Easter in Costa Rica

The city of San Jose is deserted, the streets are empty. The people have either gone to visit family in the country or they are at the beach. This is Semana Santa, Holy Week. Holy Week is not celebrated by the Evangelical Church like it is by the Catholic Church here in Costa Rica. The Evangelical church believes that they celebrate the Resurrection of their Savior each and every Sunday. The tradition of the Catholic Church is filled with symbolism, observed by holy days and parades.

Botanical  Orchard Garden

A friend and I went to visit a beautiful botanical garden on Good Friday. It was a time for us to walk and talk as we observed the beauty of God’s creation. We also took time to spend individually in prayer and meditation over the meaning of Easter for us.

 One of the passages that I spent time thinking of was Jesus’ words in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

I believe in this passage Jesus shows us the reason for His coming, to be the light in our lives that will open up the darkness of our minds and hearts to His truth and that this truth will  set us free from the power of sin in our life.

More and more I am growing in the knowledge of my need for a Savior, that I need to rely on His power to set me free every single day. What a great gift we have in a savior who came to liberate the world from sin and bring us to a place of freedom and light.

 May our hearts glory in this truth this Easter season as we celebrate his victory over sin and death!

We hosted our second team with Christ for the City this past week. They were from Shannon Christian High School, South Carolina. This team had 23 students and was a delight to work with.

Each brought their own special talents but all brought lots of love to share with the children of La Cuenca. Some of the students had never flown a plane before nor left the United States. It was quite eye awaking to see the poverty in La Cuenca for them. Their hearts were broken and they went home changed. Here are some comments the students made:


I rely way too much on material things instead of God.
I learned prayer can do amazing things.
I learned God is present through suffering. I saw that in the children of La Cuenca.
It's the little things that matter.
I learned that I am really self-centered.
As Christians in America we get blessed with things but here I see the blessing  is relationships.
Now I see everything God does for a reason.
They know their need for God.
I learned I am really stubborn and self-centered.
We all grew in patience.
It wasn't as much about what we got done but the relationships we developed.
I learned that what we have often distracts us.
I realize I always look for joy in the wrong places.
I got such joy from watching my host mother smile.
We spent the last 4 years with more of a relationship with our school books than with each other.


What wonderful observations. Please join us in praying that God will continue to grow them in a desire to serve Him where ever God chooses.

 

 It is always interesting to stop the regular course of events and reflect for a time about what has transpired recently and to write about those events and the reflections.  

We have begun working with Christ for the City International here in San Jose.  (Actually the main office is almost behind our house!)  We are helping host short term teams at this point.  We love their model of home stays in the communities for the entire team, us included. So for 11 days we were in a tough neighborhood northwest of the city.  

The team we hosted was from Canada, all girls in 11^th or 12^th grade.  Never have we experienced such a mature, loving and caring bunch of high scholars’.  They interacted well with the children and the women of the area as well as the host church from the barrio.  We also were stretched by the conditions in the slum (so thankful for our camping histories).  The girls shared their testimonies and by the end of the week, they were really connecting and touching the ladies hearts. B had a chance to chat with one woman who was noticeable touched by the testimonies of the girls. She had a chance to listen to her story and pray with her. This has lead to the start of a new relationship for B.  

 During times of debriefing with the team it was evident that God was working deeply with each one of them in terms of love, relationships and culture/world views.  It was a privilege to see such changes in them in such a short time.

 For me, Bob, I was delighted to go on a men’s retreat with our church in the mountains.  It was really the first time that I’ve had verbal skills and opportunity to get to know some of the men here in our area.  My “equipo” were a diverse bunch but we melded really well.  I’m hoping to press on with some of them as male fellowship has been thin for me for many years now.   One of our team tasks was to dunk ourselves into a cold, yes COLD, mountain stream during a group challenge. Thanks to good modeling from leadership at NWMC during our time in Maine, I was able to lead the charge for my group.

 Reflections of a more somber tone.  Life is fragile, short and in need of hearing the Gospel before it ends here on earth.  This was imparted to me during a trip to the beach for a debrief with the team.  The scene is 8 girls in the water playing on “boogie boards” and I am out a bit deeper.  Moments later they are passing me by as a rip tide has captured them. Scene three, all but one are able to help each other to shore.  So one young lady is heading offshore and I’m heading after her. The next ten to fifteen minutes were probably some of the most challenging I’ve ever experienced.  The short of the story is that we did get back in, a bit traumatized but so thankful to God for his mercy on both of us.

The following few nights were times of reflecting on the brevity of life, the need of a savior to continue life beyond this world, the thankfulness of a good outcome, the sobriety and the gut pains when I wasn’t sure of the outcome, and for God’s protection over the mind of this sweet young gal about her experience.

Thank you for your prayers as we take another team into the same area next week.  They are a larger group, 26 people, so the logistics are quite a bit bigger.  We are with them 24/7, so prayers for our energy are appreciated and for safety in all aspects.