Costa Rica

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What I learned from Leila

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It was a cold, rainy night in San Jose the night we met Leila. I still remember where she was standing and how she liked her coffee.

Our team, along with another organization, had just started visiting the red light district and zones. We would bring coffee and cookies and hangout with people living and working on the streets of the capital city.

Over the weeks and months of visiting Leila, I practiced my Spanish and she would practice a few words of English. We settled into a rhythm of sorts in our conversation topics. Our team van would pull up, she would recognize it and walk over with her coffee order ready. I would climb out and we would chat about the weather, music, Costa Rican food, etc.

One December night I found myself alone in our drop in center that we operated at the time-setting up a Christmas tree. I was homesick, exhausted and wondering if the decision to live and work in Costa Rica was the right decision.

It had been a rough year and the ups and downs of running a non-profit organization combined with living far from home and familiarity were taking a toll on my heart. I figured throwing myself into decorating the Christmas tree would help because I LOVE Christmas!

I had just started decorating when I heard a light knock on the outside gate of the center. To my surprise, there stood Leila with a shy smile as I opened the door. She had never visited before. As soon as she entered, she grabbed me in the biggest hug. It was as if her pain and loneliness was reaching out to mine in comfort. We stood there in a fierce embrace, no words, no explanation needed. Somehow that hug transcended both language and culture.

Leila changed my whole world that night as she shared with me and I with her. Eventually other staff joined us and she opened up about her story and life on the streets. Leila gave me a picture of a world I didn’t know or fully understand. Her story is not mine to share but what I can tell you is that her life was beautifully hard.

Weeks turned into months and months turned into years of our tradition of the van pulling up, me climbing out and Leila running to hug me. We would teach each other worship songs, pray and sometimes just sit quietly sipping our coffee together.

I’ll never forget the night the phone call came that Leila had passed away. My heart-felt shattered into a million pieces. Leila and I didn’t always agree on things but at the end of the day she knew that I loved her and that I was for her.

Leila taught me that I didn’t need to visit people on the streets with coffee in order to solve their life problems or “rescue them.”
I just needed to show up and build a bridge of mutual trust and respect.

Sometimes love looks like just showing up, pouring a cup of coffee and sitting quietly without expectation.

Almost ten years later, I am fully convinced that I made the right decision to quit my job and leave my Kentucky life to live and work in Costa Rica. For me it was never about what I was building but about who I was meeting. 

Jesus was about the process of the journey. He knew that every person I would encounter would change and shape what we were doing in Costa Rica. He knew we would go on to work in other nations. He knew that women like Leila could impact our team which would in turn impact nations. All because we shared coffee on the streets.

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SENDING LOVE ACROSS THE GLOBE: THE ENERGY IN COMPASSION

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The room was filled with whispers and giggles. As I looked around me, the kids were all sprawled out on the floor of the church sanctuary. Some had concentrated looks, others were squealing in delight at the progress being made-yet others were waiting anxiously for me to come and see their poster boards they had just finished.

You see they had all just learned about other kids across the globekids just like them. Except there was a huge difference, the kids they had just learned about were living in refugee camps, or fleeing as refugees to other countries-leaving behind clothes, toys, friends, a life.

My friends-the kids in Tres Rios community do not have it very easy either. They are growing up in a neighborhood where poverty, drugs, and crime are the norm. But I wanted them to know that the atmosphere surrounding them does not have to define them. They can be world changers, right where they are- even in this neighborhood.

We explained as gently as possible the crisis in the Middle East to all of the kids. At the end, I asked them their thoughts on what they had just learned. One child raised their hand and said- “We need to pray for them.” Yes, oh yes how spot on.

I asked them if they knew of ways we might help make a difference amidst the crisis. Shouts of ideas began to bubble up out of them as they took turns talking over one another. “They need clothes, we can fill a big truck with clothes for them!” Others said, food, toys, water, medicines, etc.

I was grinning from ear to ear as I heard their ideas. I loved them all. However, one very sweet voice suggested the one thing we all know is needed most. It’s the one thing that makes all the difference. It’s the one thing that shatters darkness.The sweet voice called out ever so simply- “love.”

Doesn’t that just mark you? No long winded answer on love and how and why-just simply stated. It came from a place of pure innocence, a perfect resting place of hope.

So we got out the poster board and crayons and let their imaginations take them away.Tears sprang to my eyes as they were met with smiles, enthusiasm and creativity.

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I was so impacted. They weren’t sad, scared or consumed with a dooming sense of helplessness. There in the midst of glitter and glue, crayons and markers- change was happening.  A change coming from little minds working away and I saw what God sees- faith like a child.

To a child, faith is so easy- so simple. In one child’s mind, why not drive a truck full of clothes to Syria from Costa Rica?! To him, this child-distance, money and time have no factor. Their hope was contagious. They were not focussing on their own lack of clothes, some even suggested they could run home and grab (what little they had) of their own clothes to give away.

What would the world be like if children were consulted more on world affairs? The innocent responses while so simple, are often the most accurate. We forget that some of the greatest answers are found within a simple idea.

Oh I know there seems to be a lot of complexity in the world today. Between social media, world news and local news-anger and hate are loud. But not this day, this day the kids chose hope and love. At the end of the day-hope and love are louder.

The energy in the sanctuary was exciting as the kids of all different ages were full of ideas, of hope. And there, I felt it. I mean I really felt it-the energy in compassion. It’s transformational. We stop thinking about the sadness and the despair. We stop thinking about the lack and the worry. We simply start thinking like Jesus. Our hearts beat hard for Him-for His hope.

We are praying and loving our family in Iraq all the way from Tres Rios Cartago, Costa Rica. And we are excited to announce that in December, we will be sending our small gift of love over to our friends at Love Does to sponsor their work with kids in Iraq!!

