If this month has taught me anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. This Saturday my team decided to split up and do different things for our off day. Gabby, Kendra, and I thought it would be fun to visit Jacó, a beach town where two of the other teams on our squad have been doing ministry this month. Even though I’m not a super big beach person, I was excited to get a chance to explore and experience more of Costa Rica. We left at 6am and two buses and several hours later, we arrived in Jacó! It was crazy to me how different Jacó is than San José. It is a town where there are more tourists than locals, everyone speaks English, and it’s extremely hot and humid. It definitely took a bit to get used to it.
When we arrived, we went to the beach (after we got coffee of course
), walked along the shore, and got in the water for a bit. We had bought our bus tickets for 6:30pm so we wouldn’t have to worry about it later. On our way back into town for lunch, we ran into a few of our squadmates painting one of the lampposts since they had ministry that day. It was great to quickly catch up and be able to discuss our month and our ministry with one another. They asked us if we were staying the night, and we told them we were heading back that evening. Staying the night had never even been an option we would have thought about. But we were excited that they invited us over after they finished up with ministry around 3pm!
Shortly afterwards we grabbed burgers and sweet potato fries for lunch (I have no regrets
), I picked up a Coke from the grocery store, and we started walking over to meet up with the rest of the teams. Surprising everyone when we walked right in and seeing the looks on their faces was priceless! It was so cool to see the finished product of all the hard work they’ve been doing all month, especially when it came to construction at their base. I loved hearing their stories about the people they’ve met and the opportunity they’ve been given to bring more light to a town which is still so dark.
Our time with our squadmates quickly came to a close, or so we thought, when we had to start waiting for our bus at the bus stop at around 6pm. So we waited… and waited… and waited some more… and stopped every single bus that was driving by us… and waited… and it never came. We finally gave up at around 7:30pm and walked back to the ticket booth to see if we could get on another bus that night or exchange our tickets for the morning… and they were closed. Thankfully, our amazing squadmates were willing to let us stay with them for the night. They were above and beyond generous, offering us food, letting us borrow their toothpaste and showers, and inviting us to their movie night and church in the morning. We honestly can’t thank them enough for everything they did to make us feel right at home.
At first it was easy to feel upset that we had either missed our bus or it never came, but I just kind of thought “this will be a funny story one day.” In the end I think it worked out for the best, even though the situation wasn’t ideal. God’s also really funny. I opened up the Bible app that night before I went to bed and read the verse of the day, “We may make a lot of plans, but the Lord will do what He has decided” (Proverbs 19:21). Ultimately, God knew we needed that time in Jacó to fellowship with our friends and to be filled in church the next morning… we just didn’t realize it.
-Catherine Choquette 🙂
P.S. Thank you guys for all of your prayers! (especially when I was in the hospital) This month has really taught me a lot, and I can’t wait to share more about it! Also, thank you so much to everyone who has financially supported me as well! I am only $5,110 away from being fully funded! So if you feel led to donate, just click the orange “Donate!” button at the top of the page. I love and miss you all! Thank you for being a part of my journey!
