So, we arrived here on Friday night after a couple plane rides and a very easy travel day, in my opinion. The weekend seemed pretty slow getting started. We are staying in a ministry house that is owned by a ministry called 6:8 ministries. They are the organization we are working with during our stay here. They have a house that is set up really nice for visitors to come in and work. We have bunkbeds, showers, and a kitchen that we can cook our meals in every day. We are very blessed and this is a nice transition for our first month of the race.
So far, we haven’t done a whole lot by American standards of busyness. However, we have done some. Saturday we explored the market and grocery store to buy food for our team since we are cooking our own meals. Then, we went to the youth group on Saturday night. A few of us did a little skit before the youth pastor spoke and then we played games with the students. They played ninja, a game that is also very popular with Velocity youth in Nashville.
Sunday, we attended Celebration Church here in Costa Rica and they translated to English for us, but I was very pleased with how much I understood without the translation. Yesterday afternoon we went to a barrio of Alajualita called Aurora and we just played with kids for about an hour and then came back to the ministry house and hung out.
Then today, we finally got started. (I am a go and do type person so I was getting pretty antsy not doing a lot.) Today we walked a few blocks down the street to an area called Cafe Tal. It is what used to be a thriving coffee plantation. Now, it is a desolate and dirty place. The local people do not go there and say it is a wasteland and basically hopeless. However, it is frequented by all of the homeless in the city and many prostitutes. In Costa Rica, prostitution is not illegal. Therefore, it’s legal. We were told by our host that in San Jose, a prostitute will work for like $100 per hour. They are registered as prostitutes with the government and get a government approved health card for regular check ups and such. (And people are complaining about our American government, but I digress.) Here where we are working in Alajualita, a prostitute works for about $5 per hour. People come to Cafe Tal to find these women. The only thing I can compare it to is like a corn maze full of trash. So, we spent the day today cleaning up the trash and praying over the land. There is no way we could clean all of the trash because it is so abundantly full of plastic, cardboard, paper, feces, needles, and many small plastic bottles. These bottles used to house lighter fluid. Many people here drink the lighter fluid to ease their pain. 
To say this place is heartbreaking is an understatement. It oozes hopelessness and if you choose tosee that hopelessness and can’t see past all the trash sucking out the life of all things around it then that is all it will ever be. However, as I was picking up trash and stepping on urine soaked boxes, I just kept noticing that these coffee trees are still producing beans. They are blooming like they don’t know how desolate the area is. The trees are bearing fruit. They are oblivious to the dirt that is seeping into their roots. I immediately thought of people who seem to be in a hopeless situation but continue to produce fruit. Many people I meet in impoverished situations or students whom I have worked with that seem to have lost every family member they had and continued to work hard. These are the coffee trees. They have hope that their environment will change. They keep producing fruit and hope that one day, their beauty will overshadow the dirt. People will begin to see the beautiful trees instead of the trash encrusted fence line. People will want to make it better instead of avoid it.
So, if you feel like you are in a desolate, hopeless place, I challenge you to look beyond the fence line. As soon as I walked out of the fence, I was staring at a beautiful mountain with a Cross on top and brightly blooming trees. I walked one block and there is a gorgeous Catholic church sitting in front of the town’s park. I saw a glimpse of what the city used to be and also what God can restore it to again. It was a beautiful picture of people who endure so much, but if they can just survive long enough to get on the other side of the fence, things will be beautiful again!
Tomorrow is our day off so we will be hitting up Jaco beach! Then, starting Wednesday the every day grind begins. It doesn’t seem that every day will look the same here so we shall see! Thank you for your prayers and support! Until next time…stay classy!
PS…I will be adding more pictures to facebook…please check there for more. Although the internet isn't really strong so it maybe a bit.
