Costa Rica: Thoughts & Moments

This past October I had the privilege to go to Costa Rica on a mission’s trip. This was special for a few reasons. 

#1: It was Katie’s first missions trip out of the country. 

#2: That means it was our first mission’s trip together. 

#3: It was JRNY Youth’s first missions trip as well! 

#4: This was the first missions trip I have ever lead. So lots of first! 

Going into this trip we had a idea of what was going to happen but many of us still had some questions on what things would be like fully. So a common phrase we used is one I learned on my first missions trip…Missionary Rule #1: Be Flexible! Little did we know this would be a rule/phrase that would come up often on this trip. 

There are many more stories and details that I won’t share here, but I wanted to highlight some thoughts and moments that stood out to me. 

#1: I loved getting to watch the students experience a foreign culture and getting to interact with the Costa Rican people. In 2011 I was that young person. I got to be apart of English classes and making friends with people who didn’t speak my native language. Learning to navigate conversations and seeing that sometimes laughter breaks down any language barrier. I know how much that trip to Colombia changed my life, and I have a desire to see other students get the same opportunity I did. To those who are reading this and have never been on one, go…it will change your life! Perspective is huge and sometimes we need to step out of our bubble and allow ourselves to see through new lenses. 

#2: I loved the adults that went on this trip! One student lost their passport in Houston and was having to stay behind, so without missing a beat Misty volunteered to stay behind with no guarantee of what would happen. Her heart said yes to helping a young woman who at the moment was freaking out. Not only that but made the moment the best it could be. (They totally got “Houston We Have A Problem” shirts).

My boy Prison Roy! You talk about an armor bearer. Mr. Roy wouldn’t let me carry my own backpack, clean any dishes, take out the trash, always made sure I had room in the van, etc… So when I did do some of those things he wouldn’t be to happy with me haha! To be honest it was strange. I’ve always been taught to serve others so it can be awkward to be served like that. Anytime I’d say something to him he’d mention something on the lines of, “That’s why I’m here.” Roy Winans has a heart of Gold! I could go on with Alisha, Rob, & Tommy as well. I couldn’t of asked for better people to be on this trip with!

#3: Twice we got to go door to door in communities and give out bags of food and also pray for those that lived in the homes. The first community we went to, we went to homes I would consider typical for Costa Rica. We had set houses that we were going to, but we also went to a home that they had never been to before. In it we met a lady who cuts hair, but also makes wigs and donates them so those with cancer can have something to wear. One of the ladies in our group got to financially bless this lady. As she gave her the money she also prayed over her and we got to watch as tear ran down her face. We don’t know that lady’s full situation, but today a group of Americans got to step into her house, interrupt her normal, and show the Love of God to her! 

The next community we went to was in the slums. Personally I have never been in homes like the ones I experienced here. While we were in one home talking and coloring with kids, I was told to get up we were going to pray for someone upstairs. This was followed by, Men Only. I didn’t think much of it and just knew it was an opportunity to pray for someone. So we went up and met a man who looked to be in his fifties. Nothing stood out about him besides the gold rings he had on every finger. Soon we found out that he wanted prayer for his son, so we prayed. Afterwards he began to tell us things like, you are hear because I have allowed you to, me and my son run this area, & nothing will happen to you, you are under our protection. Obviously knew this wasn’t a normal person in the community. After some interesting stories of his son fleeing to another country for being accused of killing his uncle to the man evading the cops he just shook his head and cried. He truly missed his son and wanted things to change. So I took the opportunity to speak. I told him that God is able to change his situation, but he must be will to change what he is choosing to do first. So we prayed one last time and then we left. Later it was told to me that this man is responsible for moving all the drugs in the community. We are pretty sure the dude with a backpack outside the house when we left was dropping some off. 

Needless to say we prayed for a drug lord and told him to stop moving drugs. 

