About a month ago Kelly put out a blog post asking people to join her in Costa Rica for four days to see what the Lord is doing there and how we could become a part of it. (see post here). I didn't know why, but I immediately thought I should go. When I began to tell people I was going to Costa Rica for four days in the middle of the semester they thought I was crazy. But the more I thought about it the more I was like "Why not go?" I was able to go so why wouldn't I?
Not to mention that at the beginning of the semester I wrote out some big prayers for the semester. One was to experience experiences and another was boldness. And thats exactly what this trip turned out to be. An experience to experience while praying for boldness.
Two days of travel and two days of jam packed activity is how the weekend looked. It was crazy, but incredible. I would love to walk through day by day and tell yall everything we saw and did (maybe that will happen another time), but instead I want to share what the Lord taught me.
I so often put myself into a box. Believing that I can only do the things I know I can do. When I do this I put my God into a box. I start believing that He can't do this or that with my life or in my life or in my friends life or in the world...etc. But that is SOO not the case. God is doing immeasurably more than I choose to believe or even see.
This trip was about relationships, about fellowship with other believers, and seeing the Lord move in other peoples worlds. When it comes to missions I have always thought the best way to help is to go and do it for them, but I am starting to rethink that mentality.
On Friday morning we got up early and made our way to the community of Buena Vista in an infamous barrio called Los Cuadros de Purral with Pastor Martin. I had never been out of the country for any kind of mission work before so it was new to me to see this kind of poverty with my own eyes.
However, I was surprised to find that I wasn't feeling negative emotions, but a sense of hope. The community of Buena Vista is striving to tear down and rebuild their "neighborhood." The plans are finished and provide condo style living for families. But the coolest part about it is that each family must help build these new condos in order to live there.
That is SOO stinkin' cool. Imagine what we could do if an entire neighborhood decided to work together to change something!
But the biggest take away I had from this time was what Pastor Martin had to say to us when we returned back to his church to drop him off. He began to tell us about some of the projects they had started, but didn't work out and then went on to tell us of the future projects they are preparing to do next. While explaining this he talked about His role as a pastor and the role of the church in helping these poor neighborhoods change.
He emphasized how He (and the church) were to walk NEXT to them - teaching and empowering them to make the changes. He stressed how you cannot just come in and do it yourselves because then it isn't theirs and they don't have the desire to take care of the new homes or to change the way they lived before.
His point was we can't change them by changing the things around them!!
There has to be a heart change in order to see a person, a community, a country, or the world change. It would be like making a trash can or dumpster pretty on the outside. The inside is still gross, stinky, ugly and eventually the inside will make the outside dirty again.
This is where I began to rethink how I saw missions. I cannot go somewhere thinking I can fix it. Because the truth is I can't! I can walk with people, I can help make things better for them, I can teach them how to do things they didn't know before, I can love them, etc.
BUT unless the Lord captures their heart and they begin to change on the inside then making the outside better doesn't do any good!
Pastor Martin's words challenged me to hit my knees and pray a lot more than I had been, because this world needs Jesus first and then people willing to walk beside others while transformation takes place.
After dropping Pastor Martin off we headed to the Casa Viva office. Casa Viva is a ministry that helps place children in Christ loving foster homes locally before finding a long term solution. At the office we were able to hear stories of different children from the staff. Following this we had the opportunity to have a home visit with one of the foster families.
Hearing this families story was an incredible moment that I won't forget. Seeing the honest real love this mother and father had was truly unreal. I was able to see the Lord moving and working in their lives right before my eyes. One thing the father said was "A lot of people are selfish. They don't want to foster a child because it will be too hard to give them away at the end, but fostering a child isn't about you it is about the child." Such incredible wisdom and selflessness from that father. I wish you all could have been in that living room hearing them tell their story as their sweet foster baby Samantha played.
This day amazed me. In a span of about 12 hours I experienced God moving in ways I never thought He would be doing. I got to see my God break through the walls of my little box I had kept Him in. He was doing AMAZING things in Costa Rica and I was blessed to be able to be a part of it for just a few short days.
When we returned home that evening and we began to processes the things we had seen and learned that day, I realized that even though I was okay with not knowing what was next I had put limitation on what I would let God do with me next. So as I experienced the experience of Costa Rica I have returned home praying BOLDLY for what is to come next! Because I know my God is BIGGER then anything I can hope or dream!!
Thankful for a rich weekend. My cup runneth over.
PS. day two rocked as well!! :)
PPS: Thanks Kelly for reaching out to us! Love you!
