Tuesday in Costa Rica

The day began at the Girl’s club. The team had a tea party for the 5th and 6th grade girls where we decorated the room with a butterfly theme. The girls seem delighted to sit at the tables covered with colorful tablecloths, place settings with tea cups and butterfly centerpieces. Kendra, one of our team leaders began a discussion with the girls about beliefs they had about themselves that were lies. Kendra and Mary, our other team leader, shared about the lies that they had believed as children and how God healed their hearts. Dani Peña and Danielle Johnson also shared with the girls. The exercise involved the girls writing down what the lies were that they believed on one piece of paper. On the other piece of paper, the girls wrote down how they challenged those lies by knowing the truth of Jesus and His love for them. It was so moving to experience the openness of these girls and the kind of abuse and hardships they endured. Despite everything, their hearts were open to receiving the love of Jesus and they were so loving to the team. They would hug and kiss each of us and we were so touched. On the boy front, Rory led the 6th grade boys in a basketball game that was “some kind of crazy”. It seems that the boys were a lot better at being organized with football and they all had a great time. Later in the day, they broke out the gymnastic mat and Jonathon, the younger teen on our team, did an amazing dive somersault over 6 of the boys which the kids loved! David, Jonathon’s father, and Rory also led a discussion over cookies with the 6th grade boys. They talked about treating girls with respect and becoming aware of the angry thoughts they had at times and how to deal with them through sharing and prayer. In the afternoon, we started the project of re-painting and decorating the teacher’s lounge. The plan is great with the blue and tan color scheme, where we got a new couch, window coverings, and corkboard for decoration, notes, etc. This project will take a few days so we’ll keep you posted! Another exciting work in progress is with Katie, our bilingual principal of a school in Las Vegas that deals with very similar challenges as this school. Katie is discussing with the educators how they can implement a computer program that will help the parents learn to assist in their children’s education at home. It as if God tailor made this mission for Katie. She has been invaluable with translation for the team and with communicating with the Costa Rican teachers. In the evening, Mary, the local missionary with Assemblies of God, had the team over to her home for a delicious meal of tacos, black beans, and chips with salsa and guacamole. The best part of the evening was listening to the compelling testimony of Mauricio, a local pastor and teacher. His childhood had every kind of pain and hardship imaginable and he truly is a walking miracle for the Lord. God is blessing all of us with such a richness of experiences throughout this trip. Praise Him! Until tomorrow, your team member Ellen