Costa Rica Mission Team - June 5-11, 2022

One of our high school mission teams will be going to Costa Rica! They will be partnering with Leader Treks to work alongside Casa Viva, an organization that finds church families in the area to care for underprivileged children in their homes. During the first part of the day our team will be at a worksite doing construction and cleaning projects. Additionally, we will be running a three-day Vacation Bible School for kids in the neighborhood. We are so blessed by your support and cannot wait to share our trip with you!

OUR DAILY BLOG

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TRAVEL DAY

Our trip is underway!  We drove up to Phoenix this afternoon and then we eventually made it through the long process of checking our bags and getting everyone through security. Our flight isn't until 10:00ish so we got some food and we are currently waiting to board our flight to Fort Lauderdale. Thank you once again for your support towards this trip! We are all super hyped to arrive in Costa Rica and start working. :)

¡Pura Vida! Costa Rica Communications Team

DAY #1

Our flight from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale went pretty smoothly. It got a little bumpy here and there on the flight but it wasn’t bad. Most of us got a little on and off sleep, but not much. Once we arrived in the Fort Lauderdale airport, we found our gate, and some people got food while others slept. Eventually, after our 5 hour layover we got on the plane to San Jose, Costa Rica. Three people on our team who were flying out this morning missed their flight due to a long wait for security and are spending the night in Phoenix and plan to fly out tomorrow and be in Costa Rica late Monday.

Once we landed in San Jose we waited in line at immigration for a long while until we made it through to get our bags. There was one issue with one person’s luggage as it was identical to another passenger’s who took the wrong bag. We plan to pick up the luggage at the airport tomorrow when we pick up the rest of our team.

Our team was picked up by the leadertreks staff that are our “leaders/guides” this week. Their names are Jarred and Titus. From there, we got our team (and all our luggage) to the nearest store where we split into teams and got all of our groceries. Then we went to go find the place we will be staying. The place is called the Tabernacle which is a local church. It’s decently nice actually! We have bunk beds, and it’s a pretty well taken care of area. Things have been going good so far! Thank you for all your prayers, it means a lot to us.

¡Pura Vida! Costa Rica Communications Team

DAY #2

Thank you for your prayers! Monday was a day of orientation as we got the scope and goals of our work here. We are working at a public school that the church works closely with; we are doing some cleanup and putting oil based paint on the metal fence to keep it from rusting in the relentless rain!

We are also running our vbs at this PUBLIC school! What a blessing to share the love of Jesus with these kids. Pastor Rigo has an amazing ministry to this community that we have been blessed to humbly come alongside and support his efforts. And we are grateful for Angelica’s s Espanol! We are so grateful that we have 45 minutes each day to do devotional and spend time in God’s word. This week we are going through the book of James and are being challenged to live out our faith in practical ways.

Each evening during team time we go over our Bible study together, spend some time in worship and evaluate the day. Over these few days we have gotten closer as a team and improved quickly in our work. Tomorrow we are hoping to continue painting (pending on rain!)

We also have a wonderful opportunity to lead a church service tomorrow evening for Pastor Rigo! We are very excited for this- pray for us as we lead them in worship and share with them. Please pray for us to have energy for another long day tomorrow and wisdom for our church service tomorrow evening! :)

Pura Vida! Costa Communications Team

DAY #3

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers! Today we had to shift our schedule to be able to fit in everything we had to do in the day as well as help lead a service at the church we are working with! During our work project we worked more on painting some tables for the kindergarten classrooms as well as working around the rain to paint more of the fence. Even though our VBS was only officially two days, we still were able to continue our ministry with the kids by engaging with them as they passed us on their way to class!

Today we had the opportunity to learn more about pastor Rigo, the pastor of our host church.  He has been a tremendous example for us on how to minister to the community. Tonight we went to Pastor Rigo’s church and our students had the opportunity to lead in worship and share what God is doing in their lives - definitely one of the highlights of the trip thus far! We are blessed to witness and come alongside our ministry partners here-as they have been a huge encouragement to us. (Acts 20:24) (Enjoy these videos From Pastor Ramos facebook page) Costa Rica Worship Team and Pastor Chase's Message 

The school we are serving has had a rough few years as it is a new school and the COVID pandemic slowed down school development. Rigo was able to get us into the school and help, which is a rare occurrence since the school doesn’t let even parents onto campus, but we are able to be inside the gates and engage with the kids.

