I am just going to post my thank you letter here. If you haven't got yours yet, don't worry I am still working on some. So sorry! I am not very organized!
Dear Friends and Family,
Sorry this is a little bit late! I hope you and your family are doing
great!
I arrived safely back from Costa Rica on July 6th! What an amazing month I had there! I cannot tell you enough what a beautiful and friendly country it is! If you ever have a chance I highly recommend you go.
I lived at a children’s home in Atenas, which is about an hour outside of San Jose. The orphanage is run by
Cherie McCullah, who I met while I was in Nicaragua. She was working at the baby orphanage. She now has 6 kids that live with her. They have a very low chance of adoption because of special needs or a large family size. That is why they were chosen to move into her home. They are Natalia (11), Priscilla (10), Esmeralda (9), Naydeline (7), Jacsel (6), and Emanuel (5). Super amazing kids! Each of them is very special.
While I was there I mostly helped with household chores. I did laundry, dishes, cleaning, walked the kids back and forth to school at least 2 times a day, and helped on a shopping trip. I helped here and there with the kids’
activities, but there were other volunteers that would come in the mornings, so I just helped them when they needed some extra hands. Some other cool things I got to do was help take 2 of the kids for their shots, we took all the kids to the beach, to an animal refuge, and an outing to the movie theatre at the mall.
One amazing answer to prayer that happened while I was there was the group of 4 siblings had an abandonment hearing, where they had to go by themselves before a judge and she asked them questions about whether they wanted to stay with their siblings and if they like living with Cherie. Costa Rica recently got a new director of social services who is supporting separating siblings to open more spots for children in homes and orphanages and taking it as far as separating twins. Before the court date there were two social workers that came and interviewed 2 of the kids, just to kind of prep for court. The 11 year old, questioned the social worker about her biological mother and grandma, and told them she wanted to move back in with them. Then the 5 year old told them he wanted to move back to the orphanage he moved from, so he could be with his friends. So needless to say that didn’t go well, and the social worker told Cherie that if they answered those questions like that in front of the judge, they would probably take the younger two and put them up for adoption separately. We did a week of prepping and talked about how important their siblings are to them. Something amazing happened after all the bad attitudes and anger about not being able to live with their mom they got in front of the judge and
answered everything perfectly! They told the judge about all their extra classes they do at the house, and they had to explain what a bagel is to the judge! Bagels aren’t a very well-known food in Costa Rica, but Cherie’s kids love them! So we were able to relax and go watch a movie with all of the kids after we got the good news! It was Priscilla’s birthday so she picked Despicable Me 2. I still need to go see it in English!
In my free time I went to a local coffee shop in town, took 2 Spanish classes, and went with 3 other volunteers to the volcano Arenal in La Fortuna and did a zip line! I saw a lot of iguanas everywhere, and we saw monkeys high
up in the trees when we did the zip line.
This trip built me up in a lot of ways. I think God was showing me how to be more independent. When
the other volunteers and I went into town I was usually the one communicating to the taxi drivers, purchasing the bus tickets, etc. I was so nervous at first about traveling alone and even going to town with the other volunteers, but I am much stronger and braver than I ever thought! By the end of the trip I felt so much more comfortable and really trusted that whatever I faced I could handle. I missed Torey so much! I am so grateful to have such a loving, supportive husband.
I hope that I made even a small difference for Cherie and the kids! Please continue to pray for the pastor of the church I went to there. He recently found out he has a tumor on his spine that is cancerous. He is getting chemo therapy now, and is already improving.
Thank you so much for your love, prayers, and financial support!
May God bless you!
Love,
Ashley