life is sweet here and just keeps getting sweeter.
most mornings start around 5:30. i wake up to the sound of the fresh prince of bel air blaring from my phone. i climb out of my top bunk, grab my toothbrush and head to the outside sinks to get my life together. then, i play Church by Samm Henshaw. (thank you Hailey for showing me that song before i left<3) 10/10 my hype song before the day starts! i’ve never been much of a morning person but it’s hard not to be while living here. surrounded by beautiful sunrises, beautiful people, and a beautiful purpose for being here. our house is chaotic and home’y’ and warm and always full of life. we always start the day as a family. time spent in the Word and journaling and worship music. every door is open with a constant breeze and sunny skies. after squad time we’ll go and make beans and rice for our teams. our cook, Xinia is actually an angel and makes it all for us we just heat it up the next morning. afterwards, the teams head out to their different ministries. we hug each other goodbye and then head out with our rain jacket (we’re literally here in the middle of monsoon season) to start the day.
mondays are spent at home. we deep clean the whole house. toilets, kitchen, rooms, the whole shabang! After we clean, we have sessions either from our ministry elders or others missionaries will come in. we break for an hour lunch so we can have grilled cheese sandwiches and then come back for ATL (ask the Lord). That can look like a lot of different things but right now our teams split off and go to different parts of town. While we’re out we ask the Lord what he has for anyone that we may encounter and to just give us an opportunity to witness or pray for anyone we can.
sundays are sabbath. a day of complete rest. we’ve been listening to podcasts and teachings on sabbath and I’m really starting to enjoy this day. your work is never gonna be done. so right now we’re learning thats okay and that we need time to refuel. you don’t actually realize how exhausted your body is until you take a second to recoup and so its super nice having a day thats completely devoted to rest with Abba.
tuesdays and thursdays we hike about a mile to our bus stop where we get picked up and then jump off 20ish minutes later. once we’re off we walk to House of Hope, (a safe house for the women trapped in sex trafficking). we stay there with the women from 9:30 to 11:30 just talking and loving on them. two or three of us usually go out on the streets and walk around to find our women and invite them in. we usually will give an encouragement to the ladies with the help of our awesome translator, Marta. things are then followed by cookies and coffee and nice conversation. after we say chow to our women, my team and I catch the next bus home and go make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
wednesdays in the morning we go to a human development center and teach classes for the community. the center is basically a branch off of a school we also teach at on wednesdays and thursdays, Tirrases (or the slums). So far, we’ve had yoga, dance, art, and soccer classes. We basically teach anything we think would either benefit the community of Tirrases or something they would really enjoy. relationships are being built, bonds are growing stronger and I know saying goodbye to Costa Rica is not a goodbye I’m ready for.
by the time ministry ends and we’re on our walk home, its usually pouring down rain. LOVE being here in monsoon season! especially when we have time to just sit at the base and watch it. we sit on the wooden swing sets on our back porch and watch it come down while the boys play the guitar. feels like a dream, this life.
When ministry ends for the day all I can think about is our squad and how much I miss everyone. Its nice coming home to your family and sitting down at the table together talking about how great ministry was and all the things that the Lord is doing. America runs on time. How much time will I have left to do this? If we leave now, we should have time to do everything. But Costa Rica isn’t like that. Its not about time, it’s about relationships. I’ve grown up in a culture that values time but i’m learning to adapt to a new culture. a culture that values building relationships more than anything. I’m loving it, too. We eat together and aren’t in a hurry to do dishes and clean everything before a certain time. We’re okay with sitting around the table and enjoying these moments we have together.
Sorry I know this blog was kind of all over the place but I have been asked a ton about our daily routine here. Its very different everyday (as you read) but I hope this gave you a little insight as to whats going on here in Costa Rica! Thank you for all the support and prayers and love you have shown me! You’ll never know how much it means!
Much love,
Brittney
