Costa Rica has been absolutely amazing.
Team Phoenix was on an agricultural and dairy farm this month in the middle of a jungle (literally, a jungle). We were about an hour’s walk from any form of civilization and our ministry host went back to the United States a week after we arrived. Luckily we had 3 indigenous Costa Rican guys living below us and who near the end of the month became really good friends of ours. It was an interesting month to say the least. Full of bats, bugs, and naked hippies.
We did a variety of jobs this month. Kelly and I would walk to town once a week and teach baking to some of the local women at a church. We baked apple pie, funnel cake, no-bake cookies, pineapple upside down, et cetera… and the women loved it! They were so attentive to each and every ingredient and I even made it a point that they had to put everything in themselves and do all the mixing. All I did was show them how much and the order they were to be done in. It was a huge blessing to see the excitement and joy in their eyes at the end of the day when they got to enjoy the fruits (or in this case, sweets) of their labor.
Another component of our month was work around the ministry site itself. We helped finish the floor in a second cabin by sealing in cracks with a mixture of sawdust and glue, sanding, then doing 2 coats of varnish, painting the ceiling, varnishing wood beams, and sanding/varnishing the bamboo railings. I am so excited to someday see the finished cabin in all its glory! We also helped Ema (one of the guys living below) finish the roof on an outdoor Indian kitchen. It was quite the adventure. While we may not have been able to physically get up on the roof and screw panels in, we had a lot of fun helping. Other projects included building a greenhouse from the ground up (literally dug post holes and all that jazz), creating a couple raised organic garden beds, shaving tree trunks that had been chopped down, and paving portions of the road that led into the ministry site.
One of my favorite parts of this month was being able to relax and enjoy getting to know my teammates more and those around us. We were able to grow as a team and really solidify how we intended to function as a team and what that looked like. We went through ups and downs and some hard conversations, but I know above it all we are better for them. We will continue to grow and nurture one another throughout the rest of this race and I am so excited to see where God takes each of my teammates. I also really enjoyed getting to know the guys who lived below us: Ema, Roy, Derbin, Marlon, & Luis. They were such a blessing. Even though their English was limited we were still able to communicate and just enjoy life together. We had them over for dinner and games all the time and in turn they cooked us a few meals. It was so much fun to be able to minister to one another despite cultural and language differences. We all share and love the same God, so what else matters?
Now to the nitty gritty of this blog, and reason for the title.
While this may have been an amazing month. It was also a very hard month. I have learned a lot of things about myself what I need to change in order to be a better friend, daughter, sister, and much more:
I am a belittler and a non-sympathizer.
I am prideful and need to have the last word/be right all the time.
I think people should have the same mindset and general life habits that I have.
And it all needs to change. It all needs to be broken.
If I am to love people, truly love people, the way that Christ loves them, I cannot continue life the way I have been for 24 years. I need to break chains and I need to break myself. I need to meet people where they are at and not expect anything of them in return. I need to understand that my world is not their world and my perceptions are not their perceptions.
I need to die to myself if I am to raise others up. I need to see them and treat them as Christ would.
It won’t be easy, but I know that in the end it will be worth it and I will be a better friend, daughter, sister, and so much more because of it.
So I am sorry to anyone I have ever hurt or belittled.
I am sorry for any wrong I may have caused or done to anyone.
I am sorry, truly sorry. I hope you will forgive me and know that I will do my best to:
Encourage
Protect
Serve
&
Love
Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
God bless.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
