am, sitting on my bed in an empty house and I want to write. Really, I do. No one is making me do this and trust me, I could be watching movies (I have roughly 140 GB of movies) or scouring the interwebs (as I lovingly refer to it) for music and such. I'm happy to be sharing at this moment.

Here's the highlights of the last month (minus traveling with my parents, which will be shown in a subsequent post)...

Decorating the Christmas tree. We listened to all my favorite Christmas music!

Graduation dinner/Family photo

The Johans before graduating from Kinder

The only photo I have of the graduating 6th graders. They're blatantly "camera shy."

Look! I got an award for my "Dedication and Efforts in Costa Rican Education." 

Last day of school water fight. We're incredibly lucky that the sun came out and that the wind died down.

And then Nate and Calle left. They left on the 11th of December. Very sad, but such things must come to pass. After they left, I deep cleaned the classrooms, which I will have to do again before school starts back up, and thus kept myself occupied until December 14. That's when I took the bus to San Jose to stay with family friends and pick up my parents from the airport. Stay tuned for the exciting story and more pictures!!!

Come and see...

Whenever folks asked Mother Teresa about her work...how it was going, what life was like, she would say, "Come and see." - Shane Claiborne, The Irrestistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

It's about time I issued a request for service. In less than 3 weeks, I will be the only volunteer here. As we near test week and eventually, graduation, I am becoming acutely aware of what this could mean for the school. Currently, we have 5 teachers (Yolanda and Tere split up the day so that someone can be in the office). To function well, we need 4 teachers and a Director. When Nate and Calle leave, we will have me, Tere and Yolanda, who was actually due to retire last year. Although the church is very active and dearly wishes that volunteers were not necessary to run their school, the reality is that the school cannot afford to run without volunteers.
My request to you is that you would seriously consider coming to serve a school year here. Pray and ponder this request carefully. If this is not in God's will for you, maybe it's His will for someone else. Please refer your friends to the Mission Call here and to me if they have any questions. The call can be a bit confusing, so let me break it down for you. This is what you need to know:
The request is for service from February 13, 2011 to December 17, 2011 (10 months) in beautiful Monteverde, Costa Rica. *Clarification. I know this call will be over in less than a month, they just haven't posted the new one. You can still apply to this one.* The school is grades kinder (starting age 3) to 7th grade (considered to be high school). Teaching of all subjects is fair game---Bible, Math, Science, Music, Social Studies, Art, English, etc...Living arrangements will most likely be with a family who has a child in the school or possibly with the Director. You will receive a stipend of $100 (US) each month. Pretty much every store up here accepts US dollars and they will give you change in Colones so changing money is easy and there are plenty of ATMs. You don't need to apply for a Visa (though you do need a passport), which is really handy. You just need to leave the country every 90 days and your Visa is automatically renewed. For any other questions, refer to the Mission Call or ask me. I'm glad to answer questions.
Now it's time for me to gush about how awesome it is here. The school is small and growing too. Things have been tough, financially, but it's getting better. The school is awesome because you get to know all the kids individually; no one gets left behind. The church family is wonderful as well. They have a very active youth group so it's easy to make friends by going to the worship they have every Thursday or to game night after sundown on Sabbath. Monteverde is also a really safe and friendly town. It's a big location for tourists even though it's 2 hours away from another paved road. Teaching is hard work, I can't deny it, but it's so rewarding. When I least expect it, I'm completely blown away by my children. For example...The kinders are learning not to take toys or hit each other...My 1st graders can spell almost all their spelling words from memory...I found a way to get my 5th-7th graders interested in music...My 3rd and 4th graders are actually paying attention in class...It's a really beautiful thing. I literally could not stop smiling in my first grade science class today because I found out they had been studying at home. They noticed and laughed at me because of my goofy grin.
Honestly, I do miss home sometimes, but I've grown so much and learned so much that I can honestly say that I in no way regret coming. Coming here is one of the best decisions I've ever made. Please take my request seriously and pray about it. If you are called to serve, God will find a way to get you here, so don't even try the money excuse on me, haha. =] If you are not called, pass this on to anyone you think might be even mildly interested. Paz y amor!