one thing that really helped me in my decision to actually do the race was reading blogs from past racers. their blogs gave me an inside look into what life is actually like on the field with AIM, and now that i’m on the field myself, i kinda hope that i can do the same for future racers. at the same time, i know that i can never really fully explain what being on the race is like to my supporters/friends and family back home, but i’d like to try and give you guys a clear picture of what your support has gone towards :))
so i thought i’d hop on and give a quick tour of our ministry building! no matter how much i talk about the Hope Project and the work we do here, the best way to show you what it looks like here is to well…show
first off, the Hope Project is right next to the train tracks. so while we do get some a nice view of the mountains, we also hear them running all day. it’s not too unusual for all conversation to pause after you hear the first sounds of a train approaching, which then just gets louder and louder until it rushes by with a lot of honking horns and wind. but then we just get back to whatever we were saying and ministry goes on 🙂
here’s another view of the outside of the building. it seems small at first, but it goes back pretty far and there’s a whole other floor underneath! that’s how we can have so many ministries working around the clock, like the Refuge’s counseling while there’s kids ministry in the basement, or dance class downstairs while a bracelet workshop is held upstairs.
this is what you see when you first walk in the door to the Hope Project. to your left is a counter where there’s always hot coffee, and a desk where Pablo, the squad’s favorite resident dancer, usually hangs out.
then you turn to the left and you’ll usually see something like this! most of the time, only one team is needed to help out with whatever ministry is going on, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us just sit around and do nothing. as i’ve said before, our ministry hosts are all about empowering us to serve in our giftings, so we have a list of projects that are constantly being worked on around the center. for example, my teammates Emma and Kenzie have been working on typing out curriculum for English Club and writing stories for the students to read. my squadmates Wes and Carti have had the opportunity to record some of the dancers from House of Raw and make promotional videos for the dance studio. whenever we have free time, you can find us here, working on projects or just talking to the staff at the center, who are all amazing at what they do.
through the door that Carter (my squad leader) was cleaning in the other picture, is the Refuge. this is where Doña Ceci has counseling sessions with women in the mornings and where we sometimes work on projects in the afternoons.
past the Refuge is the kitchen and the back room, which is where José (the head of House of Raw) lives, along with Nola, the ministry dog. we also keep a lot of supplies back here, so there’s always someone running in and out of the back room, grabbing more paper for English Club or string for Waves of Grace bracelets. we also have a team on hospitality at all times, which means they’re in charge of making sure there’s clean mugs for coffee, emptying trash cans, cleaning up any spills, etc.
and last but not least, House of Raw! next to the kitchen is a narrow, steep staircase that leads down here. in the mornings, we bring tables and chairs down to have English Club, or foam mats if there’s a lot of moms bring their kids to the Refuge. and then in the afternoons, there’s dance classes! so far we’ve taken dancehall, krump, popping, healing dance, and shuffle classes (taught by our squadmate Gabe!) we’ll still have a team on hospitality, and then every other Friday is a worship night with Marlon, the worship coordinator. and after that, we head back to the base for team time and dinner !
thanks for taking the time to read this far!! ministry in Costa Rica has been everything i’ve ever prayed for and more and we’ve been able to see the Lord work so clearly in the lives of the people we’ve met at the center, as well as in me and my squadmates. we love it here so much, and i’m sad to say that we only have one more month here :((
but, we did find out where we’re headed to next!!
*drumroll please*
WE’RE GOING TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!!!!
all we know so far is that we’ll be staying at Mission of Hope’s base in Santiago, but we are super excited 🙂 some of my squadmates have gone on trips with Mission of Hope before, and our squad mentor served with them in Haiti, so we can’t wait to see what our ministry will look like for the last two months of our race, but we know it’ll be good !
