I can’t believe I’m here.
I’ve been dreaming about doing the World Race for over two years. Throughout this time, I fantasized about what my life would look like to live overseas on mission for the Lord. For about a year, I’ve been preparing financially, mentally, and spiritually for this trip. And now, it’s totally surreal to think this is my life right now.
And so begins Chapter One. Or, “The One Where Jonathan Begins the World Race.”
One week ago, my team flew to San Jose, Costa Rica, and settled into a nearby suburb with our host, June. She has been nothing but wonderful to us, providing a beautiful place with amenities for all of us to feel at home – beds, TV, wifi, hot showers, laundry, and grocery stores within walking distance, which are all unexpected but wonderful luxuries for World Race living! Our home is quaintly nestled between gorgeous misty hills, and my bedroom window overlooks the rooftops of the neighborhood where you can see the city lights at night. We are partnering with June in serving many different people in her community, specifically local families, church members, and people at a nearby rehabilitation center. Everything about these past few days has been nothing but blissful.
Except for one small problem that I kinda forgot to plan for.
The language barrier.
I guess in preparing for this month, I assumed I knew enough Spanish to get by. I’ve grown up with a familiarity with the Spanish language. My mother grew up in Latin America, and both her and my dad are fluent. I attended a Spanish-emersion Kindergarten and First Grade, before moving to Nicaragua for two years. I also took two years of Spanish in High School and College. All my life I’ve retained some semblance of familiarity with the Spanish language, so I figured these months in Latin America would be a piece of cake.
And then I stepped out of the airport, and suddenly realized I had no idea how to communicate with the dozens of people who approached us with a million questions.
I’m not gonna lie, I did start to wonder why I had come here. I felt totally crippled and insecure by my inability to communicate even in the most basic of ways. What could I possibly have to offer these people here, who have their own ways of living I don’t know, who speak a language I don’t know, and who generally can take care of themselves without the help of a rich American?
How the heck am I supposed to evangelize here, when I don’t know enough words to even start a conversation?
As it turns out, God wasn’t concerned about my deficiencies. God called me here anyway. And he had a couple of things in mind for us to do that would far surpass what I knew I was able to do.
This is what God is doing.
In the past few days, where our ministry has solely consisted of painting a local family’s house, God has been moving in far greater ways through us than we even knew. After spending three days with this family, June has told us how much this has had an impact on each of them. Our teammate Jordan built a special relationship immediately with their four-year-old Adrian, even though June warned that he does not warm up to new people very quickly. Abigail, Adrian’s young single mother, has been turned down every invitation June has offered to attend church, but agreed to go for the first time with our team this past weekend. The three adult siblings (Abigail, Amalia, and Elbert), who have had a falling out and refused to spend time in the same room with each other, all attended church together and joined us for pizza afterward. They even came over, and joined us hand in hand as we prayed for Amalia’s upcoming exam! And now, they all want to join us on our upcoming beach weekend trip! June is astounded – she has told us “the things God has done in this family in the past three days are greater than anything I’ve seen happen over two weeks!”
The family has religious roots, but because of rough pasts with the church, most of them do not attend anymore. June has been faithfully ministering to this family for a long time, and has continued to pour into them selflessly to show them the love of Christ. The other day, June asked the father if he understood that we loved him. After these past few days, he replied: “I do now”.
This all happened in three days. And all we did was paint a house.
Initially, it felt like we’ve hardly done anything. And really, there were a couple times where I wondered if what we were doing really had any impact at all. Even though we didn’t know enough of the language to share the love of Christ in words, we were still able to show it in action.
A pattern I’ve noticed throughout my fundraising process has been this: the biggest movements of God have happened beyond my ability to “work” for it. God has proven Himself present and faithful in so many circumstances where what I felt like I was doing wasn’t enough.
And here, in San Jose, God is doing it again. He is repairing wounds, rebuilding a family, and restoring a lost love.
And I didn’t even need to speak Spanish to see it happen.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
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Costa Rican coffee upon arrival in our new home!
First day of ministry! And shout-out to that man with lute!
The living room BEFORE.
The living room AFTER.
Jordan painting with her new best friend, Adrian.
The team painting the outside walls of the house.
Keaton, Daniel, and Lucky during our morning routine.
Speaking at the young adult singles’ class at June’s church.
Worshipping at June’s local church – I know some of these songs!
Post-church Pizza with our new Tican (Costa Rican) family!
A fun night out with our new Tican family!
