Location- Golfito, Costa Rica
Temperature- High of thirty seven degrees, low of twenty six degrees Celsius
Humidity- One Hundred Percent
Duration- Twelve Days
Ministry- Bible Distribution
After the eight hour bus ride from San Jose to Golfito we had finally arrived. We finally were on 'Outreach'. I think this was the first time it had hit all of the team that this is our reality for the next ten weeks. Despite the heat when we first arrived, having to carry ten weeks worth in one bag on our backs, and not being able to understand anyone. I was extremely excited for the next ten weeks and had a sense of anticipation to see what the Lord will do through us and around us.
Our schedule looked a bit like this..
six thirty start, cooking breakfast for everyone
seven, breakfast
eight - three thirty, ministry time
we would then generally have a cold shower, not that a hot shower was actually a choice but we thanked the Lord anyway as there was no way we would want to have even a slightly warm shower by the end of our ministry time, we were all dripping with sweat! I experienced areas that i never knew could sweat. If caring about what you looked like was some what of a priority for you, that certainly would have been crushed the first day there.
Once we were all organised we would come together as a team and have our 'Team Time' which consisted of a time of prayer and worship and the natural excited talk of everyone speaking over each other as we all wanted to share stories at the same time. Our team did eventually get good at listening and talking one at a time.
We would then have dinner from around six o'clock then afterwards we generally would have walked to the local store to find something sweet or hit the hay. (go to bed)
We had one day off a week which was spent at the pool down the road.
So that was a basic day for the duration of the time we were there.
These twelve days certainly was a time to test our patience with one another, there definitely were times when we didn't talk to one another! Being the first time living with each other, being with each other 24/7 we certainly got to know each other very very well. TJ and i would say we have spent TOO much time with each other. Fortunately after a few days in Golfito we had two other outreach teams from different YWAM locations come join us for the rest of our time there. Everyday we all got split up into different teams to go house to house which gave us all an opportunity to get to know everyone, including the locals that came to help us. I became good friends with one of the guys in one of the other teams. Some would say he was a boy version of me, where all our conversations consisted of jokes. I think we had one serious conversation the whole time we were together, but a serious conversation that was!
Now you understand what the days looked like for us i shall get into the nitty gritty of it. The glory stories. Did the Lord move? like never before. What is the greatest miracle of all? Salvation. Did we see it? Did we ever! We saw over one hundred salvations just in the twelve days we were there. Now i am almost sure heaven would have been having the biggest celebration cause we certainly were praising Him everyday as we would share our 'glory stories' with one another. Not only did we see the greatest miracle which is salvation, we saw healings as well! If you were ever in a place of doubting healing and if it's so called 'Legit' you would not be doubting after our time there. We saw healing from headaches gone to back pain that was there for years gone! Our God is a big God, nothing is impossible for Him if we just believe.
Seeing the faces of the people we had just prayed for lit up was one of the greatest things i saw. Every home we went too were so hospitable, there was no question about it they would invite us in and give us anything they had, whether it be a glass of water or some pineapple. They would give us anything and everything they had, even if it meant they would go without. For they wanted to do all they could to bless us as they felt very blessed for us even just knocking on their door! It truly is amazing what such simple acts of kindness can do for someone.
This time definitely made me check myself. Am i doing all i can to bless others? Do i constantly show continuous acts of kindness? Am i actually a nice person? There is always things you can do to make someone else day, to make someone else feel like a princess, to make someone else feel 'special'. And it's so simple.
If our twelve days in Golfito was all we did for outreach, my life still would have been changed. The people i met, faces i saw, tears to laughter, sorrow to joy. My relationship with God and my love for him grew so much during our time there.
But that's not all God had in store for us...
Teams reporting for duty
What you can handle you hold. Plus some.
One of the teams going house to house
This is what everyday looked like
This is Vernon, Lover of Jesus, translator (although we struggled understanding each other) and new Pal.
Ruben and his natural ability to make new friends
Two of the loyal locals that helped us everyday
Family photo, three teams together from different locations
To this day i stand amazed at the lifetime friends i made in this location when i would have never met them if i didn't go to Costa Rica.
This gives you a little taste of what the first twelve days of outreach looked like, for more photo's check out my 'This is it' blogpost. until next time, until the next location.
God Bless.
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