Our first few days of Unsung Hero-ing was focused around San Jose while we waited to firm up travel plans for further afield. There are several ministries in this capital city that reach out to ‘the least of these.’ It was a pleasure to meet up with a few.
We went first to International Baptist Church, where we met the director of missions. He is involved in a ministry called Face of Justice (www.faceofjustice.org). Their focus is on victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation – they serve to defend, shelter, train, and love those victims. The church also sends teams to visit an orphanage and love on the children.
On our second day of meetings we met 2 men who head up Conexión (www.extreme-service.com). I’m going to steal some words from their website. There is a saying in Spanish, “Las palabras se las lleva el viento” (Words can be blown away by the wind). The people of Conexión want to leave more than just words that can be blown away. They want to take action in meeting the needs of the people so that their words can have a more lasting effect. Every other weekend they host a medical clinic in a poor area where the people do not have access to or cannot afford medical treatment. The medical team consists of a pediatrician, a physician, a dentist, and an optometrist. They often take a team into Talamanca, which is the poorest region in Costa Rica where the indigenous people live. Conexión also gets invited into schools to teach values, Christianity, and sex-ed. Catholicism is the national religion of Costa Rica, but it is a syncretistic version of Catholicism. Many of the people do not know what a true relationship with God looks like or the true teachings of the Church. Conexión does such a good job of teaching that the schools contact them to come in and educate the youth. Amazing!
Over an hour into our meeting the men asked what we were doing the coming weekend. Sadly, we had planned to visit a ministry east of San Jose. A minute after the question was raised, however, I received an email from said ministry informing us they would not be able to host us over the weekend. Just like that our schedule was cleared and we were able to join Conexión for a medical clinic in Santa Rita!
Fast forward to the weekend: We met up with the team on Friday night. On Saturday and Sunday Zach put his medical knowledge to use and helped triage the patients. The rest of us helped in whatever capacity was needed. Mostly we played with the kids and kept them entertained while their parents saw the doctors. One of my favorite things is to see children smile and laugh. There was much smiling and laughter over the weekend!
Another ministry we had the honor of meeting while in San Jose is Pearl Process, a business run by Operation Mobilization (www.pearlprocessmosaics.com – coming soon). The business was set up to help the women of a slum in San Jose. Four women were able to be hired – for the first time they are able to provide for their families and be covered with insurance. For the first time they have a bank account and bank card. The women make mosaics out of beautifully colored glass. The mosaics are then sold in cafés and artisan markets. My favorite story from our time with Pearl Process is how the women compare their lives with the broken pieces of glass. Out of brokenness comes a beautiful image. That’s a powerful realization! There are 15 other women who are learning how to sew and their products are sold wherever the mosaics are sold. All of the women also participate in a Bible study. Below is a link to a video that better shows what Pearl Process is all about. Another side of the OM work is Vive Talamanca (www.omcostarica.org). One of the ladies we met goes into the villages of Talamanca and disciples the indigenous people. They do some relief work as well as build a center to train Costa Ricans to be missionaries sent into the world.
Come back later for more stories of our time scavenging Costa Rica for Unsung Heroes.
