It is so crazy to see how simple, but amazing life can be. I am currently sitting outside of a small church in La Vigia, Costa Rica under the stars listening to the guys that live here play worship music with one of my leaders, Jordan. They know the same songs for the most part, so Jordan has been learning the words in Spanish. It is such beautiful thing to see; people from two different countries, speaking different languages, come together and worship God in such a powerful way. God has worked in incredible ways in the 5 days that we have been here. The biggest way is the people that live in La Vigia, and especially our host family. They are the most hospitable, caring, loving humans in the world.
Basilio is the pastor of the church we are living at. It is truly hard to describe him in words. My squad mates can probably agree with that. You would think that the language barrier would hinder the communication between our team, but it absolutely does not. We have shared more laughs with Basilio in the past few days than with any English speaker in the past. If you laugh or even smile for that matter, he will start to laugh right along with you. Cat and Basilio are the most entertaining duo on this trip. She told him that she wanted to pet a cow, so within a day he found a cow that she could pet. Now, there is a constant joke with repeating the words “leche, vaca, moo”. They laugh and laugh and laugh and it’s the most gleeful sight to see. Also just to picture Basilio a little, he has an adventure hat and small machete that he carries everywhere when we go on little treks around the area and it is the cutest thing in the world.
His wife, Isamar, is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met. Literally five minutes ago, she forced one of my sqaudmates to go play at the park and said she would do his laundry for him. When he said he wanted to stay and help, she basically kicked him down the road and then turned around smiling, heading for his laundry. Every morning when she walks into the room she says “Hola!” with the biggest smile. Even though she can’t really understand what we are saying to her, Isamar without fail will laugh and hug us like one of her children. She makes us feel so incredibly loved, and feels like a second mom while on the field.
Their sons, Axel and Deglyss, are like our adopted siblings now. They are always around, either hanging out with us or helping work during the day. While working up on the roof, Deglyss will come by every 20 minutes to make sure that we are still feeling OK and aren’t overheating. He has such a heart for learning, so we are always teaching him how to say fun phrases in English and Jordan teaches him new songs on the guitar every night for hours. Axel has been so fun to hang out with too. He is very talented at haircuts and cuts all the guys’ hair around here. He also cut Nick and Bryce’s hair for free!
This family has taken in our group of 16 like we are their family. We laugh and talk and play card games just like I do at home. On Monday we had our adventure day and they tagged along. After swimming and hanging out in the ocean for an hour or so, it was time for lunch. I expected some sandwiches or something basic like that, but oh no. They brought a huge cooler full of fish, rice, bread, water, and jelly and we picnicked together on the beach like we were on a huge family vacation. Even after a few days, we all feel like we have a family all the way in Costa Rica.
