Flew in yesterday morning after a 9 day mission trip to Costa Rica. Everything went great. We ministered primarily in a precario in the capital city of San Jose. A precario is a shanty town filled with small homes made of scrap wood, metal, and block built by illegal squatters. The average home is a room or two that totals about 300 square feet. This particular precario is a 3 acre site with about 1700 people...mostly Nicarauguan refugees. We cooked 500 hotdogs and gave them away in the precario on Saturday (July 1). That evening we worshiped at a church in Alajuela where I was invited to preach. Sunday morning we walked through the precario and cleaned up the area and prepared it for ministry.
Each day we hosted a Vacation Bible School for approximately 200 kids. They watched a puppet show and did crafts. They also enjoyed face painting, jump rope, bubbles, etc. while they waited to get into the puppet show. A medical team treated 349 people. This ministry was very much needed. I was really glad we could offer the medical ministry this year. We also showed the Jesus film Friday night.
We experienced lots of laughs and lots of tears. The first day in the precario is always the
toughest for the new ones. When we finished with the cookout Saturday, Joy, one of the missionaries, gave me two used margarine tubs that we ordinarily wouldn't think twice about
throwing away. She told me to give them to someone. I asked her how to say, "Would you like this?" in Spanish. I turned toward the crowd and asked the first two ladies that I saw. They graciously took them like I'd given them a $100 bill. I looked at my wife, Beth, and said, "Even used margarine tubs are considered something of value here." She couldn't take it. She'd been fighting tears all day and that incident brought out the tears. Even Pedro, our translator, who was there for his third time, was moved to tears by a situation that the doctor was helping with. It's unreal how poor those people are.
Each day we hosted a Vacation Bible School for approximately 200 kids. They watched a puppet show and did crafts. They also enjoyed face painting, jump rope, bubbles, etc. while they waited to get into the puppet show. A medical team treated 349 people. This ministry was very much needed. I was really glad we could offer the medical ministry this year. We also showed the Jesus film Friday night.
We experienced lots of laughs and lots of tears. The first day in the precario is always the
toughest for the new ones. When we finished with the cookout Saturday, Joy, one of the missionaries, gave me two used margarine tubs that we ordinarily wouldn't think twice about
throwing away. She told me to give them to someone. I asked her how to say, "Would you like this?" in Spanish. I turned toward the crowd and asked the first two ladies that I saw. They graciously took them like I'd given them a $100 bill. I looked at my wife, Beth, and said, "Even used margarine tubs are considered something of value here." She couldn't take it. She'd been fighting tears all day and that incident brought out the tears. Even Pedro, our translator, who was there for his third time, was moved to tears by a situation that the doctor was helping with. It's unreal how poor those people are.
This team will never be the same. God moved in many hearts...Costa Ricans, Nicaraguans, and Gringos.
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