in love with life

hey ya’ll! we finished our first week of ministry in costa rica so i wanted to give you an update of what my life looks here at the moment! 

it’s been a lot of manual labor. HARD manual labor. we are working on a house where women with children are able to stay for rehabilitation centered around Christ. it’s a mix of painting, shoveling rocks piles of rocks, moving wood, and cleaning. we do this Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s. 

on tuesday’s, we partner with another organization called, The Nest. they have a great ministry started up so look them up and check them out! this is the hardest part of the week. because they don’t have as many tools and resources available to them, everything (and i mean EVERYTHING) is done by human hands. so our squad had the job of carrying sheets of heavy and hot metal, along with planks of wood, all the way through the jungle up to The Nest. it may not sound like it was that bad, but it was the hardest thing i think i’ve ever had to do. yet, it was one of the most memorable and fun days i’ve had. i’m so blessed to have a squad that makes the days that could easily be so terrible become so much fun. oh! i can’t forget how we were given the task to move an entire tree that they were using to be a bridge :,) and guys, i tried my best but i have learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses here and i felt like using strength to pull out my phone so everyone has this memory of moving a tree was more helpful than me trying to move a tree. 

thursday nights and sunday’s we go to a center where about 30-40 men stay for a year long program. these men are coming out of lifestyles filled with drugs and alcohol, and learned to redirect their lives to God. it has actually been days that i look forward to the most. the guys there are so sweet and invite us to eat with them, play games, and good fellowship. even though they have dealt with such hard situations, seeing their joy is like a breath of fresh air. they are never hesitant to make us feel welcome in any way, whether that’s with yummy pancakes, homemade dark chocolate, or learning a little more english to talk to us more. 

we’ve also been able to do a little bit of evangelism and handing out Bibles to people. one of the biggest differences between central america and the states is how open people’s doors are here. we can easily walk up to someone’s door saying “buenos dias!” and they don’t second guess inviting us into their homes so they can hear more about Jesus. there is such a hunger here. this idea has made me think of how i want to live my life back at home. i want to have my door open and create that inviting atmosphere, because it opens more opportunity for Jesus to change people’s lives.  

well, that’s what life has been looking like so far! it’s been super hard but so much fun too. the amount of core memories i have made on just this week alone is insane. something that i’ve been looking forward to is after our long days we all pile into one of our cabins and have “tea time.” we drink tea and hot coco and sit around sharing fun stories. also, shoutout to maddy for making sure everyone’s eyebrows look cleaned up! i don’t know where my eyebrows would be without her. and then i love our slow mornings where we all sit together on our little porch and read our devotionals. i love looking up from my Bible and seeing everyone in their our world yet we all are still together. 

apparently, our schedules are about to look very different next week since we finished the women with children center, but i’ll make sure to keep ya’ll filled in! alright guys, that’s all i have for ya’ll today! talk to ya soon <3

^ lollipops are my hype snack on the way to ministry

^ spontaneous swim in the river

^ our sweet porch times 🙂