about Costa Rica

Chaucer said, “Time and tide wait for no one.” For me this means, “Get off my butt and do something awesome … now!” Even though Chaucer can be boring to me, this profound truth inspires me to drop the remote and make better use of the short time I have before my tide comes in.

One particular beautiful Spring day at Princeton Seminary, with the Dogwoods in bloom, while I was reading outside and thankful the snow had gone, I answered a call from Alan, a dear friend and colleague in North Carolina who was the youth pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem. The international mission group known as Latin American Missions (LAM), Alan was working with was in need of a pastor for a two-week mission trip to Costa Rica. Alan was given the opportunity to choose any pastor and preacher because Alan’s church had some thirty people coming. Alan told me, “We are building a church for a poor village, and I think you need to be there. You need to put some good Jesus action behind all your brainwork to balance your life and make you happy. Besides that, you could really help us out.” My response is always the same when these opportunities come up, “Let me check with Kathy before I commit to anything.” His response caught me off guard, “I already called Kathy, and she thinks you need this more than I think you need this.”

It would be the first time my wife and I were separated for more than an eight hour day. This tugged on our hearts, and we began thinking about mothers and fathers who are single parents. We could not imagine what they have to go through, and how they manage their time and stress and the love that keeps them going. We began praying for those families we knew in school and in the church I served as an intern. My wife was to be stretched in her own faith and mind as we sacrificed this time for mission work. This was when I learned there is always a home team who goes through change as much as the away team. God fills everyone’s heart through prayer. God works as God always does in five or six places at once. As the mission team and I worked together over the next few months, and as I shared with our extended family my excitement and enthusiasm of where I was going, my younger brother, Marc, asked if he could participate. Marc and I had never been part of a mission experience together, and we both sensed God working in our lives to bless each other with a moment in time like no other.

The last few months of preparation with Alan and the other churches were an organizational dream. There were hundreds of details to put together to coordinate efforts of finances, building materials, the work site, the Orphanage that was hosting us in Heredia, the congregation we were serving, and flight arrangements for fifty some students. From my end I was writing and preparing worship music and messages, preparing to be a mission pastor to the team of people I had never met, and as a pastoral liason to the village where language and cultural differences needed finesse and sensitivity. It was a whirlwind of conversations and prayer over the phone, and I learned how to build community through AT&T. The supplies were being purchased by the pastor in Costa Rica, and being stored on the church’s property. Alan and the other pastors arrived one day ahead of my brother and I and the other missionaries, to organize themselves, get the work site prepared, and cover any last minute contingencies.

I flew out of Jersey and Marc flew out of Arizona in July and we ended up meeting in Texas before flying into San Jose, Costa Rica. When I am with my brother we have far too much fun together, and we usually have some kind of an affect on the people around us. He has a way of making everyone feel at home with him and he enjoys laughter, especially hearing others laugh. We talked for hours. We talked about our lives, God, family, and the Costa Rican adventures before us. We were experiencing one of those rare moments in life when you connect with family without all of the baggage. We simply enjoyed each other and listened and shared in love as brothers. It changed our life, and we had no idea how God was going to continue to grow us together.

Costa Rica has speed limit laws and traffic signs for protection and direction. Hector, our cab driver, had no care for these sings, and I think he interpreted them as multiple choices based on mood. As we flew through a red light with his horn blaring and his head hanging out of his window yelling wild things in Spanish, Marc said laughing, “This would have been a great place to drive in high school.” Costa Rica is beautiful. We passed by hundreds of coffee bean plantations climbing through the mountains of San Jose around rough and rugged roads, passing large busses and trucks, until we reached the gates of the orphanage. The orphanage is run by Carmelite nuns and who had a great working relationship with LAM. The retreat facility is perched high on top of a mountain overlooking Heredia. The view encouraged you to slow down and soak in the stunning splendor. The rains in the afternoon are spectacular and the vegetation is unbelievable. I thought I knew what fruit tasted like until I enjoyed mangos and papaya and bananas off the jungle vine. The retreat facility was several hundred yards away from the actual orphanage where the children of San Jose and Heredia were cared for. We could hear the children in the distance playing. The orphanage is one of San Jose’s most prized care facilities and many in the area are grateful and protective of this ministry. The orphanage has a great reputation, and as we unloaded our bags Hector kept looking up tot eh fence around the orphanage. He kept saying to us, “This is a good place, a very good place.” When one of the nuns came to the edge of the orphanage’s property and looked over the fence, Hector began to wave excitedly and with a big smile he told us, “Senora Lupe!” After being paid, he jogged to the fence and they talked. One of the retreat staff told us Hector had been one of the many children who grew up there, and for him it was an awkward and joyful opportunity to visit this home again.

Marc and I were greeted warmly by Alan and the other youth pastors, and Alan looked troubled. He said, “The church officials and the government officials can not agree on how the church is to be built, because the pastor of the church ran off with the other $4,000.00 that we had put in the church’s account over this last year, and they have shut down our particular building project. All of our plans and $3,000.00 in supplies are being detained until they can work it all out. So, how was your flight?”

We had an urgent meeting. It was difficult and stressful. There were many frustrations and fears being aired. All of us felt helpless, frightened, and taken for granted. Many thought of going home on the next available flight. Everyone looked to me as the pastor of the camp, and someone asked, “What do we do?” Out of desperation, I felt we needed to pray out loud together. Through our prayers, a no holes barred intense blend of confession and fear, blaming God and crying out, and seeking answers, our frustrations were released and our faith inched us slowly toward reconciliation and inspiration. We decided God had placed us in Costa Rica for something more than we had anticipated, and in faith all of us chose to stay and figure out something else to do. So we prayed again and asked the retreat staff and LAM what else needed to be done in the area. Where could we be sent to be of the greatest help for the next two weeks?

It is always surprising to watch the Holy Spirit’s subversive power move the people of God. One of the camp staff knew a friend whose pastor, Oscar, walked some thirteen miles every weekend to pastor a little Pentecostal church in the mountains. They were in need of a home for their pastor and his family of six to live. Alan said, “We’ll take that one.” Another worker from LAM knew of a church in another village who needed a front porch with a roof, and who were in desperate need of help with a local Vacation Bible School. The other two churches took the lead with that one. The orphanage had secured a bus for us before we arrived and the bus driver simply needed a new set of directions for both teams. So, after breakfast we headed out to our villages. With no idea of what needed to be done, no plan, very few resources, and no idea of what God had set in motion, we were excited for our new adventure. An adventure of unprecedented life changing moments where time and tide change the landscape around us, causing us to reevaluate what it important in our life, and do something awesome.
… Stay tuned for Part 2 …

Just a thought,
Pastor Tom