The Costa Rica Mission: What a Day!

Day 9: July 21, 2012

Wow! What a day it has been! Okay where to start… I guess the beginning is a good place to start.

I started the day off bright and early by waking up around 5:30 AM in order to be to the church by 6. I was meeting Mrs. Duffy and Anna, Paige, and Molly. Today we had decided to go to the beach. I stopped at the bakery to buy something to eat for lunch at the beach. It was a different one than the one I usually go to and it doesn’t have the names of things in the window. I had a hard time trying to tell this guy what I wanted! Thank goodness there was another man standing right next to me that spoke English and he was able to help me out. So I made it to the church and we were on our way to the beach. We got there without any problems although it did take a long time to get there driving over the mountains, although we did get to see some great views of the mountains. Once we got to the beach we swam in the ocean, which was the perfect temperature and had the perfect amount of waves. There was so much wildlife! The monkeys would come right up to you and try to take your food or other things out of your bag. The raccoons were the same way. I also got to see a neat lizard. As I was laying on the beach of a Pacific coast ocean watching the monkeys in the trees right above me, I thought to myself, “I wonder what all the Pittsburghers are doing.”

Eventually we left the beach and what should have been about three or three and half hour drive home turned into about four and half hours. We were so lost! We got off the highway and were unsure of which way to go. But we were pretty sure we were going the right way because we all were recognizing some landmarks and stores. On our way up one of the mountains we saw a fallen down billboard. When we had seen it the first time we had mentioned it and talked about it and we realized that we had gotten turned around and were heading in the same direction we had just come from.  But that wasn’t the worst of it. I don’t know if we made more wrong turns or if we hadn’t understood the directions we’d been given. But we were so lost and had no idea where we were going! I think we asked seven different people for directions. Finally, after all of that, we made it back to the church.

When I was thinking about a Biblical application for the day I thought of how many people in the world are lost the same way we were on the way home. It’s really scary to be lost! And it’s even worse if you don’t realize you’re lost because you end up moving backwards instead of forwards. We asked seven or eight different people for help. And while none of them got us the whole way on their own, each every one of them helped us take the next step in the right direction. Evangelizing to the lost people of the world is the same way. We may not always get to be the person that leads someone to Christ, but that doesn’t mean that sharing the gospel is a waste. Because every time we share the gospel we are planting a seed, helping them to get one step further to where they need to be, giving them direction. Sharing the gospel is never a waste.

We returned to the church and had to get right to work! Victory team was having their farewell dinner which ran late. We had another team coming in around midnight and another coming in tomorrow. There was a lot that had to be done in order to prepare for them. We were finally getting ready to leave the church and we gathered in the lobby getting the last few things done. Pastor Rene was there too and he was complaining of being really cold. He was even shivering! David, somebody else involved with the ministry, had warned us a couple days ago that Pastor had been complaining that his forearm really hurt and his chest felt tight. So when we saw him shivering like that on a night that really wasn’t too cold we all started to get concerned. He made it to the car and that’s when he started shaking, not just shivering. He got out of the car and he was kind of bent over holding his head and chest. We got out of the car and laid our hands on him and immediately began praying for him. I could feel his shaking body under my hand and was really concerned. It got to the point that he could hardly stand with his own strength. He was also holding his chest and moaning a bit. He had said that he knew it was spiritual attack.

We called the medic to come and in the meantime we all prayed together while we waited for them. I just kept remembering my own sickness and how God had healed me then. I sang the lyrics of Healer by Kari Jobe over and over again and prayed for complete healing for Pastor Rene. Eventually the medics showed up in an ambulance and took Pastor Rene into the ambulance on a stretcher to examine him. During this time we kept praying. “Satan, you have no place in this place or in this man’s body, in the name of Jesus Christ the son of God, I command you to leave this place!” I prayed. Eventually the medic came out and talked to Pastora Elena. She came over and told us, “They say that his heart is fine. They said it is stress but we know it’s spiritual.” He had basically had an anxiety attack. They gave Pastor some relaxers and sent him home with Pastora. Pray for Pastor and his family but also for all of the team with Leaders for Christ Costa Rica who are going to have a very busy and stressful week this week. But I just keep reminding myself that Satan is a really sore loser, so if he decided to attack our leader in such a way as he did tonight, he must really want to stop this week from happening. I guess that means God has some really big things planned.

