Week 2: God Is In The Sunsets

I have finished 2 full weeks of my mission trip— wow!! It’s been amazing, but not what I expected. In fact, I was even angry at one point. 

 

One day some of my teammates were out walking around and they met a man who’s from San Jose who comes to Jaco as a missionary. He had a wonderful story and my teammates prayed with him. My teammates raved about how this man travels from San Jose every week to sell flowers so he can tell people about Jesus. I was a little disappointed I didn’t meet him, but I was sure God had other plans for me to encounter different people. 

 

Some days pass and my group is out walking again. We see the man again, but I didn’t know it was the man from the previous story. The front half of my group keeps walking, but the second half stops and talks to him. I didn’t realize some of my group had split, since there’s so many of us. 

 

Later that day I find out that the group talked to the man and they were asked to pray for his friend. My teammates followed the man to his friends house and prayed for the family who just lost their mother. They met the little girl who’s mother died  and prayed for her. It was a beautiful story of prayer and believers from different cultures coming together to support someone. It was a beautiful story that I wasn’t part of. And I was angry. I didn’t have any profound encounters or been able to converse with someone to learn their story. God, why hadn’t you provided me with a cool”God moment” yet?! I couldn’t tell this beautiful story first hand because I wasn’t there! I was frustrated that yet again an epic encounter passed me by.  What could I possibly tell my family and friends back home that was as touching as this story? 

 

Later this day everybody went to the beach for surf club. Local kids were there surfing and another missionary group taught the kids a song and performed a skit about a Bible story. I stayed on the shore and made sand castles with a little girl named Galilea. She didn’t say much, but we bonded over how tall we should make our castle, if we should add a perimeter of walls, and the fact that I should not decorate the castle with sticks. I didn’t share the gospel story or pray with her. It was just two people enjoying the beach.

 

As surf club ended, I saw the most beautiful sunset. The water reflected pink and the sky was painted to look like cotton candy. I soaked in the colors and thought about how beautiful creation is. Then I thought about how magnificent the Creator is to make these sights for me to see. My friend Mackenzie said to me as we watched the sun fade, “God didn’t have to let us see all these colors, but he did.” She’s right; He is a good God. 

 

The next day it rained. It stormed heavily actually. I sat on the patio of our base and journaled as I watched the rain fall. I was journaling about how I thought that at this point in ministry I would have touching stories to tell.  I studied how the rain dropped off of each individual leaf. I noticed how in this one small yard there were a multitude of different shaped leaves and they each served a specific purpose for each plant. And then God gave me a thought: “Jennasey, isn’t this enough?” He was right of course. Wasn’t seeing a colorful sunset enough? Wasn’t listening to a thunderstorm enough to show me God’s sovereignty? Couldn’t I see God working through his intricate detailing of leaves?

 

One of my friends, Hannah Joy, sat beside me as I mulled over the view and what God was telling me. I began to tell her how I was struggling to come up with something to write about because I didn’t have any stories. Nothing big had happened.  I told her of my struggle with feeling jealous that some people got to meet the missionary man and I didn’t. And then I shared with her how I found the rain beautiful and I felt God telling me that his creation is enough for me. She simply replied, “It sounds like you have your story for your blog.” So, here I am writing about it! 

 

God shifted my attitude of jealousy and disappointment to contentment and hopefulness. I’m not the main character of this story— God is. He is the one who revealed His glory through the sunset, the little girl on the beach, and the rain. I simply received His gifts. Even my seemingly small encounter with Galilea is now profound to me. I got to meet another one of his beloved children! I built sandcastles with her! How precious!! 

 

I’m learning what it means to experience life as ministry and ministry as life. Ministry is a mindset geared towards building relationships. And I think my new motto is: everything can be a miracle or nothing can be a miracle. God can work though a sunset or rain. And He can work through me and you.  

 

 

 As a general update: we are staying in Jacó, Costa Rica near the beach where we help Ocean’s Edge Ministries. Some of the activities we’ve done so far include: beautifying the city through murals reflecting Costa Rican nature, helping the local church with childcare and VBS prep, and doing projects around the ministry base in order to prepare for more missionaries who stay at the property. I have tried a variety of local fruits like maracuya (passion fruit), granadilla, Costa Rican avocados (way better than Hass avocados!). I’ve also seen orange squirrels that can jump very far and iguanas. 

 

Please continue to pray for unity and safety for my squad. 

 

Love, Jennasey