I had to (help) teach human reproduction to a 5th grade class.
In Spanish.
The End.

I made it to my concentration! I am in the middle of the mountains and it is absolutely beautiful but COLD. I got on the wrong bus yesterday morning that dropped me off on the side of a mountain with a pay phone and a sign with the town I was supposed to be going to. The bus was supposed to take me to the entrance of the school I would be working in. So I started walking (with all my bags) on a windy road through the mountains. I kind of felt like I was in a movie because I had no idea where I was or how long the walk was going to be to the town. After about 30 minutes (that seemed like 3 hours), the real bus stopped and picked me up. So I made it!
I live with a really big family...but it is grandpa and grandmas house so the kids and grandkids are always in and out. The family grows their own coffee so I am really seeing the whole process. I work in the public school in town doing pretty much whatever they need me to do. This morning I graded science papers...in Spanish...yikes. But now I am writing a letter for the director of the school...and great news- he said I can use the school´s internet...it is pretty much the only internet in town.
Everyone in the town is Catholic and we say the Lord´s Payer and Hail Marys before school starts in the morning. Try that in a public school in the states haha. So overall things are good..I had a great (SHORT) time with my parents while they were in San Jose and I loved showing them around!
I honestly kind of hope the next 3 weeks go fast...but we´ll see what is in store with this part of the journey. Thanks again for all the prayers! I say it all the time but I am so luck to have so many incredible people in my life. I really miss you all a lot! Ill be home soon!
Molly

The Best in the Rica

Chikys are the best food in Costa Rica. I don't want to know how much weight I have gained from these cookies.






Cafe Britt is not the brand we drink at home, and it is sometimes known as the "tourist coffee". However even the locals say it is the best. Organic of course.

I decided I never want to stop being a student. Maybe that means grad school, maybe not, but I never want to stop learning. I also decided that the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know anything.

The past two months I have been given dozens of views on life, God, love, values, and everything else. No one has asked me to choose which one I believe and no one has claimed that their view is the only way. But there have been points in the semester that someone has challenged nearly everything I believed and at one point felt so strongly about. Their views carry weight and validity, and the only thing I can do is take them for what they are and be in scripture more than ever before (I learned this thanks to a very good friend). An overriding lesson I have learned is that nothing in me has the right to measure anyone or judge their faith. Neither do you. Please remember that.

If you get the time, read Matthew 7:1-6. It is part of the Sermon on the Mount I have grown up reading...and I think I have been reading it completely wrong. It does not just mean you don't judge people when they do something or say something “wrong.” Because I think we judge people when we are trying to help them. In the case of cross -cultural missions (remember that we face a cross of cultures within the United Sates) we judge to help people because “What I need, they need.” But there is something wrong with this. 1. They might not need it or 2. When we are so caught up in deciding what WE think people need, we are not listening/seeing what they actually need. We come up with our own idea of the Gospel and decide it should be the same for everyone in the world. We move in to impose our view of the Gospel on another culture and the plank in our eye does not permit us to see that God has been working in so many ways in that culture already.

We get so caught up in deciding who is serving a different God than we are, as if we are able to measure God. To my Johnson family: stop getting caught up in what is the best/right way to worship/preach. Those things are so small! To everyone: stop thinking you know what everyone needs, or what everyone else thinks, or why they do things they do, or why they say they do what they do. Stop thinking you know everything and listen to them, live with them, learn from them...you might find that God is working in them too- just a little bit differently than you have seen him before.

If none of that makes sense just read these...actually if it does make sense read these anyway:
The Limits of Charity by David Hilfiker
To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich
I am definately open for arguements and comments on these, I am still making up my mind about them!

Also: I leave Monday to start my concentration work/field experience where I will live with a family in the mountains and work at a school. I have absolutely no idea what the conditions are like and whether or not I will have access to the internet. So if you don't hear from me for a long time, don't freak out... I get back April 15th..

I left my Chucks in Nicaragua.

I've just returned from another life changing adventure that was as influential (if not more) that my Kenya experience. I am going to be processing for a long time because the last two weeks have been among the most mentally/emotionally challenging weeks of my life. I have a lot of crazy adventure stories that I am going to share- but know that these stories are very much on the surface of everything. The pictures and themes and experiences of this week go a lot deeper than I can sometimes share in words and pictures. I will try my best to share as these things become more clear in my mind.

**We split up in groups of 4 students and my group had to take an 8 hour bus ride, followed by a 2 hour ride in the back of a truck, followed by an 1.5 hour donkey ride. We were REALLY in the middle of no where.

**Nicaragua has had so many government problems and the entire country is just really really poor. They are now living under a “dictator-ish”....he technically isnt...but he is kind of....and no one likes him.

**I lived in a wood house, dirt floor, wood/concrete oven, we bathed and washed our clothes in the river, and I went to the bathroom anywhere outside I wanted. No electricity, no water.

**The first day my 13 year old sister asked if I slept alone in the United States. I said yes, not really understanding why she asked that. She nodded her head and looked down at her food. It finally clicked with me that she was giving me her bed for the week. One I realized it I told her that she was welcome to sleep in the bed with me and she smiled and was sooo happy. Later that week the girl looked at her food, looked up at me, and told me thank you for the food. The money I gave them for hosting me for the two weeks also provided them the best meals of their entire life. That is not an exaggeration.

**My morning chore was to grind three pounds of corn, add water, then grind it again. I then shaped the dough and put it over the fire to make tortillas.

**These people are in survival mode- so education is not really important. They really have NO knowledge of the outside world. My friend went to the river to bathe and his dad asked him why he didn't know what to do. He asked “So do you bathe in a bigger river than this in the United States?”

**They share everything. If it is yours- it is everybody's. I found out later in the week that my sister and brother had gone through my backpack and found the pepto bismol at the bottom.

**We went to bed at 7 and woke up at 3:30 to start chores.

**I lived in poverty for two weeks. I wasn't there to do “normal mission trip things” like build a house or do a VBS. I was there to live among the oppressed, and see their life first hand. It puts a completely different spin on things when you are actually able to communicate to the people.

Okay, that is all I am going to write for now. I will write other things as I think of them. Overall it was such a beautiful experience. Absolutely beautiful and the family I lived with will be close to my heart for a long time. It changed the way I think about a lot of things- again things I can't really put into words yet. But I was healthy for the most part and safe- so THANK YOU for all your prayers and encouragement. I sometimes don't know how I would get through some things without all the wonderful people I have in my life. I am so blessed.