Preparation Update

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." - James 5:16

Your prayers for my preparation have been both powerful and effective.  I recently went to the library and found some Spanish CDs that have been very helpful.  I am finding that I understand more than I can speak, so I may have a lot of one-sided conversations in Costa Rica, but hopefully I won’t be completely lost and confused.  Last weekend I went to help my dad work at the cabin, and on the drive up there I had a lot of time to practice Spanish with these CDs.  After about an hour, I decided I needed a break so I turned on the radio.  The first station that came on (keep in mind, I was in north Georgia) was a Spanish station!  My car antenna is broken so I don’t pick up many stations, but this Spanish station was perfect.  It had slower songs with a good beat, and I even heard some songs that I knew from my high school Spanish classes (namely, La Camisa Negra by Juanes).  What a great way to keep practicing Spanish!

Soon after I got back from the cabin I saw a message from James McGowan, a friend from high school.  He said he may be able to get me a copy of Rosetta Stone!

The next exciting thing is that yesterday I had an interview for an internship with Hargrove Engineers + Constructors.  Because I am taking summer classes, I am only available to work in Atlanta until the end of June.  Because of my weird schedule, I offered to work for free, just trying to get some experience and networking.  I wound up getting the internship!  I will be working part time, which is great so I can get experience and still have plenty of time to get my school work done.  This will be a great chance to get some experience with structural engineering and refresh my autoCAD skills before I go to Costa Rica.  My boss is also trying to get me some funding, so I won’t be losing money during my hour-long commute to and from the office and any extra money can go towards the EMI trip!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!