Home Sweet Bittersweet Home

We're home! It hasn't even been 24 hours since the team separated, and I'm already missing each and every one of them. I keep expecting a funny face from Hannah, a joke from one of the boys, an interesting fact from Joni, or the sound of everyone laughing at one of many inside jokes!

As we continue to think about and digest the incredible three weeks we've just had, I know that there will be many lessons to come-- hopefully some of which we will even continue to post here. We learned, grew, and were challenged in ways that will continue to impact us and change us for a long time to come. Thank you for joining us in this journey. We appreciate your prayers, support, and encouragement more than we can say. Here is a rundown of our last few days in Costa Rica...

We finally finished the wall! In case you forgot, here are some before pictures:

Hannah, Kirsten, and Joni in front of the primered wall, creating the grand plan for painting

Before we painted there was mortaring to be done...

Lots and lots of mortaring

It seemed like we cleaned paint brushes just about as much as we painted

KJ with her amazing "Nala" the lion!

And now, the finished product! I am so proud of everyone for doing such a great job!

JT made this volcano--and if you look very closely, on the left side of the tree you can see the snake he painted resting on a branch. Unfortunately, we weren't quite able to finish the leaves on the tree because we ran out of paint.

Nala is finished (with amazing surrounding grass painted by Hannah)

One of the monkeys swinging over bamboo

While most were painting, we also stained the jungle gym so it was ready for use! We were blessed to get to see some kids use the jungle gym during the church service on Saturday morning.

A view of the children's play area from above

Matthew 19:14 and our hand prints

The group in front of the finished wall!

On Saturday morning, we had the privilege of sharing with the women of Rahab at their monthly church service. We focused our message on the way the Lord changes lives. We each shared a poster board that on one side had a description of our lives before God changed us, for example, self-centered, insecure, looking for love and acceptance, worried, rebellious, abandoned. Then, JT and Joni each gave a message about how no one's life is ever too far out of the grasp of God. JT focused on how we are dead to the old ways of life, and that God sees us as His children and wants to love and accept us. Joni focused on her own life and shared the way she depends on God as her protector and provider. We then each flipped our posters to reveal the way we now walk with Christ: accepted, secure, Christ-centered, hopeful, and resting in the arms of God. KJ, Hannah, and Michelle then shared the ways our trip and time at Rahab impacted their lives specifically. They thanked the women and staff, and shared the lessons they will take home with them. Finally, we spent time in small groups hearing prayer requests from the women and praying for them. Even though the language barrier made these groups difficult, we were so blessed by this time and felt like it was such a powerful ending to our time at Rahab.

JT speaking

Joni speaking-- I was especially blessed to overhear a woman telling Joni that her talk had had a powerful impact on her life.

Erica and Julie with Shelley (middle). She was our main contact and "boss" at Rahab.

There are two very important people in this picture-- Shelley (third from the left) and Marlitza (fifth from the left). We will miss Shelley's funny and kind personality. Martlitza was especially a blessing to us! She is Rahab's full-time cleaning woman, which means she had A LOT of messes to clean up as we tracked mud and paint everywhere throughout the building! I bet she swept the floor after us at least ten times a day. She also took care of us whenever someone wasn't feeling well, and had endless patience for our bad Spanish. Bless her heart and many thanks for her hard work and love for us!

Saturday night we celebrated the end of our amazing trip. Fernando, our driver extraordinaire, took us to a restaurant in the mountains with a beautiful view. We were actually IN the clouds-- it was incredible! The food was delicious-- just ask JT, Matt, Joelle, and Julie who had an eating contest and consumed more steak than I have ever seen anyone even attempt to eat in my life! Somehow miraculously none of them got sick. I wish we had pictures of their plates because I am telling you, it was a sight to see.

One of our last rides in the van with Fernando

That's the famous Fernando in the middle--we will miss him so much!

Saturday night was bittersweet as we packed and prepared to leave. We were so anxious to return to our homes, but also sad to be leaving our ministry in Costa Rica and especially sad to be leaving each other. We stayed up late laughing and talking about our experiences, ones we hope to never forget. As I've said before, we could see the Lord's perfect plans for EVERY detail of this trip from the biggest decisions about where in the world to go and how to get there, to the small, tiny details of where to go to lunch and what to paint on the wall. We felt overwhelmed at His provisions in every way way during the last three weeks, and we saw Him answer prayers in mighty ways! I pray that we continue to seek Him and consider the ways He would have this trip impact our lives and our futures. I also pray that our short time in Costa Rica and at Rahab will produce much fruit and an overflow of blessings to all those we met. We trust that God will finish the work He began in us during this trip, and also continue the amazing work He is doing at Rahab.

