The Costa Rica Mission: Jasmina

Day 6: July 17, 2012

The started off with me helping with breakfast. We had pancakes this morning and they were very good. Right after breakfast I went with the team on a “Spiritual Scavenger Hunt.” We broke up into groups of five or six and took translators with us. We had a list of things to accomplish like take a picture with six kids, find ten pieces of chewed gum, trade something fairly useless for something of value, find a clump of pigeon poop, or get a copy of yesterday’s newspaper. But it also had some serious things like pray with someone for healing or go and talk to someone you feel God is leading you to.

We found an older lady with a cane and asked her if we could pray for her. She said she had a lot of pain in her right leg and that there had been a time where she couldn’t walk at all. So we prayed for continued healing. I smiled during the prayer when I looked down and saw that her husband that was with her was missing part of his pointer finger. It reminded me of my own grandpa all the way back in Nebraska. Once again I was reminded that we aren’t so different after all. When we were finished praying the lady smiled and said that her heart was happy now. As we turned to leave I noticed a lady in a blue shirt and blue ball cap uniform watching us. She was handing out flyers in the park. We looked around to see how we might complete the next task and another girl in my group was saying she felt like we needed to pray with someone in the area we were in. I looked over at the lady who had gone back to handing out flyers and really felt like we should talk to her but the group had started talking to a guy with a bicycle. But he said he already had Jesus in his heart and he didn’t have anything in particular we could pray for him about. “Well I guess he wasn’t the one,” one of the girls said as we walked away from him. “Let’s go talk to that lady over there,” I said, “She was watching us really intently when we were praying for healing.” So we approached her and started talking with her.

While translation was a little rough at first, she was basically asking for prayer for her son who is prison in Nicaragua because someone had framed him. We asked her about her relationship with God and she said she had been in the church but had walked away from it because she had strayed from God. The other girl in our group shared parts of her testimony with her and encouraged her that God loved her no matter what. “Have you been hurt by the church?” I asked her. “Yes, very much,” she responded. We continued to encourage her that just because people in the church judged her doesn’t mean God is judging her in the same way. We asked her if she wanted to recommit her life to Christ and she was hesitant at first because she thought she had to go to church to do it. But we told her she could do it right there. We prayed for her as she recommitted her life to Christ. When we were done she reminded her about praying for her son, but that time she led us in the prayer! Afterwards she asked for information about our church and we gave her directions and she gave us a phone number. This woman, Jasmina, broke my heart. But I was so glad we were able to go and talk to her. I hope to see her in church on Sunday.

The Costa Rica Mission: Perspective

Day 5: July 16, 2012
Today was a nice relaxing day for me. I still woke up and had to help out with breakfast and later had to help with lunch. But then for most of the other activities that day, since I wasn’t scheduled to go and help, I would go home and rest instead. It was good to have a more relaxed day. I even had the luxury of being able to take a nap! And it was good to Skype with Mom and Dad for a while. 

During some of my free time today I was sitting on the balcony of my house. I noticed a neighbor man saying something or other to somebody. I don’t know what it is about language, but it can be such a barrier between people! In that moment I realized I was looking at that man almost like he was an alien, or like he was completely foreign to me. I realized I’ve been seeing a lot of the Ticos that way. I don’t just mean “foreign” in the sense of having a different skin color. I mean he seemed like a completely different species in some sense, he seemed almost unusual. I started to think about why that man and many other people seem so foreign to me just because they speak another language. I know that they are people just as much as I am, but it’s so hard to remember that when I can’t understand what someone is saying or why someone is doing a certain thing. My prayer is that God will not only give me a heart for these people, but that God will give me HIS heart for these people. I don’t want these people to just be a face in the crowds of Costa Rica. I want it to hit home that these are real people just like me. There’s nothing unusual about them, they’re just different. But they are exactly the way God created them to be. It’s all about perspective.


But later in the day, after dinner, I went with the team to go do some evangelism. Originally we were going to go a park, but it was dark and the park is known for being dangerous at night so not many people were there. Instead we relocated to a plaza outdoors in San Jose. One of the staff members had some of his friends doing hip hop dancing so that we could attract a crowd. Once we had a lot of people, the team split up and started talking and attempting to evangelize with people there. I didn’t do any evangelizing myself, although Christine was able to pray with a young man. So that was good! She seemed confident that he understood what she had told him. But what really struck me about San Jose was all of the homeless people that would just come right up to you and ask for money. I’m used to seeing homeless people in the city. But the ones I’m most used to aren’t so bold as to come right up to you asking for money. But what was even more of an eye opener was that there were children walking around to us trying to sell things like coloring books or other things to try to get money. Children! I wonder if I will ever truly understand how blessed my childhood was compared to those of so many other children around the world. The only time I ever sold anything as a kid was when I set up a lemonade stand at the end of my drive way for fun! I never had to try to sell things in the middle of the city to strangers because I needed to make money. It helped me to get some perspective.


