Jaco, Costa Rica
Such a beautiful place the beach, the people, and our amazing host.
Costa Rica was month 2 of all squad month as stated in the previous post my squad consist of 21 people. Nicaragua was an all squad month as well so since February we have been together.
Our ministry host is Ocean’s Edge. This is a ministry that basically wants to make Jaco a better place so we have been serving the city in various ways.
Here’s how
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Babysitting for a marriage conference
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I baby sat with 2 of my squadmates Sweet Addie (2 years) and Elijah (10 months). I got my infant fix. Oh how I miss working in the infant room
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Serving in the Children’s departments at Horizon Church
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We got the opportunity to attend church service twice. One of the times I was in the 0 – 3yr old room. I met sweet Isabella she was missing your mommy so I feed her her bottle and she fell asleep in my arms. This warmed my heart so much. Her mom took a picture with me so that she could show her when she gets older that she was safe in the arms of a missionary.
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Edge projects
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We built a wall, stairs, painted, cleaned, along with various task
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I’ll be honest this was my least favorite ministry at first because it was so hot in Costa Rica however Papa gave me some perspective.
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Prior to coming on the race I said I wanted to get in shape and this was my chance to do this and God reminded me of that. So I began viewing manual labor as an opportunity to work towards that goal.
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Invu Park Outreach
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We had a carnival at a park in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Jaco. We did face painting, balloon animals, a play about the story of Noah, crafts, gave out popcorn along with rice and beans
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The city of Jaco wanted to also have a soccer field for the park so we were digging trenches and burying tires to make the soccer field.
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Prayer walking
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Emalea, Chelsea and I went prayer walking around Jaco beach. Being that the city used to be Costa Rica’s Sodom and Gomorrah there is a lot of darkness in the city. The purpose of this prayer walk was to see if God wanted us to go and establish relationship with business owners to go in the directory Ocean’s Edge is creating to help promote business.
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We also did a prayer walk at night when the scene in Jaco changes. There is a hotel in Jaco that is constantly surrounded by birds. This hotel is a place for prostitution.
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Surf Club
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During Surf Club I was able to be a lifeguard. This was amazing just being at the beach for ministry. Chelsea shared a bible story with kiddos and then we had a competition for the team that could clean up the most trash at the beach.
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I also got the chance to learn to surf. So, I didn’t stand on the board but it was fun riding the waves. One day I will conquer the waves.
Overall Ministry this month was amazing and pretty similar to Nicaragua in the variety of work. I love being able to serve in many different ways because it helps me see that mission work is not limited to one thing.
The only thing I wish I would have done differently in Costa Rica is to connect more with the locals. I am challenging myself to truly find my neighbor in every country for the remainder of the race.
Financial Update I am currently $1,130 away from the $13,000 goal. I have until March 31st to meet this goal.
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