This week, I’m leading a missions team to Costa Rica to support The Abraham Project, and two full-time missionaries that we (Grace Community Church) sent here to Costa Rica, Jason and Kerby Harpst. I’ll be blogging daily about our progress here.

But you know it’s going to be a long day when a team member gets excited right out of the gate because there’s a piece of broken concrete where only dirt clods should reside.

As our day progressed and we continued connecting with the workers, one of them asked me, “Do you like country music?” Not wanting to sound pretentious with my nuanced love of New-grass music, I said, “Yes.” I tried explaining that country music started in Nashville, close to where I live. I asked if he knew Garth Brooks. Nope. Then they asked if I liked music videos. Again, a simple, “Yes” was easiest. Castillo wondered if I’d seen a music video with a guy that had long hair, a pony tail, wore a kilt and played a harmonica. That wasn’t ringing a bell with me, as I’m sure it’s not with you.

Then he sang the chorus. Instantly, it was “Karma Chameleon” by Boy George.

It’s a shame that, of all American music, a Boy George song would stand the test of time. Even Boy George fans would say that’s a shame.

Today, in addition to the same schedule as yesterday (some of us digging, some of us teaching children the Bible), we got to hear from Pastor Jorge, the founder of The Abraham Project. Over a decade ago, Jorge came to speak at a local church here in Costa Rica. There were 7 people present, and they planned on soon shutting the doors forever. After the service, through praying with some of the members, the Lord spoke to Jorge. He began to see the potential that was here for building a children’s home that would house orphans, but he only had $20 in his pocket.

He said

Abraham took a step of faith even though he didn’t know where he was going.

God had planted a big vision into the heart of Jorge, but it was a vision bigger than Jorge could do on his own.

He went on to say:

Before you get to the promised land, there will be many battles, but if He’s called you there you’ll get there.

Now, his $20 has multiplied into The Abraham Project, an organization worth over $2,000,000.

He challenged our team with this:

Take the $20 in your project and start a project that will grow to over $2 million.

Pastor Jorge addressing our group

After lunch, we took a tour of the new piece of property that The Abraham Project owns, a 2.5 acre plot valued at $750,000 (but bought for ~$250,000). Their future plans including building 4 more children’s homes and a parking lot (the current building has very little space for parking). A river snakes around the edge of the property…it’s going to be beautiful once complete.

Currently, the land is full of coffee trees and banana trees. I got to try my first ever coffee cherry. The green coffee bean resides in the center of the cherry. If the cherry’s ripe, it’ll be red. It was as delightful as I expected.

Unpicked green (unripe) and red (ripe) coffee cherries.

This man graciously shared some of his picked coffee cherries with us.

 

This week, I’m leading a missions team to Costa Rica to support The Abraham Project, and two full-time missionaries that we (Grace Community Church) sent here to Costa Rica, Jason and Kerby Harpst. I’ll be blogging daily about our progress here.

Buenos Dias

I seem to wake up earlier and earlier every day.

Maybe it’s because of eager anticipation.

Maybe it’s because God has big plans and wants me up extra early.

Or maybe it’s because of that crazy bird just outside of my window that I hear squawking directly in my ear. I digress.

Today was another tough work day, but was broken up by one of the founding members of The Abraham Project, Steve Thomas. Steve helped us understand more of what The Abraham Project is all about, and the massive amount of children they’ve taken in. He shared countless tear-enducing stories of children that had been treated worse than any human being should ever be treated. Steve had our group at rapt attention, then he dropped this nugget of wisdom on us:

I can tell you more and more about where they have come from. But I’m more excited about where they’re going. Steve told us about how so many of their children had been adopted by loving, God-honoring families.

our team, listening to Steve, with the church building in the background

He went on to say that he sees The Abraham project as an organization sending out future missionaries and preachers to the ends of the earth. They are playing a pivotal role on these young men and women’s journey to sharing the Gospel with people of all nations.

To those of you who think your work this week is meaningless…it’s not.

Today and tomorrow, our team is splitting up during part of our day, with half of us leading a Bible study with the children at The Abraham Project day care. The other half are shoveling dirt, making snail’s progress on the field, building relationships with the workers, and getting so dirty that our white towels still look brown after a shower.

Oh, and I broke my once-every-two-decades self-imposed rule: I played soccer again.

And I told an old lady that I loved her. My Spanish is admittedly weak. And apparently hilarious to a group of women.

And being 11 degrees from the equator means that the sun is hotter. Which, for a gringo like me, means a sunburn. Even if you slather it on twice in 6 hours. Being closer to the sun really matters. (there’s probably a cheesy Christian bumper sticker somewhere in that last sentence, something like: “Stay close to the Son and you’ll get a tan”)

Here’s to the power of sunscreen.

Buenas noches.