June in Costa Rica!

As it’s been about 2 weeks since my team has left Costa Rica, I am remembering the faces and places of Jacó that used to be apart of my daily routine. Near the end of June, walking around Jacó felt like walking around a familiar community. My team and I went to all corners of the town painting concrete hand washing stations, beach showers, and light poles, and we also spent considerable time in the heart of Jacó painting a mural in the central park. We know the beaches well from Ocean’s Edge surf club ministry and swimming in the waves during our free time. We also became apart of Horizon Church’s community by serving throughout the week in children’s Sunday school, Wednesday prayer meetings, and preparing for the church’s VBS. Lastly, we got to care for the Ocean’s Edge base well by cleaning & renovating bedrooms and other spaces for future missionary groups. Best of all, the Lord placed certain people in our paths so that we could form relationships with locals of Jacó 🙂

The painting ministry of Ocean’s Edge is a very special project! The government of Jacó (la Municipalidad) has paid for large amounts of paint so that missionaries can decorate the mentioned structures around the city, and even more, the outcome in Jacó has been so positive that there is a demand for painted murals by Ocean’s Edge in other cities in Costa Rica! God is facilitating His people to be sent into other parts of Costa Rica to bring the hope of Jesus and build the kingdom!

It would be hard to forget the friends my squad & I met while out on the streets of Jacó! Our paths became intertwined with certain locals from whom we heard their story, grew in friendship with, and prayed with as we ran into each other time and time again. From these individuals I saw the restoration of past hurt and how God cares for His children, while learning that simply being a vessel of the Holy Spirit has the power to touch someone’s life for the better.

Of course there were multiple days when painting the same mural day after day did not seem exciting. And there was never a break from the heavy humidity and heat. But these moments provided the challenge to lean deeper into God’s presence and sustaining strength. The unglamorous parts of ministry pushed me to trust God in His purpose of bringing me on this trip and His grand plan of working all the small moments of mission work together to glorify Him.