Mwah ha ha this is michaela not justine and I can do this because she set up her account connected to mine on accident. Anyways, I just want everyone to know that I love this girl and that she is awesome.

-Michaela

Day at the beach

Matt, Brooke and their family took Michaela and I to the beach with them for the day!! Okay so I've always like the sand on my bare feet (when my feet haven't touched the water yet, then it just sticks) but this sand was different then from the beach I've always gone to in Oregon. It felt so good....I was walking back and forth on it for no reason at all but that it was awesome. It was like a firm but soft sand that your feet would sink into about an 1 or 2 inches and it would leave your foot prints in the sand. Just thinking about it makes me happy.

We saw quite a few manta rays and each time while in the water up to our waist or neck and we'd see one swimming around everyone would run as fast as they could back to shore and eventually make our way back into the water hoping that it would be gone. The water felt so good...when it didn't get into your eyes, lol. Very salty. The water was warm, clear, pretty blue, and it felt wonderful on my sunburn, yay! So I always went back in to my neck, even though I can't swim well at all. I can float when I'm not nervous, but yeah. After we were spotting manta rays and everyone, including myself were a bit nervous about getting stung or touched even by one. The kids would come up behind me and pinch my foot or ankle trying to get me. They wanted me to think it was a manta ray. Silly them. Have to admit, they did get me a few times.

Ethen, (Matt and Brooke's 11 year old son) came up to me as we just got to the beach and acted funny as if he did something or was going to do something to scare me. It looked like he had something in his hand and then a second later he didn't have it anymore. And you want to know why? Cause it was in my hair!!!!! He put a dead something my hair. I went over to Brooke not believing him and Matt that he had actually did it and she's like "Yeah there's something in your hair!!" Wow! Then Brooke says, "I warned you about the men in my family and that they play tricks like that!" I wonder who those guys are...hmmm....Matt and Ethan I believe are there names. Anyone out there who's scared of bugs and spiders, just stay clear of these guys and you'll be fine, lol :) I chased Ethan down to the water after he did that and pictured my little brother and me as I playfully pushed him onto the sand. Ethan would tell you that he fell, but I would say that I did a lot of the helping him fall :) Pretty fun day...I was reminded of how I always play with my little brother and I would have pushed him down in the sand too just for fun. As my brother would get right back up and try and do the same to me only not succeeding unless I wasn't paying attention, then I'd be nocked off my feet. Miss my little brother....and big brother!

Last night as I had posted about being "locked out" well, until 5am I was in the dining room without a pillow or sheet trying to sleep on the floor or on my arms as they were resting on the table. Both postions didn't work. At the table my arms fell asleep instead of me and on the floor it's like sleeping on a cement sidewalk. Lol!! I can laugh cause it IS funny. At 5am I was brave enough to go outside and climb through the window to get to my soft wonderful bed, haha! When I woke up again, I told Michaela the story and she's like, "Oh Justine, next time knock and wake me up" She's awesome, I love her!!!

Locked out

Have you ever been locked out of your room? I can now say that I have. Michaela went to bed before I did and had locked the door for some reason and forgot to unlock it so that I could get in the room later, lol...now I'm stuck at the dining room table and gonna try and fall alseep here on the wooden chair, but it doesn't seem likely. Lol, I've been here for nearly two hours hoping that Michaela will wake up, but it hasn't happened yet. I don't like the idea of waking her to unlock it, I'd feel bad, so I'll stay here. It's rather funny if you're not the one up at 1:30am. Now to try and sleep! It's sooooooooooo very late!!!!!! By the way Michaela, you're still my friend!! I just had to share my about my night so others could get a laugh and since I'm not in a spot to sleep what else can I do :) Good-night!!!

So no matter where I go, people find out I scare easily....but wait! I don't scare quite as bad. I have gotten better. When I went home after Potters Field Ranch for those couple of weeks, the people that were really good as scaring me before were disppointed cause I didn't scream at every move they made anymore. YES! So glad....thanks to my friends at Potter's Field Ranch who helped me on that :) But yes their are a couple 11 or 12 year olds that have gotten me a couple times in the last couple of days.

Rebecca (Pastor Phil's wife) took us and her kids to lunch today to a Mexican place. And wow! Yummy :) If I could only spell what I had, I'd tell ya, but I can't so just know it was really good. With chicken, and dips, and a tortilla. I bet you can guess what I had now, only I don't bet so that's just a figure a speech, so don't get confused, lol.

My sunburn on my arms from the beach has now turned from soft and red to hard and red. Michaela was so surprised and couldn't get over how my arms felt. It's like a layer of shell...if you're trying to explain it in a way understandable. Where my arms are real stiff, as if they've been fried in a greasy skillet. We are going to the beach again tomorrow as it is our day off and this time I'm wearing a long sleve so it doesn't get worse. And don't worry we are taking sunscreen with us, not just taking it with us but actually gonna put it on. Michaela got a good burn too on her shoulders, ouch...poor Michaela. And I haven't heard a complain, she's a real sport!

