Costa Rica Update Four Days In

The internet has been so intermittent here in Costa Rica it has been hard to post any updates. I found out yesterday that if I get up really early before the rest of the group, I have a little bit of extra time on the internet before it crashes.

I have always loved being with people from Latin America. As I have shared before, I used to love going with my dad on trips to south Georgia to the migrant camps to share the gospel with migrants when I was around 12 years old. I said at that time that I would love to do missions work in Mexico, and so it is awesome being here in Costa Rica this week.

So far we have been at La Roca the entire week. Our schedule has been pretty much shot due to rain, but everyone has been flexible and we have enjoyed spending time with the local children and teens that La Roca serves. One of our projects was to build a ramp (with no blue prints) for the boys, as many of them are starting to gain interest in skateboarding. When we started the project we were given a handsaw, a half working drill, and a tool box full of tools that were not meant for carpentry work. The team bought them the appropriate tools, so our work finally got completed on the ramp. Our next project (yesterday), was to build them a box to jump off onto with their boards and to grind on. We thought it would be easy now that we have the tools. We were wrong again. This time the lumber company delivered their top quality warped wood, so our short project expanded into a days work.

Yesterday, we also cooked a bunch of hotdogs and took plates throughout the community and gave away free hotdogs and chips to families. It was pouring rain, but it was a lot of fun.

We have laughed so much on this trip. I love being with these people. Three different churches are here and we get along as Jesus intended as one church. If laughter is like a medicine, it’s no wonder we are all staying healthy, except a few people whose stomaches are having a hard time 🙂

It’s amazing to see the differences in cultures compared to the U.S.A. Many of our youth (mine included) are spoiled, many of these kids simply enjoy being picked up and “Quantas” (Spun around in circles) for fun. I love seeing their smiles and the joy that it brings them for a group of Americans, who they can barely understand, comes to them to share the love of Jesus.

I’ll update some more later. Continue to pray for us, for the people here in Costa Rica, and for the La Roca Ministry, that God would continue to receive glory from it all.