A few videos...

These were difficult to post with the choppy internet in Costa Rica. Push the play button on the bottom left of each. Enjoy!

Some of the group describing our Zipline Experience

Working on The Wall

Expectations

Well, we have three days to go. This completely fathoms me (Julie). It feels like we have been here for so long but I don't think anyone is ready to leave this country or this experience behind us.

It is incredible to look back on all of the sweat and tears that went into planning this trip. Starting in September I was planning on going to work in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which obviously fell through. I interviewed over 30 people and had to tell them that we had no idea where were going in the world or who we were going to be serving, but that my heart was to serve women and their families who have found themselves in prostitution. After each interview I felt God's direction in choosing each person. I left my interviews with my current teammates knowing they would be coming with me wherever my search took us. I am grateful and incredibly impressed for the trust and patience this team responded with then and all through out the planning process. Now we are looking at our final days here and I find myself speechless when I think about the blessings that have and will continue come from this experience.

While this trip has been more than we imagined, it hasn't in any way met our expectations. We anticipated to work daily with the women of Rahab, learn their stories, and directly share our love of Christ with them. Instead, we've found ourselves gross and sweaty, when I told them to pack only one change of clothes for dirty work. After several days of raking grass, moving cinder blocks, bagging rice and beans, organizing moldy smelling clothes, cleaning and re-cleaning the pond, and washing windows we have come to our final project: The Wall. In the last week we have cleaned, mortared, primed and are now painting a jungle-themed mural. I would say mortaring has been by far everyone's least favorite of all. I decided to make a joke this morning asking for another wall to mortar, and to my dismay it was found and there may be more in our future. As Matt would say, "it's character building!"

The mural is looking incredible, especially since only a few of us even knew how to hold a paintbrush before this trip. Joni and Kirsten have done a great job guiding our team in what it should look like. We have trees, a volcano, different plants and grasses, mountains, and even a waterfall (pictures to come). It's already been said in the previous blog, but Joni is FULL of encouragement, and KJ has drawn the best parrot and lion ever. Good job ladies!! I really hope we will get to witness the children playing on their new jungle gym and imagining they are in the jungle we have been able to create for them. If we do not get this opportunity, we will have to trust that it will get its fair share play and fun.

Before I end the blog today, Erica and I have to talk a little bit about our boys! Matt and JT have raised the bar for all the men out there. Their patience and understanding have been unbelievable-- I mean, they are in a different country with 7 women for 3 weeks, you can imagine what they have had to deal with? They consistently encourage us no matter the situation, offer us unconditional brotherly love, and are the best entertainment we could ask for! Today for example, the two entertained us with songs, dances, jokes, and movie quotes. Plus, in a ministry as intense and potentially dangerous as ours, they have provided us with a sense of security, and they take this role seriously. And finally, we have been continually blessed and challenged by the way they are seeking the Lord. When many of us are hanging out, checking email, on Facebook, or just chatting, we typically find them reading the Word or other devotionals and journaling. Matt, for example, is up before everyone else to read the Bible and journal. He also reads us daily devotionals, and is always the first to turn our eyes back to Jesus when things get tough, dirty, tiring, or uncomfortable. JT is constantly encouraging us with his favorite worship song of the day (recently: Jeremy Camp or David Crowder). He also read three of The Chronicles of Narnia books during our trip, and has shared with us the lessons he has learned about the character of God and how he will implement these lessons in his life. Boys, on behalf of the rest of the girls, we love and appreciate you more than we can even say!

This is why we love them! Matt (left) and JT (right)

Please keep praying that our team will finish strong and gain a renewed sense of strength and outlook. Also, be praying for the program we are planning for this weekend. We have the opportunity to plan and run a church service for the women and staff of Rahab on Saturday night. We think we finally have a plan, but pray for us that God will use in a big way on this night. Many of us will share a short testimony, and JT will be sharing a presentation of the Gospel. Thanks for keeping up with this blog-- we will see you soon!

