Month one of the Race is off to an incredible start! My team and I are in San Pedro, Costa Rica, just north of San Jose. This month we are working with ZOE International Christian School and attending the ZOE Church.
ZOE International Christian School & Church
Upon arrival to Costa Rica we were greeted by the beautiful smile and warm heart of Margareth, who also works at ZOE and attends the church here. Margareth is one of those people who fills a room with joy the moment she enters, and her teenage kids, Joshua and Dara are the same way. Margareth is not fluent in English, but I’m not fluent in Spanish, so our conversations are usually pretty animated and filled with giggling. We’ve already shared so much laughter in just ten short days!
Me, Erin, Moises, Margareth, Katie
Accompanying Margareth to the airport was our good friend Moises. Moises is quickly becoming like a brother to us; joining us for dinner most nights, teaching us to cook empanadas, platanos, and tortillas, picking on us, and making fun of our Spanish. He has been kind and gracious to us as we figure out the culture and settle in to our new home.
Moises made us a traditional Honduran dinner this week!
Our team is sleeping in one of the school classrooms, with wifi, electricity, access to three bathrooms, our own outdoor kitchen where we do all our own cooking, and a hot shower. We also have access to a grocery store just across the street and a coffee shop with delicious pastries and wifi just up the road. You could say we’re really roughing it this month.
Our little Cocina
We have jumped into teaching English, Spanish, Science, World History, and Social Studies classes, as well as leading devotionals on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Fridays. Believe it or not, teaching was one of the ministries I was most nervous about doing on the Race, so why not start off with that, right? My teammate, Erin, and I will be teaching 1st and 2nd grade English (pray for us). There are only five 1st and 2nd graders total, but they have enough energy for 37.6 kids. We are looking forward to earning their trust, loving on them, and growing in patience in the days ahead!
Tuesdays will be our off days for the month. During these days we can explore or rest as needed. This past Tuesday was our first day of exploration and it was a lot of fun! We navigated the local bus system to Heredia, where we walked through the Mercado, down local streets and through some beautiful parks. We found great ice cream (my team is really crushing it when it comes to finding sweets), spent time in a Catholic church we came across, and climbed an old tower that gave us great views of the city.
Views of Heredia
First family photo on the field
El Mercado en Heredia
While we were in exploring the park in Heredia we ran into three high school students, Carlos, Sophia, and Daniella, who were working on a school project where they needed to interview foreigners about their country’s culture. We had the chance to talk with them for a good twenty minutes, ended up exchanging numbers. We invited them to the church’s youth meeting this Saturday, and to have dinner with us afterwards – and they said yes! Pray that our time with them is filled with good conversation and the love of Jesus.
Thankful to call these women family (and shoutout to my men’s Patagonia swim trunks from the Goodwill)
We will spend most Saturdays with the church youth, and Sundays we worship alongside our new Costa Rican family. The church organized a time of worship last Saturday night at a local family’s home so we could meet some members of the church before Sunday morning. And can I just say, there’s a freedom of worship in this church that is so beautiful, and one I hope I’ll better be able to describe in the blogs to come. We are in close contact with the Pastor, Rene, and he has been so welcoming to our team. Pastor and the ZOE church family really want to pour into us as a team this month; they see us as their ministry, and I keep thanking God for that blessing as we begin this Race.
Pura Vida!
