Day 173.

Today were the Costa Rican presidential elections. Let me give you a quick summary of the candidates:

Otto:
Known for: Being handsome.


Otton:
Known for: Almost winning last time.

Laura:
Known for: being part of the party that is currently in office, wearing solid color blouses, and handing out free bags of concrete in Carpio. And building houses in other poor areas. The only questionable part is that no one knows where the money is coming from to fund these projects (plus most of the people she helps are illegals and can't vote anyways).

Fishman:

Known for: slightly resembling a fish and the fact that his logo looks like a fish eye. He's also the one who kept referring to himself as "the least bad". Poor guy.

So my host mom, brother, and two sisters left to work the polls at 5 in the morning and got back at 11. When all was said and done, Laura dominated with 47% of the popular vote (you had to get at least 40% to win), Otton got 25%, Otto got 20%, and Fishman got 3%.

In other words, Costa Rica just got its first female president! Quite the move in an incredibly machismo culture.

--Hannah

PS My host sister said that the best part of the elections being over was that she "wouldn't receive spam texts from each candidate".

PPS Two weeks ago all four of the main candidates agreed to take a lie detector test on national television. Only two of them showed up.

Day 169.

Why we do what we do.

Day 168.

Love.

If I write blog entries that make people weep and angels clap, but don't have love, I am just another forwarded email, something else posted on a wall.

If I lead others to God, answer all of life's deepest questions, and believe like Shane Claiborne does, but don't have love, I'm worthless.

If I return home with an empty suitcase and contract lice in the name of Jesus, but do it without love, I haven't changed.

Love understands, love gives.

It never gets jealous, it never brags, never puffs out its chest.

It's not sarcastic, it's not arrogant, it doesn't know how to keep score.

Love can't find a reason to hate, but will always tell the truth.

It always keeps you under its wing,

always believes what you say,

always has faith in what you can do,

always presses on.

Love never gives up.

There are some amazing sermons, but they will be forgotten.

There are some awesome lyrics, but they will slip from my memory.

There are so many people who have discovered so much, but some one will come along and discover more.

The truth is we only give 10% (if that), 1/7 of our week, one gap year at a time.

When wholeness comes,

all the separate parts will get swallowed up.

When I was little, I used little words, thought little thoughts, and used lots of little excuses.

When I got big, I grew up.

Today we look at life like a fragmented reflection on a muddy pond...

Tomorrow we will finally lift our heads and behold the beauty.

Right now we snatch God's glory in bits and pieces -- soon we will take it all in at once;

we will fathom the Maker as the Maker fathomed us.

Even after the world is long gone, these three will stick around:

faith, hope, and love.

You better look out for love.

--Hannah

Day 167.

Today, I...

saw something wiggle in my comb as I got ready for the day...lice! It turns out I picked up the critters at camp and they just hatched (yes, hatched. Forget eggs, I have full-blown CREATURES in my head) about a week ago, when I thought my head itched because of a sunburnt scalp. After a some what awkward encounter at the pharmacy -- Me: Do you have any lice treatment? Clerk: For a child or an adult? Me: An adult.... -- my host mom lovingly poured searing chemicals onto my head, burning anything that had life. Including my skin cells. All in all though, it was quite the experience and I wanna say those guys are gone for good.

missed NFFTY, that Nation Film Festival for Talented Youth. If you're in the Seattle area April 29-May 3 (one day before I return!), try and get to some screenings. I can promise you won't be disappointed.

realized I am going to miss all the time I spend by myself here. In these last five months I've learned the difference between being alone and being lonely and how you can have one without the other.

learned that Gustavo (the director of the New Horizons sports ministry for boys) spent six months in Spain working with gypsies as a missionary and also grew up in a place very much like Carpio. He told Alanna and I this over his home-made Chalupas while upstairs his iMac slept soundly next to his two-month-old son, Samuel.

smiled a huge smile when Nazareth, a new girl who joined my math class today after not attending the first six weeks, really contributed to the group and was answering questions that my other students were stumbling over. She just turned 16 in November, has a lot of promise when it comes to the government math exam in April, and loves the names Jeremy and Emily. She's also eight months pregnant.

--Hannah