Lice, Tires, and Sinuses, oh my!

I don't even know how long it's been since I've written, so I'll start from now and work kind of backwards. =) So these last few weeks have been a little crazy. We had our last team for the summer leave. It was a packed summer, full of eager students ready to help with all the varying activities. The same weekend that the last team left, I had to flee the country with the Janzens to renew our visas in Panama. Hopefully, soon we'll be able to get special visas that will keep us from having to leave the country every three months. After our weekend in Panama, I returned back to Las Fuentes. Upon my return there, kids came running up to me, "Cailah, when's (insert name of anyone that came to Las Fuentes this last summer) coming back?" They continue to ask about them, although my answer has yet to change, "I'm sure they would love to be here, but they had to go back home." And they continue to ask.....

Not too long after being back, I started to notice a crazy itching on my head. Come to find out, I'd gotten lice. It wasn't super surprising, considering some of the cases we've seen in Las Fuentes. Between numerous shampoos, olive oil treatments, comb-throughs and nit-picking (literally), my head seems to be lice free! After the whole lice ordeal, then came the issues with the tires. Three flat tires in three days. The first one, I don't know what it was caused by. But we got the the spare tire put on and before I got a chance to take it in, I drove it up to Las Fuentes. Kids started coming and some of them came in saying, "Cailah, there's air coming out of the tire in your car." And I was like, ummm, no, that's a spare. So, I went and checked it out and sure enough, before long, another tire was flat. I think this one may have been due to really bad roads because of some construction. So, I ended up having to call a tow truck, seeing as how the spare tire was already being used. So, they took me into a shop and we got the tires patched up, aligned and rotated, all for relatively cheap. Great! Not two days later, I was in Las Fuentes again, walking to aerobics, when I noticed another tire (not any of the ones that had had problems before) looked a little flat. By the time I got done with aerobics, it was significantly flatter. So some of the guys from the church helped me change the tire to the spare and once again I headed back to the shop to get the tire repaired. This time it was a nail. Needless to say, I think I'm getting the whole how to deal with a flat tire bit down pretty good. The next morning, I woke up feeling kind of sinus-y. This began a five, or so, day stretch of dealing with sinus pains, feelings of my head swimming and just being out of it in general. But it's mostly cleared up now, so thank you, Lord, for no sinus infection and for a pretty quick recovery. So, things have been a little crazy over the last month or so, but there's also a lot of good crazy to tell!

We now have some new staff members to add to SI Costa Rica and our first Tico staff, to boot! Luis Diego, Cindy and their daughter Hannuka have jumped on board with us! Cindy will be starting a micro finance site with Maria (who is from Nicaragua and was an intern this last summer and has yet to be officially on staff, but is well on her way). They'll be working in each of the communities where we currently are, Los Guido, La Capri and Las Fuentes. They'll be working with women involved in small businesses in each of the communities, helping to tie the ministry focus places together, as well. Diego will be starting up a kind of sports/recreation site, that will also spend some time at each of the working ministry locations. In Las Fuentes, we're going to team up to present a more thorough and unified front in the sports department, as well as, providing a boy/girl scouts kind of alternative, incorporating Christian values in the teachings. I'm really excited for this new program in Las Fuentes. The times I've mentioned it to the kids there, they freaked out with excitement, so I'm pretty sure it'll do well. Well, we at least know that if it's of God, it'll prosper in how He'd have it do so.


So many new and exciting things going on here. With those things come challenges. One of those that hasn't seemed to give me much of a break, especially looking at last month, is that of finances. I am in dire need of more support. Would you PLEASE pray and consider how God would have you respond to such a need. I know that kind of giving may not be for everyone, but that doesn't mean that you have no part to play. Thank you for your continued prayers and support! God Bless! =)