Costa Rica Day #4

So sorry that I got behind on posts! I mean, I know SO many of you are just waiting by your computers every day for next post...lol

Okay, so, Thursday! Thursday was a pretty chill day here at the apartment. The interns spent the morning working on simplifying and making a brochure for a new campaign that LightForce is going to launch in the fall. Then after lunch our friend, Henry, from the Bible study in Coronado came over to our apartment after his music classes in town. This definitely added some energy to our chill morning. Henry taught us how to cook and TRIED to teach us how to dance. That was quite an adventure. Brooke and I tried our best to learn, but we just don't have that Costa Rican dancing blood in us! Henry loved teaching us though and we had so much fun with him! We also got to teach him to make the Snickerdoodle cookies that we had brought to Bible study. Apparently Mother's Day is soon here and wanted to give some to his mom.

So after Henry left and we settled back down. Anna, Laura, Paul, Brook, Gabrielle and I walked downtown to the market to get some Costa Rican coffee! I got 2 bags that I cannot wait to brew when I get home! Yum! This was quite a long walk to the market and back. So, on the way back I got a chance to talk to Paul about Jesus Said Love, a ministry that he works with in Dallas. Their branch in Dallas focuses on going into strip clubs and ministering to the dancers and the managers. They show love by bringing them shampoo, clothes, food, whatever they need on a regular basis. The women will go into the clubs and into the dressing rooms with the girls, while a team of guys waits outside in prayer. The Jesus Said Love ministry does not seek to tear the girls from the club; they seek to love a people group that the Church has disregarded. I was very interested in Paul's involvement with this ministry because this is something that some girls from our church in LG have tried to start doing with the strip club in LaGrange. So I loved getting more information and details on the ministry and tips and advice for going into that atmosphere. If you want more info on Jesus Said Love, go to their website www.jesussaidlove.com

After getting back from our downtown trip, we regrouped and waited on another staff member, Kate, to get here. The all of us, Anna, Laura, Kate, Patty, Paul, Brooke, Megan, Gabrielle, and I went out to eat at Cafe del Mundo for Paul's last night with us :( The bread there was INCREDIBLE! I ate like 6 pieces, which if you have ever been with me to a restaurant that serves bread, this shouldn't surprise you. And my pasta was delicious! We had a fun time at dinner stuffing our faces and catching up with everyone being there as a team.  I had a really good talk with Laura over dinner about finding your rest in the Lord and being okay with not having plans every second of every day. There will be more to come on that thought later...

In case I haven't said it lately, I am SUPER blessed to be a part of this ministry.

Don't worry!

I am still alive and well in Costa Rica! But we had just had 2 busy mornings in a row, and that is when I do my posts. I will get a post for days #4 & #5 when we get back after lunch from our morning ministry today! Hope all is well in the States (or wherever you are reading this from)!

Costa Rica Day #3

Alright, since I had such a LONG post on Day 2, hopefully I can keep this one short. Wednesday was a very chill day at our apartment. We just spent the morning doing our own thing, spending time with the Lord and with each other. The only real plans we had for the day was to go to a Bible study in Coronado. Brooke, Megan, and Pati have been going every week to this Bible study at a guy's house. Last night we had 25 people there! The atmosphere of this group was so fun to be around. They all live around each other and most of them go to the same church. They are best friends and they love studying the Word and worshiping together. They were also very welcoming to Gabrielle and me and were very helpful with trying to help us understand what was going on. The majority of them spoke all Spanish but there were a few that knew a little bit of English and when that wasn't good enough, Pati would help us out! It was really neat to see that relationships that Pati, Brooke, and Megan had already made with the guys and girls at the Bible study. They were all so excited to see each other. 

We started off the Bible study with a game that I still do not understand the point of...we split up into groups of 4 and, of course, our group of English-speaking interns was all split up. So we started by naming our groups by colors. I did good with that, I remembered my colors! Then the game was basically like a call and response with jumping and shouting in Spanish...awesome. So our leader for our group gave us hand signals so I would know what to say when haha! I just shouted when they shouted and jumped when they jumped and listened for another group to say "VERDE! VERDE!" But even still, it was so fun to be acting crazy and just playing around with everyone in the group despite a language barrier. After we played the game Pati made us sit by someone we didn't know, turn around and stand back to back, then try to remember what they were wearing. Once again, I was thankful for my basic Spanish vocab. I remembered the guy was wearing un gris chaqueta y los azul jeans, so I squeaked by on that game as well. 

