After hearing from people and realizing that some of you
completely missed out on a month of my life on the race, I knew I had to make
myself write this blog. It is long over due and I am so sorry. To be honest, I haven’t really known
what to write about my time in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica so I chose not to.
As we have been warned, it is best to have no expectations
on The World Race. This definitely rang true when we arrived in Jaco Beach with
no contact, and virtually no ministry. We were told we would be working with a
surf ministry named “Surfeadores Cristianos”, and even though we stayed on
their property, the ministry no longer exists. We found ourselves with no schedule in this tourist, party
town amongst beautiful sand beaches and beautiful people who were looking to
have a good time. So what did the six of us do for thirteen days? I will
attempt to paint a picture for you.
The property in which we lived on
was merely a ten minute walk from the beach and had a skate ramp, which when
the ministry was in tact, was open to the public for use. We opened the gate
daily to provide people the opportunity to skate on the ramp. Although we all
enjoyed this, Jake really took hold of this ministry opportunity through
building relationships with the guys. On one of our last nights we also held a
skate competition on the property, in which Allan graciously took one for the
team and willingly represented the USA despite his lack of skating experience.
This night offered food, clean fun, and fellowship with those we had built
relationships with.
Luis
came to skate our first day on the property. He is a twenty year old who moved
to Jaco, leaving both his family and heart in Nicaragua. Luis is a surfer, a
bartender, and dreams of being an architect. His positive energy and powerful
smile has made him well known and loved throughout the small town of Jaco. We
couldn’t go anywhere with Luis without stopping numerous times for him to greet
people passing by. Day by day we spent time with Luis, getting to know him
better. He believes in God, but isn’t living it out. Like many other people in
Jaco, Luis has fallen into the temptations of the environment in order to mask
some sort of emptiness. Nevertheless, Luis is a hard worker and longs for the
day he can go back to Nicaragua to provide for his family. He is driven, but has nothing to drive
towards. We pray the cycle for Luis will be broken soon and that doors will
open to lead him out of the sin-infested environment he is in.
(Christmas dinner with Luis, courtesy of Allan’s parents)
(Luis with his Christmas gift from Cassie)
We were also blessed with the
awesome opportunity to build a relationship with Bleu, an awesome woman of God
who lives life more fully than anyone I’ve ever met. She has an amazing story,
which led her to Jaco, and is now known and loved by the entire town. From her
beachfront home, Bleu befriends every surfer. Her dog, Lucy, is even known and
loved throughout the town! On Friday and Saturday nights, Bleu makes herself
available for prayer and/or conversation outside of the most popular bar for
picking up prostitutes. Whether you see Bleu skating by on her board, or
zooming past on her scooter, you can’t help but be affected by her contagious
joy from the Lord. We made countless memories with Bleu, which I will cherish
forever.
(Hiking to a waterfall with Bleu and Lucy)
Myself and the other three women on
my team were super excited to hear we would have the opportunity to love on the
prostitutes with Bleu each weekend. The plan: to split up and stand outside
Beatle Bar offering prayer to the women who paced back and forth waiting to be
picked up by men. Time after time we were turned down. Still, night after night
we returned only to see men of all ages walk out of the bar hand in hand with a
woman, climb into a taxi, and drive off. Knowing these women think they must
live this way in order to survive made this the most difficult thing I have ever
had to watch. To keep myself from becoming angry with the men, I told myself
they too were trying to fill some void. This ministry quickly turned into
something completely different than what we had initially thought. We talked to
many curious passer-bys who wondered what we were doing and why we would be
sitting on a curb outside of a bar. From this we had some pretty awesome
conversations with various people, which hopefully planted seeds of
encouragement and shed light into their lives.
Although the initial surf ministry
was not in tact, we made our own. We built relationships with numerous surfers who own surf schools along the beach. Allan became close with one group of
Brazilian hippies as a result of us “playing sidewalk music” with them our
second night in town. These men are awesome, regardless of their empty lives.
They have no idea what their lives need because they are so content and at
peace with being “filled” by pot smoking, drinking, and women. Spending time
with them oddly enough makes you forget about the cares of the world as well,
which makes you see how blinded they are by the environment around them. It
would be so awesome to see them on fire for God, because they would be so
magnetic and powerful in this community. We also built relationships with
another tent of surfers, whom are from Jaco. Two of which are brothers in their
late twenties and too live the typical Jaco lifestyle. However, we began seeing
more of the truth behind the fun-loving facade day by day. They have children,
and one even a wife, who desires a better life for his family. We spent time
with these brothers daily, and I even learned to surf! I pray they would
realize the kind of men their families need them to be, and how there is so
much more to life than what they have seen/experienced as a result of growing
up in Jaco.
(Us playing sidewalk music with Allan’s surfer friends)
(Hanging out with Manfred, one of our friends, at his surf tent)
We were introduced to Gustavo
through the church we attended while we were in town. He is a well-respected
international surf judge and a powerful man of God who is living out his life
as he is called to do. He and his wife hold a Kid’s Club ministry at their home
each month, where approximately 40 kids from the surrounding areas come to
receive food, hear about God, and to enjoy being kids. We had the honor to
assist Gustavo and his wife in the Kid’s Club Christmas party, which doubled in
the usual attendance. Praise God! He also provided a message at our skate
competition the same night. Gustavo is a surfer himself, and used to work with
the Surf Ministry when it was in tact. He and his family radiate the love of
Christ in a way that makes you yearn to do the same. Gustavo is the exact type
of leader the town of Jaco needs more of.
As I type this list, I see this may
sound like time well spent on our parts, but it wasn’t completely. I can only
speak for myself, but our time in Jaco wasn’t what it could have been. However,
I can rest in the fact it was exactly what it needed to be, and God used it for
His glory regardless of what we did or didn’t do. Apart from the surfacy “good
work done by good missionaries” appearance, there is more to the story.
Read my next blog to
find out the rest.
