Hey y’all!!
I wanted to create a blog specifically about the ministry & jobs that we had in Costa Rica, as well as Panama. I’ve gotten a little behind with them, partially because we’ve been incredibly busy, aaaaand partially because I haven’t felt like processing what it’s been like to leave places that I’ve come to love so much.
I’m trying to get myself on board with posting more frequently so that
a.) I don’t avoid embracing all the emotions within each month for each country
b.) You lovely people don’t have to read a million blogs at once haha
So, let’s talk about Costa Rica yooooo!
I was in Jaco, Costa Rica for a little over three weeks and let me tell ya – I. freaking. LOVED it. We stayed at a ministry site called Ocean’s Edge, and it’s a place for missionaries to stay when they come into town. Ocean’s Edge focuses on mobilizing volunteers to positively impact the world for the glory of God, facilitate growth through mentoring & training, and hosting like-minded ministries, teams and individuals on The Edge Ministry Base. It was so hard for me to leave because I was 110% on board with what they were doing with Jesus in that city.
We spent our time there doing..
- a lot of manual labor (super sweaty and extremely dirty) in which we cleaned up and restructured the Edge property for future missionaries
- cleaned up a local park, painting it to bring some more joy & dug out space to put tires and create more play areas
- prayer walking the city
- volunteering to serve food and clean up for a few different events at the local church (Horizon)
- working in the children’s church services to give some of the sweet adults at Horizon a chance to soak in Sunday service
- babysat a LOT of kiddos for local missionaries
- surf ministry (YES this is a real thing and YES what a dream haha)
- a kids party on our first Saturday in the local park – we painted nails and faces, played games, did relays, handed out food bags to help the local families, and took some time to do a bible story
- helped develop JBI (my personal fav)
Jaco Beach Info is something I wanted to go in detail about since it was my heart’s favorite thing to do while at Ocean’s Edge. JBI is something that they came up with to not only do ministry, but help change the city of Jaco. The city was once known as one of the darkest in Costa Rica – people went there to run and hide from things, or they went to find darkness to numb their own pain. Jaco is to be known as a city of light, a city on a hill – and that is something that the people we partnered with not only believe, but have begun to see. JBI is intentional focus on the businesses of Jaco. Not only do the businesses make up the city, but they have the power to influence the city for good. So, we spend time going out to all the businesses in Jaco – we ask their information, put them online and advertise them to the public FOR FREE. How cool is that?! Not all of them understand why we’re doing, not all of them could afford that, and so we get to be kind to them simply because we see the impact they have on their city and we believe in them. In addition, we ask if we can pray for them or do anything to (potentially) help their business in a more tangible way. If they don’t want prayer, that’s fine too! But whatever needs they have, we add to a prayer initiative where all the prayer requests for every business in the city are collected in one place and prayed over. HOW freaking POWERFUL. So yeah – I absolutely adored Jaco, and part of my heart is there forever. Y’all are helping support some incredible people and ministries out here around the world and not only am I grateful for you & your donations, they’re grateful too!
Xoxo
Alyssa