Then we all sat down to listen to Pati bring the devotion. This was such a neat experience for me. Even though I could not understand the words she was saying, I was so focused and attentive the whole time. The Spirit was speaking through her and, I know this sounds weird, but I still got something out of the message. When we read Scripture, we passed a Spanish Bible around the group and we all read in Spanish. It was just so neat to be studying the Word with these people, with my brothers and sisters in Christ. After the message, one of the girls led us in worship, another AWESOME experience of worshiping the same One True God in multiple languages. One of the songs we sang was Set A Fire by United Pursuit Band. While most of the group was singing this in Spanish, several of us were singing the same song and worshiping in English. I know I keep saying how neat of an experience this is, but it is just something you can't understand until you experience. Our God is just as much the God of this city and these people as He is the God of my hometown and my friends at school. So after a time of praise and worship, we hung out for a little while, ate some delicious cookies that I helped "Chef" Megan make earlier that day. Here in Costa Rica, they do not bake cookies except for very special occasions, so they devoured the ones that we brought! They kept saying "THESE ARE AMAZING!" with very heavy Spanish accents, haha! 

One of the guys at the house we were at gave us a ride to the bus station and then we rode the bus back to our apartment. On the way, Gabrielle and I were talking about how it was so neat to see that the fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is the same everywhere. The interactions are the same, the jokes are the same, the relationships between God's children are similar in every culture because we are all part of the same family and all serve the same God. It was such a cool picture of how Heaven will be, EVERY tribe, EVERY tongue singing praises to our God as ONE body and ONE family.

So that was my day #3, simple but incredible. I am so thankful to be here.

Costa Rica Day #2

Wow. This was a very long and tiring day, not just physically, but spiritually. The other newest intern and I went through "orientation". So we started our day with breakfast with the staff, eggs, rice & beans! Then Gabrielle and I went downstairs to the prayer room with Anna. Anna then told us the entire back story of how LightForce got started, how her staff got formed, how it got it's name, and all of the ministries that LightForce has, such as the children's outreach and Casa Agape. Although I knew a lot of this from hearing Anna speak at my church in the fall, it was still a lot to take in. I did not realize how much it was affecting me until we got up to take a lunch break. 

Towards the end of our conversation with Anna, we asked about the "Johns" and if there was a ministry for them. Johns is the term used for the clients of the prostitutes. Anna said that they had in the past gone to minister to the Johns outside of a very large brothel but did not have the resources to do both that and minister to the prostitutes twice a week. The reason being, it is very draining to empty completely of yourself by going out on the streets and ministering to those completely entangled in this type of sin. The LightForce staff has created relationships with the men and women in prostitution and that is the focus of their outreach ministry at this time. 

So when I heard this, my heart was so heavy. In my mind, the Johns are the fuel of trafficking. If the men don't come, then there is no need for prostitutes on the corners and in the parks. If the men don't come, there is no need for the brothels. 50% of tourism to Costa Rica is for sex. The demand has to stop. As long as there is any demand, the men and women will not leave the streets. This is either because they are being pimped out or because they at one point and time chose to come the streets and somewhere along the way lost the choice to leave.

I am getting way ahead of myself. After we got done talking with Anna, I went up to the top of the apartment, which has an incredible view of the city, and I just paced back and forth for about 20 minutes just trying to process what I was feeling. My heart was literally heavy. I had never experienced this type of burden before. And before I could even sit down and write down my prayers or read scripture I just needed to walk and listen. When I finally sat down to pray, I just wrote question after question. My heart was, and still is, being pulled in so many directions. Is this the Lord calling me to this type of ministry? What does that mean for me? Is this just emotions? Who knows. But I know the answer will come. As I was praying, I had my headphones in and was listening to a worship playlist, a song by Living Anthem came on. The lyrics go like this:

Can't you hear them now? (Cant' you hear them now?)

The world is crying out. (Can't you hear them now?)

Their lives are empty now. (Can't you hear them now?)

Can't you hear them now?

'Cuz they're in need to be freed

The world is waiting for something 

But you're holding it in your pocket

The world is waiting for something new

The world is waiting for you

Can't you see them now? (Can't you see them now?)

Their lives are broken down (Can't you see them now?)

Won't you let them out (Can't you see them now?)

Can't you see them now? (Can't you see them now?)

