Wilde Costa Rica

We are so excited to be finally sending updates from our mission post in Costa Rica! We are still settling in here, but all is going well as we start our first full week of ministry.

The drive from San Jose was a scenic 4 1/2 hours through roads that gradually degraded in size and comfort. The last hour was over a packed rock/dirt road as we passed through various types of farms and lush green forest.

As we’ve shared before, our mission team here in Coopevega consists of two other families, the Geerlings and the Bs. They did an amazing job getting our home ready so that we could pretty much unpack our bags and be ready to cook!

We feel very blessed that our home, though simple by U.S. standards, was recently built for the other missionary families and has many comforts that aren’t common here such as hot water, hard floors, and a covered porch for drying our clothes. It is certainly an inviting home to have coffee with people who drop by to talk (a very common courtesy).

The missionaries support a very active door ministry for people who need help with food, clothing, bus fares, and more commonly, just need someone to talk to. The ministry of Christian presence is significant here as we’ve shared before.

We’ve also spent time over the past week meeting the community and helping our team with existing ministries. We met one of the parish priests, Padre Carlos, last weekend as he welcomed us at Mass. Phil and Lacy B. host a free dinner each Saturday night at their new place, Casa de Jesus, while John and Penny Geerling took us to a couple of the surrounding pueblas (communities) that they visit since the local priests can’t visit all of them in a month.

In the coming month we will be hosting two high school mission trips from the US, which is such a blessing not only for the local community, but also as a wonderful opportunity for living in solidarity for these young missionaries. Please pray that these are very fruitful mission trips, and for our future discernment in finding opportunities to support the greatest needs here in Coopevega. If anyone is interested in joining or starting their own mission trip here, please check out FMC’s Mission Trips.