 

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Post by Executive Director, Anna Carroll

Embracing Space

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Band Of BrothersComing back to Costa Rica after so long of an absence, yet knowing I’m only going to be here for a short time has made space for some serious reflection. It’s been more than humbling to see all that’s happening in Costa Rica. It has been almost overwhelming at times to watch the LFI staff own the vision, confidently engage the broken on the streets, and open their hearts to those that are in need of belonging. For what we may lack sometimes in monetary resource, LFI more than makes up for in the richness of the lives of our staff and volunteers.

After two weeks of feeling overwhelmed and graciously humbled, I remembered Psalm 18:19,

He brought me out into a wide open place; He delivered me because He was pleased with me.

Other versions say “spacious places.” Nonetheless, spacious places sound good and picturesque in the Bible; however, when you start to think about the reality of a spacious place, it doesn’t always give us the same warm feelings. Maybe I’m weird, but I immediately pictured a scene from the miniseries, Band of Brothers. A USA military unit is out in the woods during the winter fighting back the Germans, and while everything is quiet, you see Major Winters running along the line telling everyone to get ready. Then you see the enemy tanks coming up through the other side of the woods, out into a wide open space. Maybe that isn’t a pretty picture, but here is my point: wide open spaces are sometimes hard places. They’re places where you feel the tension of victory while also being keenly aware that struggle is right along side. Rescue, however, is the promise of these spacious places.

The day after I landed in Costa Rica, a precious life needing restoration was dropped into our laps. Although I can’t say much about her personal story, this young girl at just 18 years of age had experienced more trauma in her life than many people have encountered in their entire lives. She was desperately in need of a wide open space. Over the weeks she’s been with us there’s been struggle. She’s happy to be safe and starting a new life, however, the sense of fear and vulnerability is there too.

The unknown of wide open spaces is sometimes the very thing that keeps us from being rescued.

It’s when we choose to embrace the unknown and take that risk that we truly feel the delight of rescue. God takes pleasure in walking with us through these spaces. The question is do we really believe that to be true, and are we willing to walk with Him even when we feel afraid?

Unexpected Beginnings

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Children at the Border | LFI

Can it really be four years ago that I sold almost everything I own, quit my job, and moved to Costa Rica simply because God moved on my heart to do so?  I wanted to be obedient, but I was baffled that God chose Costa Rica to launch me out into the mission field.  For the two years prior, all I had talked about was the Middle East. I even trained one summer with an organization (SWI) that goes into places like Pakistan.  I studied Islam and the persecuted church and areas where persecution of Christians was very prevalent.  I was determined to find and go to any and all areas where Christ is not allowed nor wanted.

In my childlike faith, I wanted (and honestly still do) to just pick a spot in the middle of the world, set up a home and then just house, feed and love every single orphaned, abandoned, hungry child on the globe.  However, that was not what He had in mind for me, and so when He sent me to Costa Rica, I told him I would just take all the little ones in Central America!  So it is not surprising that it did not take me long to discover an unreached, untouched area that was full of exploited and hurting young kids.  As I sat listening to a pastor share all he had discovered in a certain town and how desperately in need these children were, my heart broke.  Although I told the pastor I would pray and would not commit to anything, deep down I knew I would be back.  I came home and prayed, and it was not long before I knew that I was to go back and see how I could help and where.  I also knew then that I was not going home.  I called my mom one night on Skype crying from what all I had learned of these children and crying because I knew I would not be moving home in December.  She cried with me but we were both smiling through our tears because we knew this was God. This was the birthing of LFI and the journey of how a girl from Kentucky moved to Costa Rica.

Like most girls, I grew up with Cinderella stories, but I also grew up with stories like David and Goliath, Moses parting the Red Sea, and missionaries (i.e. Jim Elliot).  At a young age, I was ruined for this world.  Many of us aspire to make a difference, our culture speaks of reaching for the stars, becoming anything you want as long as you believe in yourself.  We flock to the theaters to see good triumph evil, rags rise to riches, and success defy defeat.  Why?  Because the one who designed us, who spoke us into existence, in whose nature we were created; defined those heroic tales.  God triumphed evil with His Son, Jesus, and everyday He triumphs when you step out and be His hands and feet.  Everyday success defies defeat when you allow Him to shine through your weaknesses so He can shame foolishness.  For every counterfeit, there is a genuine.  The Bible is not fiction nor fantasy.  It is a living God telling stories through the lives of everyday men and women who allowed God to use them.  The day I made Jesus Lord of my life, that became my culture.  My heart began to beat with thoughts of how big God was, how through Him all things are possible, and how the world was so hurt and broken.  I knew, I too, wanted to let God take the pen and write His story, His version, His way.  Every test, every trial, every mountaintop and valley has taught me something and pushed me to grow in God.

 

Bathtub Included

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Last week, a local pastor asked us to pray for a new house for he and his family. The pastor told me that he needed a much bigger house, but needed his rent payments to be comparable to his current ones. He told me that preferably the new house would be close to where they were already living, and it would be nice if it had a bathtub for his wife. As I prayed, I had no doubts that the Lord would provide as He does time and time again.

Yesterday, they found a house that was just two streets away from their current house and is nearly twice as big, for only $20/month more than their current payments! Moreover, even in Costa Rica where they are hard to come by, this particular house came with a bathtub included just as he had wanted for his wife!

The God I serve doesn’t settle for just providing for us. As if that isn’t enough. You see, without a bathtub, one could say that this house was a “great find” and ignore the fact that God was involved at all. My God desires specific prayers with bathtubs included because when He answers them, He gets 100% of the glory. No questions asked.

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