La Palabra de Dios- The Word of God

Psalm 51:10 
 "Create in my a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Breathe it in. Let it soak into the depths of your soul. La Palabra de Dios (the Word of God) is living and true, and like a sponge I was able to soak it in throughout this week.

This week was a pretty chill week. I celebrated my 1 month anniversary for being in Costa Rica (I arrived here January 2nd) and found out VERY exciting news: My Parents Are Coming To Visit Me!
But most importantly, I was able to spend quality time in "La Palabra de Dios"-the Word of God, and fellowship with other believers. Here are some highlights of the week, plus the meat (carne...which I also found out means "flesh" in biblical references) of the blog: La Palabra de Dios- God's Word.


School: I spent another week observing in the classroom and helping wherever I could. I was humbled, as I adjusted to the grading system that my cooperating teacher uses, and all the new experiences in the classroom. This week I take over Social Studies. It is a nice, slow transition into teaching, as Social Studies is only taught twice a week, so I will teach a lesson tomorrow and Thursday.

I was REALLY excited to find out that the classroom next to ours contains a Mimio board. It is very similar to a Smartboard, which is teacher-technology that I enjoyed in the States. Here are some pictures to help you visual learners ;)  *How it works: My computer is hooked up to the projector, which also has speakers. You can just make out the little white USB, which is sticking out of my computer on the right side, and this configures my computer with the projector to the Mimio board. Unlike the Smartboard's, which are actual boards, the Mimio's board is just a white board, but the little white bar on the left is what makes the board "interactive." It is sort of hard to explain unless you have seen or worked with a Smartboard, but I was super excited to find out that my school has one! 

One of the really exciting parts is that the teacher with the Mimio board is right next door to my classroom and she leaves everyday at noon, since she is only part time, so teacher's can reserve her classroom any day after she leaves. 


I jumped at this opportunity and my first lesson tomorrow will be in her classroom using this engaging technology.

Tomorrow my students will be "traveling" to the State Capital in Washington D.C (aka: the classroom next door) to take a tour of the State Capital building. Using the Mimio board technology, I created a lesson to help my students walk through basic parts of America's government. From the picture below you can see that it is sort of like Power Point, but more engaging, since you can write on the board and do all sorts of fun things! Needless to say, I am pumped to start teaching in the classroom and excited for my students to see the wonderful, and fun world of learning.

Social: I already covered "Social Studies," but I thought I'd cover my social life too, since I am still managing to have one, despite lots of lesson planning and school duties. 

This is Majo and I with some "muy rico" (very yummy!) Fro Yo-frozen yogurt. There is a special fruit here called "Cas." You can see it to the right. It is somewhat similar to lemons and has a sour twang to it, which makes it a memorable experience. I have enjoyed "cas" in juice, frozen yogurt, and most likely other foods, which I did not know had "cas" in it :)

 I spent the majority of my weekend recovering from a cold, which made its rounds through the school, and the rest of the weekend with Mani and Majo. They took my to their church, to the movies, and out to eat at a fancy steak restaurant. 

*No, I did not see "Sherlock Holmes 2" again! We saw "Jack & Jill." Normally I do not like any films that are associated with Adam Sandler, but this one was surprisingly clean...for the most part...and pretty funny! Mani sat next to me and was dying of laughter throughout the movie. Ha, it was a fun time.

Now on to the meat of this blog...

Spiritual: Mani invited me to go to the cell group that him and Majo hold on Saturday nights. It is very similar to a Bible study. Mani gave a small message, which Majo translated for me. I can understand a lot of Spanish (despite my lacking "speaking" skills), but it is still nice to have someone who can explain the things I don't understand. 

Mani spoke on Psalm 51. He talked about the devil trying to get into our lives by telling us lies and waiting for us to open the door and let him in. However, he emphasized that we have the weapons to fight against the devil and leave the door shut, but many times we get sucked into the devil's lies and swing the door wide open. 

Psalm 51:17 says, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." It is easy to feel broken and unworthy when we allow the devil in. It is then that we often shy away from God's Word and like Adam and Eve we hide from God. However, God wants us to turn to Him. For, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

God can handle our brokenness, as He loves us and paid the ultimate price for our sins, by sending His one and only Son to die for US! (John 3:16) Ultimately, I was reminded that I need to consciously choose to shut the "evil whisperer" out (that is Amy Carmichael's name for the devil) and even when I feel far away from God He is right there waiting for me to call upon Him. 

But wait! There is more :) 


Just three more quick things! 

#1. Saturday night was great, as I got to worship with other believers. The music was very powerful...rock bandish, and they had teen dancers for a few of the songs. (The dances were choreographed by Majo!)It was so cool to look around as I worshiped and realize that despite the language difference we were all united in worshiping the same, true God. And one day we will ALL be together in heaven worshiping as One body.


#2. Sunday I went to the actual church service with Mani and Majo. Majo's dad is a pastor of the Misión Carismática Internacional church in San Jose. Here is the churches website if you want to check them out http://www.mci12.com/. They had a Colombian pastor from another MCI church speak, and it was a really good sermon/service. He also plays the guitar/sings/composes music/and enjoys acting, so I felt privileged to be at the service. Majo once again translated the message for me :) *And it was a cool little God wink because before I left for Costa Rica I felt God telling me to bring along one of my extra Bibles. I didn't know who I would meet that would want an English Bible, as they speak Spanish here, but I obeyed. (Even though my suitcase had been pushing 80 lbs ;) Well, Saturday night Majo mentioned how she would really like an English Bible...ding, ding! I remembered my extra Bible, tucked away in my suitcase, and I was able to give to her on Sunday. She was very excited, and I was excited to see how God had planned that!


#3. Here is an extra juicy highlight:


My host mom and Vero picked a TON  of oranges, mandarins, and lemons. They are super juicy/messy/and ever so delicioso (delicious). But I must say I have never seen so many seeds from one orange before.


*Also, I am still getting used to the way they eat oranges. (This picture is not an accurate description of how they cut them, since I just cut one up to eat after school today) Instead of peeling it and eating it in little pieces they usually peel the whole orange, cut it in half, and then suck out different sections. Kind of hard to explain :)


And this picture on the top left is the pantry, which is usually full of very colorful vegetables, fruits. Currently it has been taken over by all the fruit Evelyn and Vero picked!




Well, that is my update for this week! I need to go over my lesson for tomorrow, as I will be playing the role of "Tour Guide: Lady Liberty" (Made my Statue of Liberty hat today and everything!). May God richly bless you as you go about your week. Remember to not let that "evil whisperer" in. Instead, stay grounded in the Word of God-la Palabra de Dios, which will help you fight against the devil's attacks. 

^{Ephesians 6:10-19}  

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."