Hey Friends!
This week, I thought it would be fun to give you a little glimpse into our life here in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica! Our schedules and ministry vary from week to week, but this will at least give you a little feel for what our days look like! Enjoy!
Sunday
This Sunday team Jubilee, our squad leader Brook, and three brothers from team Fuego led church in the jungle! We did Sunday school, my friend Emily did the sermon, we had a few testimonies, and led worship. It was such a privilege to witness the body of Christ here and be a small part of it. After a some beans and rice for lunch we went on a little trip to the river with the youth group to swim! Then Jubilee hosted a little event for the women in the jungle. We got to wash these wonderful women’s feet and have a conversation about worth while sharing a cup of coffee. What a gift to see and hold just a piece of these women’s hearts. Our team came together after dinner to play a game and enjoy conversation before bed. We slept in a tree-house sort of loft in our tents to avoid mosquitoes and got to hear our pig friends below us, haha.
Monday
We woke up to coffee with beans and rice for breakfast. The usual feast 🙂 We got to work doing some manual labor for our jungle church host. Lots of mud, sweat, and paint. We also ran out of clean water and had to start rationing which was an adventure. We went swimming with some local friends to get a layer of dirt off in the river. That evening, our little joint team lingered around the table realizing what a gift life together is and how much time we have left. We laughed, cried, and worshipped all together. What a gift from the Father.
Tuesday
Today was our travel day out of the jungle (still on water rations)! We hiked about 30 minutes crossing a few creeks and rivers, waited, took a storage truck out to the river, waited, crossed the river (while listening to the Hobbit, of course), waited, and then took a bus back to base! We got back late and dehydrated, but got to do some laundry and get some WiFi.
Wednesday
Our morning was spent in intercession as a squad and then Fubilee (our name for teams Jubillee & Fuego when together) got a sabbath day to recuperate from our jungle time. Sabbath is an opportunity for us to enter into delight and slowness with the Lord. It is such a gift and something I have been growinfg a lot in. My friends and I spent some time resting in our little jungle tree house as the rain began to POUR down. Some of the heaviest rainfall Costa has seen! The rest of the squad also had to stay in because it was so crazy! We eventually went into town to work on some blogs and call our families! Team Jubilee had a much needed debrief after coming out of the jungle. I also got the jungle bug that has been going around and got to spend some time next to the toilet lol.
Thursday
The flood continued to come down! We enjoyed a fun scripture deep dive with some YWAMers (another gap year program that was on the Costa Rica base at the same time as us). We got to simply spend time in community in the morning before going out for an afternoon of nice and wet evangelism. It was really cool to start cultivating relationships with business owners and the locals that were still in town with the rain. Jubilee had another needed and sweet team time after which we united with our sisters on team Mosaic to pray and worship over our room. Oh and I found poop on my pillow before bed.
Friday
The sun finally came out and we got to go into a different jungle area to start clearing ground to build a house! The day was spent with machetes, rakes, and sunscreen. We finished our work earlier than our amazing ministry host, Rasta, expected. As a little surprise, he took us to a friend’s house to get some fresh coconuts from a tree! Afterwards, I went on a nice run to and from the beach with some of my brothers and we got back in time to have a delicious dinner. Then team Jubilee had our feedback night: a space where we can give affirmative or constructive feedback or words from God in order to push each other to reflect Christ better. This team time used to intimidate me, but it has easily become one of my favorites and such a good team bonding experience!
Saturday
The rain threatened to come in again, but it held off long enough for us to start a soccer camp for the kids in the community where we live! We had such a great turn out. There were devotionals, skits, and lots of games! Towards the end, the rain started to come down and we ended up making the most out of it with a mud fight. After wearing ourselves out at the camp, we showered under the gutter of the church, feasted on some PB&Js, and planned for a youth event. We went to youth group and a lot of our new friends from soccer ministry showed up which was super cool! My amazing sisters Kayla and Marissa organized it for us! We had testimonies, a quick lesson, games, a skit, and amazing worship. It is a joy to get to know these people a little more and to come back to the youth group week after week. We got home pretty late, but I got to learn how to make empanadas before cleaning up and going to bed! Thank you, Lord!
There is just one out of many varied weeks for you! I hope this was fun and insightful!
Have a great week. Bring Kingdom.
Much love,
Abbs
