Hello from Costa Rica!

Today was a busy day for our team as we finished the big task of building the walls at La Vina Oeste. We started out the morning with a big breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, and of course Costa Rican coffee. Our team then took off on the 40-minute drive to the church to tackle our job.

Throughout the day, our group and the other Costa Rican workers came together to help each other in various things such as insulating the walls, putting up drywall, and hanging lights. Even though the language barrier was evident, it was not a problem and we all found a way to communicate with each other. Some of our team worked on small things like sweeping up the floor and picking up extra screws to big things such as climbing up on a scaffold to drill in the studs/drywall. Regardless of the job, everyone played a part which led to us accomplishing our goal.

While some of the workers were finishing the walls, a group of our team along with the pastor of La Vina Oeste went on a prayer walk. This was the second day that our team got the opportunity to interact with the locals and the land. I got the privilege to participate in the prayer walk yesterday, New Year’s Eve. It was very powerful to witness miracles of men and women being healed of their pain through God.

After three days of working hard for our Lord, we exceeded our goal and finished not only the main church wall but also the walls of three classrooms and an office. We could not have done this without God! It was a beautiful thing to see God work through twelve high students with no construction experience and make something out of nothing. Our team headed out after finishing the walls with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts.

The night ended with a short debrief and some extended small group time. In the girl’s group, we prayed for our last day which is tomorrow to not be a time of sadness, but a time of reflection of all the laughs, miracles, and hard-work that took place this week. Although we finished our project, God’s work is not done.

Personally, this week has been a time of physical, emotional, and spiritual stretching. Physically, I realized drilling a screw in is a lot harder than it looks and lack of sleep can wear on you. Emotionally, I felt true joy as I went day to day and watched God work through my friends and spent time with Him to start the day. He taught me the importance of being present in the moment, rejoicing in my problems and trials (Romans 5:3), and meditating on His “unfailing love” (Psalm 48:9), “wonderful deeds” (Psalm 119:27), and “glorious splendor” (Psalm 145:5).

Our verse for the week, Ephesians 4:14-16, talks about how each person makes up the body of Christ, down to every supporting ligament. As I watched our team grow together, I realized that it is impossible to walk with Christ alone. We need each other for accountability and support. Each person played a role that ended up making our goal look small compared to what we actually accomplished.

Tomorrow is our last day in Costa Rica. We will travel to hot springs and visit a market. I pray that God will continue to work with us and that we would shine His light. Thank you for all of your support and prayers.

Happy New Year!

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