pura vida

Costa Rica
we arrived to the ministry base here on October 12th! They have a rehab center for men who are struggling with addictions. It’s a 1 year program where they teach them the gospel, how to work a job, and walk with them though life after the addictions. Currently they have 30 men, ages 19-65 in the program! The men who are further along in the program work in the chocolate factory here. They have planted hundreds of cocoa trees, that they harvest and process here at the base, and make chocolate.
Our squad is helping with the construction process for a womens center for mothers and pregnant teens who are living on the streets and struggling with addictions.
We work along side some of the men who are in the program, we get the opportunity to pour life into them and show them gods love.
It’s a lot of intense manual labor, currently we are laying stone for the road that leads to the center.

On Tuesday we drove 2 hours to an indigenous tribe called bribri. In their culture all the men sexually abuse girls and boys, it’s one of the traditions that they have always performed. It’s such a sad situation. The ministry called The Nest, is located in the middle of the jungle, they only way to access it is to cross a river with a traditional bribri boat, and hike a foot path though the jungle up the side of a mountain to the base. The Nest is working to build a shelter for the girls to come and live under protection. They will teach them the gospel there and teach them truths to replace the lies that their culture taught them. They are eventually going to have animals there for the girls to help care for, and to help with emotional trauma.
Our team spent the day loading metal for the roof, from one side of the river to the other and hiking it up the path to the base. Some of the men went and cut down trees for lumber at the bottom, and we hiked the lumber they cut, up the path as well. It was some of the most intense work I had ever done. We kept shouting encouraging words to each other as we struggled to walk with the weight of the lumber pressing into our shoulders.
After we accomplished that, we walked deeper into the jungle to move a tree they cut, over a river to make a bridge! It was really intense but I can say it was my most favorite day of my entire trip so far, we made so many memories that day.

I often like to write and tell y’all about the big moments, the most memorable ones. but I don’t tell y’all about the mundane moments, like washing my clothes, doing dishes, and cleaning the cabin where we sleep, but those are the moments where it truly matters where your heart is, not having an on and off switch, where you go out and do ministry with a joyful heart but when you come back you start to procrastinate. No, life is ministry..ministry is life. It’s so easy to get caught up in the big moments, but it’s the little things that determine if your motive is truly in the right place!
1 Corinthians 10:31 “so whether you eat or drink, OR WHATEVER YOU DO, do it all for the glory of God.”

– luv marilyn