5 Things I learned In Costa Rica
Compassion is always worth the time. Something our hosts stressed to us was that the people we met were always more important than the task at hand....
Compassion is always worth the time. Something our hosts stressed to us
was that the people we met were always more important than the task at hand. As a task oriented person, this surprised me. My brain had always been trained to get my assignment done as quickly as possible. And now, I was told that meeting people and talking to them was actually more important. This showed me that getting to know someone’s heart is the most important thing I can do. For example, one morning a group of us were waiting for a bus to take us to a national park for our off day. We could’ve been simply focused on each other or frustrated that the bus was late. Instead, one of my friends started talking to a man nearby. He ended up giving us some good advice to be weary of the monkeys that could steal our possessions. And then we also talked to him about his kids and I could see that his estranged relationship with them really caused him pain. Since we got to know his story, I was able to partner with the Lord in praying for restoration for his family.- Throwing money at people’s problems isn’t always the answer. Sometimes people just want to tell you their story. Costa Rica forced me to address my views of how I thought everyone would always prefer money as the ideal solution. However our ministry host helped me realize that prayer and listening is more important.
- Throwing a coconut at the ground as hard as you can in order to crack it is an effective way to access the meat inside. After I bought a coconut and drank all the juice, i didn’t want to waste the delicious inside. So I asked Jorge, a local who cooked breakfast for us one day, to show me how to cut it. I handed the coconut to him expecting him to use the machete. Instead, the slammed it on the concrete as hard as he could. A crack formed and then he pulled it apart to reveal the white inside. Well, I could’ve done that, Jorge!
- Oil and water based paints have different smells. I got the task of separating jars of oil based paints from the water based. Oil based paint does not come off with soap and water and feels more sticky. So my way of testing the paints was sticking my finger in each jar. I had been doing this for awhile until another volunteer came up to me and simply sniffed a jar to see which type of paint it was. I was amazed at his sense of smell and then he explained that the oil based paints smell more chemically. So after completely covering my hands in abstract art, I discovered I could’ve preserved my skin but damaged my nose instead.
- Praying specific and strategic prayers is life changing. One of the things I wanted to grow in during this trip was my prayer life. After staying at the base for a few days I decided to check out their bookshelf. Many of my teammates had already selected books for themselves. I picked up the first book that caught my eye: Fervent. Once I saw the cover, I couldn’t help but laugh. The cover stated that is was a book for women about praying strategically and specifically. As I read the book, I discovered how identifying the enemy’s attacks and combatting them through praying scripture is so crucial. Breaking down your prayers into more than “God, be with my family,” can help inspire more change. The picture above features a local artist named Jose who my squad befriended and he bought some of us ice cream and paint brushes.
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