#4: As I mentioned earlier when we walked into the slums we experienced some very poor living conditions. Metal walls made the inside of homes extremely hot. Dirty floors, some even caving in. What looked to be billboard signs hanging on walls. Other things I don’t even know where to begin. One home I almost puked walking in. They had some dogs tied up inside and one of the dogs had puked and pooped in the house. In this same house there was a little girl around Rose’s age sitting on a soccer ball not far from this. In my mind I went, “I can’t imagine Rose growing up in a place like this.” I don’t say this as a knock on Costa Rica or to make them look bad, again we were in the slums of a community. I am going somewhere with this…

Later that night, after walking through and praying over many families, we sat down with Micah and talked about our day. In this he began to talk/teach us. He asked us about the living conditions we saw and how bad they were, then he asked us “What did everyone you prayed for today ask for prayer?” To which our answer was, “Family.” He replied, “Did you notice that not a single person asked for you to pray for them to move out of the slums? Or pray for more money.” He went on to talk to us about how in our American minds we have created this thought that to be not poor and have a good house means we can truly experience the Lord. That a better relationship can come about when a better economic status is found. What good is it to come up out of the slums but still be spiritually dead? Did you really gain anything. 

This challenged me and caused me to pause and think. This was never something I said out loud, but as he put words to it I realized that deep down there was that thought in my mind. Even if is was an unconscious one, the thought really was there. The more I began to think about it that more I realized the truth to which he was speaking. That doesn’t mean we can’t want to help people have better living conditions and economic statues, but are we truly focus on the eternal over the physical. I wonder at what point we blurred the lines and made the “American Dream” the “Kingdom of Heaven”. Micah’s statements continue to echo in my mind and cause me to pause and reflect on myself at times.

I once heard a message from Jeremy Austill where he talked about having lenses. These lenses come from our experiences growing up, the parents we have, the part of the world we were born, etc…We see the world through things things, they shape our perspective. Not all lenses are good. Some of the lenses we have inherited from family members or regions of the country we are from are not Godly and can cause us to have a distorted view. According to the lenses in your life you will see and know God as completely different from someone else. Jeremy argues that we need to learn to remove these lenses to see God clearly. One of the lenses we often struggle with is our American one. You know the one, it’s tinted Red, White, & Blue. Leaving the country to experience another one causes you to begin to take that lens off and see things differently. Jesus wasn’t born in the USA, He didn’t pledge His allegiance to the flag, He did celebrate the 4th of July, He didn’t study the Constitution.

To see Him clearer than we ever have before, we have to stop viewing Him through our American lens.

#5: When we originally arrived Micah wasn’t there. He flew in a few days later and brought his son Tyce with him. Tyce was born while Micah & Melissa lived in Costa Rica as missionaries. Micah and Tyce only got to spend a few days with us before having to leave early. Even with the short trip, Micah and Melissa made it a point to get Tyce back to Costa Rica to see everyone and come back to where he was born. As a pastor’s kid this meant so much to me! I don’t personally know the struggles that come with being a missionaries kid, but I know what it’s like for your parents to be in ministry. That isn’t always easy, and until you have walked in those shoes you will never really understand what it’s like. They felt that it was important for him to be there. Are finances tight? I don’t know…but they made a way to get him there. Would it of been easier for Micah to come by himself? Probably…but he didn’t. They didn’t sacrifice something that was important to them at the altar of “ministry”. They made Tyce a priority. 

Pastor’s Kids, Missionary Kids, Kids of those in full time ministry…they are important, they are a priority.

#6: On all the mission’s trips I’ve been we often close out the final night with sharing testimonies and taking communion with each other. In the schedule this wasn’t planned, so I made the decision to cut one thing short to have this time together. If I’m being honest there was some frustration walking into this moment. As I mentioned before, there were many things that didn’t go as plan. There were some ministry moments that we thought we were going to have that fell through and we didn’t get to do. Some ministry moments we did have didn’t pan out exactly how we thought. Looking back there was some better preparation on my part that should of been done to avoid that. (You learn as you go). Frustrated…

We have had a good time and everyone had something that stood out to them, but it just seemed we were missing something. So we all went to the upper room overlooking the city. I turned on some worship music and told everyone to just pray. There was no time limit and no other place to be that night, so we were going to push a little. After a while you could begin to fill the atmosphere in the room change. Something about not limiting God to a time limit and just going after Him does something. As we wrapped up our time of prayer I broke everyone up into groups and felt the Lord lead me to be very specific. There was two Families there with a child, so the Husband and Wife got together with their kid. For the 3 without their parents there, we paired them with another leader. (Roy & Joe, Katie & Aniyah, Jack & Zion, Tommy/Misty & 

Mikayla, Rob/Alisha & Josh) 

I gave some instructions, that this is a time to pray over and speak life into these students lives. Specifically for the families I told the parents that if there is anything you want to say or been meaning to, say do it now. For the older ones to speak into the lives of these students what they wished someone would of spoken over them. Let me tell you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room as we began to speak life over them and their future lives. Declaring truths and prophesying over them. After we finish, I then had the students turn around and do the same over their parents/leader. You talk about powerful…Just thinking about hearing Zion speak over my life and share things he felt He needed to say, seeing the other students and leaders hugging and crying with one another, to be in that moment again…This wasn’t the end through. Before we closed out with communion we took turns encouraging and uplifting one another. We went around and called out, spoke to, and thanked one another. This night, this moment is what we were missing…just another encounter with the Lord.

