Hola from Costa Rica!
I have officially been on the Race for a week and I am in love with Costa Rica! I have already met so many incredible people and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the month has in store.
My team and I are staying at a church in a little town outside of San Jose. We have been blown away by the hospitality that has been shown to us by the church’s pastor, Marcos. My team quickly adopted Pastor Marcos as a father figure (He even gives us great advice like, “You need to know two things to be a good wife, how to make beans and how to make tortillas.”) He has such a huge heart for this community and is one of the kindest men I’ve ever met! He has bent over backwards to make sure we have everything we needed and to make sure we’re comfortable. To be honest, we’ve been spoiled so far on the race. I was not expecting to have hot showers, mattresses, and access to a full kitchen our first month on the Race. I’m soaking it all in because I know we won’t have it this good in most of the countries we visit,
Our first ministry opportunity was to paint a preschool for a couple of days. We haven’t met the kids yet because they are on vacation, but hopefully we’ll get to see them before leaving Costa Rica. Although we didn’t get to meet the students, we were able to pray for them as we painted their classrooms. The administrators of the school were so sweet and thankful for all the work we did. I learned that although we may not be preaching the gospel, sometimes ministry is just getting to know someone and being a blessing to them.
Thursday we had the day off so we decided to go to the beach. It ended up being a huge adventure! What was supposed to be a simple bus ride ended up being a bus ride, then two taxis, then a 2 ½ hour bus ride where we had to stand almost the whole time! We would not have made it without Jess, my fellow team member/translator extraordinaire! She was such a champ getting us to and from the beach. Though it was a lot of work getting there, it was so worth it to see the beautiful creation that is a Costa Rican beach.
Friday we were given the awesome opportunity to go play with babies at a children’s home. If you know me at all, you know that this made my heart sing so much. There were ten children at the home and they ranged from two months to six years old. All of the children still had parents, they were just not able to care for them for whatever reason. I spent the whole time holding a baby named Lenora who was about 7 months old. She had the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen. It broke my heart to know that this sweet girl didn’t have parents to love on her every day. I counted it as my privilege to be able to show her some Jesus love, even if it was just for a day. I know my prayers over her will last a lifetime
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers for me and my team. We are learning together what it means to live in intimacy and community with Jesus. This week we will be working in a nursing home and next week we will be doing a VBS in a small village in Costa Rica called Sarapiqui. Pray that the Lord will use us in any way He needs to. Love you all!