The world is waiting for something

But you're holding it in your pocket

The world is waiting for something new

The world is waiting for you

As I listened to this song, I was even more torn for these men. So what I really need your prayers on is discernment for me. I need to be able to discern between my emotions and what the Lord is calling me to. 

So after I spent some time with the Lord and ate a PB&J, me and Gab went back downstairs and met with Laura, another girl on LightForce staff. She talked with us specifically about the trafficking ministry. As I mentioned earlier, the team goes out bi-weekly to the streets and parks where the prostitutes are. And this was going to be the day that we went out. They go out regularly, so they have made deep connections with many of the men and women on the streets. They do not approach this as going out into the shadows to unclean people, they approach this ministry as going out to see friends. And that was very evident when we went out last night. 

Before we went, we met with two of  Anna and Laura's guy friends and also with two guys and two girls from YWAM (Youth With A Mission). We met together and prayed over the night and worshiped together as one team. Then we loaded up the van with coffee, tea, and cookies and we hit the streets. Within a few blocks we see the first girl on the streets. Two of the girls get out and talk to her for probably half an hour as they give her tea and cookies. They invited her to our church service Sunday and her response was that she wouldn't have her hair and makeup on then so he would be Jose when he came.

The prostitutes in the city consist of young males, old males, young females, old females, and transvestites. They are segregated by their gender and are always at the same parks or corners. The next place we drove up on was the transvestite park. There were 2 girls there as we pulled up and 5 by the time we left. It was one of the girls birthday so they sang to her. She was one that they had first met on the streets at 15, she turned 17 yesterday. 

The next place we stopped was a corner where a lady that was 40 years old worked. She had a very strong bond with the staff on our team. They got out and the whole time they were talking, she had her arm around them. This woman had been prostituting for over 20 years. She did not have a pimp controlling her. She came on the streets on her own after being abused and at some point lost that free will to leave. She has come to our church and has said that she has accepted Christ, but continues to say that she is not ready to leave the streets. It is all she knows how to do. 

We stopped again to talk to 3 other women on the other side of town, but I did not get out at any of these stops. I got out at the last stop, which was at the boys park. 3 others and myself got out where there were 3 guys standing. They all recognized our van and many of the team. We greeted them with the traditional Costa Rican greeting, a hug and a kiss on the cheek, gave them coffee, tea, and cookies, and then hung out with them for 20-30 minutes like they were old friends. Although they were talking way to fast for me to understand much and the only 5 words I said the whole time were "Hola, me llamo Amy, chow!" I still felt like I was hanging out with friends. They first started talking about getting their hands slammed in car doors, then they were talking about tattoos, then they were joking around about one of the guys that is usually there with them. We were just hanging out with them. We were loving them where they were at. Without judgement and without condemnation.

Never once did I feel threatened or unsafe. Never once did I feel that we were not supposed to be there. The Lord was with us. He wanted us there ministering to His children that He loves very much. They are just as much people deserving of love as we are. And no matter the language barrier between us and them, there is no language barrier with the Lord. Before we left the guys, we prayed with them. As one some of the leaders were praying in Spanish, I was praying in English. The Lord understands it all. My prayers over them in English are just as powerful as the prayers over them in Spanish. 

As we got back to our place, we debriefed and shared thoughts about the evening. Afterwards I went to my room for my quiet time. I opened my devotional to today's passage and it was Matthew 9:9-13.

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

What perfect timing. God calls us to go to the outsiders. And that is just what we did. So there is my really long post about a really long day. I appreciate your prayers, they have definitely been felt here. I will keep you posted with our day today! 

God bless!

Costa Rica Day #1

Yesterday was my first day in Costa Rica! It was so great! I am overly excited about doing ministry with our team this week. There are 3 adult staff that live here: Anna, Laura, and Patty. And there are 5 interns/volunteers: Brook, Megan, Gabrielle, Paul, and me. So, yes, we have one guy in the midst of all these girls! But he does a good job of looking after us when we are walking around town.

Yesterday our day consisted of all the interns going to get groceries! Yay, haha! Monday is grocery day at our apartment, so we walked 2500 miles to the market, back to apartment and then to Walmart and back. Okay, maybe 2500 is an exaggeration, but it was a lot of walking! I am super thankful for this time though, because it allowed us to bond as a team. It was so encouraging to hear the stories of how each one of us ended up here with LightForce this summer. God is incredible. His timing is perfect. And he planned us all to work together this week from the beginning of time. He has a purpose for each one of us individually, a purpose for our team specifically this week, and a purpose for LightForce. I am blessed to be a part of all three of those. 

