2 Corinthians 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." PROVIDEThe word PROVIDE hit me this summer, as I began to really look at all the ways God provides/provided for me. I often take His provisions for granted. However, these past two weeks I was blow away by God's numerous provisions for me and His perfect timing.
As I have mentioned before I am not a huge fan of change or the unknown. I love to have things all planned out, as this makes me feel comfortable. Well, welcome to Christianity Rachel. Christ did not come to earth to be comfortable, and I am not here so I can just rest in my comfort zone. Nope, being stretched, pulled, and yanked (you name it I've felt it!), are all parts of growing closer to God and trusting that His plans are the best, even if I don't fully know or understand them.
That being said, upon arrival in Costa Rica I found out that I had to leave the country before 3 months, due to the visa situation. This was not part of my original plans. I was planning on just being in Costa Rica and maybe doing some traveling around Costa Rica. God decided He would like me to see more of Latin America, so last week found me traveling on a bus to Nicaragua.
Through connections (friends of friends) I ended up taking a bus with bus driver Franklin to Nicaragua. It was quite the trip. Me+very limited Spanish & Franklin+very limited English = some creative conversations. But Franklin was funny, loved to dance, and was all around a blast to road trip to Nicaragua. (He was in his late 50's- just for clarification)
Here are some pictures of my road trip adventure.
This was my destination city in Nicaragua: Granada. And it has quite a history, so get ready for a quick history lesson from Teacher Rachel :)
Granada Cathedral
Granada is one of the oldest cities in Latin America. It is very rich in colonial heritage and color, as you can see from these buildings. The city dates back to 1524. It was a stronghold of wealth and power, which brings about its history with conquistadors, Carribean pirates, slave ships, gold diggers, mercenaries, and rebellion. However, I didn't run into Jack Sparrow while I was there...bit of a bummer. 
This is one type of taxi "3-wheel moto taxi" which I saw all over Nicaragua.
One of God's great provisions and quite an adventure was my 1st hostel stay. I can't say it was really an accurate hostel because it seemed more like a bread and breakfast, but altogether it was a new experience for me. I found the hostel online and booked it before arriving in Granada. The couple that own the hostel are a sweet young couple: Bosco and Karla. And their adorable 5 year old daughter, Ari. They spoke a little English and it was fun to meet the other guests in the house: my neighbor- a young guy from South Carolina, Andrea-an older lady from Germany (She comes every year to help a poor family in Nicaragua. She was an amazing woman. She took a bus 6 hours to see this poor family, and then walked 5 more hours to get to their farm!) Three American girls from Maryland and Massachusetts. And last but not least: Sketch Bill-an older man who had been living at the hostel for 7 months (I may have added the "sketch" part ;)
The hostel was very unique. It had a lot of rooms, but it was part inside/outside. Those stairs above went to the 2nd level, which was all open. My room had a roof over it, but it also looked out on the city. Best way to explain the 2nd floor is to have you think of a motel.
God safely protected me when I made a few outings by myself in Granada to meet up with a student group: LASP (Latin America Studies Program).
The student group was my connection in coming back to Costa Rica. I was able to meet up with them in Granada and we went to go take a boat tour of the islands in Lake Nicaragua (this lake had sharks in it!). And...to get to the lake this was our transportation :)
This little guy was on one of the islands we passed in the boat. Our driver got him to eat a mango. 
During my outing with the students, and our loooooonnng drive back to Costa Rica, I was able to make some new friends. I met Laura, who is actually from MN too! Gotta love those Minnesotan girls! She invited me to go with her and three other college girls to La Fortuna for the weekend (We arrived back from Nicaragua on a Thursday night).
I thought it would be fun, but I knew I had a lot of lesson planning to do...but before I dismissed it from my mind I decided to pray and check in with what God thought was best. Well, God seemed to be telling me to put my fears behind my and go have fun with these girls.
So I listened, and I am soooooo glad I did! Not only did I make 4 new friends, but I had some crazy adventures and great conversations.
Ready for some Beeee-yoo-ti-ful pictures? :)
It all began by hopping on a bus with my new friends: Laura, Mesha, Julia, and Sarah at 8 AM downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. We bought $5 bus tickets for La Fortuna, which is a city in Northern Costa Rica. It is about a 4 hour drive, but 4-5 hours by bus...unless you have Book-it-Bob for your bus driver, which we had on our way back.
