How is it almost August!?!

I can’t believe that I’ve already been living abroad for a year, time goes by SO fast!

There’s nothing like going to top off an otherwise relaxing, recuperating stay at home, rainy Saturday with a nice manicure than to find a thumb sized cockroach in with all your nail polish!!!  Yes, I am somewhat embarrassed to report that I screamed and did a disgusted shiver dance before running downstairs to find my cockroach spray!  *shudder they’re so icky and you never get used to them just springing up out of nowhere   - did i mention, the nail polish box lives under my bed  0_O I had nightmares about them coming up for a pijamada and accidently eating one in my sleep…ick!


SO! I’ve been away for 3 lovely weeks up North (The Great 
White one) which was just excellent, I may or may not have 
tried to squeeze in too much – jury's still out on  that one :)
There are really no words to describe it so I’ll just bombard 
you with pictures and  trust that my face will serve as a tiny 
view into how amazing my visit was!  Hugs, snuggles, sports,
 food,  friends, fam, and wedding OH MY!!! I loves me some BC!
(so i recognize that’s probably a bit tricky to read…but so cool right?!?!)

0

      I also went to the dentist!

I feel like I’m somehow jipping you guys by not going into more details about everything, but to be honest words haven’t been my strongest subject as of late.  If you are dying to know more and feel ripped off, let me know and I’ll see what I do :)
_____________________________________________________________________________

 My life is Sooo exhausting!  *insert smug smile .  It was actually a great opportunity for me to get to know more of the country.  In the past, and normally, I’m not much of a tourist which before wasn’t a big deal.  However, now that I am responsible for others and have been here a while I get asked fairly frequently where good places to go are, what’s worthwhile etc etc and never have decent responses….until NOW that is!!!

We hit up a popular beach here, Manuel Antonio (we had a connection whose family lives close-by which meant FREE ACCOMMODATION and FOOD!!! *sigh i love free!)  We went to the National Park and it was worth it!  We saw monkeys, crabs, iguanas, SLOTHS!!!!, birds, racoons (which people get really excited about here and when I don’t react in like are very confused, haha if only they knew! Racoons, please!) 

We also hit up some museums, a volcano aaaand THE MINIONS movie!!!





Let’s get excited!!! pfff!!! As if you aren’t already!

• There’s a team coming in on Saturday until the 4th of August, so this weekend I’ll be heading up to translate and love on some people in Aguas Claras!  (Same team leader as the group from January)
• Today I was in sewing class and one of the women saw some of the toques and headbands I’ve crocheted and asked if I would teach a few classes  so that the women could learn how to make them too.  She said that as she is currently unemployed it would be a great way for her generate some income.  I of course said “YES!” So Profe Kayla will be making her return to the front of the class sometime in the next month! (This pictures are a few of the things I’ve whipped up the past few days)
• Today someone complimented me on how good my English was!  She was shocked when I informed her that it better be as I’m Canadian!  Although, thinking about it now, being Canadian doesn’t necessarily ensure that one would have good English…
• Also, I held a one month old today…so cute! Her name’s Jade

Prayer requests

• For my translating skills!  The team comes in on Saturday and is a bit larger than the last.  Please pray the Lord will give me wisdom, the right words and tones and basically will be able to communicate smoothly within the two languages!  The goal is to not offend anyone this time `round!
• I’d like to start this one by saying thank you so much for all of you who take the time to catch up on all my comings and goings, praying for me and supporting me.  I appreciate it so much!   Please pray that the Lord would continue to provide for all my needs.  My mission has reported that my monthly support is at about half of what they’d like to see coming in.  The cost of living here is very high and it’s reflecting.  So please pray that The Lord will raise up new donors. 
  
  If you feel led to give see the side bar on the right side that says “Want to Support Kayla?!” or feel free to contact me (kaylarchandler@gmail.com)

Lastly, I’ve been reading Job and this morning these verses really stuck with me.  It’s when Job responds to his friend’s lack of compassion and help in his time of need:

“..my brothers you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring when it’s swollen with ice and melting snow.  But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.  The brook vanishes in the heat. The caravans turn aside to be refreshed but there is nothing to drink, so they die” 
- Job 6:15-18

A little intense, especially that last verse.  I thought to myself “i do not want to be like Job’s friends – when times get tough (His whole family has died and he had lost essentially all he owned)  they just assume he was guilty of some sin and instead of comforting him they attack him and tell him God is punishing him because he’s done something evil.  Which was not the case in the slightest!   I don’t want to be one of those people who dries up simply because it gets a little hot out.  I want to overflow with grace, compassion and love for others.  Please pray that God will fill me daily so that I may in turn lavish others with all the love He shows me!