Finishing the Race

Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

After our very enjoyable and restful weekend, we have now come to the concluding week of our time here. On Monday we arrived at Rahab as usual and began our work after a short time of prayer. We completed preparing the wall by the playground by applying the last bit of mortar and following it with primer for the painting to soon take place. JT and myself (Matt) were named co-MVP's of the day mostly because our joyful attitudes for the crummy job that we were assigned. Constant inside jokes and movie quotes kept us laughing the entire day as we worked together. For lunch we went back to our usual spot, El Chavo. We concluded lunch by taking some pictures with the owners and receiving some balloons from them: "As if we don't stand out enough down here, now we will be walking back carrying balloons." And another quote from lunch, "If I lived in Costa Rica, I would have my birthday party here." Both quotes from Julie. After lunch we were a little bummed and limited because of rain and headed back to AMCA early. It was a nice evening of relaxing and fellowship together.

The team with the owners of El Chavo, our favorite lunch spot

Today we woke up with our spirits a little bit down because we were going to leave Julie behind for the day due to the flu (she is feeling better now). It is always a pick-me-up when we get to see Fernando's happy spirit pick us up first thing in the morning. When we arrived at Rahab for the day, we mapped out the plan of painting the wall. Joni, FULL of encouragement and enthusiasm, gathered the troops and began the work on the wall. Kirsten did an amazing job painting the detail stuff such as animals, trees, and grass. The rest of us pretty much slopped a bunch of paint on the wall that is supposed to be representing sky and ground. After we were done painting for the day, we are all so stoked and excited about how well it turned out and good it looks. When we arrived back to AMCA, we were glad to see Julie still getting some rest, but more so that she was beginning to feel better. Tonight consisted of half of us playing monopoly and the other half reading/journaling. For those who don't know me, you will know that the obvious option for my night consisted of reading and not partaking in the monopoly game.

We are all beginning to get very excited to get back home and see all of you and share our experiences in person.

Isaiah 40:30-31 "Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Our prayer is that God will continue to work in tremendous ways through us until the end of our race here. That when we begin to grow tired, weary, and faint, that the Lord will provide us the strength to continue and finish the race strong.

Through the Trees to the Beach

Yesterday was one of those days where it feels like many days in one. It started with a 5:30am wakeup call, and we were out the door by 6 to head to the small beach town of Jaco.

On our way we stopped at Crocodile Bridge, which as the name suggests is known for the many crocodiles that hang out there.

Our team on the bridge

This guy was substantially larger than any of the others

Altogether, we saw at least 8 crocodiles

For the next part of our day, we headed to our zipline adventure--definitely a highlight of our trip. We loved it!

As we took the long hike up to the first zipline platform, our guide stopped and taught us about the plants and animals in the rain forest. As you can see from our faces, he was very funny. We loved spending the morning with him!

Hannah with our guide, Joaquin

Look closely and you'll see one of the many ziplines we took

Here's Michelle on the zipline! Even though she's afraid of heights, she loved it!

Kirsten showing us all the equipment we needed

The team on "Jesus Bridge." It's called that because if you're on the bridge and it breaks, you'd end up walking on water like Jesus. Also, the guy on the far left is the famous Fernando. Yep, he even ziplined with us which is just one of the many reasons we think he's so great!

Here we all are in front of one of the many waterfalls we saw while in the rain forest.

Finally, we ended our day at the beach where we got to play in huge waves, some of them were at least 8-10 feet high. Everyone is a bit sore from the intense wave workout! We also enjoyed relaxing and reading on the beach and shopping and eating in the town.

Relaxing in the sand

Our whole team out enjoying the Pacific

This pictures shows how big some of the waves were!

Today we are headed to an international church (in English), lunch, and downtown for shopping in the markets. We also have a video to post of the group right before zipling, but the internet is so slow here that it's struggling to upload-- hopefully we can get it up soon. Adios!

The Brevity of Prostitution...

So our blog is one day old, but that is due to the fact that yesterday we (Joni, Michelle, Joelle and JT) went out on the streets with Mariliana in search of women to invite to Rahab for rehabilitation. We were also joined by two women in the program, Alejandra and Mayella, on our venture. We sought out women who were, in broad daylight, selling themselves to men. On the streets, in the park, in a brothel... broad daylight.

