Wow… I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since my last post. Life has been crazy these past several weeks! From Nicaragua to Costa Rica to Panama to Indonesia, it’s been hard to keep up with blogging. There’s been a lot going on emotionally and spiritually, and there’s a blog coming on that (hopefully) soon, but it kind of got in the way of me having the energy to sit down and hammer out a post. I’m sorry I’ve neglected keeping all of you updated, but now I’ll let you in on what was going on ministry wise in the last 3 countries. Better late than never, right?
Nicaragua and Costa Rica were both all-squad countries, which means that each of the 4 teams on our squad of 21 people were all in the same place, being hosted by the same ministry. In both places we were hosted by an organization, not a family or specific person, and the ministry we did was very different day to day. Despite the similarities, though, they were very different experiences! In Panama we were back to serving in individual teams, and that looked completely different as well!
Our ministry host in Nicaragua was an organization called REAP Granada. We lived just outside the city of Granada on the REAP farm. They grow plantain, lemon, tamarindo and moringa trees on the property, but even more varied than the produce the farm grows was the ministry we did with them.
A lot of the time we helped on the farm doing various things. After the political issues Nicaragua had fairly recently, tourism dropped and caused a lot of people to lose business. This made some people desperate enough to start stealing plantains from the farm. In addition to that, plantains aren’t a very efficient crop. One tree produces one bunch of fruit, then it has to be cut down to the root and a new shoot comes up from the same root system. This can only happen about 3 times before the whole plant has to be uprooted. Because of this, we helped clear the majority of their plantain trees to make room for new, more efficient crops like turmeric.
The tamarindo trees were at the end of their season so we didn’t get to help with the harvest, but the Tamarindo Project that they have is really incredible! They employ several men from the community to help harvest the fruits, then once they’re harvested they hire local women to peel and remove the seeds from the fruit. The fruit gets made into a tasty sweet-sour juice and sold. The seeds get dried, varnished and made into jewelry to be sold. It’s an amazing project that provides employment to members of the local community, which is especially important with the decline of tourism to the country.
More of the work we did on the farm was planting moringa seeds. We planted hundreds of the little guys in bags of dirt, and they were already sprouting by the time we left! Moringa is known as ‘the tree of life’ for many reasons. The seeds, harvested from the fully grown trees, can be used to regulate diabetes and they also lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It’s not as effective as prescription medication but it helps people who can’t afford expensive medication. The leaves, usually harvested from young plants planted in rows like you would grow and harvest wheat or a similar crop, are incredibly nutritionally dense. They contain protein, iron, magnesium, and vitamins B6, C, B2 and A. Malnutrition is the biggest physical need among children in the area, and these trees will help meet those needs.
We also helped host some events on the property. One Sunday there was a united church service where several local churches came to worship together. We helped with setup, then we sat in on the service which was incredible! It was so cool seeing so many people praising the Lord under the pavilion where we had 5am prayer as a squad 3 days a week! On the Saturday after Valentine’s Day we helped put on a Valentine’s dinner for a lot of the people who work on the farm or partner somehow with REAP Granada. We set up tables with tablecloths and fancy centerpieces, watched the couple’s kids while they enjoyed the evening, put on our nicest clothes and served a steak dinner, and cheered them on as they sheepishly walked onto the dance floor for maybe the first time in a while, or the first time ever. It was a sweet evening. And also nice to not be covered in dirt!
We also did some ministry off the farm. We often went prayer walking, which looks different everywhere you go. In Nicaragua, it looked like going to houses or meeting people in the street and getting to know them, then asking if they want prayer for anything. It might sound a little crazy, but you have to remember (and this lesson took me a while to get into my head too) that people in other countries are a lot more open to that sort of thing. We had a man talk to us about Jesus all afternoon, then offer us oranges from his fruit cart as we parted ways. We had many people pull out all their plastic chairs, wooden stools and anything else they had to sit on for us to use while they stood so we could be comfortable in their homes. We met a family that seemed ashamed of their relative who came over after spending the morning drinking, and we were able to show the Father’s love by going back another day and letting them know that we still cared about them. People are so hospitable and open to talking about religion, their families and pretty much anything else you can manage to translate to Spanish! On occasional other days we found ourselves visiting different places in the area. We went to the nursing home to bring food and coffee to the residents and spend some time with them. We spent an afternoon in a hospital as well, and my team spent the afternoon in the children’s ward spending time with and praying for kids and their families who had to stay in the hospital.