Some of the team is meeting tomorrow morning at 10 AM to pray for this week and we will also be fasting for a period of time. Keep us in your prayers. Pray that Satan would be too scared to set foot anywhere we are going because the power of God is so strong within us. Pray that all of us would be protected from spiritual attack. And pray that things would go smoothly and it would be a stress free week!

The Costa Rica Mission: Forgiveness

Day 8: July 19, 2012

Today was a fairly empty and yet relaxing day. I didn’t have to help with breakfast this morning so instead I got to sleep in a little. But I still got up around 8AM. It was weird to have so much free time in the morning! But it was also nice. I cleaned my room up and got a few others things done. But I also took the time to read my Bible. And it is so interesting to see how God took the theme of my devotions and related it to much of what was spoken on in church tonight.

This morning’s devotions were in Acts 7. It’s the story of Stephen being stoned. What struck me most about the story is Stephen’s willingness to forgive. Often times we as humans encourage grudges or bitterness for a while if it seems reasonable. For examples, someone killed your son, yeah you have a right to hold a grudge! Someone raped your daughter? Of course you have reason to be bitter! Someone broke into your house and robbed all of your valuables? You take your sweet time forgiving them! We have tricked ourselves into believing that holding grudges, if the reason is legitimate enough, is okay! We are also under the impression that it takes a lot of time to forgive someone who has really hurt you. But let’s look at the story of Stephen again.

Acts 7:54-60 “When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep."

Stephen forgave the people murdering him WHILE they were murdering him! He didn’t need a few years to hold the grudge and work on forgiving them. He forgave them for their wrong in the midst of them doing it! Would you be able to forgive someone for killing your son while they were stabbing him? Would you be able to forgive someone for raping your daughter while they were doing it? Would you be able to forgive someone for robbing you while they were in your house taking your stuff? Probably not… not by yourself that is.

There is one very important part of the story of Stephen to take note of. In Acts 7:55 it says Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He had the spirit of God in him and living through him. It was not by Stephen’s own power that he was able to forgive these people killing him. It was the spirit of God in him, helping him to do this, the same spirit that was in Jesus when he cried out for God to forgive those crucifying him. Forgiveness is really hard and is a process and takes a long time and it’s easier to be bitter… when we are trying to do it by ourselves. Forgiveness is a lot easier when you let Jesus fill you through the Holy Spirit giving you his power and strength to forgive unconditionally.

I struggle with forgiveness. I mean I really struggle with forgiveness! I have been hurt a lot in life, and often by people closest to me which can hurt even more. I have reasons to hold some grudges and be bitter. But I don’t want to hold them anymore! Tonight at worship God really laid it on my heart that in order to love on the people here in Costa Rica and other places in the world, I need to love the people that have hurt me as well. Part of following God’s will for my life, as shared in the sermon tonight, is being able to love. That means even loving the people that have deeply hurt me.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Let’s see… love is patient… yeah I’m not so good at that. Love is kind, not only to friends but also enemies… yeah, nope. Love does not envy or boast… not my weakest areas… not my strongest either. Love is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, not easily angered… yeah I’m not too good at those either. Love keeps NO record of wrongs… no grudges, no bitterness, no anger because of the past. The Bible doesn’t say, “When not given a reason to be otherwise, love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or boast, isn’t proud, dishonoring to others, self-seeking, easily angered, and doesn’t keep records of wrongs.” Love is all of those things IN SPITE OF what other people do. That means loving people, even the ones that have hurt you, with all of those same qualities listed in 1 Corinthians 13.

But I can’t do it on my own, I need God’s help. I need his spirit dwelling in me and working in mighty ways in my heart. I need his spirit to defeat my own sinful desire to hang onto the grudge and to forgive instead. There’s no way I can forgive others on my own, it’s too difficult, too radical. Like Stephen, I need to have Jesus working in my life and through my heart in order to forgive in a radical way.

“God, get rid of the ‘Lindsey’ in me and instead replace me with Jesus.”

