Happy Anniversary!!!!

Today, October 18th, marks my first full year of being here in Costa Rica! Crazy! In some ways, I can't believe it's been a whole year, while in other ways, it's felt more like a life time. But things are finally in full swing here in that we have sites up and running to some degree. There have been quite a few adjustments and changes that we've had to make, but all with the intentions of fine tuning the sites to fit the needs and desires of the community as well as the gifts and passions we have. With all this in mind, we have been making some adjustments and new developments at my site in Las Fuentes. In these last two weeks, I have begun leading kids in the community in various outdoor activities, in addition to the after school and tutoring programs that we already have established.

The week before last, Erin Janzen, Aiyla Shockency and I lead a group of about 20 kids on a hike up a hill behind the community to a cell tower that has an amazing panoramic view of the San Jose area. This last week, we had a couple days where we went to an open field that the kids call the "Play Azul." The first day we played soccer (of course) and had probably around 30-40 kids total that showed up, probably from ages 5-14. The next time we went, there were about 7 kids that we played baseball, or some kind of versions of baseball- basically it turned into the kids finding anything they could use as a bat and hitting the balls as I ran back and forth, retrieving the balls and pitching them to the kids. They seemed to like it- and I got a good workout! =) (A reason for the large difference in the number of kids that showed up is that kids switch off every other day having school either in the mornings or the afternoons. So when we have our field day on Tuesday afternoons, the kids that can come then generally can't come Friday afternoons, because they have class then). It's been fun to hang out with the kids in a different environment and it's even brought about kids that I haven't seen before, so I'm excited to be involved with the kids in this new way!

A while back, some ladies from the church asked me if I knew anything about aerobics or exercising. As it would so happen, I do. So, we've been looking at using the community center there in Las Fuentes and trying to figure out what days and times would work best. So, we talked to Pastor Gilberth about it and apparently he is the one who could arrange for us to use the building, free of charge. That same day, we talked to some of the women who would be interested in participating and we decided right then and there on the times and days that would work best. So, pretty much all is left is for me to figure out some music and learn some routines----of which I know my mom will be more than delighted to help me out with (she teaches a variety of aerobic type exercises). The women seem especially excited to get a jump, a hop and a kick on this ; )

Along with the after school program/tutoring, the home visits and the English course, I'm excited to see how these new projects go. Please pray for my organizational skills in being able to balance each of these projects, as well as coming up with creative ways of engaging people. Thank you very much for your prayers and I'll be sure to keep you up to date. =) Below are some pictures I took from the hike with the kids.



A little bit of controlled chaos, as we head out.




Erin and some of the kids on the way up.




We hiked up through a coffee plantation- those little plants in the background are baby coffee plants.




Two of the boys, checking out the view.




Some of us paused for a little break.



The kids picked some fruit along the way.




We made it to the top! Me, Aiyla and Erin sitting back and enjoying it.




No worries- we didn't let them get too high, but we couldn't exactly keep them completely grounded =)

Surpr-Isaac!!!!

So, I was sitting at home one day and I heard a tapping on our gate- pretty typical- people trying to sell stuff usually. So, I didn't think much of it and just kind of ignored it, thinking that whoever it was would just go away after a little bit. However, the tapping persisted. So, finally, I went down to see what the deal was. And I was struck speechless and dumbfounded to see my brother, Isaac, standing there with a suitcase!!!!! I just kinda stood there, mumbling for a second and then went to find the keys to unlock the gate and let him in. I didn't even know what to do with him- with him being there! It was just such a complete surprise! Crazy!

He got to stay for 10 days, so we got to do quite a few fun things and he even helped me out a ton at my work site in Las Fuentes. It was for sure a time of refreshment for me, having him here and him getting to see where I live and what I do, but it was super tough to see him go, as well.

The following is a picture diary of our Isaac and Cailah fun time together in Costa Rica:




Tracey, Aiyla and Isaac prepping/testing out our homemade Guess Who game before English Class



The Guess Who game board that Isaac helped me put together and name the people



Isaac with the kids from the tutoring center in Las Fuentes- such fun!



Isaac and I at a Costa Rican soccer game with rival teams where we accidentally found our way into the fanatical section of the losing team- it was quite interesting and a little scary at times, but SUPER fun!



Our friend, Josh, and Isaac as we prepared to slide down the the hill in Parque de la Paz on cardboard.



Let the sliding commence! (Isaac, Krysta, Josh, Leah and Aiyla)



Sliding in style. =)



And then we all teamworked our way up onto a rock.