In Costa Rica, our ministry was just about as varied, yet totally different! One of our biggest ministries that we were involved with was the Edge projects. Ocean’s Edge Ministries (OEM), our ministry host in Jacó, is currently working on some changes to improve their property. They’re renovating the building to make more room for intern housing, as well as making preparations to add a shop to the front of the property for income a few years down the road. It was really cool to be on that end of an organization’s plans for the future. We knew that some of the work we were doing wouldn’t make sense until weeks, months, or even years down the road. We moved a ton of dirt so they could install a new septic system, shimmied a cinder block retaining wall over a few feet, set up bunk beds in one of the new rooms, and generally tidied the property. It was an honor to be a part of a project with such a big, long-term vision! Their vision doesn’t end with the Edge property, though. It reaches far into the entire community of Jacó. We had the opportunity to walk around the city at night after the sun had set and the party had started. It’s improved greatly in the past few years, but Jacó is very much so a town full of partying, drinking and prostitution. We spent our time walking around praying for the city and talking to people. We also did some more tangible types of ministry for the community as well. At a local park in the Invu area of Jacó we got to help put on a little carnival for the kids. It’s a low income area so there’s not a lot there for the kids to do, so the local church OEM partners with will put on an event every month or two. We put on some relay races, acted out the story of Noah’s ark, painted faces, and I even got the chance to use my balloon twisting ‘expertise!’ That wasn’t the only event we did, though! We also helped with setup, cleanup and serving food at a marriage conference and a volunteer appreciation event at the church. For the volunteer dinner, there wasn’t enough food. If you got close enough to the kitchen you could hear some of the squad singing a little jingle about fishes and loaves. And, just like in the Bible story, we were able to feed everyone! There were other little ministries mixed in there too. Myself and some teammates helped a different church clean up and prepare for some major changes, and three of our squad helped with the Jacó Business Guide project. For that, they collected information from local businesses dedicated to improving the city’s reputation and put together a guide for tourists and locals alike to use.
Yet again, the ministry landscape totally changed when we arrived in Rio Sereno, Panama. The day (or night?) we got there our hosts, Enoc and Yaneth, told us we were part of the family now. They were our Panamanian parents, and we were their daughters. They truly took this to heart and we felt completely at home with them, and in that spirit we were also working on the family farm! Every morning mom would cook us breakfast at 6:30, then we were off to the farm at 7 with all of us piled into dad’s white pickup and Franklin, our ‘cousin,’ along for the ride. We were usually either filling seed trays and planting coffee beans, moving baby coffee bushes from where they were sprouted to where they were being planted, or in the roasting shed bagging, sealing and labeling coffee for sale in Panama City. That’s right folks, we were working on a coffee plantation! El Sembrador 365 has a mission to fully support 365 missionaries around the world, one for each day of the year. They currently support 40, and they’re in the process of increasing production to support more. They’re also building housing for future mission teams or retreats. Their vision and drive and passion is absolutely incredible, but not as incredible as the way they integrated us into their family. From the times dad taught us about coffee while he was roasting beans in the shed with us, to taking us on a picnic way up in the mountains, to taking us down to the river on the farm to hang hammocks and swim after a hard day’s work, it was like they were ministering to us more than we were doing ministry! It was hard work and early mornings, but it was a really sweet season for me.
I have a lot of fond memories of our time in Panama, and it was such a cool experience to do ministry with the whole squad in two countries, and we’re ending our chapter in Indonesia in just a few short hours. Life’s been racing by in a flash, and I appreciate you stopping in to catch a glimpse of the blur! I have a few more blogs in the works, so hopefully those will be up soon in the coming weeks!
Thanks again for following my journey. Oh, and p.s, I’m a hair away from being fully funded! Woohoo!
