Costa Rica

 As promised...a closer look at my trip to Costa Rica:

When I heard that the high school youth group was going on a missions trip, I knew I wanted to go. Missions has been important to me for some time. My first trip was when I was in high school. Our youth group went to the Bahamas (almost as tough as Costa Rica...I know). In college I went to Japan twice on two week trips. And after college I moved to Japan for 6 months to work as a missionary teacher. Many members of my family have done missions trips, and my great-grandparents both died as missionaries in Africa. So...like I said...missions is important to me. I was excited to go this time as a leader. I knew the missions aspect would be great, but I was also excited about watching/helping high school students experience an amazing adventure.

We arrived in Costa Rica after a long night of traveling. We were working with a group called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). They picked us up in this wonderfully air conditioned bus. That was the last time we felt air conditioning for the rest of the week! And boy was it HOT and HUMID! That bus would have been nice for the rest of the trip, but we're missionaries right?!

 Our first day was sort of relaxing as we got to the YWAM base and settled in. We ate a yummy lunch of arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), which incidentally we ate quite a bit of the rest of the week! They informed us that evening that the next morning we were taking off to distribute bibles to people in a village about 2 hours away. We needed to take our sleeping mats because it was too far away to come back for sleeping, and we needed two days to pass out the bibles.

 No worries though...they told us we would be sleeping in a church. This was the church...

 No walls...no windows...no doors...oh well!

After another meal of some variation of rice and chicken we set off in groups with translators to distribute bibles. Many of these homes had never had a bible, and the people were very appreciative of the gift. We got to share our faith a little, and some of the people wanted to accept the Lord!

It was very eye opening to see the conditions in which the people lived. Their houses were often pieced together with various boards and had dirt floors. Definitely no air conditioning in these places!

We walked a lot!!!

 That evening we got to be a part of the church service. I always love listening to people praising the Lord in other languages. I can feel the Spirit there even though I can't understand the words. It is so awesome to experience the presence of God in that way and know that He is real!

On to sleeping in the church. They were very nice to set up a net for us. Most of the people on our team had 50-100 bug bites by this time (only two days into the trip). I am so thankful that for some reason the bugs did not like me, and I didn't get one bite the whole time I was there! Praise the Lord! I think I might have been the only one!

 The nets were kind of comforting since there were lots of bugs around...but then we found the tarantula. I wasn't sure that our nets were going to keep this out! The Lord protected us though :).

 The second day we passed out bibles again, and every one of the 105 homes in the village were given bibles. Then we had some fun play time with the children of the village. We did crafts, balloon animals, played games, and just had fun...even though it was pouring down rain! We had a crazy thunder storm, but no one complained as the rain brought the temperature down a little.

 When we got back to the YWAM base we got to relax a little. Here is what the base looked like.

 Then we went back to distributing bibles. This time we were in more of a city setting. The people in the city weren't quite as welcoming as the people in the village, but there were still some great stories of people receiving the Lord and being prayed for.

 The next day we did something totally different. We went into two different high schools and presented an anti-drug program. Apparently drugs is a big issue in Costa Rica, but not much is taught against it. Our drama team got to act out a drama that was very straight forward in its message though. It was cool to be able to present something that "religious" in a school.

 The high school soccer teams wanted to play against our "team". I'm not sure they knew how bad we would be.

 I really shouldn't say "we", because I didn't play. It was SO hot, and this is how some of the girls and I spent the game time.

 We had another chance to interact with some kids. We went back to the city where we had passed out bibles and did it again. Then we got to put on a little event for the kids. We did some more crafts and balloons, and the face painting was a big hit!

 Part of our duties each day at the YWAM base were to make sure that everything was clean. It was our team's job to clean the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, and outside showers. The students (and leaders too) did a great job of getting in there and doing the not-so-lovely jobs. It was a good part of the missions experience.

 Our team :)

 On our last day in Costa Rica we had a free day. They took us to the beach. It was beautiful! The ocean was warm, and we got to eat pizza! So good after all those rice, beans, and chicken meals!

I had a wonderful time in Costa Rica! It was great to see the Lord working in the activities we did with the natives and also in the lives of the team.

If you were one of my supporters on this trip, whether through finances or prayer, thank you so much for your support! I couldn't have had this amazing experience without you! And through your support, you were a part of what God did through our team. Thank you!!!

I would love your comments, especially if you supported me, and even if you didn't. I would love to know who got to read this and experience the adventure with me. I don't know if you have to have an account to comment or if you can just comment anonymously. If you do that though, please make sure you put your name on it. Or you can also email me at paulandcourtneycaswell@yahoo.com.