Hello All,
We have reached the end of our time in Sarapaqui. Tomorrow morning we pack up and head back to San Jose for our VBS ministry Friday - Sunday.
I just wanted to give you all a short recap of what has been going on so far as the Lord has been doing some great things through our youth.
Last night when we returned to the church for Dinner, Rodrigo showed us a video of a prison ministry him and his wife take part in. They had just gained access to a new prison 22 days ago and already have had 15 baptisms with the men in this particular prison. Rodrigo shared of his passion for ministry, and his calling by God. Everyone was touched and greatly moved by his story.
Every night after we finish our day and wind down we have a debriefing time. During this we discuss passages that we have been studying every morning in devotions and also partake in a 'bead service'. During this time the youth and leaders have the opportunity to give out beads to other team members. There are 6 different beads. They are: Service, Selflessness, Patience, Encouragement, Joy and courage. We have asked everyone to be attentive to their teammates throughout each day so that they can give beads for certain acts of courage or selflessness, (etc), that's demonstrated throughout the day. This has been an encouraging part of everyone's day as we all lift eachother up. Everyone is quickly collecting a long string of beads that they will forever keep as a reminder of their ministry in Costa Rica.
We woke up bright and early this morning to get a head start on our construction project. Our goal was to atleast finish the skeleton of the house, as well as the concrete inside of it by the time we left Sarapaqui. After a really long day of working, we finally finished it all. All the youth, leaders, locals, and men (living in the homes that we're building) all worked really hard all day long to accomplish our task at hand. We had a 12 hour work day that continued well after it was dark. It is neat to see the relationships that our youth are building with the missionaries, locals, and men in the program as they work everyday. It was quite a sad evening tonight after dinner when we all had to say our final goodbye's to everyone we had been working with. Everyone made sure to take lots of pictures, and give multiple hugs with the exchange of the words 'God bless you' that was taught to the men in the rehab program this week. To hear the words "God bless you" come out of the mouth of one of the men who claims atheism was such a joy and gave great hope to everyone who had been sharing their faith.
No one ever realized how much work it takes to build a house from scratch with little to no tools. So many of the youth were saying how glad they were that this was not the case in the United States. Even though there was a big language barrier, the youth and the locals were still able to communicate enough to understand eachother. Although it can get quite frustrating, both the locals and the youth were trying to learn the language of the other and it was surprisingly a success. This was definitely thanks to God, and of course our wonderful interpreters Miriam and Martha.
In the last blog I stated how there was a little bit of home-sickness and by that I mean that everyone is sick of home and are all stating that they never want to leave Costa Rica! :) Even those who were hesitant to go to a new country are so sad that this week is passing by quickly.
Everyone is very excited for our fun day tomorrow. We will be taking a trip into the rain forest to go on a boat ride down crocodile infested waters, and then will be going through a zipline course in the rainforest. When we found out how much time and money it would take to go to the beach for our fun day, they all voted for the boat ride and zipline.
Please remember to keep us in your prayers tomorrow that there would be no injuries, and that we would all be able to relax, wind down and enjoy some time away from 12 hour work days. Friday morning we will be diving right in to our childrens ministry and everyone is so excited for some interaction with the locals.
Thank you all for your support and prayers. We all feel so lucky to have this opportunity, and only wish we could share it all with you.
Until next time,
The Team
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