This is a summary of my time in Costa Rica and some of my thoughts 🙂
Month 1: Jaco, Costa Rica
Ministry: Christian Surfers/ Ocean’s Edge
Ministry Host: Hannah Fletcher (she’s awesome!!!)
Team Unsilenced- Rachel, Victoria, Grace, Katy, Derik, Luke- (We lived and worked with another World Race team, Sculptors Seven- Stephanie, Brooke, Abi, Rachel Witt, Casie, Jamie, Hannah)
What each day of the week looked like:
Sundays: Horizon Church 9:00, taught Sunday School twice to kids ages 6-10, rest of the day was usually free so we would go surfing, hang at the beach, journal, or be hosted by a member of the church…they would cook us dinner, let us hang out in their house, and enjoy the amazing views
Mondays: ADVENTURE DAY!!! Blogging, journaling, exploring- Gospel of John lessons in the evening, last Monday of the month I went out to dinner with my new friend named Leni from Germany
Tuesdays: Work day, evening off so we had movie nights and dance parties
Wednesdays: Work day, prayer walk (girls) & homeless ministry (guys) in the evening
Thursdays: Work day, Christian Surfers meeting in the evening
Fridays: Work day, Spanish church in the evening
Saturdays: Kids Club…LOVED IT, relax/chores around the property (unless plans change…see previous blog haha)
Challenges of the month: Physical exhaustion from shoveling rock/dirt to build the wall, emotional exhaustion from leaving family and never being away from home this long, not being able to speak Spanish, getting used to the humidity and constant sweating, plans changing in an instant, doing things out of my comfort zone such as the prayer walk (going to the bars to meet and pray with people)- ziplining- and using a machete to chop down a bunch of weeds, not having ice or very cold water (how spoiled am I?? haha), hand-washing clothes most of the time, getting used to throwing my toilet paper in a trash can instead of in the toilet, setting aside the time to read my Bible and spend time with God since we were so busy, using the bathroom when there’s always a little lizard on the wall beside you watching you and making squeaky noises
Awesomeness: Sleeping in a hammock was GREAT, freezing cold showers aren’t as bad as you’d think, we had 2 (sometimes 3) bathrooms to use, food was EVERYWHERE (since it’s a tourist town)…I had easy access to pizzas and burgers (which probably won’t happen in the coming months), leading worship with my ukulele, having Team Time each evening and getting to know my teammates better, reading encouraging comments on my blog, laughing till I cry during a game of Fishbowl (charades), meeting amazing people, swimming in our ministry host’s pool after a hard day of working, getting to witness and perform miracles, trying surfing and skateboarding, Face-timing with people back home, finally getting over my fear of putting my head under the water in the ocean!!
Sights/Colors: Green everywhere, beautiful blue skies, sunsets are WOW…purples, blues, orange, red, yellows…breathtaking, seeing my lovely teammates 24/7, red parrots that fly super close to the ground, huge mountains in the distance, the beach, worn out buildings everywhere, unfinished construction projects everywhere, gates/fences/barbed wire everywhere you look, stray dogs everywhere but they were all friendly
Sounds to remember: People driving past our ministry site with really loud motorcycles, the waves, birds in the trees around our hammocks, parrots flying overhead, the chatter of my teammates in the kitchen, people skateboarding on the ramp, lizards squeaking, people speaking Spanish
People: SO FRIENDLY, these people would give you the shirt off their backs, they really just go with the flow and don’t stress about anything, everything starts about 10 minutes late including church
Favorite Verses of the Month: Acts 1:8, James 3:17, Matthew 11:28, James 1:2-3, Psalms 91:2, James 5:13-15, Romans 15:3-6
My own personal Bible readings: Matthew, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude (I don’t think I’ve ever read Jude until this month and it was super awesome!!)
As we prepare to leave Costa Rica and head to Nicaragua, I’ve been reflecting on our time here. What moments were great? What moments were bad? What do I want to hold on to? What do I need to let go of?
We were all challenged to leave something behind each month. This can be a favorite shirt that has a memory from home tied to it, or it can be something you can’t physically hold, such as control or pride. I’ve been asking God what He wants me to leave behind in Costa Rica. After the emotions I felt doing prostitution ministry for the first time (which I wrote about in a previous blog), I feel strongly that God wants me to leave behind my fear. The prayer walk was sort of my breaking point, and the moment I realized that something had to change…
FEAR
What do you think of when you hear the word?
When I was in elementary school, I always thought of Halloween and haunted houses, scary movies and monsters. When I was a teenager, fear was getting up in front of 20 classmates to give a 5 minute speech. That can make you shake like a leaf by the way.
Fear to me now doesn’t look quite like that, although those things are still scary. Fear now is an emotion that is very hard to control. It’s a way for the enemy to control me and keep me from spreading the Kingdom.
Fear of rejection
Fear of the unknown
Fear of something bad happening
Fear of relationships
Fear of failure
Fear of vulnerability
Fear of embarrassment
Fear of being judged
Let’s face it…it is easier said than done to let go of fear. But we allow it to hold us back from so many opportunities, and I’m quite tired of letting it control me. Fear, I’m realizing, is nothing more than irrational thoughts. Letting the “what ifs” of life keep us from enjoying all the blessings God has for us. Fear isn’t from God…it’s from the enemy.
2 Timothy 1:7 says God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of POWER, LOVE, and SELF-DISCIPLINE.
Reading about the Oregon college shooting, it really made me sad to be reminded of the evil that is in the world. Things like this can make us fearful for our own personal safety [trust me…I have been EXTREMELY fearful for my own personal safety quite a few times this month]. But that is the world we are living in right now. If you’re a Christian, this isn’t your permanent home…we are just passing through. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. Don’t let fear of something bad happening to you keep you from doing what God asks you to do.
Psalm 118:6- “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
Jesus was definitely fearful and in anguish when He was getting ready to be arrested and killed. But He didn’t let fear keep Him from doing the Father’s will. That’s where the difference is. He pushed His emotions aside to do the Father’s will. It’s okay to be afraid, but you can’t let that hold you back from doing God’s will.
I’m not naïve to think that since I’m leaving behind my fear in Costa Rica, I won’t ever be fearful again. But what I do know is this…from here on out, when fear starts to creep in, I’m going to pray it away. Immediately. Just like Jesus did. The second I feel fearful or think an irrational thought, I’m going to push it aside and pray, and remember I left my fear behind in Jaco, Costa Rica.
Leave your fear and irrational thoughts behind with me. May we always remember that perfect Love casts out fear.