On the way to downtown we passed a brothel, which doubled as a casino, where outside stood two girls who looked no older than 16 or 17. They were trying to attract customers which, Mariliana said, by standing outside the men know that there are young girls in this place. We stood outside of a brothel for about 10 minutes while the three women acted upon the blessings God has bestowed upon them. The women we saw had no distinct age, race or body type. The only identifying feature was that they were selling themselves. Men would come and go from the brothel as if nothing was different from any other store. We were shocked to see no signs of shame or embarrassment on their faces. The women seemed to respond a little to talk of the program, however when prayer was mentioned they didn't want to pray right there with us. It was tragic to think that these women were working, trying to earn a living selling themselves to not just one man, but many, everyday. We moved on to a different part of town trying to find more brothels. Stopping to ask people, even police officers, where they knew a brothel existed. Along our search there were enormous amounts of prayer being lifted up for our protection because we were not in a good part of town. How incredible that I (JT) could feel the Lord working not just in the group of women seeking out prostitution, but also in me as I went with them. Never have I felt a presence of the Lord such as I did that day. We stopped by a woman and talked with her, although I don't know how much she actually understood at that moment because she was obviously very high on drugs. She did ask for prayer which was encouraging despite the situation but also very disheartening to see her in that situation. Right after our prayer several of us witnessed a woman on the opposite side of the street negotiate with a man and then leave with him. Never in my life have I even fathomed what this situation would be like and here I was, along with the group, witnessing it firsthand.

From here we went to a central park, more like a plaza, where crowds of people gather just to take a break. Scattered throughout the entire park were women soliciting business, if it can even be called that, from men just getting off work. It was encouraging when Mayella and Alejandra stopped and talked with women that they knew, however they knew them from their previous involvement in the world of prostitution. These two women were able to share their stories with these women and encourage them to come to Rahab to not only receive help but also healing from the Lord. The group stopped with a group of 4 women and we talked about Rahab for a few minutes but most importantly these women really wanted us to pray for them. After our prayer the two women with us gave a short version of their testimony and experience with Rahab which was very great to witness. It was very encouraging to see Mariliana make a point to touch every one of the women that she talked with. She would make sure to touch each of their shoulders or arms or hug them to not only tell them but show them that they are accepted. What an incredible woman she is and an inspiration to all who witness her work.

We were speaking with her when she took us home, afterwards, and she was showing us brothel after brothel that existed all over the city. She also told us about when she would go out by herself at night and see ladies and transvestites working outside. She said that it is mostly transvestites who work at night and have specific areas that they work in. They take ownership of that area and don't let anyone else work in that area. What was also interesting is that she said that these men wait for her and are very nice to her when she comes around to them. She does not discriminate against them and most certainly prays with them. They ask her to pray for their family, to find work, health and the like but especially for a shelter for them. The shelters that are set up are for women and children along with separate shelters for men, however these shelters don't accept gay men. Mariliana is trying to raise money for a shelter for these men but so far there has been little progress in this area. What she would really like is a facility for women and children and another one for the men however being diligent is also proving to require lots of patience.

The work that these women, Mariliana in particular, is incredible. Their passion is so incredible that it overflows into our lives as well. While our passions may not be exactly what theirs are, the passion they have forces our passion to grow greatly. Our faith is growing by the day and the longer that we interact with the women, employees and participants alike, we are seeing a change in ourselves that will remain a marked moment in our lives forever. It is with great humility that we are able to be here and with great pride that we do our work. the LORD is at work here. Every divine appointment is noted and we are accepting great responsibility with every little moment that He provides us with. Pray that our work, how little it may seem to us, provides great blessing for the women we are supporting during our trip. Praise the LORD for the work that these women do on a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minute by minute and second by second basis. Their example is one that the LORD will never forget.

Psalms 66:1-5

"¹ Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

² Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!

³ Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.

⁴ All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Selah

⁵ Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man's behalf!"

Hi, Mom!

Enjoy the pictures today! We miss you! And, by the way, yes there was an earthquake today, but we are completely, totally, 100% fine! Most of us didn't even feel it.

Hi, Mom! I'm in the jungle!

Hi, Mom! Can't wait for summer!

Hi, Mom! I miss you. I can't wait to see you! Oh, and it rains A LOT here!

Hi, Mom! I love you.

Hi, Mom! I'm taking great care of the kids!

Hi, Mom! I have jaundice.

Hi, Mom! I'm going to the bathroom. See you when I'm done. (Note to other readers: we tried to get JT to say something - no, anything else. We apologize!)

Hi, Mom! Am I still your favorite daughter when I'm this dirty? I love you, Ma!

Putting mortar on the wall so we can eventually paint a mural.

Hannah and Michelle helping to make lunch for the women of Rahab.

The Rahab Foundation building

A group of us at the National Museum on (free) International Museum Day: (from left) JT, Michelle, Joni, Kirsten, and Erica