Hey everyone! Yes, you read correctly! We are finally in Costa Rica! On Jan. 5th, I flew from Houston, TX, to Atlanta, GA to meet up with the rest of my squad. Until the 8th, we stayed at the Adventures in Missions base (aka my home for the past 2 1/2 months). While we were there, my squad and I got to reconnect and share how it has been at home (unexpectedly) for the past 6 weeks. Also, diving back into more training before flying out to Costa! 

On Jan. 7th @10pm, we packed up our bags and drove to the ATL airport! This consisted of dragging our big packs everywhere, laughing our lil booties off about how silly we looked, and figuring out where we could sleep in the airport until 4am. After finding a spot, some slept (lol me), some watched movies, and some talked until 4am came around. We then checked in our bags (mine was only 34lbs!!! #miracle!) and long story short, flew out! 

First we flew to, Ft. Lauderdale, FL! Had a 5 hr. layover, then flew out to Costa :)

AIM met us at the airport, we took a bus to the AIM base, then had dinner! Once dinner came to an end, my team took another bus to where we will be staying for the next two weeks. To respect CDC guidelines, AIM has most of our squad on their base, and one of the teams on another. Every two weeks, the teams will switch out and move into Bethany House at Abraham’s Project. Which is another ministry 3 miles down the road from the rest of our squad. 

Since moving in, we have been learning so many new things about the culture here, their community, how to get around, and rules set in place at the ministry bases we are staying at. Plus more orientation and training. Overall, it’s been so amazing and I’m really pumped to be living here and walking alongside this community for the next 3 months until moving again to another country! (to be announced later on).

Adventures in Missions (aka AIM) (my squad and I), are partnering up with a local ministry here in San José called Til He Returns. My squad and I will be serving in the pregnancy center, community center, business club, English club, local prisons, street evangelism, and many more outreaches. In other words, literally anything you can think of we’ll most likely be doing! :) so, we are all extremely pumped to dive right into all of these! 

We officially get into the routine of things on Monday, Jan. 18th. Half of our squad will be serving in the morning and the other will come later in the afternoon. After we finish ministry, we are free until 5:30p when we have dinner back at the AIM base. We also swap between Friday and Saturday for our off days and during one of those days, we will have what we call an adventure day! This will give us the chance to explore the city more and maybe even explore parts of the jungle! 

Lastly, there is no WiFi or internet connection available to us. If we are wanting to contact our families, update blogs, or fundraisers, we walk 30-45min to the local coffee shops for WiFi. So, if I don’t call y’all, it’s bc I am unable. But, I will do my best to keep in touch every few weeks! :) 

I love you all and thank you for every single prayer, donation, and everything in between!!

hugs and lots of love all the way from Costa!