It was a long bus ride, but part of it we were in the clouds, so that was pretty cool (literally too :)
Laura was the planner for this trip, which was nice, since I'm used to planning things, but the reservations she had made for our housing didn't work out...just so happened to be a big bike race in La Fortuna and their annual festival the weekend we were there. Long story short, God provided us with some new Tico friends (They call Costa Rican's "Ticos" because they end a lot of their words with -tico) and we were able to couch surf at their home for the two days we were there. For all of you who are now picturing the princess diaries sleepover party, I am sorry to burst your bubble but couch surfing is not similar to mattress surfing. If you want to learn more about couch surfing check out this link or use the wonderful google search bar :) http://www.couchsurfing.org/
Friday night we figured out what we wanted to do in La Fortuna because it is a hot spot in Costa Rica and there are MANY things to do. Our final priorities were:
#1. Hot Springs (Spanish"Los termales") .
#2. Homemade chocolate chip-banana pancakes
***We even got peanut butter! Major treat***
Laura and Sarah were pretty stunned by my pancake skills ;)
#3. Canopy-zip line over the jungle
Canopying over the jungle was on my to-do list in Costa Rica, and it was one of Mesha's goals, so we all decided to go for it! And it was well worth it! 
La Fortuna is known for its main volcano: Volcan Arenal. Normally it is covered in clouds. Sadly it was covered by the clouds when we canopyed below it, but the day before it was clear and a gorgeous sight to behold. 
The canopying was crazy! We took a tractor cart up the mountain/volcano, gathered our gear, and climbed up an 18 meter high tower. Here are some pictures from the top: 
They are kind of hard to see, but you can faintly make out the zip lines in the pictures. The picture above shows one of the waterfalls we zipped past!
I was pretty curious afterwards what 300 meters high is because that is how high we were on some of the zip's over the canopy. Take a look at this picture below to see how high 300 meters is:
Keeping the Eiffel Tower in mind, picture me hooked up to a metal line at the very top of the Eiffel Tower and zipping down, 200 meters to a nearby building.
This is basically what I did :) I believe there were 11 different platforms, but I'm not sure how many we covered. It took awhile since you would zip from one line to the next...the lines were between 200-800 meters long...and then you would have to walk a ways through the jungle to get to the next line. It was a gorgeous hike and we even heard Toucans calling to each other, but we didn't see any.
One of the most amazing sights from the canopy ride were the waterfalls. We saw La Fortuna waterfall, which we also hiked to afterwards (and man oh man was it a hike-typical Osborn hike :)
and we saw the Pino Blanco waterfall.
SSomehow I managed to slip past all the security checks without my helmet strapped. As I began my 1st descent over the canopy I was enjoying the beauty of it all when suddenly I realized something was not right. Quickly I realized my helmet was not strapped, but both hands were occupied, as one has to guide the line with a leather strap and the other grips the holding lines together...soooo, I prayed that my helmet wouldn't fall off and tried not to worry about it. Needless to say, the incoming security checker saw it right away and the rest of the trip he didn't let me forget it. *He would tap my helmet before I left each platform and wink at me, or ask me if I was really ready*
After we had a blast with the canopy we wanted to go swim in La Fortuna waterfall. The guide made it sound like it wasn't too far from where he dropped us off on the trail...but an hour or so later we realized it was farther than we thought. Thankfully we saw some cool sights on the way: 
This spider was huge! Thankfully Julia saw it above my head and warned me before it was too late :) 
We hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more :) But the jungle was so green and the waterfall was so worth it!
Plus, the hanging bridges were pretty cool to cross.
I look like I'm trying to push Laura into the falls in this picture, but that is not how she ended up in the water. 4 of us girls went swimming in the falls, but it was a quick dip because the water was freezing!
The girls and I (picture on the top right) in the green, green, jungle. Next to Mesha's favorite body of water: River!!! :)
All of us rushing out of the freezing water to warm up!
And that about sums up my adventurous past week!
God provided for me in so many ways. Many of them were not even stated in this blog!
This week school has been super busy because I have taken over all the subjects. The 1st two days went really well, and next week I have full, full control, which means I will be reminding myself time and time again that "I've got the power!" because with God I can do ALL things. Amen!Here is a little piece of God's creation, which I soaked in this past weekend. May your eyes be opened this week to God's provisions in your life. Jot a few of them down and remember to thank God for them. It is easy to take them for granted, but they are special gifts from God, which should be treasured.
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