Last week, my team started working at a new ministry called Metro Ministries. This new ministry integrates into the community and invites kids from ages 3 to 20 to come and become a part of their program. We meet in a local church Tuesday through Thursday and play with the kids, give a lesson, and give them snacks and love. Each day looks different. For instance, on Tuesdays, we do home visitations to see the kids and where they live. I wasn’t feeling good this past Tuesday, so I stayed home to rest. On Wednesdays, we bring the 3 to 10-year-olds to the church and play with them, sing some songs, go over a lesson, and love on them. On Thursdays, we bring the preteens to the church and repeat the process. We have an off-day on Fridays, but then we have ministry on Saturdays. That is focused on the youth. For them, we go to our old ministry, which was the after-school program. They also have a church there, so Metro Ministries wants the youth to become connected. We also basically do the same thing with them that we do with the other kids, but we teach them lessons for their age group.
This past Wednesday, I went with Emmy and a leader to pick up the preteens from the community. We went down the alleyways to get to some of the kids. It was pouring down rain and a little slippery, but we still got kids to come. As I walked through the neighborhood, I looked at the houses and immediately remembered when I was in Kenya in the slums. Here, we are definitely in the slums, but it seems more advanced than Kenya. For instance, standing outside of one house, I looked in through the opening between the roof and the wall and saw a TV. It caught me off guard for a minute because I realized they have electricity and running water, but the space is about the same size of what could house a couple families in Kenya. I realized how different slums can look like in different countries. Here in Costa Rica, everyone looks more well-off. No one looks like they’re underfed or going without. They have clothes that fit them and they don’t look sick. However, they battle with the same things that a lot of people in this environment deal with: gangs, drugs, alcohol, and a lot more. These kids have seen things that no one should have to see or deal with. They’ve been abused in different ways which really breaks my heart. Honestly, while we’re here, I just pray that I can show them God’s love in the way that they need to see it. We’re told that their parents don’t always pay much attention to them, so they go looking for love elsewhere. Please pray that we can connect with these kids and show them that they are loved and someone looks out for them.
I’m really enjoying this new ministry because there’s more structure in how we do things. It’s a huge blessing for someone like me who keeps a schedule of the day and has a game plan before arriving at the next location. My team and I are still getting comfortable in finding our place in this ministry, but the Lord has been good through all of it. I at times still can’t believe that I’m actually taking a year out of my life to do missions work at so young. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and I don’t want it to end. With that, I am still fundraising. I need $4,700 by mid-January. If you feel led, please don’t hesitate!
We were playing with the kids outside before going in for a lesson.
I thought this was a cool picture of how to get to some people’s houses. We actually do down alleyways such as these to pick up the kids for ministry.
This picture doesn’t do justice for how beautiful this sunset looked in person
This is an example of someone’s house. The stairs leading to the second level is a home for probably a family of 6.
This is just a view of the street outside of the community church where we hold ministry on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I pray that God blesses whoever reads this post today! Keep commenting and feel free to share my blog via social media or word-of-mouth! God bless!
