Vida Joven

Holla!

This time last year I was nearing the end of a summer internship at SeaWorld, what I thought for so long was my dream.  And part of it was.  I embarked on my adventure last summer to find that Florida was much more humid than I ever could have imagined and Shamu's tank was entirely too small.  You see, a lot of times our adventures and dreams turn out to be false pictures painted by society to look greater than they actually are.  Now, don't be mistaken, whales are still one of my absolute most favorite things in the world.  But I left my internship at SeaWorld feeling emptier and more disappointed than I had in a long time.  The entire summer, what I thought was my dream actually turned out to be pushing buttons on a kiddie roller coaster and working for a company that I actually didn't like that much.  Though it doesn't sound very intriguing, my summer internship did teach me one very very important thing: SeaWorld was not my dream.

So you might be thinking, "Becca, why are you so caught up on dreams? Just get a job, settle down, be normal."  But here's the thing, my life will never be normal.  My life has been radically and forever changed by the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.  It has taken me a long time to truly understand that (21 years to be exact) and I'm still learning.  And I believe that Jesus gives us each different desires that we get the opportunity to pursue.  A very wise woman once shared this quote with me,

"Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream." 

I think often times we have to really fight for what we believe in and what we want in this life.  And when it seems like were doing the opposite of what everyone else thinks, we're probably doing something right.  It is OKAY to be BOLD. 

After graduating college in December, I was suddenly a young adult with absolutely no direction of what I wanted in life, or so I thought.  But the last six months have turned out to be a really sweet time where Jesus has revealed to me so much about who I am and where I'm going, it just took a little... okay a lot of patience.  I realized how much I adore the ministry of Young Life and that I wanted to find a way to make that a bigger part of my life.  I also have always had a desire to travel, but that desire became so much more pressing in the last few months.  Then this opportunity fell into my lap, as they tend to do, and suddenly I'm moving to Costa Rica in August to intern with Young Life for a year. Ummmmm, CRAZY right.  It is the perfect combination of everything I've been searching for, Thanks Jesus!

Costa Rica Here I Come!

Whether I'm ready or not, I leave for Costa Rica in less than a month.  While I'm there, I will be living in San Jose with a host family.  I will be enrolled in language school and hopefully be somewhat fluent in Spanish by the time I come home (if I come home, sorry mom and dad).  And I will be leading Young Life at an international school in the westside of San Jose.  To be honest, there is a lot of unknown things about the next year.  But it is so thrilling to me.  I am certain that this is where Jesus is calling me right now and I am so excited to live life alongside the folks of Costa Rica.  My hope is that International Young Life could become more of a long term thing for me and I am praying that this year would reveal that!

I am currently fundraising 11,750 dollars for this journey!  This money will cover all my costs for the year.  And if I'm being completely honest, raising this much money seems daunting to me and I've often been discouraged in this process.  It is hard to ask people for money!  But I am relying on the Lord and resting in Him knowing that this is what He wants and He will see me through this!  I am also reminded that I am not just asking people for money.  But asking people to be a part of this journey and this ministry with me.  If this sounds like something you want to be a part of there is link on here with instructions on how you can give!  But seriously, I'm grateful for the fact that you're even reading this!

I have been blown away by the generosity of my family and friends and even people who barely know me.  I am so thankful for everyone who has supported and encouraged me in this adventure so far.  I have learned so much about who I am and who Jesus is and heck, I'm not even in Costa Rica yet.  How cool is that?  So thank you for adventuring alongside me even if just by reading my incredibly long, sappy blog post.  I will be posting updates and such on here, so follow along if you want! Goodnight for now!

Buenas Noches,

Becca