#7: This one will be short. There will come a day I feel released to write and share about my wife fully, but today isn’t that day. But I do want to say this…watching her grow in the Lord has been an incredible part of our relationship. There is pressure she carries of being a Pastor, pressure to always know what to do in moments, especially in spiritual moments. The thing is she is still new to many of these things and still learning…and over this past year I have watched her grown so much.

I love you Katelyn Elizabeth and I am so proud of you! You are an incredible Wife, Mom, & Youth Pastor. 

#8: There are two people I need to thank…

First off I want to thank my pastor, who also doubles as my brother. I get asked a lot, what’s it like working for your brother? My answer is always the same, “I’ve spent my whole life looking up to and following Him, so this is easy.” Then the next question people ask is this, “Whose the better boss, your dad or brother?” I realize that people are trying to by funny and I often joke back at them, but I’m not a huge fan of that question. One is not better than the other and Timothy isn’t living in the shadow of having to be his father. That’s not how our dad wants it or set it up to be. I’ve enjoyed working for both of them. Both were needed in the season I was/am in.

Working for my dad I needed someone to take a chance on me and allow me to make plenty of mistakes. In the process showing me what it means to dream big, the foundations of ministry, and how to love others.

Working for Timothy I need someone to push me. Someone who knows me and knows my weaknesses. Someone who loves me and wants the best for me, meaning he is willing to correct me and challenge me when needed. Doing this not from a place of anger or disappointment but from a place of truly wanting the best for me. It is through this challenging that this trip came about. I have always wanted to take a missions trip with the youth group, but having the tendency to drag my feet, Timothy called me into his office and said this is what I want to happen, so make it happen. Simple enough but it was the push I needed. None of these others points wouldn’t of been there if my Pastor didn’t believe in me and call something he knew I was capable of doing out of me. I’ve said it in private, but I want to honor you publicly as well. 

Thank You Pastor!

 

The second person I need to thank is Paul Joseph Gallina.

In 2011 I went on my first missions trip to Colombia. That trip was lead by Paul, much like many of the trip I would wind up taking over the next 12 years. Paul was the one who taught me Missionary Rule #1, as well as, taught me all the other missionary rules we began to create on all of our trips together. Paul has most defiantly been a mentor in my life, especially when it comes to missions. I joke with him that if we are like Paul & Silas, that I am Paul since I am younger, to which he says “But my name is already Paul” haha! We have had many incredible times together not just on the missions field, but working together at the church, playing softball together, going on installs together, and one time when I was a kid Paul saved my life when he administered the Heimlich maneuver when I accidentally sallowed a hard piece of candy and it stuck in my throat causing me to choke.

Originally I asked and wanted Paul to go on this trip. Leading a missions trip for the first time I wanted a safety net, someone there to help when I inevitably messed up. It wasn’t until after the trip that he told me this was the first trip he felt the Lord tell him no to. He said it was time for Jack to lead and learn. Looking back at this trip I learned a lot and my appreciation for all the trips Paul has led has grown. I am thankful to have you in my life and look forward to the day we do get to travel together again.

Thank you Pablo!

Oh the more stories I could tell from this trip, but I believe this is a good stopping point. Like all the things I write/type I hope that you have taken something from it, been encouraged, and have sensed the Lord while reading. I want to again encourage you to GO! Pray about it and take the step of faith to go on a missions trip. I truly believe that everyone should experience a foreign missions trip at least once in their life. For those who might be reading and can’t go themselves, partner with others and help them go! Many of the students got to have encounters with the Lord because someone help give. Me and Katie’s trip were completely covered by someone who was willing to give. (You know who you are, Thank You for sending us!)

I’m not sure who all will read this, but thank you for taking the time to do so! I love you and more importantly…God is madly in love with you!