Matt and Brooke asked if I'd make their prayer card/bookmark prayer card while I'm here before they leave for the states. And also a slideshow video of their life here in Costa Rica with pictures and such of everything. So, I've started on that, and we'll see how it goes. I'm enjoying doing it for them! As you all know, pictures are my thing whether I'm good at it all or not.  lol! Anyways, it's great. This is good...

Okay, so I feel like I'm always writing on the surface things, stuff that's fun and easy to talk about, and things about me. Now, I'm thinking maybe my mission's blog is suppose to be a bit more than that, what do you think? I say to myself, "Hmmm....think deeper Justine, what is God doing in your life and in others? What are things of most importance to the Lord in your time here? Learn to talk more of things that will last longer than this world. Things that would encourage others in their walk with the Lord and well as your own." I could go on, but you getting my point...? Not that telling stories is bad, not at all and I'll still keep doing that, but you get the idea. I just need to think deeper as well.

Yay :)

Then even yesterday night while the kids were eating, they were all excited and talking about something crazy and Brooke comes to tell me that the kids are talking about how fast I can run. I was like, "Ohhh....that's sweet, yay!!" So, theres a little side note that I was all excited about :) Makes me smile.

God is good!

Here's and theres

Pastor Phil found out I like taking pictures so he asked that I'd be taking pictures in my time here (of course), but also for him to use for a couple powerpoints/slideshows he's taking to the states, that he had Michaela and I word on the other day for him. It's awesome that I get to take pictures for the church while I'm here. It's great that God can use me and my camera in that way. I've notice that my camera is also a good "warm up to the kids" "kids warm up to me" tool. The kids love getting pictures taken and even the ones who don't still make a big fun deal out of it and are always watching me to make sure I'm not taking any of 'em, lol. falling over sometimes even just to get away.

All night long we have roosters outside our window...not being quiet either, lol. They have their timing all wrong, they crow more in the night then they seem to in the day. We can look outside our window and one or two will be right there looking at you on the porch. I grow up with chickens all my life and never once were they living on our porch. Rather funny, don't you think?

Michaela has been learning songs in spanish to lead the kids in songs everyday. The tunes are really easy to get used to and now it's making me want to learn them myself. It's awesome, I'll get there!

Oh yeah, today Pastor Phil had Michaela working on the computer this morning and so I was there just watching and drawing a picture while waiting. Pastor Phil decides to send me on my first arrend to get copies. Maybe about a mile 1/2 to 2 miles walk. I start walking with the note on what to say....in spanish in my hand. I get there, forgot what and how to say it, so I handed him the note with the paper to copy and let him figure it out. lol...oops! Then the next thing, he tells me he doesn't have change for a $20, so I walk/run back get the exact money and then walk/run right back to town. It happens :) It's great!  

Crazy things

Well, as you have heard and figured out that Michaela and I got here to Costa Rica. And we are still alive, can you believe it? Yeah, so can I! Anyways, first night after we got here I experinced seeing a cockroach. Nothing happened to that one, it stayed on the wall. But since that night with a few little screams...little mind you, well they weren't really screams but more of, Ah! Oh! Help! You bug get back here! Don't touch me, get away! ..yeah little things like that. I like to talk to my new friends before I kill them :) But true story, I have killed two cockroaches, proud to say... with a broom. Getting it stuck inside the broom long enough to toss it in the toliet and flush is down. Usually while this is going on in the background of the evening Michaela is working away with Spanish or something and laughs a few times, at ME no doubt, lol. Funny. I'm glad Michaela gets to be here with us! She's a lot of fun. But yeah, I'm excited about the killing those things. Yay!

 

When it comes to Spanish. My mind doesn't know a thing anyone's saying yet. Michaela's gonna be helping me a bit, like she already has. Sometimes someone will come up to me and start talking and I have no clue, so I turn to Michaela and nudge her and say desparation, "Help!" The other night at Bible study they were talking about Michaela and how she learned fast and knows a bit now, and they point to me and say, "..and she knows nothing." Lol, so true. It made me laugh. Oh yeah, they have Bible study outside, so the June bugs and anything else around come to the light....that happens to be by us. So through the night people realized that Justine + Bugs = EXPLODSION (spelling?). So, this one guy decides to give me a hand shake before him and his wife left and puts a cricket in his hand to pass to me as he shook my hand, to bad I didn't catch his little joke before he did it. But it worked, I can laugh now...!

 

SoMichaela was practicing the gospel message in Spanish tonight which was awesome and great and I love it. Then she told me how she was practicing saying "sin" but instead was saying "fish". Now me, I couldn't have told the difference until she pointed it out. But still it made both of us laugh. It reminded me of a movie I had watched before on a missionary who was trying to share the gospel in another language and ended up using thier word for "out-house" instead. So at least it wasn't to that extreame. That would be terrible! Anyways...

 

Off to bed, I'll talk more. But heres a start :D

 

So, If anyone's wanting to write. Here's the address for Michaela, Natalie and I while on our mission trip in Costa Rica. Be sure and put on the envelope, Phil and Rebecca McKay, not us girls' names (it will confuse the post office :). You can put a note inside or on another envelope inside saying who it's for and it will get to us through Pastor Phil.

 

Phil & Rebecca McKay

Apartado #13-5159

Villareal, Santa Cruz

Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Central America.