I guess a lot of things in life or in this world all come down to getting some perspective.

 This is my house in Costa Rica. That's the balcony I enjoy sitting on when I have free time. Many of the houses have bars in front of them like this because theft is such a big problem here.

This is a stop sign in Costa Rica, I just get a kick out of them, maybe because it's different.

The Costa Rica Mission: Learning

Day 4: July 16, 2012

I got up bright and early and got ready to walk to church. I made sure I had my umbrella, because as usual it was raining. I helped set things up for breakfast and made sure everything was where it needed to be. A lady and her daughter came into the rancho where breakfast was being prepared. This lady greeted me in Spanish and I did my best to greet her back. Then I heard her speaking in good English to another team member. She then said something else to me a little later in Spanish and I was having a hard time understanding her. I apologized in English for being out of it and not understanding. She was confused, she thought I was a Tico! She thought I was the daughter of the woman that was cooking. I guess I’m glad I blend in rather than stand out. It wasn’t long before it was time for church to start.

Everything was translated into English because so many of us are from the US. Worship was pretty cool. The Ticos are so much more excited during worship! There was no holding back from many of them. The pastor of the Victory church mission team gave the message and preached on the Holy Spirit and its importance. It was definitely a very different church service than I am used to, and not just because it’s in a different country. But it was still good and it will help me to learn more about other churches and customs.

After church, we rushed off to a small restaurant with the team. We all ate there and I enjoyed practicing some Spanish with a girl from the church, Nati. She also speaks English so it was helpful to practice with someone that understood my mistakes and helped me correct them. Like when I said, “Voy a Texas en enero de dos mil once.” She said, “Fui? Fui a Texas?” Then I realized that I had previously told her, “I go to Texas in January of 2011.” Oops!

After lunch we hurried to “Zamora” which is a pretty rundown area. The Costa Rican government made the people there move their homes so they could make them nicer ones but the government isn’t helping them to rebuild the homes the people had to move. But the houses seem to be made out of anything the people can find. I didn’t think Christine’s house was super nice, the walls are pretty thin and it’s a small house with a lot of ants in the kitchen. Not to mention the only way you can have a hot shower is if you keep the water pressure really low and you can't flush toilet paper, you have to throw it away. Compared to a lot of homes in the USA it’s not a very nice house or place to live. But compared to some of the other houses I have seen, it is a really nice house. After all, it has tiled floors and a fence and electricity and running water. I guess it all just comes down to perspective.

We took the team there to start making relationships with the people in that area. Some of played with the kids for the hour and half that we were there. Others went door to door to get to know the people and there were even some salvations. We played with sidewalk chalk and did hopscotch and four square. We had jump ropes and balls to play with the kids. We had bubbles (burbujos) for the kids to play with too. “Es un regalo?” One of the girls asked me wondering if it was a gift. “Si, es un regalo pero necesita compartir con los otros chicos.” (Yes, it’s a gift but you need to share with the other kids.) I had fun just walking around and blowing bubbles and taking pictures. It started off that there were more team members than kids. But it wasn’t long until the kids outnumbered us.

Since we had a limited number of translators and many of them were playing with other kids, we often had to try to understand what was being said to us on our own. What was really cool was that I got into a situation where I was the only one in one area of the place we were playing that spoke some Spanish. So I was translating at one point! Yes! You heard me right! I, me, Lindsey, was translating! I had practiced saying, “El otro grupo viene la proxima semana.” (another group is coming next week) to a guy that was standing there with the kids. And it just so happened that some of the members of the Victory Team wanted to ask him some questions.

“How are you?” someone asked.

“Como estan?” I asked him and the woman standing next to him.

“Are these girls your daughters?” a woman asked.

“Sus hijas (Your daughters)?” I said pointing to the little girls.

“No, son mis sobrinas. Soy sus tio. (No, they’re my nieces, I am their uncle).”

The conversation continued and some of the team was asking him questions like what his favorite kind of music was. He told us that he was a reggae singer but he sang only for Jesus. He even had business cards and he passed them out to us. Then he sang us one of his songs. It was really cool. I translated for about five minutes or so before I got stuck and needed help. It was definitely a confidence boost for me. I really enjoyed Zamora. I can’t wait to go back next week with our next mission team that’s coming.