Super duper fun day!!! (Aiyla, Krysta, Leah, Josh, me and Isaac)



Josh and Isaac- kids at heart...and life ; )



Isaac even went with me to get the tires changed on our car- so sweet! =)

Food for thought and food for eating.

So, things have been underway in a more or less normal day-to-day setting in Las Fuentes as of late. Things have been coming along just fine as we continue to make small adjustments and changes to better fit and meet the needs of the people there. The tutoring center has been going well. It's always encouraging how the kids want to come and hang out even if they don't have homework or need help or even if it's Saturday. They're always asking for more classes (as they call them), which is exciting in realizing that they'd rather be hanging out at the church with me than running around doing whatever else. It's definitely challenging to motivate the kids in their studies and find educational activities that support what they're learning and aid them in their understanding in a fresh way. I am open to any suggestions! This last Saturday, I walked around the community with one of the women from the church and passed out flyers about the tutoring center and the dates and times, so that people could become more familiar with me and also so they could have a written schedule of the tutoring times (which are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoons).

Wednesday afternoons have continued with the teaching of an English course, for ages 12 and up. There have been various people that have come and gone in this class, but we have had two sisters that have come consistently each week. They have a good base in English, so it's fun to be able to have the formal teaching type stuff but also to be able to have a more informal conversation time. It's been good.

Fridays consist of me going to visit people in the community that aren't able to leave their homes much. Currently, there are about five women I visit between the ages of sixty something and ninety-four or so. They're always so welcoming and grateful for even the simple act of stopping by and listening. Last week, I went and visited these two ladies, America and Clemencia (Clemencia is America's daughter) and when I was leaving, they gave me a chocolate and nougat bar, some graham cracker types, a red pepper and a tomato so that I could make some kind of lunch with these items. So sweet! I did eat them, but there was no configuration I could find to use them all together for lunch =)

After leaving America and Clemencia's, I stopped by the house where Marselina lives and her daughters, Natalia and Maira, take care of her. I think Marselina is about 93 years old and in very difficult conditions. She sits in a chair all day, not really able to speak or see. She eats very little, but has AMAZING daughters that serve her so willingly and lovingly, it's always a huge testimony to me. It can be really hard at times to visit this house and see Marselina in such poor condition and her daughters in pain over seeing their mother so helpless. Yet even more amazing to see the selfless love that is so plainly displayed through all of it. It's pretty heartbreakingly amazing.

I also visit a lady named Maria, who is around 94 years old. She spends her days either sitting inside staring at the wall or outside looking at her yard, where the first team of the summer helped plant some flowers for her to enjoy. I've been trying to think of some kind of activity that I could do with her to help her occupy some time and maybe give her a kind of hobby. Last week, I brought over some stuff to paint. Previously, Blake and I had picked out a picture of a flower and traced the design onto the canvas. So, we tried it out. She seemed to like it at first, but lost interest after a while. I did a little painting for her and she seemed to enjoy the finished product. We put it on display, so that she could see it whenever she wanted. I noticed she was wearing a bracelet and she said that some ladies had made it for her, so I'm thinking next time I might bring some jewelry making stuff and have her help me pick out beads to make some jewelry or decorative art type stuff.

So, in going to people's houses and spending a significant amount of time there, I have had the opportunity to experience a number of different forms and demonstrations of hospitality. This last week, I brought some pictures of family and friends and home to show to America and Clemencia. They just kept going about how beautiful everyone is (so, be encouraged ; ) and how they couldn't believe how much of animal lovers my family is to have 5 dogs! I saw a ton of their family pictures, as well, and tried to keep up with whose kid was whose and what birthday was when. But, wait, there's more. Just as I mentioned earlier, food tends to be a large byproduct of the hospitality factor. So, this last week, in visiting America and Clemencia, I was able to try a number of different things I haven't eaten or even drank before. When we were finished looking at the pictures, Clemencia brought out a bright orange, opaque juice for me. I braced myself for it, thinking it would be papaya. Instead, it was sweet and it turned out to be carrot and orange juice- not too shabby. To accompany my carrot/orange juice, I was given some wafer cookies and a piece of an orange. Then, they asked me if I'd ever had sweet squash and I said I didn't think so. So, they said that I would try some after I was done with my juice because the taste of the juice would mess up the taste of the sweet squash. Oh, the anticipation! So, when I finished with my juice, they didn't delay in giving me what looked liked a squash based gelatin. It definitely jiggled. So, I dug in and it was actually pretty good! Serves me right for judging based on jigglage. Then, when I was leaving, they gave me some lemons from a tree in their yard.

