It is month one on the world race. Our team (Kaleo) and team Branches of peace (b.o.p) are serving with Oceans Edge ministry in Jaco, Costa Rica. So far, we have done many manual labor projects around the compound we are staying at. Outside the walls of our host ministry, we have taught Sunday school, taught the Bible in a regular school, met with the homeless, and went on a prayer walk.
Teaching at the school was amazing but also a big struggle for us. Most of the kids cant understand English yet, accept for the older sixth graders. One of our teammates is fluent in Spanish but that meant that she had to be the point person for every part of our ten hour day. It was exhausting trying to figure out how each of us could effectively teach Gods love with few words. We were able to get through to them with our Spanish speaking teammate, skits, pictures, and songs. But it seriously saddened me to know that I couldn’t communicate everything that I was thinking and feeling that day. BUT I love kids and I enjoy learning new ways to do things that almost seem impossible. To be honest, in America I would sometimes blow off a bad lesson if the kids were not paying attention and I could tell that they did not have an interest in learning. The kids here in Costa Rica really do have a burning desire to learn and be loved. Most of their parents are fisherman and have to be gone all the time. Some of the kids have to go the bar with their parents at night and they cant do homework or practice anything that they had learned in school that day. And other times, they have to be pulled from school to help their parents with fishing or chores so that they can make money to live. They do not have much structure in their life, so at school, they are wound up and disrespectful off and on all day. It pains me to see amazing young ones who act in that way because they haven’t had quality time to learn any different. The kids have some amazing teachers who are fully committed to giving them the best education possible. But it is draining for them because the kids go home every night to the same situation and the teachers have to go to a second or third job every week to make ends meet. All in all, I truly enjoyed the experience and look forward to learning many new ways of communication and trust in the Lords plan.
