Costa Rica Day 1- Building and Being the Church

What a good 24 hours it has been. Wednesday we flew from Houston prepared for the unknown...which means we really had no clue how this mission would begin.

Our goal was to be the lead team, the first of many to come to Costa Rica and provide help, encouragement and training to local pastors. To equip them to build stronger churches and reach the needy of faith in the community.

How was this going to work? Were pastors going to attend? Would we even be helpful? We truly didn't know what to expect, but 24 hours in...God, as always, is Good.

Pastor Dani picked us up at the airport. We took the long way home. A short stop by a restaurant and then a long, bumpy trip to Tamarindo. 4 pastors and church leaders would be joining us from Casa Vida- Tamarindo. As we stopped by the church we were able to see what God was doing. We got the tour of the place. Open wall sanctuary and the Women's Bible Study was about to being. 2 men were studying how to help people find freedom from their addiction. No matter where we are, struggles exist and the church should be here to help. 

From there we went to the hotel. Teak Pacific. I believe our team and one other group is the only one here. It's nice. The grounds are beautiful, rooms are enough, but the best part is the "lobby" (open air) where we can visit. We met some of the guys grabbed a bite and called it a night! 

Thursday

We woke up and got going early. We met for breakfast in the lobby. 14 people in all joined us. Some of the pastors from Playa Azul made breakfast. including coffee! We spent time hearing stories, enjoying fellowship and eating some good food! 

After breakfast it was off to the library where we held our morning training session! I was amazed, almost 4 hours of training! The pastors not only share a passion for God's Word, but a true brotherhood with each other! The question were amazing (even though the first 2 hours were almost entirely in Spanish!) the desire to go deeper in God's word and learn how to share it with others was a driving force! Language can be a barrier, but this morning, even those barriers didn't stand in our way! 

After our first session we grabbed lunch as aa team and headed back to the hotel. We then spent a few hours talking about definitions! (I know exciting right? Actually it was!) to unpack God's word from inspiration to revelation was awesome! We had to cut things off just to give our brains a break! I couldn't have imagined that the Lord would allow us to invest and be invested in so greatly today! 

Ended our afternoon with a short walk to the beach for sunset. The day isn't over yet. Still have worship service later tonight! Praying for much fruit tomorrow!