No, my teammates did not give me dysentery, but they have given me a bunch of other things. Like support, feedback, and many, many laughs.
We've only been at our ministry site in Costa Rica since late Saturday night, but we're already starting to form our own crazy, dysfunctional at times, but always loving family. And I'm so thankful for the six other teammates I have for this first month.
Our ministry this month is a little different than what we were expecting/told, but last minute changes don't seem to bother me too much. We were told we would be working with at-risk teens doing anything from teaching English, sports, art classes, or just anything else our contacts needed us to do, and that we would be staying in our tents for the duration of the month.
Well, we arrived late Saturday night at Tony and Rosa's home, which is pretty much in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle, and were pleasantly surprised when they told us we would have real beds to sleep on. Oh and we had real toilets and showers, running water, and electricity! And then we were debriefed on what we would be doing for the month and found out that the boys that usually stay here are on vacation til April. So our month now would be mostly manual labor.
And it's hard manual labor. It's waking up before 6am to get started early because the sun goes down at 6pm. It's sweating in the hot sun using machetes to clear pathways. It's getting dirty and completely covered in cement from pouring future stairs.
But even with all this hard work, I hardly find myself complaining. When you look at the big picture and why we're here, it just makes you smile and get so excited for the end result- which is a sanctuary in the middle of the jungle.
And with teammates like mine, that are always encouraging, and when you say you don't think you can do something, or find yourself starting to complain about it, they are so uplifting. And it's also not so bad that I'm constantly laughing. We all have a different sense of humor but yet they all gel together to make everything even funnier. And of course I laugh at just about everything, sometimes even a little uncontrollably.
But the best part of this experience so far is knowing that even if we think we didn't pack everything we needed, or have been eaten alive by the Costa Rican mosquitos, God will provide for us. And when we're sweating profusely or falling in the mud trying to make the trail to the sanctuary, it's all for his glory. And realizing this is only the beginning of this amazing journey He chose for me, makes me so incredibly excited for what He will lead us to next.
