[Month 2 – Jaco, Costa Rica]
That screenshot comes from the VisitJaco website and is one of the first things curious visitors will read.
At first glance, Jaco is a paradise. Beautiful beaches, cute shops, and delicious restaurants. But spend a couple more days here and dig deep into the main economic driver for the town and you’ll see a different story.
Known as the “Vegas of Costa Rica” or a “Modern Day Sodom and Gomorrah,” this town has roots that go much deeper than what appear on the outside.
People don’t come for the beautiful beaches that proudly display God’s name, instead they come for the open prostitution, gambling, and underground clubbing. If you walk around downtown at night, you’ll likely get handed a flyer for a local strip club.
That is why I am SO pumped for my ministry this month!
This month I get to work with the head of Ocean’s Edge Ministry to pioneer a movement that will hopefully transform this town. The vision behind this is to change the outside perception of Jaco to attract a different crowd of tourists and make Jaco a town that shines so brightly for Jesus.
We have partnered with Ocean’s Edge to start a positive movement campaign surrounding the two hashtags #WEARE611 and #SOMOS611, and have begun building a playground in an impoverished neighborhood, will do a tree planting, and have planned a town and beach cleanup. Check out the website we helped make here!
This Sunday, we will be hosting a gathering and training seminar for business who are working to improve Jaco. In this gathering we will discuss advertising strategies, explain the movement, and talk about how they can support each other. The vision behind this is to get everyone who is trying to better Jaco in one room to discuss strategies and to work together on accomplishing this.
For so long, this city has thrived off its casinos and strip clubs. It wasn’t until this movement was started that the city council began to express any interest in investing in organizations working to better Jaco. Ocean’s Edge has already worked hard to develop relationships with those in the city council, chamber, and government and they have been kind enough to support transportation to and from the park project. We’ve had several meetings with them and you can feel the excitement they have about this movement!
We have been able to gather over 20 businesses to join us on this collective and donate money towards paint and a block party we will be throwing later this month to celebrate the official opening of the park. Their donations not only mean that they are literally buying into this movement, but that they are personally invested in creating a better Jaco.
SO much is happening here and I can feel a change coming. Wow, I’m excited for this and am thankful beyond belief that I get to continue working on this for a couple more weeks. I also have a financial deadline coming up on September 30th for which I need to get to raise about $1,800 more in order to stay on the race and continue working. Will you consider joining me in this journey by making a donation by clicking the ‘donate’ button at the top of this page? Or if you have another resource that would assist in this area, would you prayerfully consider coming alongside me in this fundraising journey?
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