Tuesday, February 1

I think thought-provoking is a suitable description of today. Our lecture this morning was given by Ruben Pagura, an actor and musician who is very actively involved with many popular movements throughout Latin America. He shared with us a little bit about his background and about the movements he has supported. It was interesting to hear him speak about historical events that he considered very influential in his culture that I have seldom even heard of. He talked about the impact of revolutions in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Uruguay and about the Nueva Cancion (“New Song”) movement that came out of such revolutionary times in Latin America. Essentially, this movement used art to fight against dictatorships and worked to stand up for social justice.

A more recent movement that Ruben has been a part of was an anti-TLC movement. TLC is essentially a free trade agreement between the United States and Costa Rica that encourages privatization and other capitalistic policies in the Costa Rican economy. The movement against TLC was born out of the thought that such changes would lead to various forms of exploitation by the United States and other powerful entities within Costa Rica. While the majority of people in Costa Rica seem to have resounded with Ruben's stance, threats of job loss caused the policy to pass in a popular vote.

After hearing Ruben speak, we broke up into our small discussion groups and the conversation that my group had left my head spinning for the rest of the afternoon. We talked about the last two people who have spoken to us, Ruben and Gloria, from the Bribri tribe. As our discussion facilitator, Don Mike challenged us to think about the faith of these people, who were both fighting for “good causes,” and consider how we as Christians should interact with them and react to their efforts. This led to a discussion that could not be contained in the allotted hour with our groups and I've had several conversations about related topics all day.

ICADS was much the same as normal and the rest of my evening was pretty low-key. Monica had fun trying to teach me words that she knew I would have trouble pronouncing at dinner, and I spent much of the night trying to sort out thoughts about what I've learned so far this semester. Trusting God has been one area that I've been striving to improve in and in which I will always have room to grow. Seeking Him in every moment rather than worrying about the bigger picture all the times is something I am learning how to do more and more each day. A passage I ran across recently really spoke to what I've been seeking to know more fully. “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:5-7