That same day, I went to go visit Maria and one of her sons happened to be around. He is always very thankful towards me for coming and spending time with his mom. He left and brought each of us an orange. Then, he left again and after a while he came back with some limes for me from their yard. Not too long after, he showed up with some Guavas for me to try. And then he left again and came back with several Jocotes (a small sourish fruit that you usually eat with salt). In all, that day between the lemons from America and Clemencia and the fruit from Maria's house, I ended up with 15 pieces of some kind of citrus fruit in my purse! And this makes me happy =) And so my post is concluded.

Below my cornucopious collection of fruits is pictured.

a picture book of life. just for you. =)

Our English class in Las Fuentes



Blake with Douglas and Keiner from the tutoring center



Our inspiration for moving



The fallen bathroom ceiling from our old apartment



And so we packed it all up



Front room in our new place



More of the new place



In the jungle, we painted... a lot.



This is the compound where we stay in the jungle- those houses in the back, we painted those too



Caitlin, me and Courtney- friend reunion in Hanford



Me and the Jonathan brother



The Isaac brother and myself



The Dad, the Mom and the food



I ate tri-tip, of course



Noelle, the brother David and I



SI crew- hanging out at the beach



Went on a sunset stroll with Blake and Aiyla



We, then, jumped- Peter Pan style.

a lot and a little bit of everything

Sooooo, I know I've said in the last few blogs that I'd be better about updating my blog more often.....however, that hasn't really happened. And for that, once again, I apologize. Alrighty, where to begin....

After the women from the Well left, we had a team from Virginia for about a week or so. They were an amazing group and we wished we could have had them here more time. After the Virginia team left, we had about a week where we were just working at our sites. The Thursday of that week (3 days before leaving for the jungle for a week), Krysta and I came home one afternoon to find that a pipe in our bathroom ceiling had busted and water had flooded our bathroom, with the ceiling falling and all. Our upstairs neighbor refused to stop using his water, that was falling into our bathroom. Up until this point, we had just accepted things we encountered as little quirks. However, between the mold that was growing on Krysta's bedroom wall, the bathroom ceiling caving in and an upstairs neighbor who was a lot less than ideal, we decided that this may not be a long term place for us. So that night (being Thursday night), we prayed that if God wanted us to move that He would miraculously provide a place that weekend. Which finding a place in a matter of a few days would be miraculous, since finding this last place involved over 50 phone calls and 9 or so visits to check out places.

So, we bought a newspaper the next morning (Friday) and looked for places to rent. We found one that would be in a safe neighborhood, was within our price range and sounded fantastic. We called immediately and the phone didn't ring, but we heard someone saying, "alo?" I guess the lady had gone to call someone at the exact moment I called, so she had no choice but to answer. We made arrangements to go check out the house that morning---trying not to get our hopes up too much, as sometimes the descriptions of places could sound amazing and they would turn out to be falling apart. As it turned out, the place seemed just about perfect! A few things would need adjusting, so we took some time to pray about it that afternoon and felt that this was an answer to our prayer. SO, after calling back and letting the landlady know we wanted the place, we made copies of the necessary paperwork, went to the lawyer's office, bought some paint, made copies of keys and went home to begin packing. Aiyla and Blake helped with all the packing, which helped to make it happen faster and with an extra pep in our step ; ) Thursday night, we had a group come in from Texas, as well- they would be part of the jungle trip that left on Sunday. Soooo, our Thursday and Friday were pretty insane.

Then, Saturday rolled around and we finished packing stuff up in the morning. The group from Texas was gracious enough to offer to help us move, which was a ginormous help! We also had another group from California and 2 individuals flying in that day for the jungle trip. It was a little tricky trying to maneuver around the airport pickups and moving everything, especially when our car's clutch blew up on an airport run, creating a very memorable experience in having to push it on the highway - sorry guys ; ) So, Saturday, everything got moved and we got our rooms in some kind of order.

Early Sunday morning, we got up and headed out to go to the jungle for a week. I wouldn't really recommend that process or deciding to move and doing it in 3 days and then leaving for a week, but God blessed us with a ton of people to help make it possible and then an amazing team that we got to spend a week with in the jungle! It was stressful, for sure, but it could've been A LOT worse.

IN THE JUNGLE......
We had the group from Texas, a group from Visalia, CA and two individuals, as well as our entire SI Costa Rica staff- it was quite a group! It rained a lot while we were in the jungle, of which I wasn't completely devastated because we got to have that time as fellowship with one another. But, besides that, we did get a lot of work done. We painted A TON. There was a group that worked on a ditch- cleaning it out, another group laid block and yet another group laid culvert. So, we had quite a bit going on. It was a good group that was enjoyable to work with. It was hard to see them go, especially knowing that they were the last group of the summer.