SURPRISE!!! There was NO zoom in this - that's how close we were!!!! - i almost peed my pants i was so excited!

happy may 20th!

Hello hello! Happy Wednesday!
This morning I awoke feeling not too shabby, which is quite a feat as, lately, I have not been esleeping so great.  However, even though I woke up this morning from a nightmare – which I can’t remember, all I recall is feeling like my heart was trying to pound it’s way out of the jail that is my rib cage!

So, if last month had a few dips and turns, this month continued with the pattern.  It started off with God dropping off a roommate practically at my door.  It didn’t start with that intention but that’s what has happened.  At the beginning of the month I got a text from Marianela (the daughter of the pastor from Valle Verde who passed away last month)  saying that she needed somewhere to stay for the week and could she stay with me.  So that night I went and picked her up and moved her into my apartment, after a couple weeks of apartment and job hunting God made it clear to me that she should stay here and voila! We talked logistics and I now have a crazy, bubbly, super silly roomy!  She is a blessing and so far we are doing excellent!  Please pray that she is able to find a safe, well paying job close by ASAP!
Let us end with some good news…I have a flight home!!!!  

your faith is all it takes…

Today’s anecdote:  So I have been super sick since Sunday night, today I decided to leave the combines of my lovely apartment and get a little fresh air and find a world map for my wall (I’m going to get all my visitors to mark their country and sign it, it’s going to be brilliant!).  The trek was successful!  When I came back home, my neighbour (married, 2 young kids) was out and he invited me in to have a chat.  I was happy because then I could let him know that his children have been terrorizing my plants and I am none to pleased!  The conversation was fine, he asked if i was going back to where I’d been with the team I said yes and then we talked a bit about my upcoming travel schedule.  I mentioned that I should be heading to Canada  The conversation then took an awkward turn heehee!…wait for it…!
“so do you have a boyfriend then?”

“Nope, they’re overrated”

“Ah, friend’s with benefits then” – with a glimmer in his eye

“aahahauuum…nope!”

He gives me a weird/confused look “but you have guy friends?”

“Sure do!  And none of them have benefits!”

he then just kind of looked at me like I’m missing something or like my response is completely crazy! It makes me laugh how people assume that just because one is single they’re either super depressed/desperate or are just living it up getting with anything that moves.  They couldn’t possibly be content with what they have!  I have had someone tell me (here) that if she was my age and wasn’t married (like me) she would kill herself….Yes she was serious!  I literally burst out laughing and reminded her that boys are not the ultimate goal. It’s better to be single, with the occasional loneliness, than to feel alone, stuck in a crappy marriage/relationship!

***   ***   ***

Anywho, enough about that! The real reason you’re all here and on the edge of your seats, I know, you want to hear how it went with MY FIRST OFFICIAL TEAM!!!!!  Yes, I have received and returned my very first team 9 for 9!  Well technically 3 of them are still here, I’ll ship them off on Friday morning, hopefully in one piece…or should I say 3 pieces…?

Okay so let’s break down my 3 weeks of being responsible for 9 people, well 10 including myself.  So April 4 I show up to the airport to pick up the team (majority of whom were from Scotland, and the rest from England) and realize that I got the time wrong…I was an hour and a half early!!!  Which made me feel completely incompetent and ridiculous – great way to start off!  So after about 10 minutes of questioning my life choices and why I suck I decided mistakes happen and it’s better to be early than late!  Then the bus driver and I went and got a snack, food solves all problems!

A few hours later, I got the team to Valle Verde in one piece and split them up into their host homes.  The first week was good, we did some orientation, meet and greets, and they started on some of the physical projects.
 
On the Saturday we walked to a nearby waterfall, which was a great bonding experience (some of the locals came too).  We were wrapping up and heading back when one of my host brothers got a phone call saying that their dad (who is also the local pastor and our key point person for the project) was in a motorcycle accident.  We immediately rushed back, only to find out that the he had passed away (from a heart attack)……

My world went blurry… he was my friend…my host dad…my project partner.  I made it back to the house and Maria (the Pastor’s wife, my host mom) just looked at me solemnly and said “Kayla, God has taken my husband.”  Earlier that week Maria had gone to the hospital with severe back pain, she had been sick most of the week and this was the cherry on top.  My heart ached, I was grieved for the family- whom I consider part of my family, I have also never lost anyone close before, let alone while hosting my very first overseas team.  To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement!

