I’ve been in Costa Rica for a month, but the last week of my time here has been the most impactful. The first few weeks we were staying right outside of San Jose, the country’s capital. We stayed at a church, painted a school, visiting an orphanage, danced, sang, exercised and did art therapy with some spunky elderly. We took a short bus ride into the city, drank coffee, slack lined with strangers, long boarded with the neighbors and ate local food. Our contact was beyond kind and generous and blessed us in more ways than I can count. Our time in San Jose was good, but I still couldn’t help but feel like there had to be more in store for us.
For our last week in Costa Rica, our contact arranged for us to travel to Sarapiqui, a rural town in the mountains surrounded by rainforests. We went from being in the middle of a busy city where everything was accessible, to being in the middle of the country where the closest grocery store was an hour walk away. We slept on the floor of a little church that was located on the top of a hill overlooking pineapple fields. There were palm trees right outside our front door and coconuts became our new everyday snack. There wasn’t any local transportation and all the houses, stores and restaurants were so spread out so we had to walk everywhere that we wanted to go. Because we had to take the bus to get there and back, we were only allowed to fit what we needed into our day packs and had to leave everything else behind. Even though it seemed like we had a lot less going into it, we ended up gaining way more in that week than I thought possible.
As soon as we got to Sarapiqui, Pastor Jose and his wife, Andrea, treated us like we were family. Out of all the places I’ve been to, I’ve only experienced that type of kindness, love and hospitality once before. They welcomed us as part of their community and family in the most genuine way possible. The first day we were there, they piled us into their car and took us on an adventure through the dirt roads and rainforest and sat and watched while we played soccer in the rain with their sons. They showed us their home and took us out to eat with their family. Every time Pastor Jose saw me he would look at me in the eyes and yell “EMILY!” In a way that couldn’t help but make me feel seen and loved. (Fun fact: his voice sounds exactly like Gru from Despicable Me) They included us in everything that their community did and my team ended up being able to share all of our individual testimonies in front of the church. They shared everything that they had and more. On our last Saturday in Sarapiqui, their whole family surprised us with an adventure day that they had planned for us. They took us on a walk to a nearby farm so we could ride horses and then to the river where we could go swimming and fishing all day. The next day they threw us a goodbye party where they fed us fried rice and marshmallows dipped in dulce con leche and coconut shavings. The pastor and his wife pulled us aside and told us how much we meant to them and we all held hands and cried as they prayed over our team.
The crazy thing is, five months ago, Jose wasn’t a pastor and their church didn’t even exist. Jose was living in San Jose with his family as a drug and alcohol counselor and made toucan souvenirs on the side. There was nothing in his plans or in his heart that made him want to be a pastor. He has never been to seminary and has never been trained to preach. But, those things don’t matter. All that matters is that we are open to follow where the Father leads. As soon as God asked him to step up, He did. He moved his family from the city and the people that they knew and moved to the middle of nowhere to start a church in a building that was once a bar. People called him crazy for starting a church where he did and in a place where he would make no money. They told him that it would fail and that it was a waste of time. But the thing is, people so often choose to close their eyes to the spiritual reality of what God is doing in and around them. What those people said is not what God is saying. I know that I f their family’s love towards us is any testament to how they treat their community, then I know it will never be the same again.
It’s hard to put into words how much Pastor Jose, his family, and the whole community ended up meaning to me; and it’s hard to describe how genuinely loved, cared for and delighted in I felt by the time I left. All I know is that sometimes in life there are people that you meet, and even though you were only together for a short time, you know that the impact that they made on your heart will leave a mark that will never leave. It’s these people that are the most inspiring to me and it’s these people who’s stories deserve to be heard because they truly know what it means to love with all that they have.