After Zamora we went back to the church to have dinner and then get ready for the free movie night the church was hosting. We all started by playing games outside the church. We had free temporary tattoos and other ball games going on. Unfortunately we didn’t get very far through our movie. The projector kept overheating and shutting off! So we called it quits on the movie and improvised. Christine did some goofy songs with the kids in the front. They were songs like Father Abraham and others with the same concept. Then the Victory Team put on a drama and one of their leaders gave a little gospel presentation. So I think everything still worked out. Plus everyone got free popcorn and drinks. It was definitely a good reminder that you have to be prepared for anything in ministry!

So that’s pretty much day 4. I have to be up bright and early again tomorrow morning to be back at the church to set up breakfast! So it’s off to bed for me now. Until then!

 Me with some of the girls I had been playing with.

 This is one part of Zamora.

All the children had fun with the bubbles.

The Costa Rica Mission: The Flip Side

Day 3: July 14, 2012

It’s my third day in Costa Rica and I’m starting to get more used to things. Last night, after I wrote from the balcony, Christine and I talked for several hours, just sharing about our lives with each other. We talked from the time we ate dinner until the time we went to bed!

I started today off by going to Cinco Esquinas (5 Corners), which is more of a poor neighborhood near Heredia. Christine started a ministry there playing and teaching and building relationships with the children in that area in hopes of them one day discipling and teaching each other. Today she told the story of Jesus walking on water and the importance of having faith in God. To go along with the story we set trash bags down on the ground and made a makeshift slip-n-slide that the children had to walk across while balancing a Frisbee on top of their head and holding a hula-hoop while the rest of us threw balls at them to distract them. Christine then shared with them about how God is bigger than their fears.

After that we prepared for our missions team to arrive, Victory Team they are called. I helped hole punch some folders and staple some documents for them. When they arrived I helped serve the meal to them and clean up afterwards. It wasn’t long after lunch that we had to start preparing for dinner. So I started rolling more silverware and helping out any other way that I could.

It’s very interesting to be on the flip side of everything. In the ministry I have worked in before I’ve always been on the front lines, I’ve been the “doer”. I was the one that would be face to face with the child, teaching them. I was the one leading the Bible studies, etc, etc. But I have never before been the one feeding the people on the frontlines. I’ve never been the one preparing folders or materials for those on the front lines. And it’s good for me! Because I am on the front lines of ministry so often I tend to struggle with pride. I’m very aware of that struggle and I have to constantly remind myself to give my ministry over to Jesus. So working behind the scenes, where the spotlight is on someone else and not me, is good for me. It helps me to realize just how much “doing” the people behind the scenes have to do in order for things to run smoothly for those on the front lines.

I feel like I’m getting a little bit more confident with trying to speak Spanish. I realized today that if I really want to get good at speaking Spanish then I need to try to do it myself, not rely on translators around me. I had a few small conversations with people in Spanish. Hopefully I’ll be able to have long conversations in Spanish by the time I leave here!

The Costa Rica Mission: Mi Casa (My House)

 These two pictures are pictures of my bedroom here in Costa Rica. It is a long rectangular room so this is both sides of it.

This is a picture of the view from the balcony on my house during the day. It is very common to see a mountain view like this everywhere you look here in Heredia, Costa Rica.

The Costa Rica Mission: Courage and Boldness

Day 2: July 13, 2012

I woke up to sun pouring through my window and the sound of a rooster crowing. I smiled. “I’m in Costa Rica,” I thought. Day 2 had started. Since the rooster had woken me up a little earlier than I had planned on waking, I used the time to read my Bible and pray before heading to the church.

During my devotions, as I was reading in Acts, God reminded me of the big things I could do even though I have no power on my own. But he challenged me to be bold and courageous in order to do those big things. Peter and John did a lot of big things with the help of God. But none of it would have happened if they hadn’t had courage. Acts 4:18-20 "Then they called hem in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot helping speaking about what we have seen and heard." That took a tremendous amount of courage! For all they knew they could have been thrown into prison or killed for refusing to stop speaking of Jesus. But the cost was worth it to them. They were so overwhelmed and taken with the message of Jesus that they couldn’t help but speak about him! Having so much courage is part of what allowed them to do big things.

We packed up and got to the church around 10am… and then since we were on Tico (what the Costa Ricans call themselves) Time the meeting that we were there for started around 10:30 or so. We started with some great worship and then began to talk about what needed to be done that day before a big mission team comes in tomorrow. We then set to work getting some things done. Anna, Paige, Molly, and I (the other missionary girls here for the summer) set to work washing some dishes and setting up the Ranchero (a small kitchen and eating area off to the side of the church) getting ready for the Victory mission team that is arriving tomorrow. As I was washing the silverware I smiled. “I’m washing dishes for Jesus,” I thought. I had never thought about how much work is put into a short term mission trip from the other side of things. The staff spends a lot of time preparing things so that everything goes smoothly when a team arrives. It will be different to work on the other side of things.

