Hi friends! It would be nearly impossible to share about all the happened in Costa Rica without showing some pictures!
Most of these pictures show some of my favorite memories. Moments that I happily pulled out my phone to snap a picture of something I wanted to remember forever. But in the harder moments, pulling out a camera isn’t always a first reaction. There were lots of incredibly hard moments.Tears, frustration, anger, and sadness aren’t as fun to capture & share with others. So just keep in mind this is kinda like a highlight real. A lot of the really sweet, special things – and there were SO many of those.
Our adventure began again as a squad in Gainesville, GA. We met back at the AIM headquarters, and spent a few days preparing to head to Costa Rica.
Just a small glimpse into our travel days! In this particular picture, we had just been dropped off at the ATL international terminal, then realized we needed to be in the domestic terminal because we had a layover in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We dragged/carried our humongous packs to other right terminal, then spent the night in the airport, before catching our early morning flight.
One we landed in Costa, we took a few hour bus ride to our base. It was exciting to catch our first glimpses of the new place we would be calling home.
Our back porch! Spent a lot of good time here 🙂
Our living room! A beautiful place to gather.
Madison & I! We love our morning coffee!!!
Every Thursday morning my team made breakfast for our squad: gallo pinto & eggs! I have so many sweet memories of singing & dancing as we made breakfast.
Align & Corrie!! Corrie & her husband Caleb helped in the kitchen during our time in Gainesville, and then ended up moving to Costa Rica! They are some of my favorite humans. They loved, challenged, and pursued my squad so well.
A little view of our room!
Outside of our ministry! The building to the left of the train tracks is where Til He Returns is located.
A little reality: one morning our team took out the trash & it exploded right before we got to the trash can.
The girls on our squad got to lead a women’s retreat called Beauty For Ashes. We did this retreat ourselves in Georgia, and then learned how to lead it. We spent two weekends getting to share what we learned with the women, as well as listening to their stories & how the Lord is moving in their lives.
Emma with our cockroach killing device: a kitchen knife taped to a stick!
On a bridge overlooking crocodiles!
Delicious Costa Rican food!!
My squadmate Angelina teaching a social media class at ministry. Til He Returns encouraged us to bring our gifts & knowledge to the table to use in their ministry, and Ang used to run a business through social media. It was so sweet to watch my squadmates use their gifts to glorify the Father.
Dressed up for Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day: squad church, dinner, and celebration of the Father’s love for us!
A classic living room sleepover 🙂
What my bed looked like most days!
Meet Rudy! We met him in the park during evangelism. We talked for a while about what he believed & why we were in Costa Rica.
My little corner on the side of our house, tucked behind the bus we took to ministry, where I spent my mornings with the Lord!
The inside of Til He Returns! This space is home to insanely talented dancers, women from the pregnancy center, people coming to learn english, the women who make bracelets, and more.
Pancakes! Our squad made them for breakfast every monday morning.
The time Emma & I were cleaning out a storage closet & a bottle of floor sealant leaked everytime we moved/touched it. We improvised by transferring the sealant to a soda bottle 🙂
Dance class! I don’t have many pictures of dance ministry because most of the time we were in the class dancing & trying to keep up 🙂
Align with our dear friends Jezzy & Kacie! They were with us in Costa Rica for 2 months with another program, G42. They’re so special!
All packed & ready for a weekend camping trip in the mountains!
While camping, we worked in a beautiful garden owned by our dear friend, Pastor Ren’e. We helped with some gardening projects, spent sweet time in fellowship, and learned a lot about the Father’s creation.
Ate meals fresh from the garden!
Camped! It was absolutely freezing, but so fun!
Woke up to see the sunrise!
The park we often went to for evangelism. So many beautiful conversations were had here!
Align with Rachel, our sweet friend who works at Til He Returns! We got crepes with her one morning, and they were SO good!
Brent & Anjali on St. Patrick’s day! They made us irish potatoes 🙂
Began packing our things…
Said some goodbyes to our sweet friends from Til He Returns.
Documented our team making breakfast in Costa for the last time 🙁
All packed up!
Found some pretty rad matching shirts 🙂 Wore these the day we deep, deep, deep cleaned the entire base.
Then we spent a week in the mountains debriefing our time in Costa Rica. We reflected on all that happened in the past 3 months, rested, and prepared our hearts & minds to head to the Dominican Republic.
Spent our very last day in Costa Rica at a volcano!
My squad is settling in well here in the DR & have begun ministry. More updates to come soon!
All the love,
Jen
