It was a dark and desolate street we walked on when we first arrived in Puerto Viejo the night our team felt God calling us to the East Coast. We were first welcomed by a gentleman we met at our bus stop whom we’ve never spoken before and were told about a possible hostel where we could stay for the night. The man easily had our attention due to arriving at nightfall and we had no familiarity with the area. As we followed him, we were fully attentive as he led us through dark streets and alleyways. Locals’ heads would turn as we walked by as if Gringos had never been seen in the area before. After walking several blocks in what seemed like almost total darkness, we finally arrived at the hostel and we found a great sign of relief as we learned more about the people who operated the hostel.
To those who haven’t read my past blog, I briefly mentioned our ministry this month is to focus on the World Race’s Unsung Heroes ministry. What is Unsung Heroes? Glad you asked! As the World Race continues to grow and expand, the biggest goal is spread ministry outreach throughout the countries that are in our routes. In order for this to happen, teams take turns in different countries doing what we call Unsung Heroes. Unsung Heroes is where teams establish partnerships with local contacts/hosts within a country who could use assistance with ministry in the area. If the contact/host and Adventures in Missions are able to successfully make a partnership, then future World Racers will come in, stay with the contact, and do ministry in the given area.
While doing Unsung heroes this month, our team has had the chance to see God work in crazy ways and lead us in directions we wouldn’t have expected.
As we felt God call us to the East Coast, we didn’t have any specific direction to go. We chose to go to Puerto Viejo as we had heard it was safer than places further up north along the coast. As we met the family who operated the hostel, we quickly learned they were actually very religious. They decided to sit with us and exchange words on how the Lord was impacting our lives. We discovered the family owns a community house called the House of Resurrection where they do various types of ministry to reach out to the local community. But God didn’t stop working there. As we were leaving the next day to go back to San Jose, our teammate Bridget began speaking with someone at the bus stop, who turns they have worked with the Christian Organization YWAM. Hopefully in future months God will rock the community of Puerto Viejo because the time our team spent there, I heard several people say they had TOO MANY churches in the town. Craziness. Bothers me a little bit to hear that, but I guess it can help show where God can use us the most.
An important contact we found and teamed up this month is actually one my mom’s old sorority sisters. She has been a missionary in Costa Rica for over 16 years and has worked with prison ministry. She has absolutely helped us feel at home with hot showers, cable tv with Monday Night Football, and a washer and dryer. She shows an incredible love for God that everyone could learn from.
Lastly I have to say Costa Rica has been an awesome experience as it has a perfect blend of Latin American culture with American culture. Oh how wonderful it is to see a McDonalds and Taco Bell again. On our days off, we have gotten to see Iguanas and a Toucan, see beautiful Caribbean beaches, and try amazing new fruits found in Central America. We hope to see a sloth eventually. Our team has had this weird obsession with sloths since we’ve been here that I can’t really explain, but we are determined to see one.
Our next upcoming plans for this month is to travel to the western part of Costa Rica where we have a few possible contacts we hope to speak with. Please pray for safe travels for our team and God will continue to reveal new ministries. Thanks for reading and God bless!
