Aloha!
Time is certainly flying now as we are already almost through month 8! We have just gotten information about our Panama placements, and just the other day, we received our flight info back to the United States at the end of August. Leaving is starting to feel so real, and post race plans are starting to be dreamed up. But at the same time, we’re still in month 8 and we have a lot of ministry left that God has called us into.
So this month, we are in Costa Rica! We started with a 5 day debrief where were spoken into, corporately worshiped, and just spent a lot of time with the Lord processing the past three months. We also received our ministry placements for the month as well as new teams!
Yep, we switched teams one final time. These girls pictured below is who I get to do the rest of the race with! Our new team name is Aloha! We picked this name for a lot of different reasons. For one, it’s fun and welcoming. It’s popular meaning does mean both hello and goodbye, but traditionally, the word represents love, peace, mercy, and compassion. It’s the idea that the world is a place for love and not conflict. But it also means, “to be in the presence of divinity” or in the presence of “the divine breath of life”. Which I think is SO COOL. Because the Holy Spirit lives inside each one of us on my team. So where we walk, we carry the presence of the divinity. And each and every new day, God breathes life into my lungs. And so with each breath I breathe, it is because I am filled with the divine breath of life.
So here we are!
(Starting from the back Left: Abby, me, Cae, and Ris. Then from the front left is Paige, Malysa, and Caitlin!)
We have been placed in Jaco, Costa Rica this month which has been an absolute dream. We are partnered with a ministry called Ocean’s Edge. This ministry has actually been an answer to prayer for my team and I. While at debrief, we had some time to vision cast over what we wanted the next four months of our time together to look like. As a team, we desired to incorporate corporate prayer, worship, and scripture reading. We also wanted to make time to workout with each other. And get this, we literally start our days by doing exactly all that.
At 8am, one of our ministry hosts Steph, leads us in a short workout and stretch. Then we spend the rest of the hour in devotionals. This has been super special for us in a lot of ways. For one, it is super powerful to read scripture aloud as a group. We have also grown so much as a team just by being able to set apart time each day that is dedicated to learning more about who God is and who we are in Christ.
After morning devos, we have been splitting up and spending our time either at the English speaking Church, the Spanish speaking church, or at Ocean’s Edge. While there, we’ve been doing a lot of cleaning/baby sitting/helping out wherever we can. Throughout the week, we also have been a part of helping out with youth group, going to prayer meetings at the church, leading all the different ages at Sunday school, and helping out with Surf Ministry! We live about a 15 minute walk to the Ocean, and the head of our ministry used to surf competitively. So every other week, we host a surf ministry where kids of all ages can come for free lessons. Then we finish with a bible study, song, beach clean-up, and sometimes a bonfire. The parents also stay the entire time to be their child’s lifeguard, so it is a really cool way to outreach to the community.
Ocean’s Edge in general, is run by a group of really inspiring women. One more thing that they have done for us while we are here is set up mentor groups. So once a week, we have met with our mentor and they have just poured so much into us. It is really rare to have a month where the ministry invests so much into filling us up while we come alongside them and help with the ministry. And honestly, some months have been really difficult because of this. So my whole team has just felt super grateful for this month and all the different ways it has been a blessing for us.
Lastly, a huge part of our ministry is prayer walking. There are a TON of businesses in Jaco, and we have spent the time to walk around the entire city, praying for each individual business by name and writing the name down. Then, we divided the city into quadrants and put each businesses name into which quadrant they belong onto a spreadsheet. This is just step one in a long plan they have for this prayer initiative. The first day we arrived in Jaco, they spent a long time vision casting and sharing the story of what God has been doing here. (which will be my next blog!)
So here’s a fun picture of my team, hanging out with our hosts Steph and Sarah!
Also short prayer request: Last month, my wisdom teeth started coming up and were causing my mouth a lot of pain. I had them checked out and the dentist strongly recommended getting them taken out really soon. So on Thursday, I had all four teeth removed! Please pray for a speedy recovery so that I can get back to full time ministry as fast as possible! Also, my oldest sister Megan had one of her teeth pulled on Thursday as well. Her’s was a difficult procedure as it was strangely positioned and close to her sinuses. Recovery has been tough on her and the pain meds have been causing her to be sick. Please pray for her as well as she is recovering too!
As always, thank you all for the continued support and prayer!