SINCE THEN...
I made a last minute trip home to renew my tourist visa (I have to leave the country every 90 days for 72 hours) and surprise my parents. I was only there for about 3 days, which was FAR too quick, especially since I hadn't been home or seen my brothers in 8 months, or my parents in like 6 months. While it was hard to be back for such a short time, it was also very refreshing, rejuvenating and a HUGE blessing! Not to mention a fatty surprise for my parents and some of my friends ; ) It was great!

The week after getting back, I was back in Las Fuentes, working full force. I started up another session of tutoring on Thursday afternoons. So, my weekly schedule includes, English club and Coffee time on Tuesdays, Tutoring and English class on Wednesdays, Tutoring on Thursdays and home visits on Fridays. Things are progressing as I learn what is and isn't working. I'm definitely challenged in all of this, but looking to God and giving Him the opportunity through these challenges.

This last weekend, we also had a post-summer staff retreat/getaway to the beach. We stayed in a house together on the beach and had a good time hanging out and exploring tide pools- all going at our own pace =) It didn't feel like near enough time, but I believe it was a relaxing weekend for us all. There was only one minor thing that happened that we would have preferred it if it didn't, which was on the way back, the thermostat in our car stopped working, so the car overheated and the fan wouldn't turn on to cool it back down. A man stopped and helped us for what we hope was a fair price and since then the car has been in and out of the shop, working as good as before!

So, wow! That's a ton. I'm sorry for that, but I will post a bunch of pictures so you guys can have a visual of it all. Thanks for reading. Love you all and God bless! =)

The Women at the Well

These last two weeks were spent with an amazing group of 8 women from The Well Church in Fresno, also accompanied by Krysta's brother Blake. I had two ladies, Jane and Carolina from the group, as well as Blake helping me out at my site in Las Fuentes. This group came to be affectionately known as "Bladies" (Blake + Ladies). While these two weeks were full of challenges, in having our first team here in the city for the full two weeks, it was also full of many blessings. We've started up a few new things in Las Fuentes in this time, which the group did an amazing job of helping out with. We had our introductory meeting/class for the English course, as well as, our first lesson. It's a once a week class that meets for 2 hours. There are about 6 students that have come, ready and willing to learn. Which is an encouragement to me =)


We've also begun a time on Tuesday mornings that is set aside as an English Club. This is a time for whoever wants to to come and receive help in any English topic that they may need or want. This is also a more informal time in which we can play games and do other activities in English. Three kids showed up last week, so we played some games with them and had a little topical English lesson for them.

Tuesday afternoons have been designated as a time of Cafecito (Coffee), basically a Coffee break/fellowship time. A time (in Spanish) for anyone to come and just hang out and have fellowship together around a cup of coffee and some sweet bread/pastries. Last week (our first week), no one showed up- although we were told at least one person was coming, alas, they did not arrive. So, we used it as a time of fellowship and prayer among our own team. We're hoping that as word gets out and around, people will want to come. Sooooo, please keep that in prayer.

And, as long as you're praying, ; ) , if you could also keep in mind, one of the elderly ladies that I visit is in the hospital, pretty much on her deathbed and her family is having a hard time, also please continue to keep our SI staff team in your prayers as we are pretty exhausted in every way, shape and form. Please also keep me in your prayers as I continue to seek God's direction for my work in Las Fuentes and that He would be my strength as He works through and in me.

We have another team coming in today, but their schedule is a little unique, so they'll basically be here a week or so. But please keep them in your prayers for this week, that God would speak to them in fresh and new ways and that He would use them to bless others in their time here, and that they would be blessed as well.

Thanks for reading! =)

The Support Meter

Hey again, everyone!

So, this is another quick update to let you know about the financial happenings with me. As it has been an issue in the past, it continues to be so now. I am still not quite up to par on my monthly support and the one time funds I've been drawing from are quickly dwindling. If this doesn't change soon, I will have to re-think my budget and all things financial once again. On average, I'm only short about $100 from my minimum goal of monthly support. This seems like a pretty feasible and not completely overwhelming amount and I'd appreciate any help possible to reach this goal and even go beyond it. I'm committed to the ministry that has begun here and anxious to see what all God has in store- but none of this is or would be possible without your support. If you would like to become a partner in giving to my ministry, you can do so by sending any donations in to:

Students International
P.O. Box 2733
Visalia, CA 93279-2733

*Please include a separate note that says you prefer your funds are directed to Cailah Pritchard
and whether this is a one-time or monthly gift


Thank you very much and I REALLY do appreciate your continued support and prayers.

Much Love,
Cailah =)