Whooooa. September was such a blur. So many things happened so fast and it all meshed together after a few weeks. Let’s just say month one of the race was way beyond my expectations. It was full of good days that were filled with playing soccer with the kids, candlelight worship in a cappella with my team, getting treated with chai tea from our ministry hosts and just finding those rare moments to be still with the Lord. There were also those days where I realized that solitude is a rare and difficult gift to find, that being American makes it really easy for me to give into selfishness, and realizing daily that learning to talk less and listen more is really hard but I’m working on it. Being a long term missionary has been pretty eye opening because you learn so much about yourself and about others. We don’t have a lot of money, but we do have a lot of time. After about a week, it hit me – this is not a vacation or a retreat, this is my life. Yes, I wake up in my tent every morning. Yes, there may or may not be mice and cockroaches that scurry through my stuff while I’m away, but this is still my life. If I’ve learned one thing from the Lord this month it is this: it’s not about me, it’s about the kingdom. It’s not always easy but this is the way it’s going to be for the next 11 months and I’m ready to reshape my mind and my heart.
I’ve already experienced a few hard days on the race and I found the solution to my negativity in some cold, hard truth. Ask the Father to show up in every area of your life. Not just the spiritual areas of my life, every area. Our physical, spiritual and mental bodies are so mixed and mingled that it’s hard to focus on one without the other. While we’ve been on the field it’s hard not to walk with Jesus. Because without Him, none of the work, the lifestyle, the World Race would be possible.
We are staying in a neighborhood called La Carpio and it’s just outside of San Jose, Costa Rica. The mornings here are some kind of wonderful, it’s sunny and warm with the roosters and chickens waking us up at 5:45am on the dot every, single morning. There is a coffee machine here, which is such a praise the Lord moment every day for us! We sleep in our tents in the back shack of our ministry location. We love our ministry site, Give Dignity, in Spanish it’s called Encaminame – which is run by our amazing ministry hosts Seth and Andrea Sears and their three kids, Alden, Annabel and Jude. Since we’ve arrived, we have felt the Lord’s presence within this place. He is here and we just want to bring His kingdom to this neighborhood and remind the people of La Carpio that they are so loved by Him. Our ministry this month consists of construction work around the site, painting quotes and color to bring even more life to the place, and helping with a few classes that they have throughout the week. Teaching kids english and math definitely made me thankful that I’m finished with school but it also gave me a heart for patience and made me realize how much I love teaching and seeing the joy that comes from their faces when the lightbulb turns on. The Lord has been showing me so much about how sharing His love around the world doesn’t matter if we speak the same language. We are all the same and we all just want to be acknowledged and loved. My favorite thing about the race so far is not having an agenda. We have a schedule of events that we do throughout the week but we don’t have an agenda. When we spend time with the kids or paint a project, there’s no crunch time. We may not have a whole lot of money while we’re here but we have a lot of time and to me that’s more valuable.
On our first adventure day, we went to Jaco, Costa Rica where I went surfing for the first time in my life. It was incredible, wave after wave came and I felt like I was conquering something that I’m all too familiar with, fear. I’ve let fear drown my spirit for far too long. There are so many times where I want to be free but feel as though I can’t be because fear gets in the way. While we were looking out there, I started to get nervous, unknown waters and the waves were coming in hot. As soon as Carlie said I was going in first I instantly prayed to the Lord and went straight in. Fear left me for an hour and I was free. I played and danced in the ocean with the waves for the first time ever. God is so good! I stood up my first wave and ate it a lot the other times, which resulted in a couple of bruises, but it was so great just to be out there. While the girls on my team and I were in Jaco we also got to do a prayer walk. There are lots of cute shops, bars, restaurants and ice cream, but there is also a spiritual darkness that consists of prostitution and heavy drinking. We prayed over healing and that the light and love that comes from walking with the Lord would resonate and outshine the darkness. Even though we spent our days off in Jaco, it was so encouraging to be able to live and serve with a few other teams from our squad.
My team and I have been so blessed by each other this month too. Living in community has really taught me the value of how much we can get done when we work together. It really does portray a family lifestyle. We have really good days together and some days we have to dish out the hard talks of when we’re not feeling well or when we’re struggling with certain things. But I’ve learned to love those hard moments because that’s how we grow, that how we change and how the Lord can use those rough times to start movements. Everyday, I’m learning more and more how to love my team despite our differences. This month produced so much good fruit just by living life together and making sure that everyone was happy, healthy, well fed and got out alone time when we needed it. My favorite moments on the race are the mornings because we usually make breakfast, get ready for the day and stretch all in the same room. Even though we’re all doing different things, it’s just great being together in each other’s presence. If there was one thing that I learned this month it’s that if the Lord’s hand is behind it, everything that happens is intentional.
In conclusion, we’re on our last few days here in Costa Rica! I can’t believe we’ve almost completed month one of the race! Also, I’ve reached the $10,000 mark for fundraising! Thank you Jesus, all of my supporters, family and friends, you are all incredible. I still have a ways to go until I’m fully funded but God is so faithful & His timing is still perfect. Please keep my squad and I in your prayers for provision, safety and open hearts as we venture to our next location – NICARAGUA.
Until next time – thank you Costa Rica – it’s been real.
Love, B
