Costa Rica – Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Costa Rica. For some reason, just the name held a certain excitement for our team. Entering this beautifully green and humid land, we immediately felt something was stirring. Part of it was that our team had been split up for two weeks for ministry in Honduras, our previous country, we were excited to be back together. Another part of it was that our Luke 10 was coming up. And perhaps the other part was that this would be our last country in Central America, before we would fly out to Turkey. A lot had been building up to this arrival. Now it was finally here.
Our base was an orphanage run by an American couple with a heart to take in the unwanted and unloved and show them God’s way of living in family. Before we dived into actual ministry with them, we had planned to do our Luke 10 and were able to have one rest day, leave all bags behind in a storage room, and then jump into a week of walking around the town with nothing but the clothes on our back, searching for where Jesus was on the move.
For those who don’t know, in Global Challenge a Luke 10 is not just a passage of scripture, but a verb too. It’s something we do as teams in the nations. In the chapter of Luke 10, Jesus sends out his disciples in small groups and tells them to take nothing with them for the road – no food or money, no spare clothes or bags, nothing – and tells them to seek persons of peace whereby they can minister to a community. It’s a physical journey of faith, trusting Jesus to guide your direction, give you a place to stay, food to eat and so on. But more so, it’s about looking for who He wants to touch and partnering with Jesus in it. Our Luke 10 in Costa Rica lasted 6 days.
If I could share all the testimonies that came from it, this blog post would turn into a novella. However in short, we saw God provide in the miraculous and the mundane. Not once did He leave us stranded. He showed up every time and provided us with incredible hosts, places to stay, food to eat, and ministry opportunities. He opened doors for us to encourage people, to witness to them about true life and joy, and to speak healing over those in need of it. We prayed over people and over areas. We prophesied, worshipped, and spoke truth over strangers who were seeking Christ. It was a time of true life, joy, and adventure. Some teams were able to surf in beautiful beaches, others explored the city, while others traveled all along the coast. Life with Christ is never boring. If it is, we’re not doing it right.
After Luke 10, we all felt a renewed excitement for what God was doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. As we got to work painting walls and cleaning the garden at our next ministry base, the orphanage, we enjoyed playing worship music and spending time with Jesus as we worked. Daily morning devotions with the children and staff there were a highlight. Our team was given the privilege of being able to lead a few devotions and worship a few mornings, and other times we simply joined them. It was inspiring to see how the orphanage was Christ-centered and focused on not just giving the kids a roof and food, but the opportunity to get to know Jesus personally from a young age.
The help needed was mostly in the form of manual labor. So for the next two weeks, we helped scrape down and repaint one of the homes for the children. It was beautiful to see the gratitude of not just the staff, but the little kids too. The boys in our team helped with clearing some overgrown bush, mowing the lawn, fixing plumbing leaks, and cutting down shrubs.
Spiritually, our team was diving into worship together and using the early sunny mornings to dive more into the word. It was a space of growth, renewal, and much joy. We also spent time exploring the area and having fun together. Costa Rica holds a special place in our heart for many reasons, but the fun we had together was undoubtedly one of the best parts.
However, as our time came to a slow end, it was the testimony of one of the staff workers there that lingered with us long after we left. Carlos, the head of maintenance, quickly befriended our team. As we worked alongside him, we were able to have deeper conversations about how God had redeemed his life, about our experiences on Global Challenge, and much more. His soft and serving heart was beautiful to experience. A few times he even asked his wife to cook a meal for us, since we were living on a low budget that could only afford rice and beans for a while.
At the end of our two weeks, Carlos told us how deeply he appreciated our work. He said that in the eight years he’d been there, no team had worked as hard as we had. We did more than double the work than what he had expected. This is not a big thing to boast about on our part – we worked hard, but to us it was nothing out of the ordinary – but rather this is a testament to the effects of spirit within us which enabled us to work hard and do it with joy too. He said that our actions spoke louder than words and we shone Jesus to him and the staff more through our actions and hard work than any words could have. Many teams have previously come and they talk about Jesus, but when the hard work comes, they back out or get lazy.
May Carlos’s encouragement always remind us to be people of our word. That if we say we are there to serve someone, then may we serve them with all we have. Costa Rica reminded us that sometimes it’s not words needed to shine Jesus, but our actions and attitudes, and when Jesus’ joy shines through, no one can deny that we are living carriers of the spirit of the risen King!