Every Saturday, the ministry we are at this month holds a sort of youth group. It’s not really a youth group as much as a gathering of any members of the church who want to join. We worship, share our hearts with each other, and really grow in community. Last night was an especially wonderful night.
This past weekend, we started with some worship, which is always great. I love praising my Father! Then I shared some parts of my testimony. It was challenging, but so good. The Lord prompted me to share, and though I was really scared, I’m so glad I did. Everyone, racers and ticos alike (“tico/tica” is what Costa Ricans call themselves), loved me and prayed over me. I felt a burden lifted off my heart at the end. We closed with some more worship, and I thought the youth group was over.
We weren’t ready to let our friends go and they felt the same, so we invited them to have dinner with us. The only problem was that we didn’t have enough food to feed all the people present. Among our two teams, which is normally thirteen people, half were gone for a beach weekend, so there were six of us. The girls had decided that they wanted to cook for us and make burgers. We had enough burgers to feed the six of us…
The presence of six extra people seriously worried me. We went to the store just up the road where we bought stuff for s’mores (for desert) and drinks. One of our tico friends bought bags of chips for everyone. We tried to find more meat so we could make more burgers, but we couldn’t find any. I left the store praying, “Jesus do your thing. We don’t have enough food for everyone.”
Back at the church, we finished preparing the meal and set up tables inside. We set the tables with hamburgers (some on buns and others on slices of french bread), plantains, chips, and drink options of tea, coke, or fruit juice. We prayed together and tucked into our dinner.
Everyone ate happily and was full with the food (of course, we all still had room to make s’mores on the stove afterward). Nobody left the dinner table hungry last night. God did something truly amazing with a meal that shouldn’t have been able to feed twelve people.
Our God is a God of miracles! Our Father is always watching out for us, and He provides when we’re in need!
After dinner and s’mores, which were a new treat to the ticos, we had a dance party for at least an hour. Then we all crashed and watched a movie together. The evening lasted until almost midnight. I wouldn’t trade that incredible experience for anything in this world. I love the community that I’ve found here with my fellow racers and the members of the church. I have one more week with these amazing people! It’s sad to think of saying goodbye, but I’ve been so blessed by these people, and I’m so thankful to have built these relationships!
