Sorry it’s been over a month since my last blog update. I think the longer I’ve put it off the harder it is to catch yall up, but here it goes. I’m in the Philippines now, but I’ll recap the second part of our “surf “ministry month in Jaco, Costa Rica. It’s long, but I think it’s worth a good read 🙂
We were told we would be doing a surf ministry called “Surfeadores Christianos”, but this is the World Race and I’ve learned to let go of expectations for each month. They told us that at training camp, but I think it’s harder to do until you actually experience that. Anyways, we really didn’t have a contact and came to find out that the ministry doesn’t even really exist anymore. Cool. What to do, what to do…
There was a skate ramp where we lived so we opened that up everyday. Jake was kind of in charge of that ministry. We walked up and down the beach and became friends with some locals that ran surf schools. Everyday, we went and hung out with them and built relationships as we baked on the beautiful beach. They were so great…and great to look at 🙂 Oh, the life of a missionary.
I quickly befriended Bleu, a spunky, care-free and gorgeuous woman from California who has lived in Jaco for five years. She initially moved there to open up a sewing business for prostitutes so they could get out of their work, but that fell through. She worked for Surfeadores Christianos up until that ended, too.
Bleu took us out to the bars to do prostitution ministry one night–which also looked different than what we had anticipated. Bleu has offered prayer for prostitutes a few times as they’re working before, but other than that they are busy at work for the night. Prostitution is a vicious cycle of wanting to get out but the money is too good, and there are plenty of American men that will fill their empty lives with sex, which forces the girls to turn to drugs because that’s the only way to numb their reality…ugh.
So, we took our places outside of different bars but our prostitution ministry turned more into talking to people as they were in and out of the bars. As you can imagine, this was quite entertaining but we really did meet some awesome people. Curious bar-hoppers would take a seat right beside us on the curb and end up opening their lives to us.
Corporate American men in their late 20s taking a week out of their busy lives to unwind, a single dad there for business with a great love for his daughters, a Costa Rican whos sister is in South America serving the LORD, Erving, a man who worked at the bar to make ends meet, who loved God, his son and baseball with overflowing passion–these were just a few of the people I had the opportunity to meet. Since Jaco was such a small town, following up on all of the people we talked to was easy and it doesn’t hurt that I could just talk to people all day everyday, so I loved it!
Bartenders, shop owners, skaters, a group of pot smoking winos singing on the street every night, and tourists looking for a good buzz (or blackout) and someone to go to bed with, became our ministry. It would be easy for me to write this blog and tell yall it was a great two weeks filled with following God’s will in everything we did each day, every conversation filled with the love of Jesus…but it wasn’t.
It was hard. Really hard, actually. My team all kind of split off to do our own thing each day. We had internet whenever, sand inbetween our toes everyday and no agenda. My bible collected a little dust from lack of reading it. Honestly, I didn’t want to read it, I didn’t even really want to pray. What? I’m on the World Race…that’s not supposed to happen. I didn’t think I’d ever run into that problem this year, but it’s life and the enemy knows to attack when you’re down. I got caught up in where I was and just doing “things”.
Jaco is a huge tourist town full of drinking, drugs, sex and beautiful people. It’s the ultimate worldly place to flee to–and my old stomping grounds. Uh oh. I have never been to a town like that without the intention to party. I made sure to be aware that this would be a perfect place for the enemy to attack me, but I quietly acknowledged it… kind of to myself. Mistake numero uno.
Jaco on the outside was awesome…beautiful beaches, beautiful people, beautiful substances to make you feel beautiful, but in reality it was anything but beautiful. There was a darkness hovering and a feeling of hopelessness. It’s like everyone was at such peace that they didn’t even know that something was missing. An emptiness filled the air and it was hard to escape.
I was chattin’ it up with one of our hippie-instrument playing-wino friends one afternoon outside of his shop and we were talking about what a fun, peaceful place Jaco is. He said, “Yea, but you know there’s always two sides to the story, amor. It’s not always as pretty on the outside as things seem.” Well put, sir.
Being there made me realize how hard living a life following God truly is. It’s really easy to get super drunk and fill the void in your life with empty relationships. It’s easy to walk around day after day living for the world; pleasing yourself and your needs and just…being. However, we are told by Jesus to “deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Him” (Matthew 16:24).
I am glad I waited this long to write this blog because if I had written it while I was in Jaco, you would have gotten a completely different story because I was blind to reality; I chose to be blind to it. You would have gotten the pretty, surface story.
Looking back, I can only hope that a seed was planted somewhere. That the people we did build relationships with noticed that there was something different about us. Even though it was a tough two weeks, we were different than the average person that went there. Fortunately, God is everywhere, and even in those dark places He used us to shine a light in Jaco.
So, while living a life of nothing but partying and laying on the beach is awesome, there’s always another side to that story. And living a life following Jesus is so worth it. I promise 🙂 I’ve been on both sides.
“I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4
Leaving Jaco, a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I felt like I could breathe, and then I opened my eyes to reality. We had a mini-debrief with the squad in San Jose which was much needed for me to work out some things with God. The result: I gained a crazy fire burning in my heart for this next chapter of the race. Four months in Asia is going to be even bigger than Central America. Team changes were made…God decided he’s not done with my team yet, though, and gave us the addition of a beautiful and brave warrior, Ginger.
I have never been so hungry to get to know our Creator so intimately. I know God is calling me to more. I wrote in my journal “I’m ready to get deep-to be broken-to change-and to grow“.
“I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8
