Ants were marching right on into our newly fixed up home for five. I grabbed the raid I bought a few days prior and started going to town on the ginormous creatures crawling across our walls. I followed the trail outside and around the house into the front yard. While I drowned everything within a 10-foot radius of our front door, I heard voices coming from the lot next door. I put a pause on the massacre and looked to the 5 gentlemen sitting at a concrete table eating lunch 20 yards away. “What is that? What are you doing? What’s going on?”, one of the men was yelling my direction in pretty solid English. I greeted the group of them and told them there were ants that I needed to take care of. “Stop it! Stop killing them! The animals of Costa Rica! Poison!”, the man yelled my direction while the others laughed and encouraged him. My team slowly trickled out of the house, wondering what the fuss was all about. I sprayed a few more areas, unsure of what to say in response or if I should respond at all. I started walking toward the front door when I heard the man yell one last phrase, “Puta”.
“They need Jesus”, one of our contacts said as I walked into the house, overhearing the conversation. My heart was heavy as I walked through the house to put up the poison I had just used to murder the animals of Costa Rica. Not because I had just killed the ants that were scheming to take over our home, but because of the men next door. God planted a seed in my mind within the next 5 minutes, an image of me giving apples to the men who had just finished yelling profanities my direction. What? Why? Why apples?
Within the next 24 hours, details about the neighbors presented themselves. Without inquiring, our team heard story after story from multiple people about the men next door. Narcos. Drug dealers. Everyone here knows who these men are and where to find them for their next fix. Tourists and locals support their more than harmful lifestyle. Although most of the dealers are married, young girls are offered fancy clothes, jewelry, and more to have sex with them. The wives, usually only 18 years old, are ruled by hatred and jealousy- only territorial violence in their hearts. They hunt down and attack other girls that have been with their husbands creating an unstable, unsafe environment for both the locals and the tourists.
We’ve learned that this area is not at all controlled by the police. The legal drinking age is 18, but 14 year olds can walk into almost any grocery or liquor store and purchase alcohol. There aren’t many job opportunities here so many people opt to selling drugs for quick and easy money. The police in this area, like many others, are put in tough positions. The dealers have so much power and money that the police struggle to safely control the drug problem in Costa Rica. Even with a good head on their shoulders and an ideal upbringing, kids still struggle to see a way out of this lifestyle. They don’t know Jesus- they don’t know that God will provide.
“Pray for us” some of the girls here halfheartedly requested, visualizing all that their hometown has to offer.
Do the people who visit here, buy drugs and party all night, consider the locals in this town? Do they consider that by purchasing drugs, they are providing means for that dealer to buy sexual favors from girls 30 years their junior? Do they realize that their “innocent” night of intoxication and fun negatively effects this town more than they can even comprehend?
Those girls you whistle at, both in the U.S. and in foreign places, have more to offer this world than what you’re imagining as you walk by them on the streets.
My heart aches for the people of this town.
Bring them apples. I spoke to one of our hosts about what God had put on my heart. His response was to be obedient- careful and clear of my intentions, but obedient.
Later that night, I came across these passages in Isaiah.
42:1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.”
42:6-7 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
Though I struggle with the fact that we won’t necessarily see the fruit of the work we are doing here in Puerto Viejo, I am determined to plant as many seeds as the Lord will allow me to.
Although I haven’t delivered the apples, I have purchased them. I will be patiently and prayerfully waiting for the right opportunity to approach the men at the table next door. You never know what God will use to bring His children home.
