Day 103 – Part of Something Bigger

Today was our first full day back in Costa Rica…  Talk about starting things off with a bang!

First thing this morning we went to check out a potential project for the team that arrived this afternoon:  We heard about a lady named Binda who has a mentally retarded son and her family is in need.  So, when we arrive at her house we find that there are nine people living in a tiny three bedroom home and the walls are full of mold.  The wall of their tiny kitchen is literally falling into the neighbors backyard and most all of the family is consistently sick with respitory issues (probably because of the mold).  The father has abandoned the family and one of the daughters is pregnant.  Long story short, we are going to go in, scrub the mold off the walls, paint the place, fix some lights, and put up a new wall in the kitchen.

After that, we went by the Women’s Shelter and the Men’s Shelter to schedule visits for the team later in the week.  Then, we headed up to Jasmine where we scoped out a site to build TWO houses in ONE week with a team of 27 that is coming later this month!!!

After lunch, we made a trip to pick up building materials, change money, and made it back in time to welcome the team from Darlington, South Carolina and take them on a prayer walk through Juan Pablo.

Overall, today really helped me put into perspective why I missed this place so much…  While most people were slowly getting back to work this morning, getting their coffee, talking about the weekend, and staying away from the guy who has a bad case of the “Mondays”, I had an opportunity to be a part of something so much bigger than myself that I have a hard time fathoming it.  Here, we wake up everyday and simply go out looking for ways to serve the people of this community.  And God Provides…

Though there must be a way to replicate this in the U.S., I haven’t found it yet, thus the reason I have come here.  And if there is a way to do this in our “backyard”, then why aren’t more people doing it?  And though I don’t know the answer to this question, what I do know is that we are definitely being used here, serving as a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.