While we were out walking across the city, our staff was meeting with other organizations that fight  human trafficking in Costa Rica, as well as government officials. They were discussing future plans for this ministry and so many awesome things that are in the works. I cannot go into detail but just be assured that God is using this ministry in Costa Rica to change this country and help the people that are trapped in trafficking. They are not sitting idle. They are pursuing God's purpose for them. They are not fighting the "issue" of human trafficking. They are fighting for the lives of God's children in unfortunate circumstances. If you have any interest in this or feel led to give to this ministry, PLEASE don't hesitate. Their website is lightforceintl.com

So there is a quick summary of my first day. It has been incredible so far and I know it will just get better! The only time I freaked out was being in the SJO airport by myself with no clue what to do. So, I just followed people from my flight through all of the stations until I finally saw our girls holding a sign with my name on it. Then, I was good to go! THANK YOU for your support of me and this trip, whether is has been through finances or prayer or both, thank you.

I will leave you with this song that I have been meditating on the last 2 days.

"By Our Love" by Christy Nockels

Brothers, let us come together

Walking in the Spirit, there's much to be done...

We will come reaching, out from our comforts

And they will know us by our love...

Sisters, we were made for kindness

We can pierce the darkness as He shines through us...

We will come reaching, with a song of healing...

And they will know us by our love!

The time is now

Come Church arise...

Love with His hands

See with His eyes...

Bind it around you,

Let it never leave you,

And they will know us by our love...

Children, You are hope for justice,

Stand firm in the Truth now, set your hearts above

You will be reaching, long after we’re gone,

And they will know you by your love!

The time has come!

So the time is finally here!

I leave for Costa Rica bright and early in the morning and will return late next Monday night. 

It is super late and I have to get up super early in the morning so this will be a short post. I will have internet at my place in Costa Rica so be looking for updates during my trip this week!

I want to share with you the Words from the Lord that I have been meditating on as I have been preparing for this trip the past few months. 

Please join me in prayer over these Scriptures as I am finally able to go live them out in a setting that I am very passionate about bringing the love of the Lord to.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1

"And You, me Child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for You who go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, 

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:76-70

"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:29

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring Good News, who publish peace, who bring good news of happiness, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns." Isaiah 52:7

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Be hospitable to one another without grumbling." 1 Peter 4:8-9

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

A little update on my life..

This is has been such a busy summer already, and I haven't even been on my first big trip yet! But whether I am traveling out of the country by myself or traveling around the country with my students, the Lord is constantly teaching me.

This summer has certainly been a time of learning and growing in the Lord. I am about to start my senior year of college and there are two questions that I get about 3 times a week: 1. Is there a guy in your life? 2. What are you going to do after you graduate?

And here are the answers:

1. Yes, there are plenty of wonderful Christian guy friends in my life. But no, I am not dating any of them. Meanwhile, 8 of my friends have gotten engaged in the past month and 4 other couples that got married today! So believe me, it is on my mind. But I am trusting in the Lord's timing.

2. I have no idea. But God has a perfect plan, and I am trying to find it. I have been thinking over several different options that I could pursue, but no opportunities yet. One thing that the Lord has definitely confirmed in my life this summer is that I LOVE STUDENT MINISTRY. I have had the blessing of being able to go on two week long trips with our middle and high school choirs at FBC. I love these students. Nothing gives me greater joy than seeing the Lord work through them. I have built and grown so many relationships with them this summer that I am overjoyed just thinking about how much more those relationships will grow this next year. So that being said, I am obviously looking at student ministry as a possibility once I graduate. But where? Who knows. I am also looking into some longer mission trips. There isn't a lot of specifics on trips now, since I am looking for next summer/fall, but I have been searching around at different programs like The World Race and Journeyman. My upcoming trips this year will give me a sense of whether that is something I seriously want to consider pursuing. And my final option, if I don't find something in student ministry or missions right after I graduate, is to go to seminary until I do find an opportunity in student ministry or missions.

Now, obviously, these plans could drastically change in the next year. I do believe that these are all things that the Lord is calling me to look into right now, so that is exactly what I am doing. I am trying to find His calling for my life after college and follow that. But, I also have one year left in college and want to use that time to glorify Him. I am very excited to see how the Lord is going to use me in this next year. I am open to His calling.

I would greatly appreciate any prayers or advice from any of you with wisdom :)