The Bethel University volleyball team is traveling together in Costa Rica from May 25-June 1. While there, the team will be playing top level club teams on three different dates and serving the community in three different cities. In addition, they'll enjoy several group activities that showcase the beauty and culture of Costa Rica. Each day the group plans to compose a blog post from different members of the team, answering the questions "What was good?", "What was hard?", "What'd we learn?", and "What's next?" To see more photos follow the team on Facebook or @BethelRoyalVolleyball on Instagram.

From Rylee Forshee

What was good?
After a long day of hiking and zip lining in the rain forest, we headed to a local restaurant for chicken quesadillas. I feared our conversation would revolve around small talk, but as we snacked on our plantains and guacamole, I quickly learned that God had different plans. If you've meet Brooke (our tour guide from Bring It Promotions) or heard about her, you know that she lives in a state of constant giving. Apart from giving tours across the globe, for the past nine years Brooke has started and developed a nonprofit for adults with disabilities living in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. As I sipped on my mixed fruit smoothie, I couldn't help but be amazed by all that God has done through her. As a college student, I could relate to Brooke as she mentioned she wasn't sure where she was going in life. She shared with me stories of how God lead her to a school for disabled children and moved in her heart to create her own nonprofit. Each time that money ran tight, God provided. Each time a teacher was needed, God provided. What a sweet reminder it was to hear Brooke's story of God's provision and guidance through the midst of uncertainty. Throughout the rest of this foreign trip, I look forward to seeing Gods guidance through unexpected "small talk."

What was hard?
It's nice to think that bad days don't follow us while we are away from everyday life, but today I was reminded that bad days do, in fact, still exist. For most of us the most exciting event of the day was zip lining. As we approached the zip lining area, we were required to watch a short two minute video on the safeties and hazards of zip lining. For some reason I couldn't help but think about the embarrassment I would face if I were to get stuck in the middle of the 2,640 foot long cable. My knees began to tremble as I began to climb up the first platform, envisioning the inadequacy I would face if I failed to successfully zip line. Sure enough, I fell short. I had braked too early and ended up having to pull myself ten feet into the arms of the next tour guide. Slightly embarrassed I moved along with the group to the second zip line of the tour. The next zip line was the longest cable of them all, stretching half a mile long. Before heading down the most dreaded cable, I refused to have a tour guide ride along with me as I subconsciously prayed for the tour to be over. As I rode above the rain forest I, once again, failed to make it to the next platform. Only this time I braked over 100 feet short of the landing area. Struggling to pull myself to the end, one of the tour guides had to bring me back and unharness me. Mortified, I began crying, while I walked to yet another platform. With five more platforms to go, I couldn't help but think about the embarrassment of my struggle repeated five more times. This was when one of my teammates had found me alone, crying, traumatized. To my surprise she greeted me with a couple giggles and a hug. As I moved along in the tour my teammates and coaches looked after me, making sure I was riding along with a tour guide. I didn't like it at first. In fact, I hated it. I thought that having someone help me made me look weak or unable. But as I rode over the rain forest I was finally able to look down and see the beauty in God's creation. Today I learned that asking for help isn't bad, sometimes all we need is a couple of giggles, a guide, and a hand to hold. 
 
What's next? (from Coach Hunt)
Tomorrow we leave La Fortuna and travel to San Jose (although not before Macie gets one more chance for shopping in town!). We have another long bus ride, so we are praying for safe travels, and then we will play what Brooke tells us will be our toughest match of the week. I am personally looking forward to playing again and seeing how we look after all of our travel, hiking, and swimming. If we can find consistency in these conditions, it will be a great sign headed into the fall.

In addition to blogging for us tonight, Rylee did our team devotion, and talked about comparison and how it robs us from being what God uniquely created us to be.  It was a great word for us as we head into the last leg of our trip.