The very next day we woke up at 3:00 am to head to Chira, an island just off the coast. We were loaded into the back of a dusty farmer's pickup truck and driven up a hill to the island's school. The classroom that I walked into first had no air conditioning, no computers, an abundance of wasps and beaten up desks. I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to relate to these children since I was raised in a nice middle class family with a pretty house and comfortable living conditions.
After conversing with the kids for a while, I realize that we had so much in common. We liked to play sports, play with our pets and talk with our friends. I came to know that social situations did not hinder our relationship. When I read Isaiah 58, which tells us to care for the poor and invite them to your place, I thought this would be way overwhelming for me. I believed that in order to do so that I would have to step way out of my comfort zone. But once again I was left in awe of the power of God to bring me to obstacles I would never have imagined myself coming to and not only that - He helped me rise above those fears that I had.
I left that day thinking, "Wow, that must be the worst part of Costa Rica." Boy, was I wrong! We headed to another village the next day called Carpio. On our ride there, our missionary, Lamar, was explaining how nice the people were there and how they were just like us. "One more thing," he said, "they live beside the main landfill in Costa Rica." A landfill? You mean those things that they try to cover up in America but here they leave out beside a town? Yes, that kind of landfill.
We rode through shack after shack, past broken car after broken car. When we arrived at the church, we couldn't even recognize it. It turns out that the church was secured by a sheet of metal chain locked to the wall. The first thing we saw when we walked in were drops of water coming out from multiple leakage spots in the ceiling. A group of children at the church walked by me, and I noticed that a number of them had on Toms. They didn't buy these shoes, rather they were some of those poster child children of the Toms One for One campaign. These children either didn't have the resources to buy shoes or didn't have any shoes in their size, so they relied on different sizes than their own to cover their feet.
I was so scared that these children wouldn't want to hang around me. I thought they would see me and my professional grade camera and leather Sperrys and think that I was nothing like them. The first child I met, Johan, came up to me, looked up at the lens on the camera hanging from my neck, and smiled. At first glance, he would have been just one of those poster children. But now, he was my friend.
The trip is really showing me how to love others. My comfort zone before this mission was confined to the people I knew and the people who were similar to me. If I had to talk to a homeless man or a person in the ghetto, I would have shied away from the oppurtunity. I think God has put me in places like Chiro and Carpio to open my eyes to His unfailing love. He is showing me how, if I accept Jesus into my heart, He can work through me to care for those who on my own I was afraid to care for.
I understood what "how He love us" meant, but I don't think I knew what "how He loves us all" until I came to Costa Rica. I pray that God continues to open our eyes to His beautiful beings, regardless of our differences. We have a unity through love and, therefore, through Christ.
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