Wednesday night was quite a blast. As is customary, wednesday night is men's and women's times. Again, I don't know what the men do. We did attempt a practical joke on them during their time as our duty as women. We took all the boards out from under the guy's mattresses and put the mattresses back as if they weren't there. Later, some of the girl's also sprayed smelly girl stuff all over the guys things. For our women's time, we went to the rollerskating rink nearby. The first obstacle
to this fun night was making our way across traffic as 11 women to the rink itself. We chose to take the route that would put us near the most cars. Quite fun running across the street screaming thankful to get across. Anyway, roller skating was a sweet way to work our some energy and just be like little girls again.
Thursday night, my friend Lisa Fisher and I, the one I mentioned before, went to our friend Esteban's house. Esteban was the one that I met in March who's birthday was our first day on campus and we just bumped into him that day (divine appointment). I haven't been able to have a lot of spiritual conversations with him or share the gospel again (we shared it with him in March), but we learned that he has a lot of christians in his life. One of his good friends is an on fire tico named Fabricio who I also met in March who is already involved strongly in a Christian youth ministry who wants to pour into Esteban who is agnostic. Also, Esteban's mom and brother go to the Church near San Jose where my friend Lisa excepted Christ. 
We see him all the time on campus, but he is always out of breath and seemingly late for something else to do. Well, his dad works with a computer chip company, but in his free time not only does amazing photography, but also is a gourmet chef. His dad cooked pasta for us that took about 2 hours to make so you know it's good. Mom and Cara, you would have been proud of me, I tried this appetizer that was bread with mushroom topping and I actually kind of liked it. By the end of the night, we were all so tired and everything was funny. In the cab ride back to the hostel, Mr Big's "Next to be with you," played and our driver cranked the sound and we sang our hearts out. What a great memory.
This is on campus
As far as campus last week, Thursday was incredibly inspiring. We met a girl who grew up catholic, but doesn't practice anymore. From what we learned from her, she is a believer and has accepted Christ before but is really hungry for friends who are also Christian's and for sweet Christian Fellowship. She is excited about Cruzada Estudiantil (Campus Crusade) Her name is Genina. Today actually, Lisa and I had lunch with her at a Mexican restaurante and I told her how she actually inspired me. She was surprised and asked why. I told her it is because she lives in this moment for Christ and wants to have a life Now with Him in it and doesn't only look towards the future and Heaven. She just gave me a sweet perspective. Jessica didn't end up making it to our meeting Yesterday, but hopefully we will meet up again. I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left here. I know it will be fast. I really want to find the right time to share the gospel with my friend from high school, Memo that some of you know, but there just hasn't been the right time.
Memo Please pray that God will let me know when to do so and the courage to accept his reaction. We have had some spiritual conversations with him, but they have not gotten very far. It has taught me that it is much easier to introduce the gospel to a complete stranger because you are not as vulnerable and you won't lose anything valuable to you. On the other hand, though, if you care enough about the person, you will at least want to let them know about a life-giving message such as the gospel. Memo's sister Dianna is really curious about why we're here and if nothing else, when we are fully able to share with her, maybe she will share with Memo some day. Who knows.
Sarah (she's discipling me here), Diana, and me
Friday night was the 5 hour drive to Monte Verde. It is a cloud forest. We stayed at a hotel with consistently warm showers, very nice addition, and a cozy atmosphere in the mountains complete with a jacuzzi. The drive was incredible long (five hours) okay, i know that's not forever long, but when the roads are filled with potholes and not paved for part of the way, it can seem like a long time. We made the trip fun, however by singing worship songs in the bus and old songs like Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Disney songs. What good times.
The night we arrived, I had an incredible experience with God. I just felt like spending some time alone after being around people every day all the time (even though I love the all) So, I sat at the top of the stairs leading to the jacuzzi looking out over the expanse of the sky and just spent some time letting God woo my heart. 
lightning One of the students we talked to on campus had been sent an email of a picture of a galaxy that looked like "the eye of God" and I was thinking about that and saw in the sky a similar view. What a blessing. I didn't have my camera on me at the time (I know, amazing) but I grabbed it later and captured the moon/sky/and lightning that God displayed for me.
The next day was incredible. We went on a canopy zip-lining tour through the rain forrest. All the guides were so fun to talk to. Cara and Matthew, you know how much fun it is. 
I learned my lesson, however, of not putting my hand in front of the pulley when the first zip line my finger got cut-up in the pulley. Later, I made friends with one of the guides because of it though because as a guide, he even put his hand in front and had a bandage on his finger too.
The next day, Sunday we went horseback riding in the mountains. We got to run the horses a couple of times which just made me smile and laugh at how sweet of an experience it was. My horses name was Eagle, but in Spanish, Aguilar. Later that day, I went on a coffee tour through the Don Juan coffee plantation and got to see the process of coffee from the seed to the roasting process and taste the coffee (which was probably my favorite part) I am making a separete blog of the process and will post the link soon. One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to know the people on the team and just chilling. Two of my friends and I played my Spanish monopoly that I bought late into the night and then just talked and laughed. You should all know that these are two of my favorite things.Right now, we are on our way to a mexican restaurant for Lisa. Ah, how fun. There have been three birthdays already on project and I believe three more (so many birthdays in so little time)
Well, I will be updating as much as possible, so keep on checking the site whenever you get the chance.I love you guys!
Jodi Marie
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