When you think about Costa Rica, you probably imagine beautiful beaches and luxurious resorts. You probably don’t envision sleeping on a classroom floor, ice cold showers, and hanging out at a high school all day… but even though I won’t see a grain of sand during my time here, I wouldn’t trade my experience here in Heredia for any of that. Why? Because what I have received here is more fulfilling than living the beach bum life and the friendships I have made will last longer than a month at a resort.
I want to give you guys a glimpse into what a day in my life looks like here, so that you can see part of the experience that has been shaping and growing me this month.
5:45a.m. My day begins with the sound of the alarm. The good thing about sleeping on the floor is that it makes it easy to get up in the morning. The guy’s room is a small classroom that was completely empty before we filled it with our gear. I get out of my sleeping bag and put on a tank top and tennis shoes. At 6 my teammate Stephanie and I begin our daily “Insanity” workout. After Sean T has us on the brink of keeling over for 45 minutes I head outside where I eat my traditional peanut butter and crackers breakfast. Then its time for the most challenging part of the day… the shower.The shower is in an awkwardly placed room INSIDE the kitchen and consists of a hose that shoots out freezing cold mountain water. Elver (a teachers that lives at the school) and I always joke about it by saying things like “I am going to be brave” or “if I don’t make it out, tell my mom I love her” before entering into it. However, after doing insanity every morning it is necessary for everyone else’s sake.
8 a.m. School begins with morning devotionals, which the world racers are in charge of. Kyle, James, and I are with the high school boys. We open up with the school’s vision statement, take prayer requests, and then one of us gives a quick lesson. This morning I talked about the times when we fall away from God, shared some of my testimony, and talked about the parable of the lost sheep.
9 a.m.-Noon After devotionals Sha’terika and I have made a habit of going to the bakery/coffee shop right up the road for our quiet time. Here we spend two to three hours in the word everyday… something I have never done in my life before this month. The fruit that has come from it has been incredible! My passion for the word has blown up as I have spent more time in it. It has been during my quiet time that I have grown the most. I have been reading in Luke and God has spoken to me through every chapter. Between reading, meditating, and praying it usually takes me an hour to make it through a chapter… but what I have learned through this time has been worth every second.
Noon- 3p.m. The early afternoon doesn’t usually have much structure. Sometimes I will hang out with the students on their lunch break, sometimes we do random tasks around the school, sometimes we sit around like bums. Today I went outside and threw around with some students who have been trying to learn the foreign sport of American football.
3:30-6p.m. There is usually some sort of ministry opportunity for us in the late afternoon. The guys on my team’s favorite has been the two boys homes we visit each week. It is similar to an orphanage but there are just a handful of teenage boys who live together in each home. This time is full of goofing off and playing soccer. We sometimes do a devotional for them at the end as well. On Saturday we took all 17 boys from the two homes to the movies at the local mall. We saw Thor 2 and they were one big bunch of happy campers. By far my favorite part of ministry here so far.
6p.m. Dinnertime. Two people are assigned to dinner duty each night. Our budget for food is $3.60 per person per day. This doesn’t go very far individually but when put together can make a pretty good meal. The people in charge for the day take the money, buy the groceries, and cook for the 13 of us. There is always enough for seconds too.. The biggest surprise of the Race for me so far has been how well we have been eating.
7-11p.m. After dinner we usually have team time and feedback. Team time is when the whole team (or sometimes both teams) get together for a sort of game or exercise. Some examples have been capture the flag, StrengthsQuest (for all you Global LEADers), Bible studies, watching movies, Sardines, and Worm wrestling… which is a wrestling match in sleeping bags and as can see in the picture below, it was no joke.
Feedback is a time when our team gets together each day to give each other positive praise and constructive advice. It is also an open floor for anyone to share any challenges they’ve been having or what they have been learning. It is a time that we can come together to help each other grow.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpen another. Proverbs 27:17
Also our new friend David, a missionary from Birmingham, has been spending time almost every night discipling us. He is a man full of wisdom and biblical knowledge. We can ask him ANY question and he will have an answer with a biblical reference to back it up. He has also spoken a lot of truth into my life that has helped me gain more confidence in my faith and encouraged me in my future plans. David has been a huge blessing to us, and we are forever grateful for the time we have been privileged to spend with him.
So this has been an average day for me the past few weeks. My experience has been very different from the past two months. I feel like I have been poured into this month more than any other in my life. This has come mostly through being in the Bible for hours each day and the time I have spent with David.
I believe that God has been preparing me this. Next week begins a whole new ballgame as we head to Southeast Asia. On Friday we will be making our big jump over to Thailand. Our itinerary is:
San Jose->Atlanta->Los Angeles->Hong Kong->Bangkok
Please be praying for safe travels and for God to continue to ready our hearts for what awaits over there. I’m excited to get this next chapter started see what it has in store for us.