A few hours later our home started to fill with people, family members, neighbours from all over coming to help out – I struggled with knowing my place.  Should I find somewhere new to stay?  I don’t want to leave them?  Am I intruding?…. I had a million things going through my head.  I asked one of the family members if they wanted me to give them some space and my question was met with a look of  ‘what?! are you crazy?!’ and was told to stay!   Sunday came and the house was still flooding with people, the body would be coming to the church later that evening (things move very quickly when it comes to funerals here – kind of ironic) .  Sunday we prepared for the Vela (viewing) which is an all night event.  This one started around 7pm and I had no idea if I would be able to go to bed or not.  Fortunately, at about 12:30am a cousin came to let me know my bed was ready and I could go sleep!  At 4 am someone came knocking at the door to let us know that the body was turning purple and we needed to go back to the church right away.  So we got up and started getting ready.  The funeral was at 9 am and the service was lovely – it was very evangelical at one point the preacher said that the Pastor/body was not important to him because he has already won the game -  he is with Jesus.  What really mattered to him were those people in the audience who didn’t know Jesus.  It was encouraging too because he went on to say it doesn’t matter what religion you are (catholic or evangelical, etc.) the key point is do you know Jesus?  Is he your personal saviour?  I was so delighted, it’s very rare to hear that!  Usually, it’s more an “us” and “them” type thought process.  Afterwards, we moved on to the cemetery and put the body in the tomb.  Immediately after the cement had been set everyone who had come, left for their homes.  It was a bit shocking to me at the quickness of everything.  We got back to the now empty house – which only that morning had been packed wall to wall with people – and began to reorganize and put the place back together.
The rest of the trip, thankfully, was less eventful.  Things moved slower than the team would have liked, communication sometimes left much to be desired and while at some points it was frustrating,  I thought it was a great cultural experience.  Relationship orientated (locals) vs. task orientated (western culture) .  The goal of the trip was to encourage the community.  Each team member made a great connection with their respective host family, there were many remarks on what a joy it was to have the team and many tears were shed on departure day - I would say the goal was met!

***If you would like to read the team’s blog updates (3 in total) click the link below: ***
http://bit.ly/costaricaeaster

So on the whole I would chalk the experience up as being super successful.  Did I mess up? Oh yes!  Are there things I should have done better? OH yes!  Is there room for improvement? ooooh YES!!!  But now! I have a team under my belt, I’ve gotten a ton of experience – while the death is not funny - there is joy in it and you almost have to giggle, i mean think about it, what are the odds of that happening – let alone during my very first team?! I’m aware some of you may think that is offensive but it’s like the family says “We will miss him, but do not be sad for us, he is in a better place and we are excited for him!” It’s okay to be joyful, laugh – that’s the pro side of being on Team JC!   Aside from experience I’ve also made new contacts, learned a ton about myself AND made new friends!  One of whom is actually the daughter of the pastor, she lives quite close to me here in the city.  The other day she texted me and said she’s been lonely and has no Christian friends here…or I should say had because now she’s stuck with me!  Muahahaah!  In reality, I really connected with all the members in my host family, immediate and extended.  It’s pretty cool, a lot of them want me to come visit them (they live all over Costa Rica, hello more connections! AND majority of them aren’t believers – can i get a wITness!?) – I’m sure that makes no sense because you can’t hear the funny voice I read that in, but it was funny to me, so it shall stay!
Praise!There is so much to put here, I think that the entire post is a testament to God’s faithfulness, His loving nature, His patience, kindness…..ah I could go on and on!  They say God works in mysterious ways and it’s true.  I knew the team needed to go to Valle Verde; why?  I did not know.  Now I do, we were there to encourage a community during a big loss, He let us be apart of that! ~ if it hadn’t happened I would have never met Nela (Pastor’s daughter) ~ The community of ValleVerde ~ The adorable STEP team ~ Everyone who prayed and continues to pray for the community, family, the Team, for me…aaaah!!!! 

Prayer!Please continue to remember the family of the Pastor (all the documents and formalities that need to be completed) ~ Maria’s health ~ Safety for the 3 group members making their way here to my home on Thursday and then back to England on Friday ~ The team as they transition back into life in the UK ~  

This is the verse the team painted on the front wall of the church in Valle Verde:

<<

Yo soy el camino, la verdad y la vida – le contestó Jesús –.  
Nadie llega al Padre sino por mí.>>                                                                                 Juan 14: 6“I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Amen! Have a great week!
xxx

March madness!!!

Or maybe February madness…hmm either way this has nothing to do with basketball!