¡Pura Vida! Costa Rica Communications Team

DAY #4 

Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers! Yesterday was our last day at our worksite. We managed to finish the entire front fence, clean classrooms and paint tables for the school. We are so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip and serve the community here in Costa Rica.

We are also so grateful to be able to come alongside Pastor Rigo and forge new relationships between the community and the local church! Last night Pastor Rigo and his wife invited us to dinner at their house for an authentic Costa Rican meal- the food and the fellowship was fantastic.

Today we will shift gears a bit and have the opportunity to see some Costa Rican sites.

Pura Vida, Costa Rica Communications Team

DAY #5

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers! Today was the final day of being in Costa Rica. Tomorrow we will be flying back to Phoenix with a layover in New York. This whole trip has been a great experience with growing closer to God, serving the locals in Costa Rica, and making stronger relationships with each other on our team. In this email we wanted to give you the opportunity to hear from some of the students with these questions.

1. How have you grown in your relationship with God through this trip?

• I’ve grown in my willingness to serve and my joy in my situation. I’ve started to realize on this trip that I really enjoy to help people and that even though we may not be in the best conditions, there is so much to be grateful for. With the work project I had so much fun showing God’s love with the people at the school and in the community, and growing closer to Christ through service.
• I’ve definitely learned to rely and trust more on Him as the week went on. Trusting in God’s plans is something I’ve always struggled with, so this trip has really opened my eyes to the fact that He has a solid plan for everything. In James 1, James writes about the testing of faith. That passage was a great reminder for me and really helped me grow in my faith in Him.
• We had to be very flexible on this trip, which is something that is generally pretty hard for me. The book of James says many things about what being a strong Christian is like, and that we shouldn’t complain when trials come our way but to rejoice. This verse helped me throughout the week to stay calm and focused through every uncertain thing and change. I learned how to trust God in the midst of trials.
• This week I have learned how important it is to spend some time in God’s word everyday. I have really seen a difference in how I was able to show his love and through that love, service. Seeing the kids everyday and being able to talk with them and serve them in any way I was able to really brought a new joy to my life that I haven’t been able to experience. If there is one thing I want to take back home from this trip it is to spend time with God and his word daily.
• Through this trip I have humbled myself through serving others and trying not o be more selfless while serving on mission. This trip I have learned so much going through the book of James and discussing what we read with this group. I really enjoyed the quiet time for devotional everyday before the work project in this beautiful place, using the time to pray and give thanks to God for this trip and creation.
  
  

2. What was the highlight of this trip?

• I would say that one of the major highlights was the VBS. It was so fun and encouraging watching kids dance, play games, and answer questions. Even though we spoke different languages the kids were still super friendly and excited to see us.
• Besides the amazing place that we’ve gotten to visit my highlight of the trip would be the VBS. We got to teach the kids about Jesus and have craft time and snack time. I loved getting to know the kids and interacting with them.
• I had a few major highlights. One was when our mini-bus broke down. We had just attended a worship service at a local church and were driving back when the clutch went out. What was cool was when some random people driving by stopped and helped fix the clutch in about 20 minutes. This was an inspiring show of kindness from complete strangers. Another highlight was when the pastor of the church we were staying at whom we had been working with throughout the week had our whole team over for dinner. They served us a delicious meal and their hospitality was really encouraging.
• My favorite part of the trip was all of the little kids and how excited they were to do VBS and see us.
  
  

3 .What changes will you make in your life as a result of this trip?

• I would like to serve more in our church. Thank God in and for everything, and to be more aware of what sins I struggle with and take action steps about it.
• This trip has really driven home my need for CONSTANT prayer! As I’m struggling with anxiety, dealing with frustration, or just living my everyday life, close communion with God is the only way I can live in a Christ-like way and be affective as a Christian. As it says in James 4, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
• I would like to take home the desire to draw closer to the Lord every day through prayer and time in the good word. This trip has given me insight into my life to see just how important prayer is and how trying to form a relationship with the world will never bring me joy. Only God can do that.
  
  

Please pray for safe travel tomorrow getting back home.

Pura Vida, Costa Rica Communications Team