Hey guys,
I want to start this blog post with an apology. I’m sorry that I’ve not kept you in the loop! These last 2 months have been crazy and I feel awful for not getting more information to you about what my team and I have been doing these past months. With that being said, here is a very late update on October in Costa Rica!
Some questions you might be asking:
Where were you?
Jaco (pronounced Ha-Co) is a growing beach town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. We lived there on the local Christian Surfers property.
When did you get there?
We entered San Jose, Costa Rica on Oct 5th and were able to make it to our ministry side within a couple hours of landing!
Who were you working with?
We worked with Oceans Edge on the local Christian Surfers property. Check out more about Oceans Edge here:
http://oceansedge-lifestyle.com/
The site is still in construction but from there you can connect with them on social media. Ocean’s Edge is focused mobilizing Christians into action and helping others discover their God given gifts. We worked specifically with Hannah Fletcher (Founder of Oceans Edge), April Campbell, Carli Torti and Amanda Perez. Such beautiful people! It was so cool to see how God has placed them in Jaco for specific reasons, with specific abilities. We came with the expectation that we would be serving them, but they ended up serving us in so many ways. If you are ever in Jaco, check them out!
We also worked with Horizon Church (local English speaking church). We worked closely with Pastor Daniel Barrett and his wife Sarah, assisting them with whatever they needed. Check out more about them here: http://horizonjaco.org/
Every Friday evening, we would head to Radical Church (local Spanish speaking church). Although we didn’t know much of what was said, it was so interesting to see the differences and similarities between the English and Spanish speaking churches.
What exactly were you doing?
During the day, we helped in whatever way Oceans Edge needed us. We cleaned up the Christian surfers property, built a new roof, painted, dug trenches…
(Yo, we’re diggin’ a trench.)
…organized tools, maintained mould (a huge problem in Costa Rica), built a sidewalk, moved a water reservoir and replaced it with a bigger tank, cemented walls, and used more power tools than I’ve ever used in my life.
(Forgive the hair; Costa Rica humidity makes it go wild!)
The work was hard, but we had fun!
After that, we would help with whatever Horizon church needed: volunteer dinners, kids camp…
…homeless feedings, Saturday kids club, Sunday school, connecting with local businesses and people, making a prayer map…
(Prayer map the women from Horizon Church made of Jaco)
…prayer walks and praying over the city.
What did a day in Jaco look like?
Mornings started early in Jaco: the sun comes up at 5am and with it the sunshine. Many mornings roosters would crow and crow. We never needed an alarm clock! We were all up by 6:30am, having devotions until breakfast at 7:30 and stretches/workout sessions at 8am. Work started at 9am and continued until 5-6 depending on the task assigned for the day and the amount of daylight. After that, we took turns having showers, cooking supper and cleaning up. Then we had team time and by the time all that was said and done, we were tired and went to bed. And repeat again the next day. We were busy, sometimes overwhelmingly so. But we were thankful for this! It is definitely better to be busy then have nothing to do! All for the glory of the Lord!
What did you do on your off days?
We had a day of rest each Sunday and an adventure day each Monday. Our first adventure day my team went to Jaco beach and explored/surfed.
The next week we went to the Costa Rican National Park Manuel Antonio. It was beautiful! We saw many monkeys (some that sounded terrifiying) and sloths!
Our third adventure day we went zip-lining through the jungle.
And our last adventure day, we went hiking to see a waterfall.
What did God reveal to you in Jaco?
Idols. He revealed some idols in my life I previously not want to confront. He brought it to the light and forced me to deal with it (and is still helping me to move past it). One of the verses he brought me too was one that my Aunt Ellen spoke over me many times in my life:
“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
What will you remember about Jaco?
I will remember the… Macaws, hot sun, beautiful ocean waves, hard work, butterflies, tritz, pura vida, iguanas, tico time, bonfires, mariachi bands, cat-calling birds, mountain top prayers, learning my personality type and spiritual gifts, zip-lining, sloths, lazano sauce, cutting grass with my hands, flooding rooms, moths that like to visit in the middle of the night… and so much more.
Where are you headed?
After this month, we headed to beautiful Granada, Nicaragua for debrief. After resting there we moved on to Chinandega, Nicaragua to work with Vision Nicaragua! A recap will be released soon about the beautiful experience we had there!
I want to thank all of you so much for all your support and prayers! Stay tuned for more pictures and information about Nicaragua! They are coming very soon!
Feel free to send me messages or emails while on the race! I would love to hear how each of you are doing and stay in touch. Each one of you holds a special place in my heart.
Love you all!
Carissa
P.S. A huge thanks to my beautiful friend Cherish Kibler for her photo-taking skills. Most of the pictures posted here are hers! You are awesome!
