We’ve been in Costa Rica for six days! We left Nicaragua on the 16th and took a bus across the border. We split off into our 7 person teams and headed to different parts of the country to do ministry. My team (STREAM Team) got placed in the mountains this month! The temperature up here is about 30 degrees colder than in Nicaragua so it was an adjustment at first. We are staying with Edgar and Elena who run a ministry called Zoe Future Leaders. They are committed to discipling leaders from Costa Rica and America. They are also organic farmers! We sleep in our tents “on the farm” which is a half acre plot of land where they grow all sorts of vegetables.
We’ve had a couple opportunities to taste the waters of what ministry will look like this month. We will learn to take care of the garden by weeding, watering and replanting! Some of the girls are helping Edgar clean out a cluttered shed they have on the property.
Our host plans on starting a discipleship school called Zoe Sonship School and we got the awesome opportunity to create a website and logo for them! It’s been really awesome to utilize my degree in graphic design! We will go over to his house Tuesday and continue the process of creating applications and put finishing touches on the site. I’m really excited to see how it all turns out (and put it on my résumé).
Lastly, we are helping a local church with their children’s ministry! We are super excited about this! Every Saturday and Sunday we meet with teens and children from the area to speak about the family of God. Last month we spent A LOT of time with the locals and it’s been different transitioning to spending most of our time alone. It will definitely grow us as a team! We’ve sat down every night and allowed one person to have the floor and share their testimony and it’s been amazing to get to know deeper sides of the people I’m spending this year with.
One thing I like about this month so far is the weather. It’s cold! We came down the mountain to spend the day at the mall and the temperature rises so much! I know we will spend most the year on the equator so I’m happy to enjoy the cooler temps.
One thing I do not like about this month is I really miss my friends on the other teams. We’re all so far apart and it’s hard to keep in contact because we rarely have WiFi. I am super excited to see them at the end of this month during our debrief.
Here’s a way you can be praying for The STREAM Team! A few of us are still trying to recover from illnesses. Transitioning from country to country is hard in itself and it gets harder when you’re drastically changing climates. Please pray for our health!
Here’s a way you can be praying for me! “Comparison is the thief of joy.” We have a few teams that are doing surf ministry at the beach and MAN would I LOVE to be there. I really really love Edgar and Elena. They have been so good to us. That being said it has still been hard sleeping in our tents and being so far up in the mountains away from people. I know that the Lord has so many amazing things to teach me this month and my ‘yes’ is on the table for all of it. Pray that even if the circumstances aren’t ideal, that I would be able to see the joy that the Lord has for me here!
