I love the traveling life but there have been many days of being homesick. I don’t know how many times I’ve called my mom crying just saying I wanted to come home. Traveling the world doing missions is no walk in the park. It seems glamorous on the outside, but it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. The first couple of months are exciting, and then reality sets in. And this is just life. I have never been so challenged in my life. I have never been pushed so far out of my comfort zone. I have never been so broken. But I also have never grown so much in such a short period of time in my relationship with God. God has been asking me to give up things in my life that in the past I never would have had the strength to give up. He has been truly asking me to lay everything down on the altar. Here I am, month 7, and I can honestly say that there is nothing and no one standing in the way of my relationship with God or the calling He has on my life. I have finally fully surrendered every part of me to Him, and I have never felt so free in all of my life. I have never felt so much joy and fulfillment. I know that I am now in the center of the Will that God has for me, and He has been blessing my life in so many ways. He is literally spoiling me and showering me in His love. As hard as it is on my flesh everyday to endure the hardships of a missionary lifestyle, it is all worth it. I am sleeping in a tent, bugs are everywhere, sweat pouring down my face every minute of everyday, I barely get any sleep because of the heat, the howling puppies, and the birds squaking at 5am every morning, I’m hand-washing my clothes in buckets and showering outside and yet I am content. He has been teaching me to be content no matter what my circumstances. I am learning what it looks like to have a fulfilled life in Christ alone.
I am in Jaco, Costa Rica serving with a youth Surf Ministry and we are teaching surf camps to the local children and sharing the gospel with them, giving them food for their families, doing kids club in the park, children’s olympics, holding youth services, teaching VBS, doing manual labor on the property, landscaping, leading women’s bible studies, feeding the homeless, working with Seeds of Hope for sex trafficking, holding prayer meetings, making crafts to fundraise for the ministries here, serving at the local church Horizon/Radical, babysitting missionary couple’s children for their date nights…we do a lot of different things here. We are exhausted at the end of everyday because we pretty much go from one ministry to the next all day and don’t sleep too much. This has been one of the most challenging months thus far, and yet it has been my absolute favorite. God is teaching me so many things. I love it here. The heat is killing me and sometimes I want to scream at the top of my lungs and punch everything in sight haha but the atmosphere is like Pacific Beach/Mission Beach in San Diego, so it feels almost like home. The community of believers is so strong, and we were immediately accepted into their family the moment we arrived here. People are doing big things for God in this city and I’m so privileged to be a part of it for this month. Next month, we are off to Nicaragua and we are having Parent Vision month. My dad is going to come out on the field and serve with me for a week. I’m so excited for him to see what I have been doing and get to have a taste of what my life is like oversees.
Here’s a look of what this month has looked like thus far…
Tablas para niños ministry
Surf camp on the beach!
My little mini-me Abby!
Cheering for Costa Rica in the World Cup!
Gian…a real life cabbage patch doll!
This little green-eyed beauty at kids club on Saturday morning <3
Two of my favorite little guys at kids club in the park!
The kids waiting in line for their food
I had an ear infection that day and this little kid made everything worth while 🙂
I will never forget this little guy from VBS…I wanted to take him home!
Tug of WAR!
Hula hula!
On our day off, one of the couples at the church let us swim in their pool. It was paradise! A little piece of heaven
And this is Jose…he has stolen my heart!
Only 2 more debriefs, and I am back home. After this month, I only have 4 more to go. Time has flown by. At times it goes slow and I feel like I’ve been gone forever. (Especially when my mom sends me videos and pictures of Baby Lexi and the kids.) But I know that I am supposed to be here and I have to finish this Race! So, heres’s to Costa Rica and the beautiful people I have fell in love with here! I WILL be coming back 🙂
