Hi friends!
We’re leaving Costa Rica in two days. TWO days! It’s so hard to believe. This month has been wonderful. I’ll post more in depth in a few days about what the Lord has done this month, but for now, I just wanted to give you some insight on what a typical day of ministry has looked like for us here in Costa Rica. When I say “typical,” there is no template, by any means. Each day looks slightly different and comes with varying opportunities for ministry and growth, but this should give you an idea of a day in our life. I went with a typical Saturday because it’s one of my favorite days here in Costa Rica. The rest of the week looks similar, with the exception of the feeding program, which only takes place on Saturdays and Sundays.
Around 5:00am, we’re still sleeping on the floor of the sanctuary/all-purpose room of our church home in Rio Azul – iglesia Faro de Esperanza (Lighthouse of Hope Church). We sleep in our bags and mats on a giant sleeping bag that was created from 7 sleeping bags sewed together and donated to the church by LL Bean. It’s pretty cozy. As the sun begins to rise and Costa Rica wakes up (they’re early risers…between 5 and 5:30am daily), dogs continue to bark and roosters crow. Light pours in through the gap between the walls and the metal roof. It’s a pretty wonderful way to wake up. We usually begin to stumble out of our sleeping bags around 6:30am. I love to lay in mine for a few extra minutes to spend some time in the Word. As strange as it sounds, my little sleeping bag has become my own sanctuary and space in this world of community living.
We stuff our bags and mats back into our compression sacks and roll up the giant LL Bean mat and lock them in a back closet for the day. Our bedroom also serves a number of other functions throughout the week, so we keep our things tucked away as often as possible. Luke goes down to make coffee (because Luke loves coffee, and so do I, so I’m infinitely grateful to him every morning). Lucie, Anna, and Luke run up the GIANT hill in our neighborhood (truly giant) and I walk/jog up it. My goal was to be able to run up it by the end of the month. I don’t know if it’s going to happen…but I’m going to give it my best shot! On a good day we do some spot exercises when we get back to the church. The rest of the morning consists of us getting ready for the day, sweeping the church, making breakfast (which varies from cereal and milk to eggs to rice and beans), grabbing some quiet time with the Lord, etc.
Around 8:30 or 9am, our ministry hosts, Dave and Angie, and the ladies who cook the meal for the feeding program begin to arrive. Some of us help to ready the church for little ones…move tables and miniature chairs, take out crayons and games. Others head down to the kitchen to chop and peel vegetables for the meal. (Many a chopping lesson has been given this month!) I LOVE the ladies who cook. They have been so generous to us and patient with us as we try to communicate using broken Spanish. We love them so much that we invited them to stay with us at the church and have a slumber party last night…that’s a story for another day haha. 🙂
The kids begin to arrive at 10:30am…pouring in the doors like a miniature army, many already hungry and ready to eat. They’re some of the most adorable children I’ve ever met. Truly. So beautiful. We’ve had anywhere between 50 to 80 kids each Saturday. Some of the ladies from the church lead us in songs with ridiculously awesome dance moves (that get stuck in your head for hours). We dance and sing with the kiddos and then begin to play games and chat (as much as possible with the language barrier). These have been some of my favorite moments here in Rio Azul. Getting to know the kids in the neighborhood – knowing their brothers and sisters, cousins – laughing with them and learning about their favorite things.
When lunch is ready (usually rice and vegetables or something along those lines), the kids sit down at the many tables and we begin running back and forth to the kitchen with full bowls and cups. When finished, we help to scrape everything into big buckets and begin washing dishes downstairs.
Once the kids are finished eating and leave to go home, we change into our paint/construction clothes and get to work on the church. We put up plaster, build walls, paint walls, create signs, move dirt…anything that’s needed to continue improving upon what the Lord has already provided. We work alongside Dave, Angie, and Pastor Gilbert, often stopping to chat with neighbors passing by – kids and adults – continuing to build relationships in the community.
Around 5, we clean up our tools and paint (and ourselves) and begin taking out our bags and backpacks. During the week, we usually go to the market down the road and pick up ingredients to cook dinner, but on the weekends, we eat at one of two restaurants in Rio Azul. We walk down the road as a team, order empanadas (that are arguably some of the best in existence and cost less than 2 USD each) and sit down at the two mismatched tables, in a room the size of a large walk-in closet with two ladies cooking up a storm. It’s become one of my favorite places to have a meal.
When we finish dinner, we walk back up to the church, get comfortable and settle in for team time…which looks different every evening. Some nights we get in the Word and discuss the big stuff, some nights we play Dutch Blitz (passionately, I might add), some nights we gather around a laptop to watch a movie, and some nights we just talk. Then we unroll our giant sleeping bag, get our little beds ready for sleeping, and prepare to do it all again the following day.
One of my favorite things about the Race is the way we are able to come alongside local churches and ministries who are already doing incredible work and will be here long after we leave. Serving alongside Dave, Angie, Pastor Gilbert, and the other believers at Faro de Esperanza has been such a joy.
It’s a good life.
Another update will be coming your way on Wednesday, so talk to you soon!
With great joy + love,
E
