Ministry in Costa Rica

Friends! Hi! My squad and I left Guatemala and arrived to Costa Rica on March 7th! 

We have been living with our ministry hosts, Tony and Rosita who’s organization is called Fundación Resplandecer. They, as a couple, work together to minister and serve those in their community. Tony dedicates his time here, in Los Chiles, Costa Rica, to minister to missionaries and to provide housing and work for men in the community. We have been partnering with Tony by helping with the expansion and maintenance of this house for living and ministry purposes. We have helped so far by…

• painting walls and bunk beds,
• painting “Fundación Resplandecer” on the front wall of the house.
• building a new chicken house,
• picking up rocks and
• clearing up our hosts’ large shed and
• mixing and preparing concrete mix for the cement floor
  

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The vision is to help for the future plans and projects, especially with the missionary classes starting this May. Tony will be housing missionaries here in Los Chiles, and will be partnering with Fundación Empezar Denuevo teaching them! It is so cool to know that the work we are doing is to support Tony and Rosita in the ministries God has entrusted them.

On Saturdays, we spend our mornings planning for children’s ministry in Santa Rosa for the early afternoon. Some of us on the squad read the Bible to the children, and have drama’s based on the passages within the bible chapter. Some of us teach guitar lessons, and teach on what worship means. Others pray and brings words of encouragement for the women within women’s ministry during the same time as children’s ministry. It can be hard with the language barrier, but it is encouraging seeing how, as a squad, that does not stop us from connecting and showing Jesus’ love to our Costa Rican friends!

Our daily schedule during the week involves a rotating schedule of cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. Fun things we have seen and done have been to:

• spend time together as a squad in the middle of nowhere (the jungle)
• use machetes to clear up the corn field
• get coconuts, papayas, and other yummy fruit and vegetables to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• name and take care of baby chicks
• hear and see monkeys from a close distance
• watch our jungle cat named Kyle eat rats and lizards
  

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Personally, my favorite days have involved playing soccer after a long day of manual labor, and happily staying a bit sweaty to really enjoy our daily cold showers!!

I wish I could post photos but my wifi isn’t letting me! It is definitely a third-world country experience here in the jungle of Los Chiles, Costa Rica, and I am loving it! 

I was having a conversation with our new cook, Maria Elena, about how we tend to compare our recent experiences to our past experiences in order to determine how we feel about the change. Ministry definitely looks different this month, and I love seeing God’s goodness shine through!!!

Until next time,

J <3