SO i realized yesterday that I neglected my blog yet again! I’m so sorry! Even with all the reminders and encouragements I get from so many of you!
I do not even have a good excuse, besides the fact that I’ve moved into my own apartment, started locating furnishings – I finally got a table on Monday, attempted to get internet set up (unsuccessfully), gone to the Latin Link conference in Nicaragua, organized that majority of the stuff for the STEP team that’s coming in 3 weeks – i just realized how quickly it’s approaching and panicked a little until i remembered that I’m almost ready for them!  I’ve also been making friends, visiting old ones…oooh the list goes on!  It’s been a lot of travel, meetings, and a lot of learning on the fly!
These past few months have seemed to just whiz by, I am loving having my own space! Although some days it is hard to be alone, for example I bought my fridge second hand and so before setting it up I gave it a heavy duty cleaning, I was working my way to the back when a beige tail slipped into the fridge…..my heart stopped and then began to race!  I panicked “there is a mouse in my fridge, a MOUSE!!!! What am I going to do??? Yes I am wearing rubber gloves but my toes are naked!!! I only have flip flops on!!!  OHMYGOSH!!! It can’t be a mouse…which means it’s a RAT!!!…THERE…IS A RAT…in MY fridge!!!!!” at this point I started pacing and panicking and wishing I had a boy in the house to deal with my giant rat and all the rat babies procreating in my fridge…. I also determined that no matter how great a deal I got…anything that included vermin was not worth it.
So after about 10 minutes of all this going on I put my foot down, I said “Kayla! (think Mel Gibson in the The Patriot when he’s giving his big motivational speech to the warriors) Kayla! You are the man of this house!  It is your responsibility to deal with this…no one is coming to save you! You can do this!” So I marched into my laundry room grabbed a can of cockroach spray, took and big breath and doused the back of my fridge like there was no tomorrow!!! Then i, of course,  had to leave the room as I had just fumigated my kitchen and could not breathe. 
After a little while I come back into the kitchen, try to listen for the screaming rat babies and instead find a gecko on the floor, i let out a huge sigh oh relief “Oh it’s was just you.”  He spots me and starts to wobble away – and I don’t blame him, I was quite the sight in my cleaning apparel.  He was running funny, swerving and weaving and i thought to myself “man this guy has pizazz! what style! what flair!” I guided him outside where he then came to a slow halt (picture a car running out of gas)…sadly, his tank never refilled…I had killed him.  I shot down my ally, geckos eat the things i don’t like, like mosquitos, spiders and cucarachas.  I was sad to have lost a compadre but my sadness was greatly overshadowed by my relief that Master Splinter was not living in my fridge.

Aside from battling, imaginary, giant genetically mutated rats I have also been doing the work outlined in my job description.  2 weeks ago I went up to finalize details for the April STEP team.  I hung out with the Pastor and we had a great chat.  It always amazes me that my job is to visit with people, talk about how great God is and just watch him work miracles on a daily basis.  I left Valle Verde so blessed, so excited, and much more confident than I was when I had arrived.  I am eager to see what happens when the team arrives!  I am nervous too but I think that’s normal when one embarks into unknown territory. 

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.
We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do;
and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” – Samuel Smiles

It’s an interesting thought and based on my track record I can attest to the wisdom in what Mr. Smiles says.  I’m not saying I’m hoping to fail this team that’s coming but nothing and no one is perfect, something will not go according to plan.  I’m almost more excited to see where I screw up than what goes well…it feels weird to say that out loud but it’s true.  I am excited to be able to have my first team under my belt!
Praise!
- I got a sweet deal on all my kitchen appliances and some furniture for the living room!
- so far I still have enough money for rent and utilities!
- I have been attending the same church and bible study for a while now and have made some delightful friends
- Pretty much all the big stuff for the team is established
- A friend of mine is coming to visit next week
- My computer is still alive and kicking! 
- For those of you who take the time to keep up with my comings and goings, for praying for me, supporting me spiritually and financially.  I am very grateful and don’t think I mention it enough!

Prayer Requests- The team is coming April 4-25, pray they will make it here safely (with all their luggage) and healthy.  Please pray that this time will be a blessing to both them and the locals, that there would be no illness or injury, and that we will all grow and enjoy this experience.
- my friend`s cat has been missing for 2 weeks
- wisdom to know what to do/how to do it during this time with the team – that I will be able to lead well.
- for my dad, my mom texted me on Thursday informing me that he had gone to the hospital with chest pains.  So far everything is fine but I would appreciate extra prayer for them.  It is a scary message to get.
- healing for my left thumb (there is a glomus tumour/paraganglioma in it – it’s not dangerous, it just hurts), there has been a searing pain in it for the past month, please pray that it will disappear and take the pain with it.

“I will delight
      in weakness
      in insults
      in hardships
      in persecutions
      in difficulties
For when I am weak I am strong”                                            - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10