Forgiveness, Matthew West

The Costa Rica Mission: Being Thankful

Day 7: July 17, 2012

Our first activity of the day was going to a home for the disabled called Manos Abiertas (Open Hands). We spent some time there with the residents. We made balloon animals and gave them hats and let them draw on some dry erase boards. Mostly we just spent some time playing with them. One of the guys was completely decked out in balloons. He had hats and arms full of animals and swords and necklaces and anything else he could possibly have. He was so fun to watch because he was having a blast. Being there was sobering for me because I just kept thinking that if I had not been healed of my brain infection three years ago I could be in the same position that they are. But working with disabled adults is hard for me, I’m not as skilled with them as I am working with children or teens. But it’s good for me to do anyway because it stretches me! I was heartbroken when one of the residents was just standing there. I asked her about the balloon animals she was holding and she threw them down. I picked them back up for her, but when I looked into her eyes it was like I could see how frustrated she was. At that moment in time she wasn’t just a resident with a disability, she was a real hurting human being. I could see that she was having all of the same thoughts I have, she just can’t communicate them in the same way. It reminded me to be thankful that God healed me from my mental disability and that I am now able to live a normal life.

After Manos Abiertas, we ate lunch and then headed to another community to do some evangelizing and playing with kids. We had a TON of kids! If I had to guess how many there were I would guess around 100 to 150. And we were all playing and teaching in this small cul-de-sac in a neighborhood. We were very close to an area that was run down and similar to the community we had been to before. But some houses further up a hill in that area were a lot nicer, while ones down the hill were in pretty rough condition. This area was called Guacima. We had a hard time controlling all of the kids! Unfortunately we weren’t as prepared as we should have been and I had to keep telling kids that we didn’t have anymore gifts for them and that they needed to share with each other. I was impressed with how grateful these kids were just to have a bracelet or coloring book or bouncy ball. Those little things caused them to form a mob around us! That’s how thankful they were for those things.

During our time there I tried to help one lady on the team understand what a little boy was saying to her and vise versa. We found out that this little boy’s name is Antony. He just kind of stole my heart in a way, I could just tell how sweet he was. He was doing a lot better at sharing with the other kids and he was glad when we gave him a New Testament in Spanish. At one point when we were sitting on the grass talking with him, he pointed at the ankle bracelet that I had made with the Lakeshore youth group during the 30 Hour Famine and said that he liked it. I worked on getting it untied and then took it over to him a little later. “Recuerde siempre que Jesus te ama, y yo tambien. (Always remember that Jesus loves you and so do I.)” I said. He just smiled and nodded at me and said thank you once I had helped him tie the bracelet around his wrist. Later I got a picture with him and he told me he wanted to be a pastor someday. Pray for Antony and children like him that have these desires, pray that he will have the resources to pursue dreams like this. A bracelet, so many kids in the United States would look the bracelet over and go straight for the phone in my hands instead. But Antony was grateful to have the bracelet, he didn’t need anything else. He was thankful with the little I had given him.

From the Guacima neighborhood we headed over to a church for a service. And wow was their service different! First off, they are renting the building they are in. But in the states we wouldn’t have even considered this building worthy of renting to have church. It was just a big empty warehouse type thing. They didn’t have a big wooden cross in the front or fancy pews and other gold decorations. They didn’t even really have walls on one side of the building. They had a portable sound system and they didn’t have a worship team. But for everything that they don’t have they make up for in spirit! I was a little worried about worship when I heard CD’s playing, but my goodness! By the end of the worship time most of the people there were dancing and shouting out together. It was convicting to me, because churches in the United States often base their quality of worship off of how good the team is, not how good their God is! We could all learn a big lesson from the people down here that have so little and yet have so much more joy in the word of God than we ever express in our big comfortable churches in the States. Even though their conditions weren’t the best, they were thankful anyway.

 

It’s been a week since I’ve been in Costa Rica now. I can’t decide if it’s gone fast or slow, I think it’s been a little of both. As I am experiencing other churches and customs I have developed a lot of questions and I am re-evaluating some of my own opinions. But my prayer in the long run is that God would reveal truth to me. Pray for me as I seek this truth in Costa Rica. And pray also that God will continue to give me his heart and eyes for the people here.

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!