Dear Costa Rica,
Where do I even start. I don’t think I can put into words exactly everything I’m feeling right now as I’m sitting in the airport about to move on to the Dominican Republic, but I’m going to try. Like so many things this year, I didn’t plan on you. I went into you with zero expectations. At this point I know how useless those are, because nothing ever goes as planned anymore. but I wouldn’t have even known what to expect. You were so different and exciting and new. And I had absolutely no idea what God was going to do through you.
I didn’t know that God was going to use you to stir up hard questions and conversations and show me how to wrestle with Him, but He did. And it made my faith so much deeper and stronger.
I didn’t know that God was going to use you to show me that I have something to bring to the table, and that I can use the gifts and abilities He’s given me for His purpose, but He did. And through that, He gave me an idea of what His plan for my future looks like.
I didn’t know that He was going to use you to show me over and over and over all the different ways that He loves me, but He did. My time with you was spent learning how to be loved by the Father and how to live like I’m a daughter of the most high King, and I didn’t know how much I needed that before I met you.
I could go on and on and on. It’d take me forever to list out every little thing God did through you. If I had to describe you in one word, it’d be “overwhelming”, but in all the best ways. I feel so full leaving you.
Right before I left three months ago, I prayed that I wouldn’t leave you ready for the next place. And that was one of those prayers where you can see so clearly that God answered it. I wasn’t ready to leave you. I definitely wasn’t ready to leave all the people I met through you. I wasn’t ready to leave the ministry I spent the past few months working with. And I wasn’t ready to leave the house on the hill that I started calling home. You were a hard goodbye. And I’m so, so thankful for that, because it shows how much you’ve impacted my life.
So thank you. Thank you for all the people that call you home and for your beautiful sunsets and mountain views and for english club and for your delicious food (even though I complain about eating so much rice and beans…) and for the cute little room I got to share with my team and for how you made me feel so much closer to the Father.
I’d say goodbye, but I really don’t think this is the last time I’ll see you.
So see you later, Costa Rica.
Love,
Kenzie
P.S
¡Pura Vida!
