This Thursday, my squad will be saying goodbye to the precious little family we’ve created here in Puerto Viejo. We’ll be saying bye to the cozy, creaky house, the canopy of jungle trees, the smell of plantains cooking in the morning, the two mile walk to the beach, the ceviche stand around the corner, and the eleven acre base that we’ve called home for the past two months.
As I prepare my heart to leave the place that has become home, I can’t help but be thankful for the difficulty of this goodbye. A few weeks ago, if you had asked me if I was ready to leave Costa Rica, I probably would’ve told you yes. I’ve wrestled through various sicknesses here, been woken up in the middle of the night by screaming monkeys and screeching birds, and picked up a machete day after day to do the hard manual labor around base. I would’ve told you that I’m ready for a change of pace and that I’m hoping for a ministry that doesn’t involve poisonous snakes. and yes, those things are still true! But if there’s one thing I’ve learned here, especially the past few weeks, it’s that my expectations are not the only places where the Lord will show up! I actually think He shines as more glorious in the missed expectations and the weaknesses!
So as I prepare my heart for this goodbye, as I reflect on the themes of the past two months, I can’t help but praise Him for all that’s been done here. Leaving the concrete mixing, jungle cutting, manual labor ministry that I thought would be the easiest part of moving on from Costa Rica, has actually become one of the hardest parts about it. Now don’t get me wrong, you probably won’t find me crying over the fact that my blisters and bug bites will have time to heal, but the Lord has used those blisters and bug bites to teach me more about Himself than I could’ve imagined. I’ve been reminded both of my desperate need for Him, and His sacrificial love for His people. If Jesus chose to have nails pierced through His hands, who am I to say I’m above the blisters I’ve gotten on mine?
Yeah, I’m celebrating the fact that Costa Rica has been a place of sanctification, a place of learning sacrificial love, and a place of being made more like Christ! and praise the Lord that He’s been so good in this place, that it’s become so hard to leave!
And the staff here – now this is an even harder one. There are five YWAM alumni that live on base with us, along with the two base hosts, and each have quickly become some of the most constant, most loving, most fun friendships these past two months! Between Spanglish conversations and laughing together in the kitchen, Steven, Jordy, Kish, Sammy, Connor, Rasta, and Elsi have given me a new heart for God’s people. I could go on and on about them, but I genuinely don’t think I have the right words, except that they’re some of my favorite people! ask me about them sometime! 🙂
To sum it all up, I want to echo the words of Winnie the Pooh 🙂 he said “how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” because how great is our God, for giving us a place where He has worked so tremendously, that it has made moving on feel so hard!
So this week, as my squad navigates the grief of leaving this home, and moving onto the next one, I want to walk through that grief with a heart of celebration! Celebrating the fact that this place has been so sweet, that the goodbyes are so hard, and celebrating the fact that we’re only saying goodbye to the place, and every goodbye to the staff here is actually just a “see you later” because we get to grieve with the celebratory hope of eternity!
Thanks God for hard goodbyes! And thanks God that this goodbye means a hello to the Dominican Republic! Yeah, you read that right, my squad will be heading to the Dominican Republic on March 19th, to finish our race there!
Lots to celebrate this week, even in the heavy and hard transition, lots to celebrate!
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” John 15:11
