We've been in Costa Rica almost three weeks now and I wanted to give y'all an update on what's been going on before we head out to our next city! Our first day of ministry we ventured out to a rural area of San Jose to do Bible Distribution. YWAM currently has a global initiative to put a Bible in every home and the bases in Costa Rica are very involved in that effort locally. We were partnering with a pastor in Jaris, San Jose who was just beginning a church in his home. We went out in teams and gifted about 80 Bibles to different families and homes in the community that day, but the most special part was our encounters and conversations with the people there. The culture is so hospitable and it's refreshing to be in a place where practically everyone believes in God, whether or not they necessarily have a personal relationship with Him. I think those factors really help this type of door to door ministry to be fruitful. And it certainly makes an impact when they see people who have come from all across the world just to bring them a gift and to share God's love with them.
{{ The Bible Distribution squad hits the road in Jaris, San Jose, Costa Rica }}
We had some great times of talking with people and getting to encourage them and pray for them. My group visited one house where we talked to the mother for quite a while. She was a believer and was very open with us about her relationship with God and her struggles. She seemed to have had some un-going struggles with a man who she described as a hindrance to her walk with God and a source of a lot of spiritual attack. We got to encourage her with Ephesians 6 (the Armor of God passage) as a way to help keep her protected in times of discouragement and attack. I really felt like I should ask her if she had been baptized. She said she had been as a baby in a Catholic ceremony. I felt like getting baptized again might be very significant for her and a step that could bring a lot of breakthrough in her life. I didn't get a chance to share all of that with her but I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit might bring it back up with her again in the future. Whatever the case, I know that God is walking with her in tireless love and dedication. It always amazes me when people open up and God gives me such a sense of love and empathy for them and sometimes even shares things with me to encourage and impact them. It's a reminder to me of the huge heart of our Father God. It confirms deeper in my heart that He is a God of love. How crazy big is that love, not just for me but for the whole world.
We had some great times of talking with people and getting to encourage them and pray for them. My group visited one house where we talked to the mother for quite a while. She was a believer and was very open with us about her relationship with God and her struggles. She seemed to have had some un-going struggles with a man who she described as a hindrance to her walk with God and a source of a lot of spiritual attack. We got to encourage her with Ephesians 6 (the Armor of God passage) as a way to help keep her protected in times of discouragement and attack. I really felt like I should ask her if she had been baptized. She said she had been as a baby in a Catholic ceremony. I felt like getting baptized again might be very significant for her and a step that could bring a lot of breakthrough in her life. I didn't get a chance to share all of that with her but I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit might bring it back up with her again in the future. Whatever the case, I know that God is walking with her in tireless love and dedication. It always amazes me when people open up and God gives me such a sense of love and empathy for them and sometimes even shares things with me to encourage and impact them. It's a reminder to me of the huge heart of our Father God. It confirms deeper in my heart that He is a God of love. How crazy big is that love, not just for me but for the whole world.
{{ Making friends on the streets }}
{{ Our dream team - praying for healing for strangers on the street }}
Another day we went out around the base in a more urban setting and a Christian family invited us in after we stopped at their house to give them a Bible. They made us fresh pineapple smoothies and some food (that crazy Tico hospitality!). We hung out and talked with them for about an hour and all of our students got words of encouragement and prophecy for them that they shared. They shared some prophecy over the young son that the mom and grandmother said really lined up with their family heritage and their prayers to dedicate the son to God. The grandma said that just that morning she had been praying and God told her that people were going to come along to encourage her and the family. How cool is that! God is so good and the students on this team are seriously awesome.
The other ministry that we've been predominately involved with in the past weeks is Metro Ministry (Kids Ministry). They go out about four times a week into different neighborhoods to be with the kids - doing games, crafts, skits, songs, and lessons on Biblical principles. The really cool thing about this ministry is that they return to the same handful of neighborhoods week after week so they're able to really develop relationships with the kids and families and to continually sow into them // make a lasting impact. Lots of energy. Lots of fun. We had a great time working with this ministry.
We also spent a lot of time serving on the base while we were here doing everything from moving furniture and setting up new offices, washing cars, kitchen cleanups and a whole lot of raking leaves. They throw all their leaves in the river but a pretty huge pile had accumulated on the river bed over the months, so the other day I selected the task of pushing that massive pile of leaves into the river. It would get clogged in a lot of spots so I would take my little rake and keep pushing it on-wards, and also occasionally move rocks to create better flow. It sounds silly but I had a lot of fun.
OKAY, ONE MORE REPORT! The other night we went to downtown San Jose with free hugs/free prayer signs, a guitar and a drum. It was so much fun! It was so cool to see the team spreading joy just by hugging random strangers and praying for people. And worshiping in such a busy, urban setting was pretty cool too. Bringing the Kingdom and God's love into any situation can be simple sometimes. Something I've been learning about myself the past year or so is that I love big cities and urban environments. It's so cool to feel God's heartbeat for humanity in the crowd. I find it challenges me to dream bigger dreams and to be more sold out and hungry to seek and serve Christ in all that I do, because we really need Him. We really do.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! Thank you so
much for your love, friendship, prayers and support! Here's a little
video from our time downtown the other night. Look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks. Dios te bendiga! Pura Vida mae!
