“Your joy is a moth to a flame, it draws people to you”, as I read these opening words in a note I received at training camp, my eyes opened wide and my mouth became agape. These words were written by a woman that had never met me before but asked God to speak to me through her. She did not know of my previous struggles in life. She did not know that a huge part of my testimony was the sadness I had been through and the joy I was overcome with when I finally created my relationship with Christ. She did not know that my favorite bible verse was Psalm 34:5 “ Those who look to the Lord will be radiant with joy, and will never feel ashamed”. Some may think it was coincidence or that I read too far into it, but I know this was God reminding me to be a light in people’s lives. He wants me to bring people to Him through my happiness, and that is just what I have tried to accomplish this first week on the field.
It’s safe to say that the first week of ministry was not exactly what my team was expecting. It consisted of waking up every morning around 7am and taking a bus to a nursing home where we would spend about 3 hours cleaning. Not to mention, the only English our ministry contact knew was the word “okay” and we had to rely on Ellen (one of my amazing teammates) and I’s high school Spanish skills to communicate.But in the midst of what seemed like a disaster, there was joy. At the nursing home we met a women named Grace. She spoke a little English so we quickly flocked to her and learned a lot about her story within the 5 days we were there. She translated for us and was an absolute angel to be around, except for the time she told us we needed to “clean better,” which was graciously accepted (kinda). She was radiant with joy and such a blessing to my team.
The greatest blessing we received this first week was a woman named Esther. Esther is a member of the church we were living in and is fluent in English. I don’t think you understand how beautiful it is to meet someone who speaks the same language as you when everyone else looks at you like your crazy when you try and talk to them. Every night she would come to the church with her husband, Rafael, and hangout with us for hours. We would sing, talk about God, and just enjoy each other’s company. She took us on numerous adventures, one of which being Costa Rica’s Independence Day parade in Moravia. There we got to experience Costa Rican culture to its fullest. All the little girls were dressed in their authentic Dia de Indepencia dresses and the boys wore poofy white shirts and red bandanas. I also splurged and got a real churro, and let me tell you- we are doing it all wrong in the states. After the parade Ellen and I decided to tag along with Esther and go to her house for customary Costa Rican soup. It was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her cute little nieces Emily and Krystal. The time ended with her father praying over us and telling us how much of a blessing we were to their family. Although we only got to spend about 5 days with Esther and her family it was really hard to say goodbye. They showed us so much joy and really lifted our spirits in a time of need.
Overall my first week experience on the race has been amazing. I feel so strongly that I am exactly where God wants me to be. I have loved learning about the culture and meeting new people. My Spanish has also improved a lot and I can tell that the people here really have enjoyed us. Now I am in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica where we are living in the sister church of the church in San Jose. These first few days have been the greatest days of my life, and I cannot wait to tell you all more about it in my next blog. Also please be patient because wifi is hard to come by, but life is honestly a lot more fun without it. Please keep up the prayers and donate if you would like. The Lord is working in amazing ways through me and my teammates.
Funny thing that have happened this week:
– We accidentally bought a giant gallon bottle of ketchup thinking it was pasta sauce. Don’t ask why we needed that much sauce.
– In San Jose we were so sure we were being robbed the first night, but in reality the neighbors were just coming over to grab supplies. The pastor failed to mention that they had a key a would come over during the night.
– A frog got into the church where we were sleeping and bounced off one of my teammate’s (Erin) face while she was sleeping. It was a big frog. Not to mention one of my other teammates (Holly) is deathly afraid of frogs.
– Sticking out like sore thumbs when riding the bus. Also I swear Costa Ricans have special genes that makes them not sweat.
– Having dogs casually walk around the room during church services. I will probably never get used to that.
