About a year ago (2015) in September/October (I don’t remember the exact time frame) but I remember having a dream. In the dream I saw the ocean and I saw mountains surrounding the ocean. I remember standing with someone else I believe it was a female. We were standing on the beach and we were talking to two people, I believe they were males, and we were sharing the Gospel. At the time I really thought it was a vision of California and the other person standing with me was my best friend, Mookie. She had currently moved out there and it was (and still is ) a dream of mine to go to Cali. So I just assumed that’s what the dream was about. But after looking into it and such, I knew what I saw wasn’t really found in Cali, but I didn’t look anymore into it. I had actually forgotten about it.
Until a couple of weeks ago. I left for The World Race and our first ministry site is in Jaco (said like haco), Costa Rica with Ocean’s Edge. I honestly had no idea what Costa Rica had to offer, or what ministry would even look like. I felt like I entered this almost totally blinded and I was okay with it!
One day durning some free time, our team decided to walk down to the beach, which is about 5 minute walk (PRAISE THE LORD!!!) and when I stepped onto the beach, it’s not at all what I expected it to be. I had this fantasy that it would be crystal blue water with white sand. Well it wasn’t quite like that. It’s actually black sand with a lot of rocks and because of that I think it makes the water look darker then what it is. But as I looked around I was literally speechless!!!!!! Would you believe that I saw an endless ocean’s view, blue sky with clouds and mountains surrounding on both sides!!!!!! I immediately was reminded of the dream I had. I had literally forgotten about it until that moment. I was just totally blown away! No I didn’t specifically talk to someone that day but I just couldn’t believe that it was even a thing!!!
I am such in awe that even entering the race, I had no idea what Costa Rica had to offer, nor honestly did I know what the Lord had for me here. I am still seeking Him on what He has to teach me here, what He has for me and my team to do while here. But I’m learning that the things that I think should happen or ways I think things could work, God’s plans are not like my plans. But what I do know is that the Lord knew I was going to be here (of course) but He also showed me and proved to me that He really does have all things in my life planned out even before I lived a single day (Psalm 139:16).
Our days here have been full of hard work! We’ve had the awesome opportunity to help revamp the property that we are staying on. We’ve been cleaning, painting and reorganizing, and digging. It’s been so cool to know we have been able to be a part of the building up here at Ocean’s Edge! Over the weekend we are able to help and be a part of Kids Club, which is open to the public. The kids come we played tons of soccer and a few other games. Then my team taught and acted out the story of when Peter healed the Lame man. We then had them create a puppet craft to go along with the story to remind them that they have the power inside of them through Jesus.
Myself and 3 others had a really cool opportunity last week to go a school and teach classes. We were helping a lady who taught English in this school. But it was an exam day, so as she pulled the kids to give them exams, we took over the class. We taught them Bible stories, had them act out different scenarios/stories and did crafts. We taught a variety of 6 classes from 1st-6th grade. We used different stories like Daniel and the Lions Den, and focused on the importance of prayer. We used the Good Samaritan to focus on not bullying each other and we focused on characteristics about THEM that made them a good samaritan. And lastly we taught on the Lame man and we focused on the power that each of them had being a child of God. It definitely was a challenging day because even though she was an English teacher and we were helping with her class the children barely spoke english. So we spoke a lot of broken Spanish. One of my teammates is fluent in Spanish and she was able to help us. It was a super busy day, but it was so worth it. Once we arrived to the school we could tell it wasn’t one of the better schools, and at the end of the day, the teacher explained some of the kids stories and we noticed we were in the middle of the slums. Which explained a lot of the behavior and other things we saw throughout the day.
NEVER would I have imagined I would be here in Costa Rica. It’s never been on my radar to go. (I actually feel this way about a lot of the countries I will be visiting). So since being here I’ve just been asking the Lord, what do you have for me to learn here. And I’m starting to realize that a lot of times ministry isn’t preaching, or even talking about God. Ministry is encouraging someone to work through one more day. It’s taking time to listen to someones story and affirm them. Sometimes it’s waving and saying hello to a child and watching their little face light up with the biggest smile you’ve seen. So the Lord has just been reminding me of all the ways that His love can be given as well as seen all over the place.
Praises & Prayer requests:
Praises: instead of having to tent out like we were supposed to this month, we actually all have bunk beds to sleep in!!!!!
We are able to drink water here straight from the sink!!
we have full bathrooms with regular showers and all!
We will live in a gated area, so we are in a super safe environment
Prayer Request!!
Branches of Peace (my team): that we would continue to grow together and stay unified. (We’ve had an awesome time getting to know each other thus far I’m excited to see what’s in store for our team!!)
Jaco (this city): The Lord has been sending people here with a heart to see this city in rival. They’ve been so diligent in following the Lord even with the small things and their hearts are so stirred to see the Lord just radically transform this city!!
Prostitution is a big thing here. Surprisingly it’s not illegal, so it’s become common thing to do. I’ve been learning some girls do it to support their family. Some do it to have money to go to university. And many other things like this. So be in prayer that the Lord grips their heart and opens up doors of possibilities for them to find other ways to make money without having to sell themselves or their children.
Lastly I am still $1,610 from meeting my next deadline in November! Every other deadline has been right onto the last minute but I’m praying and believing God to meet the total far before the deadline. So if you have wanted to support me but haven’t yet, please consider supporting even $20 helps! Thanks for all those who have supported me this far! I can’t believe i’m already month 1!!!!
