Pura Vida!

Hi! Welcome to two months in Costa Rica! I hope you enjoy your time here, let’s get started… First stop is Jaco(: A place of sunshine and joy, but also a place that desperately cries out for Jesus. I’ll never forget the street dance parties, painting lightposts, strangers turning into sweet friends, the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets that have His glory painted all over them. So, for Ministry in Jaco we mostly painted lightposts. We split off into teams of around four people and got to go straight into the heart of Jaco and take dirty lightposts and paint Gods creation all over them. Naturally people wondered what we were doing painting lightposts in 90 degree weather, so we also got to meet so many new people. We got to explain to them why and who we were doing this for. A brief intermission… I like to call Nicoya. After Jaco, my squad of 47 turned into 41 with the absence of our team leaders): Also during this, the squad split up by teams and headed all over Costa Rica. This was the first time any of us had been apart since launch September 11. Trust me there were lots of tears, but also the rushing excitement change brings. There was so much anticipation in the air as team Rooted and Eden headed of to Nicoya, Costa Rica. Here, we broke out our sleeping pads and slept on the floor of a small one room church. We were led by the one and only Pastor Basilio( who was the kindest person ever). For our ministry here we got a little taste of everything. It included picking up garbage on the highway, evangelism in the mountains, construction, worship nights, planning Kids parties for the church, house visits. Basically, whatever the community needed at that time. I think the most special thing about Nicoya was the community. I felt so loved and cared for the two weeks we stayed there. Every single person we met was so special. It’s a place I will never ever forget. Now we move on to the jungle… That’s right we’re heading to Puerto Viejo. Imagine waking up in your tent bright and early to sunlight and the screams of howler monkeys all around you. Yep that’s an average morning here. Don’t worry you’ll learn to appreciate it hehe. Puerto Viejo was where the squad got to meet up again after two weeks apart! It was maybe the sweetest thing ever to see all 39 of my family members again. Ministry here also included many different things ranging from moving tree size logs to evangelism. But I want to focus on one night in particular. New Year’s Eve! So around 8:30 P.M we all hopped on the bus and headed to town to evangelize. This wasn’t just any evangelism however. I like to call it a worship flashmob. All of my squad stood on the busiest street corner we could find in puerto, then we would sing and dance and proclaim freedom at the top of our lungs. People walked up to us to talk and ask about what we were doing, some even had the boldness to join in. In such a dark place I saw The Lord moving in so many ways. I really can’t describe the Joy I saw that night. Costa Rica will be a place I can never forget. A place of so many new experiences and so much growth. Thank you Jesus for all the good and all the hard that my time in Costa Rica was. Thank you for the endless Joy and steadfast love you showed me and my squad. Thank you that even though Gap i has left Costa Rica, you did not. You are still moving there and always will be. Now as I’m sitting here writing this in Guatemala (our new home for the next couple months) I can’t help but dream about all the incredible ways Jesus is going to shine here too!