The Costa Rica Mission: Interruptions

Day 12: July 23, 2012

I got to sleep in this morning! What a blessing! I was able to sleep in until 11am which was so nice! I have rarely been able to sleep in at all since I’ve been here. I went about getting ready for the day. I smiled to myself when I thanked God for a lukewarm shower. Hot water doesn’t run out of the showers or faucets in normal places in Costa Rica. There is only cold water. But Christine has something called a ducha which is a shower head that heats up the water for you. The trick is that you have to take very low pressure showers. And the last time I showered I couldn’t get it to work. So I was so glad this morning when it worked and I had a warm shower instead of a cold one!

After serving lunch, Anna and I got dropped off at a bank in Barva so that I could withdraw some more colones. To get back to San Pedro, we rode the bus. I think that was the first time I’d really ever ridden a public bus anywhere before. It’s funny that my first time would be in Costa Rica and not Pittsburgh (my mom is either rolling her eyes or shaking her head right now as she reads this because she’s always made fun of me for not wanting to ride the pat bus). Once I got back home I had a few hours to relax.

I was laughing at myself today because in my free time, I began working on a research project just for my own personal use. I want to do research on speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit because I have not been taught much about those things growing up. But instead of taking one person’s word for it, I’d rather look at what the Bible says. I could get a thousand different opinions from a thousand different people, but the truth is in the Bible. Pray for me as I seek truth.

I went back to the school for dinner and then from there we left for San Pedro to do some street evangelism. We had a group of guys doing some dancing to draw a crowd and then we dispersed to go talk to people. Me and another lady had two people translating for us that attend a partner church in San Pedro. The girl, Astrid, I had met last week. She is very sweet and I really like her. The guy’s name was Tato. Tato doesn’t look like your average church goer. He has long hair, sleeves of tattoos on both arms, large gauges in his ears, double lip piercing, and a nose ring.  And he was wearing skinny jeans, a graphic t-shirt, and a hat. But when we approached the first girl and started talking to her, he took off and began witnessing to her. I was watching him evangelize to her and I realized that in some ways and in some instances, he could evangelize in ways that I was unable to. He could reach people that thought church was all about religion and looking nice and perfect. He could show people that young people who are into some of the latest styles and things can have a relationship with God too. And even though I couldn’t really understand what he was saying in Spanish as he witnessed, I could tell he had such passion for Jesus but also for the person he was speaking with. He was just a really sweet guy. Just goes to show that Jesus isn’t concerned with your outward appearance, what he cares about is your heart.

After we had talked to two different people, we approached two girls sitting on a bench together. We tried to start a conversation with them but we were interrupted by a middle aged man trying to sell us pens. Astrid began talking to this man instead of the girls. Astrid was talking with this man for sometime and I was beginning to get frustrated because I wanted to get back to evangelizing to these girls. I was really frustrated when the girls left because Astrid had started talking with this man instead and another friend had met up with them. But then the man sat down with us and Astrid explained to me that he was already a Christian but he was very angry with God and with himself because of things that had been happening in his life. I could tell as he spoke with Astrid that he was hurting inside and needed help. I shared with him a little of my testimony, just about how I was angry with myself because I felt very guilty for some things I had done. But God had shown me how much he loved me and showed me that he could fix my brokenness, and I didn’t have to do it by myself. We talked with him for a while and prayed at the end of our talk. He gave us all free pens before we departed.

I didn’t find this out until afterward, but when he had first come up to us, Astrid didn’t miss a beat. She told him, “We can’t offer you money but we can offer you prayer.” He agreed and began talking with Astrid. I immediately thought about Acts 3:6 when the crippled man asks Peter for money and Peter responds, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” I was so concerned about evangelizing to those girls that I would have missed out on encouraging a man who needed to be encouraged. I wouldn’t have realized that God had brought someone who needed to be ministered to right to me instead of me going up to them. I wasn’t willing to be interrupted. But in ministry, you have to be willing to be interrupted because that interruption might be the very person God wants you to minister to. What if Peter hadn’t been willing to be interrupted that day? What if he had just waved his hand at the crippled man and said, “Sorry can’t talk! I have to get to the next place so I can share the gospel!” He would have missed out on ministering to a man who needed healing and Jesus.

Sometimes showing up for a divine appointment means you have to be willing to be interrupted.