Wow. That’s one word that describes this past week. After 11 months of waiting and preparing, Gap Q and I are officially on the missions field for the next 9 months.
But if I told you that I am writing this from a McDonald’s in Costa Rica, you may not believe me.
We are beyond blessed with our living situation here in Costa Rica. First of all, we have a mountain in our backyard!
All 53 people on my squad are in the same house, and we have bunk beds, showers, working toilets, and a kitchen! Which is all stuff we thought was going to be difficult to find while on the mission field.
Living like this has taught me one very important lesson: in order to do ministry overseas, you don’t have to be living in the heart of the slums or in dangerous situations. We are living in a town that is walking distance from coffee shops and grocery stores but are still able to reach the people God put us here to reach.
Whiiich brings me to our ministry! After people asking “what will you be doing?” and me not being able to give a straightforward answer, I finally can! All 53 of us are living in the same house, but each team goes to a different ministry 5 days a week.
My team, Salt & Light, is working in the slums to help feed and take care of the kids living there. We will be working around drug dealers and gang members, but are still safe (I’m okay mom!). The Pastor we are working with is very respected there and even the gang members and drug dealers make sure she is taken care of. God has been working through her here and the people living around there have definitely seen that. We’ve only had one day of ministry so far (the picture below is before we left for our first day!) and I am excited to see how God is able to work through us and see how He reaches these kids who are in pretty hard situations.
Saturday we had an off day, so 5 people from my squad and I went into a town called Cartago for the day. It was their Independence Day, so we got to see parades, festivals, and explore the town. We got pineapples and tamarinds from a fruit stand and went to a “hole in the wall” restaurant and got authentic food while talking to locals (in Spanish! It’s crazy how fast you pick up on languages when you are immersed in the culture and language).
Thank you all for the support and prayers!!
(more pictures below)
