This is the letter I sent home after I spent a month in Costa Rica in March 2015. It chronicles my time there and was a turning point in my journey towards pursuing full time missions in Costa Rica.
In March, I was in Costa Rica for a month volunteering with Christ for the City International. I had such a fun time travelling the world, but felt somewhat guilty with all the ‘me-ness’ of it. So, I wanted to spend at least some time ‘giving back’. But what I discovered was that I really got more out of it that I felt I gave... isn’t that always the case?
Playing doctor mix-up with the kids
When I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, the team I was working with was making last minute preparations for a camp for kids from Tirrases. Tirrases is a very underpriviledged neighbourhood where people live in ramshackle tin houses with dirt for floors. This would be the first time those kids would be leaving the city, let alone going to camp!
Alejandra and Erica enjoying the flowers
My team members impressed on me before we left for camp that the kids were a ‘tough crowd’. They’d try making jokes, slapstick humour, being very silly, often to no avail. The kids are from very difficult backgrounds: prostitution, sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence, extreme poverty, so getting them to smile and have fun is often very difficult.
However, when we arrived at camp, a tremendous ROAR came from the kids, who were incredibly excited, and smiles and laughs abounded all weekend long. One of the kids said on Friday, “This is the best day IN THE WORLD!”
I was extremely humbled by their appreciation of the beauty that we often take for granted. Those two girls pictured above dragged me on a flower appreciation walk where they oohed and aaahed at each type of flower and spent a lot of time saying how beautiful everything was.
Did you know there are 1001 ways to play with a hula hoop?
Another thing that really amazed me was their ingenuity and creativity in having fun with whatever we happened to have around us. Two hula hoops provided a ton of entertainment. They skipped with them, had spinning competitions, tried to see how many people in a row could hop over them before they toppled over, had throwing competitions... and on and on.
One of the girls and I wanted to play ping pong, but could only find one paddle. No problem, she made up a game that we could both play with only one paddle. ☺
Santiago DELIGHTED with his new green t-shirt
I was blessed to be staying with a host family, who patiently put up with my awful Spanish, taught me about verb conjugation and exotic Costa Rican fruit, and who graciously invited me to take part in their lives.
This is my host nephew Santiago. This is the birthday party we had for him on his actual birthday, and here he is opening the gift he got from his grandma. He wore that shirt for 3 days straight after he got it :D
Bouncy castle and minion cake!
And here is the minion themed birthday party I was invited to a week after his actual birthday. Great food, bouncy castle, kite-flying and a delicious cake!
Free zumba outside every night with 100 of my closest dance aficionados
I also did other things with my host family, like learn how to cook plantains, check out the Costa Rican equivalent of Costco, go to the mountains for the weekend and go to Zumba with my host sister!
This is what happens when you give the children your camera.
I spent quite a bit of time in Tirrases as well, working at the Bible school there tutoring in English and Math, and helping with the Bible classes on Saturdays. The kids go to school either in the morning or in the afternoon, leaving them free the other half of the day to come to tutoring if they wish. Sometimes we got more photography done than tutoring ;)
Surprise! You’re getting up at 1:30am to help with a half-marathon!
Sometimes as a volunteer you get to do things you wouldn’t do if you were sane not volunteering. Like ‘get up’ at 1:30am, to catch a bus at 2:30am, to be out on a course at 3:00am, to wait in the cold without a jacket because heck, you’re going to Costa Rica, it doesn’t get cold there (yes, Costa Rica is actually cold at night!), until 6:30am when you get to frantically hand out bags of water, then pack it in at 7am!
And if you were actually sane before, you really aren’t afterwards.
This is my team: Brandon, Jeremy, Chrsti and Sam
I’m so thankful I had a great team to work with. They really made doing things that seemed impossible or overwhelming or downright insane, actually doable and fun. We ate ice cream all the time, watched a lot of sunsets, and went on excursions like the one to feed pigeons (and by ‘feed’ Jeremy actually meant ‘catch and scare the crap out of’).
Here is a video that Jeremy made on his phone (they really could use some funds... ;) of the ministry we worked for:
That’s Alejandra’s mom, Ana, speaking, and if you are patient enough to watch until the very end, there’s a Very Special Guest Appearance ;D
And if you just can’t get enough of my star power: ;D
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