La Mujer en el Autobus

6-19-07...this is the day after my freak out after chapel... God is good =)
So Vivi (Viviana) from our church asked me and the girls if we could go with her to her English conversation class because it would help her with her English & also the people in her class would enjoy having native English speakers in the class. P.S. she´s studying to be an English children´s teacher. Anywho, so that day after class we left to the bus stop to hitch a ride to San Jose. This was my first public transportation bus ride & it turned out to be a very memorable one.

There were a lot of people on the bus, so I had to sit at the back with some random woman I didn´t even know. In my head I debated whether or not I should ask her how she was. I don´t even know why I was debating that. It really isn´t a huge deal, but down here you just don´t randomly speak to strangers. Well, I did! I asked her how she was doing & she said good. Then she asked me if I live in San Jose since that´s where the bus was going and I told her no. Then I told her I (and the girls) were going to help our friend Vivi in her English conversation class since we know English. The woman told me that I spoke Spanish well. WOW! What a big compliment! And I told her that I was trying to learn. She asked me where I was from and I told her from the US-Texas. Anywho...

I came to find out that she is from Peru, and has barely lived in Costa Rica for one month because her husband has his job here, so they have to stay here instead of Peru like they planned. She asked me if I was here on vacation and I told her that I was in Costa Rica to study Spanish & to help out at a church. Then she asked me if I was a Christian, and I told her yes. Then the woman started telling me how she is a Christian too, but she is upset because she has not found a church congregation here because she barely moved here so it makes it harder to find one. I could sense by the way she spoke she was truly genuine about missing fellowship and going to church. So I told her that I thought it is important to be part of a congregation because it helps us, lifts us up, and is encouraging, etc. And...
she asked me if she could have the directions to the church because she would really like to go! AGH! I flipped! OFCOURSE I do not know the directions of the church but I gave her the preacher´s (Ronald) phone numbers, my name, and the time & days of church. OH! and by that time I found out her name was Melina. (I don´t know why I didn´t ask her name when I started talking to her?)

Melina seemed really excited about church, but she wasn´t as excited as I was! She was really sweet and friendly. To think that I wasn´t going to greet her with a little hello, how are you! WE said our goodbye´s and I got off that bus feeling so happy & light as a feather. I was floating on cloud 9. I pray that she calls and visits the church, or even finds a church home somewhere else. I was for sure blessed by her than I blessed her. This was a boost & a reminder from God that he is with me and he is going to use me while I am in Costa Rica. Sometimes I feel like I am a dud not doing much for Him, but I need to remember always that even small conversations on the back of a crowded bus can become and are a great thing for God. He can take all the those small things which I overlook many times, and use them for greater things to further his kingdom.

May I be able to see those small things that God puts in my way each day in Costa Rica, and in each day in my life.