Costa Rica Mission: Day #3

It was another beautiful day in Costa Rica!!

During our personal devotion time this morning, we were guided through the first verses in Luke 9. Jesus sent the disciples to preach and to heal. He sent them with only the tunic on their body; no money, no bread, not even extra clothes.

Many of us packed A LOT for this trip!! ...the first time I filled my suitcase it was twenty pounds over weight. It took quite a bit of eliminating to get my suitcase under fifty pounds. There are still many things in my suitcase I could live without. We brought a lot, but it takes so little to share His LOVE. 

   

Today we spent both our morning and our afternoon at Vista del Mar, the main orphanage of San Jose, Costa Rica.  Vista del Mar is home to close to eighty children; many are there because of challenging life circumstances, and again, there we many rules that we needed to follow.   

Yesterday, we were outside in a big, open area with all of the children.  Today we were divided in groups and visited the different houses inside of the orphanage.  In the morning, we spent our time with little ones.  Some of us visited a baby house, while others spent time with preschool aged children.  While they LOVED bubbles, we couldn’t believe how content many of the children were to just sit in our laps, or hold our hands.
 
Again, the language barrier was a challenge, but we made sure to sing "Christo te Ama” in each of the houses before breaking for lunch. 

When we returned in the afternoon, we went back to visiting with the little ones, but welcomed a few older children to the field for soccer, football, frisbee, and sidewalk chalk.  We all agreed that today was more of a challenge than yesterday, but we can’t help but be confident that we are planting seeds of His LOVE.

…Costa Rica is beautiful.  Today we stopped here. 

     

We also enjoyed some delicious Costa Rican ice cream and stopped at another church before heading back to the Complex. 

 

…our evening meetings are quickly becoming something I look forward to; an opportunity to share our favorite memories and be in God’s Word.  “The Stand” was a perfect ending to another day of sharing His LOVE in Costa Rica.

You stood before creation

eternity in  your hand

You spoke the earth into motion

my soul now to stand

I’ll stand

with arms high and heart abandoned

in awe of the one who gave it all

I’ll stand

my soul Lord to you surrendered

all I am is yours