***Sorry this blog is being posted a month late***
Our time in Costa Rica started with many waves of helpless and confused feelings, has now ended with clarity and new community. But first, I want to tell you about where we were located this month.
We were staying in a small indigenous village called Terraba. It’s a tight knit community of just under 2000 people that is situated in the hills of the jungle at the base of the Talamanca Mountains. Many of the residents here are direct descendants from the native Indian people of Broran. (On top of learning all kinds of Spanish we even got to learn some of the native language from our friend, Jorge.) The jungle has been (mostly) good to us. There are fruit trees around about every corner, flowers grow like weeds, flocks of exotic birds, and insects so big that make us feel like we are in a bugs life. In the midst of all that lies a small church that we have get to call our home for a short time.
Our team (myself, Erik, Zane, Jeffery, Nick, Justin) is staying at the church, which is our hub for our ministry this month. Upon arrival, it hit me how hard it was going to be to communicate with the people here as they don’t know English. Jeffery took on the crucial role as our translator as we began to navigate the month.
We spent the month going to people’s homes to pray/encourage them, teaching English, teaching bible, playing soccer, cleaning up the community streets, and preaching in the church. All being more challenging than expected because of the language barrier. It felt impossible to connect with anyone. As the days passed it didn’t seem like any new connections were being made and the question “are we really able to help here?” started to creep in. Despite the disconnect we continued to do our thing and try to push deeper. God answered our prayers. Soon after, our host this month Maria, invited us to dinner that night. What I thought was just going to be another night of disconnect turned into one of the most joy-filled times that I’ve had in a long time. Although we couldn’t talk that much with our words, we talked in joy and laughter. Maria and her husband Juan served us like kings and after the meal was over Juan got out his guitar and sang us some of his favorite songs. We in turn were able to sing some of ours.
After the laughs and jokes were over we were talking about the details when we had to leave Costa Rica at the end of the month and Maria said she wished we didn’t have to leave and would just stay here.. Ahh! That warmed my soul. That was the first night I knew that God was using us in ways we might not have expected. Every day after, for me, was unexpectedly filled with so much joy and contentment as God continued to show me His heart in the daily things. I dont want to ramble but If that sounds cheesy or just weird, let me explain. It didn’t make sense to feel that much joy. Our living conditions were hard and we couldn’t speak the language. We were sleeping on the ground with bugs crawling on us and eating rice and noodles every day (our first meal we had was rice and eggs with crunched up Doritos for flavor haha). They were times that in certain ways forced me to seek joy in something other than things on this earth. And more and more I have been learning how that means finding joy in the promises that the Lord talks about.
Lamentations 3:21-24 – “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.””
If the love of the Lord never ceases and if His mercies are new every morning then that means we get to operate in that! If you know that the love of the Lord never ceases, despite all the reasons you might have against yourself to think otherwise, the way you walk day to day changes. If you know, I mean really know and believe what the creator promises us, you get to live every moment in the reality of you are SEEN by the Creator.
All that being said, I can look back at the time spent in Costa Rica and be thankful that it was hard and that it was challenging and that I got endless blank stares when I tried to speak Spanish. It allowed me to take a step back and realize that the things of this earth cannot provide an eternal hope. I will be the first to tell you about all the things I love about this earth…it just does not compare to the kind of joy and mercies the Lord provides new every morning.
PS – If you have followed me this far I would like to encourage you to just ask God if He would want to use you to support me this year. There is only a short time before I need to raise my final $5,000 and I believe the Lord will tell you if you should be a part of it.