Anna and I walked over to a little shop that sells smoothies and I ordered mine in Spanish. “Voy comprar el batido de mango, fresca, y pina y con yogurt, grande.” (I am going to buy a milkshake with mango, strawberries, and pineapple and with yogurt, large.) Ok… so it was a small feat but I was very proud of myself! And the smoothie was great! After we ate Anna and I walked around Heredia and posted some flyers for a movie night we are having this week. We laughed when people would honk the horn at us. Sometimes it would be someone we knew, but other times it was just a Tica honking at Anna because they like her blonde hair. *Honk honk* She waved. “That’s my host mom’s brother.” *Honk honk* “And that one was because I’m blonde…”

Now I am back at my house. I’m sitting on the balcony just watching things and listening. It is very noisy! There are many Ticos out in the neighborhood talking to each other. It’s very different from our suburbia neighborhoods where you wave to your neighbor if you both happen to be out. There are teenagers in the streets riding bicycles and skateboards and children squealing with their parents at the park across the street. There are dogs that roam the streets and bark occasionally and often someone on a motorcycle will buzz by or someone will honk at someone.

I can look across town and in the distance I can see just part of the many mountains that surround me. The hillside is lit up with lights from peoples homes and stores and whatnot. It makes me smile because it doesn’t look very different from Pittsburgh. And I wonder if God has another missionary in Pittsburgh that is looking at those sparkly hillsides and thinking about their day and wondering what big things God might have in store for them. As you keep me in your prayers, pray also for that missionary, whoever they are. They need courage to be bold so that God can do those big things in their life, just as much courage as I do.

It doesn’t really matter where you go or where you are, I think God can do big things with anyone who is willing.

The Costa Rica Mission: Big Things in Store

Day 1: July 12, 2012

So here I am in Costa Rica…. My trip went very smoothly. All of my luggage arrived, unfortunately Derek’s checked bag has yet to arrive! So pray that they find it soon!

It’s been sort of an emotional day. I think I’m used to driving long distances and preparing myself to be somewhere new. So only 10 or so hours spent in an airport and then Bam! I’m in another country was a little overwhelming at first! But it’s beautiful here, there are palm trees (which I love) and other exotic plants. Traffic is very different here, there’s not as many rules and it’s a little scary at times. Hopefully I will not have to drive while I am here!

I am realizing how rough my knowledge of Spanish is and how much practice I need speaking Spanish conversationally with a native speaker. But I have seen how good Derek has become in just the year that he’s been here, and I know how bad his Spanish was before. So I guess there’s hope for me. =) 

I am staying with a girl who has been a missionary here for about 8 years. Her name is Christine and she is very nice. She rents a nice house that is pretty nice. There are two small bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a little laundry room, and a place to sit upstairs. She also has a nice balcony which I think I will enjoy sitting on sometimes. The two of us have been getting to know each other today and chatting a lot. She knows Spanish and English and can translate for me if I get lost.

Other than Christine, so far I have met a couple other American girls. One is Anna, she is my age and also here for a few months this summer. I really like her and I am glad to have the company of another American girl! Other than that there is a family of Americans here, the Duffy’s. They have three daughters that help with the ministry and also a cousin that is helping out. There will definitely be lots of opportunities to practice and learn more Spanish. But I am glad that I will have a break from it sometimes and have people that I don’t have to try so hard to understand.

I went to a church service tonight and it was good. I felt like I was more emotional than usual because of the transition of being in another country and also from how tired I was. But as we sang some worship songs, in both English and Spanish, I devoted this trip to God and asked him to take control of it. I asked him to give me courage to reckless faith and do things that seem radical in his name. And I asked him to change me, to give me his eyes for these people and his heart. I asked Jesus to have his way, both in me and in this trip. And I couldn’t help but both smile and tear up a little bit as I thought about the amazing things that God did just so I could get to where I am right now.

“I have big plans for you, Lindsey.” That’s what God whispered in my heart tonight. I just smiled, I already knew that he did. But being in another country singing songs in Spanish just made me wonder how big that plan really is. I am sure it is bigger than I could even begin to imagine right now. But that’s why God’s giving it to me a little at a time, so I learn more from it and so I can handle it. Pray for me as this big plan God has for me unravels as both this trip and my life goes on. Pray that I will have the faith to tackle those big plans when they come.