Let’s see,
I believe we left off on Thursday night which was our last night of the gospel
meeting. We awoke later on Friday morning since the buses didn’t leave until
9:30. Terry arranged for the hotel to keep a room reserved where we could store
the majority of our luggage—This way our buses weren’t loaded down
unnecessarily and we could travel lighter and faster. The ride to the church
camp in Sarchi was only about an hour and a half, which is long enough for you
to want to take a nap, but short enough to make that impossible. Soon after our
arrival, we ate lunch and had an epic futbol match between the ticos and the
gringos. Since the gringos out numbered the ticos for a majority of the match,
our 7-3 win was to most unfair, but as it was said: Americans will do whatever
it takes to win (I personally disagree with this thought and wish our rematch
had not been rained out). It was a dangerous game between being hit in the face
with the ball by your soccer coach and having limes thrown at you from Laura
Myers. Overall, it was fun to play around for a little while. After the game,
Terry went over our schedule for the afternoon. The group was split into men’s
and women’s classes again on Friday and Saturday. The men’s classes were led by
Todd Mikula who spoke about elders, why they are necessary and what their role
is within the church. The women’s classes were led by Margaret Reeves, who
spoke about whatever she had been thinking of the past few days because her husband
did not inform her of this class until an hour before it was supposed to begin.
After the men’s and women’s classes, we all came together for a class where
Jeremy and Jon Hackett co-taught on the topic of youth ministry. Pizza was on
the menu for our supper on Friday night, which I was excited for because that
meant the lovely ladies that have been cooking all week finally got a break! It
also taught me that I do like pineapple on pizza—that I am still shocked about.
Our evening devotional was led by Thad (Tad, Dad, etc) Butts and he had us all
consider perspectives. We were all on the same trip, yet most of us gave
different answers when asked what our favorite part of the trip was. Our
perspective of this trip has all be different because we are all different.
Sometimes we need a change in perspective to get on the right path. Thad used
two churches mentioned in Revelation chapter 2 to illustrate this. The church
in Sardis seemed live to the worked, but really they were dead. The church in
Laodicea thought they were rich, but they were lukewarm. Both of these churches
had perspectives that were wrong. We may be able to fool others. We may even be
able to fool ourselves. But we will never be able to fool God. It is vital for
us to be able to examine our lives using God’s perspective because it is the
only one that matters.
Jeremy
Myers led our morning devotional on Saturday. His key statement throughout his
lesson was: “We only retreat so that we can advance.” He referenced the book of
Acts to show how those in the church were asking God for help to speak boldly
and with all confidence. During our ladies class today, Margaret had us talk
about what we would say to everyone on this trip if we knew we weren’t going to
see them again. One of the things mentioned that stuck with me the most was the
command for us all to strive our hardest to go to Heaven. I believe it was
Margaret who told us that she wants most for us all to do our absolute best,
above all else, to get to Heaven so that we will be reunited there with our
Lord. There were a lot of tears shed today in class, but that comes with the
territory when you start considering the possibility that you may never see
someone you love again. After all our classes were over and we ate lunch, it
was time to clean up the camp and say our not so good-byes and see you laters. A
group picture brought us all together, and then it was time to give the warmest
hugs we could and load the bus. This is the time when I personally desire to go
to Heaven the most, because this is when I need to be comforted in knowing that
even if I never get to return to Costa Rica in my lifetime, there is a Home in
Heaven waiting for us all if we choose to make it our goal and strive for it
without ceasing.
We headed
out for La Fortuna which was between 3-4 hours on the bus in the rain.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see the volcano, or really anything for
that matter, but we all have high hopes that the rain will move out tonight so
that tomorrow we can behold more of God’s beautiful creations. Let me just tell
you, our dinner tonight made most of us sick because it was so good we went
back for seconds. Steak and chicken and the best alfredo sauce I’ve ever tasted
on bow-tie pasta and chocolate tres leches cake. (“Tres leches” is “three
milks” in English, basically just think about a chocolate cake that is soaked
in some milk after it comes out of the oven.) I think there were some
vegetables, too, but I didn’t have much room for those. Our devotional time tonight was primarily
singing, which was phenomenal led by Tim Hines in a room that was made for acapella
singing no doubt. There were even a few visitors with us tonight for devo: Luke
and Sam Butler from the Bell Shoals congregation in Florida. They came up for
the day since they knew we would be in the area and there are quite a few
members of Bell Shoals with us on this trip.
Lots of
people have some big plans for our day at the hot springs tomorrow! Right now,
there is a group of 19 that is signed up to go zip-lining in the morning—We even
talked Cristian and his family into joining us. We are all excited to have a
day of fun and relaxation. I hope that Cristian and his family enjoy their time
here as it is one of the last activities they will have together in Costa Rica
before they move. I’ve already written a novel tonight, so I am waiting for our
last night to explain the changes which will be taking place very soon.
I thank you all for your prayers of safety and spiritual
growth! Please continue to pray as I hope you all are able to worship on the
Lord’s Day and remember His sacrifice because of His faithful love for us.
-Leah
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