It has been over two weeks since I last posted a blog so I will catch everyone with what has been going on. Our time in Panama came to an end on September 3rd when we left to go to San Jose, Costa Rica. This was a day earlier then the rest of the squad because of a logistical reason. Our team was so far away from the other teams that to meet up with them would mean that we would have to traveled backwards and we also needed to pick up our squad mentor, Allison, from the airport. The reason for her arrival was to facilitate our debrief week in Jaco.
The day of the 3rd we left our family in Panama at 5:30 in the morning and caught a eight hour bus to San Jose. The team was able to take naps and talk on this trek and arrived around 2 in the city. Our mentor didn’t fly in until the next day so we had already had a hostel booked where we could spend the night. This was my first time as well as some of the others so we didn’t know what to expect. The experience was pleasant and relaxing. We spent that evening after enjoying supper at a local restraunt, catching up with each other, resting, watching movies, and writing blogs. Our stayed ended the next day around 11 when we had to check out. This was after we enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes and pineapple provided by the hostel. This led to the next transition on the journey.
This day started with catching two taxis loaded with all our gear jamed into the trunks of the cars to the bus station. The station was the stopping point for five of us and all our gear. Two of our teammates, Anthony and squad leader Rachel, traveled to the airport to pick up Allison. The pickup was a success and soon all of us were setting at the bus stop waiting for our departure at 3. We spent this time playing cards and for me also people watching. We loaded the bus on time and spent the next three hours on our way to our debreif location in Jaco. This is where we met up with the 27 others that had traveled there as well. The next phase on this journey was debrief.
We arrived at debrief at 6 to a welcomeing of cheers and hugs from squad mates who had arrived a couple hours earlier. After this welcome i grabbed some food and headed to my room to unpack my pack for the four days of rest. The guys on the squad shared a 8 person room for this time. The hostel here was amazing as well as it was located feet from the beach and the views of the sunsets at night were beautiful as well. We had most of the time free to do whatever and a couple sessions to let us reflect on the past month. This time was exactly what i needed and allowed many of us the time needed to rest as we would start the next step in the transition process.
This step was to travel to our ministry site in the same city, Jaco, Costa Rica, where we will spend 3 weeks. Most of the squad walked with their daypack about 20 minutes away, while three of the guys loaded up the large packs in a taxi to take to ministry. We were blessed again with another smooth journey and even had plenty of time to rest that day. We also had time to go grocery shopping as this month we are cooking our own meals. The site we are at has multiple rooms with bunk beds in them and houses all 35 of us comfortably. The ministry here is also very different then the manual labor my team did in Panama.
The ministry this month is relationship based with some days of manual labor. The city of Jaco is also referred to as the Las Vegas of Costa Rica. Some of the things we have done so far include helping feed the homeless one night, prayer walking in the community to pray over it, we also have passed out flyers on some occasions as well. Other ministry opportunities include building a tire park in a neighboring community and wrapping up construction projects at the base we are staying at. Some of these things we are with our team of 6 or 7 and other jobs we are split up. The time so far has been great as we get to interact with our whole squad. We only have about 2 and a half weeks left here before we will yet again make another transition to the next country, Nicaragura.
All these different transitions are what i was expecting to encounter and have also allowed me to grow tremendously in my walk with the Lord. Look for more blogs that will come in the next couple weeks.
