House by House
Welcome to hell! Where it’s as hot as a tamale and dirtier than a pig in a mud hole. Today we will be catching lizards and feeding them to gato(the stray cat) and to spiders, the size of your face. Don’t forget to keep your eyes up while walking the trails. Next up on the itinerary we will be avoiding the crocs on the patio while watching them eat our left overs. Shortly after we will discover tarantulas and snakes hiding in the bamboo forest. While walking to every activity, which is basically just a chore on steroids, you have to step very carefully to avoid the 186 deadly plants and fungus on the jungle floor. Just kidding…not really. You will get very sore blisters with the all too familiar machete, which seems much sharper here than back home. After a long day of work we get to sleep in a sauna. At least sleeping in is nice. If any of you didn’t get that last part it was complete sarcasm! Say hello to the rooster call of the jungle, a pack of howler monkeys at 4 am.
While this jungletopia may sound intimidating, and slightly annoying at first, it is clear to see the splendor of God through His creation. The way that He designed every living thing on His green earth to coexist in a functional fashion astonishes me daily. So I think getting through the sticky, gooey, and sweaty month may very well be worth it to see His beautiful creation on full display in this jungle forest we now call home. Besides I live this way back in the states! Nothing seams to have changed as far as the hectic side of things. There is no where else I would rather be.
The community here is so different from back home. They are so willing and open to the idea of community or conversation. Even when approached about religious conversation the people of Costa Rica generally seemed more willing to listen. Today we teamed up with a local church in the neighborhood to pass out bibles and pray for the community house by house. Family by family. I will admit the language barrier is difficult at first. But to see the tears in one elderly woman’s eyes as we laid hands on her in prayer brought about something much more powerful than any spoken language. We so physically felt the Holy Spirit move through and with us as we walked through the neighborhood in prayer. The people were so grateful and happy to just be able to talk with us. To experience this first hand was a little unexpected in the beginning. I expected people to brush us off and so quickly forget about the bible we had just given them. To my surprise as I walked back to the van after passing out all the bibles we had brought, I saw two instances where the bible was already being read. It was incredible to see the eagerness with which they dove into the word of God not even 30 minutes after we had given them their new treasure. As one mother read the bible to her infant baby I was immediately brought complete serenity that this is what the Kingdom of God is truly about. The love and eagerness that this woman had to read in her new bible was inspiring for what child-like faith truly is. We had entire houses ask for multiple bibles because each man woman and child who could read wanted their own personal bible. It was an incredible day of giving, prayer, and spiritual enlightenment. I’m so excited to see what other treasures God has in store to show me throughout this crazy journey I’m on.
