Building a Tree House and Throwing some Jugs

This last week of ministry in Jaco has been a bit weird!  The things I have found myself doing this week are honestly not the first things I had in mind when I pictured a day on the World Race in my head.  I pictured sharing the Gospel on the streets, praying for people, and working hands on with people in need.

Once again, expectations be gone!  Ministry is loving people like Jesus and sharing the hope of freedom in Christ with people whether that is through words or actions.  This last week in Jaco, and honestly most of this month in Jaco, has looked like loving people by setting up others well.

A leader in the Kingdom of God is a servant.  Jesus humbled Himself and washed this disciples feet to love them well even though their heart attitudes at the time were in direct contrast to that loving action (John 13). Jesus washing the disciples feet shows us our role in the body of Christ.  The person that hammers the nails to make the stage is as precious to God as the one who preaches from it. Sometimes serving the Lord means taking a step back and pouring into things behind the scenes to set other people up well.

This week I had to take a step back, and again let go of expectations of what I thought my week was going to look like and pour my love into the tasks placed before me.  Oceans Edge, the ministry that we are staying at, is a crazy light in the Jaco community.  Oceans Edge has a lot of focuses and moving parts and one of them is hosting missionary teams (*coughs* me and my squad for example.).  Our host loves to host and makes sure the people she hosts get poured into.  Oceans Edge is a blessing!  Oceans Edge also has a few kids ministries, business ministries and is involved with serving the local municipality to beautify the city.

The property of Oceans Edge is in the middle of a huge expansion project which is going to be insane.  It’s in the very preliminary stages but I’d love to share with you how some of us were able to start helping out with those projects this week.

The whole front half of the property is going to be torn down and a beautiful center is going to be built in its places that will house lots of classrooms.  One of the first projects I helped with this week was uprooting a ton of plants.  We dug out all these beautiful green plants along one of the walls of the property, drove them to one of the parks we’ve been working on and replanted them all there.  Let’s hear it for creative thinking and not wasting!!!

Additionally, a big group of people spent a good chunk of time with axes and saws, drenched in sweat, chopping down palm trees to make way for the building.  This also resulted in a full group effort to load up the Wednesday afternoon trash truck with all our plant and palm tree trash.  Who’d have thought we’d be doing so much tearing down in order to set people up to hear the Gospel?  Then again, I guess God often uses the falling apart to bring people to Himself.

A few other days this week, our job was to help out the municipality at the recycling center.  You see, during Covid the recycling center started getting very overwhelmed and they still haven’t been able to catch up.  We showed up to the center to find trash piled up at least 15 ft.  So we jumped in and stated sorting.  Glove-less and finishing the day with spoiled milk stains on our shirts, we chucked bottles and trash into piles.  We honestly had fun chucking jugs and bottles across the room to get them into the correct piles.

This next challenge I partook in this week was quite possibly my favorite. A few of us went to work on a tree house for out ministry hosts kids.  There was already a bit of a tree house up there but we heaved some metal grates up and started building a second and third level!  Dope!

The way our host put it; the more her kids love to be on the property the more time she is able to be on the property and loving people.  Well I love her and her kids so sign me up! At one point I was sitting in the tree, asking one of the kids, Davin, what else he wanted on his tree house and I just had one of those moments that make you pause.  I was sitting in a tree, in Costa Rica, asking the options of a 6 year old as I installed a metal floor into a mango tree.  How did I get there?? I have no idea but praise the Lord!

Our lives often don’t take us where we expect to go.  When we listen to Holy Spirit and let Him direct our lives we get to show up in spaces we never expected and sometimes it is hard to see the reason or the fruit.  You’re exactly where you are supposed to be in this moment.  Whether it is building a tree house, sorting recycling materials or working in an office, I’m so glad God has you there.