Poco A Poco

Being fairly introverted, it can be hard for me to step out of my comfort zone. As a missionary, I was worried that this would get in the way of me making relationships with the people of Costa Rica. It’s one thing for me to go up to a stranger and introduce myself, and another to do that in Spanish!

With the help of the Holy Spirit and a simple prayer I learned from C.S. Lewis, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, here goes!—I mean, Amen,” I am meeting people and building relationships.

I discovered that I can make relationships just by living my daily life. A rather interesting conversation starter is just saying my name. When we first got here, it was mildly annoying, but now I view it as a small blessing. Whenever I introduce myself, the local people are genuinely confused why I was named “shrimp” (camarón). I have to explain that I was not, in fact, named after shrimp, but just happened to have that name. The good thing is that it really does open up conversation with people.

One relationship developing is with a man named Juan, who works at a hardware store here. I go there pretty often. Juan is kind and sometimes offers me a soft drink. After I introduced myself and told Juan that I was with the other missionaries, I found that he spoke English. He is super friendly, welcoming, and helpful—emphasis on helpful. No matter what it is, no matter what the day, he is always willing to help with whatever I need. If I were in his place, I would think, “Oh, gosh. Here’s that gringo kid who wants to practice Spanish. He probably wants to buy a singular light bulb again. Somebody better get the Pepsi.” But no. He is great.

Then there is Angel. Angel works in another local shop in our town. My mom had actually met him before I had. He is also friendly, greatly desires to learn English, and is interested in our lives as missionaries. I had only met him once before in passing when the Lord provided another meeting.

I was waiting at a bus stop one night to meet my family in a neighboring town for confession with a priest who speaks English. All of a sudden, Angel walked up. He didn’t recognize me at first. When he did, I learned that he lived in the same town I was heading to. I was able to witness a little by telling him that I was going to confession. We talked the entire bus ride, in both Spanish and English. When I arrived at the church, I found out that there was actually no confession that night. It turned out that the bus ride had been a God wink!

I am blessed to be able to form relationships and share a missionary witness with the people at the grocery store, at the bike shop, and others around town. I’ve learned that the more I step out of my comfort zone and rely on the Holy Spirit to give me what I need, the more I get to know the local people, the more I can invite them to our ministries and hopefully be a witness for Christ! ¡Poco a poco! Little by little!