If life in Planeta Rica was a movie, it would be in slow motion. Life here is laid back, take your time, chill out, don’t rush (except when it comes to eating- the faster you can shove as much food in face as you can, the better). And wow, it sure has been a challenge for me to adjust to their slow pace of life. Not only am I far too used to the fast pace, schedule bursting at the seams, running out of room in your planner, always adding something new to your already long to do list lifestyle that we live in the United States, but I came to Planeta Rica with this idea that my days on the world race would be full of that same busyness that fills my days at home. I had this broken expectation that my life on the race would look pretty similar to my life in the United States, stuffed-jam packed with nonstop ministry and intense manual labor and constantly serving people and a never ending list of things that need to get done.
And my little broken expectation did not turn out to be my reality, but in the most stretching and most beautiful ways. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we’ve been sitting around twiddling our thumbs the whole time we’ve been in Planeta Rica. Trust me, we’ve done lots of things-we’ve mopped church floors and set up chairs for church services and weeded gardens and shared testimonies and acted out Bible stories for the children (PSA- SaraLou makes a fantastic Noah, beard and all) and played lots of silly games and run around with the kids till we couldn’t run anymore and made fools of ourselves trying to play soccer and been used as human jungle gyms and helped out with feeding programs and gone on house visits and walked the streets to stop and pray with people that God has placed in front of us and eaten Colombian pancakes with our new amigos from youth group-just to name a few.
But even though we’ve done of lots of things while we’ve been here, our schedule has also been pretty open-lots of down time, lots of time to rest, lots of empty space in between activities. Life here doesn’t have the same sense of I need to accomplish a lot of tasks in order to feel like I’ve achieved something, in order to feel like my day hasn’t been a waste, in order to feel a sense of purpose like it does in the United States. There’s not this need to constantly be doing something. There’s not this need to fill our time with busyness in order to numb ourselves, to not have to feel things. Here there’s this space to get something more out of your day than just being able to say that you checked a lot of things off of your to do list-there’s this space for deep connection and really being in the present and engaging with the people around you and reflection and just being able to sit and catch your breath.
Although my time so far in Planeta Rica has not quite matched up to my broken expectation of what I thought my time here was going to look like, it has been exactly what God knew I needed. It’s been a time for real, soul rejuvenating rest and getting to really know and bond with the girls that I’ve been placed on a team with and learning how to thrive in stillness and diving deeper and growing in intimacy with the Father and learning that my quiet time doesn’t have to look a certain way or consist of certain things, but that I can just sit and hang out with Jesus and just truly enjoy His company. I’ve been able to really feel and really connect and really love and really engage. And it’s been so good for my soul to not be caught up in the busyness, to not be distracted by what task I can check off of my to do list next-to just give the Spirit the space to take me where He wants me to go, to be able to just be in the present and to really see all the incredible things and people God has placed right in front of me. Planeta Rica is beautiful and the people here are beautiful and God is doing beautiful things here and I’m glad I’ve been getting to really experience it and I can’t wait to see what He continues to do in the rest of our time here.
