The Island

The day began at 4:45 today, and proceeded with french toast, photos and lots of goodbyes. This morning the group of 26 from Pensacola spent their last morning in Costa Rica, and are now traveling back to the states. It's been a blast getting to know everyone who came, and to spend the week with this group.

Even though I had only known these people for a week, I found it difficult to say goodbye this morning. I definitely tried to hide it, and while I feel like I am an expert at disguising my emotions...I unfortunately think people can read me easier then a picture book. Needless to say, I am seeing more and more in my life how much it grieves my spirit to say goodbye to people. It is amazing how the Lord didn't create us to have broken relationships or say goodbye to people, so when we do it hurts our hearts so badly. Praise the Lord that our relationship with the Father will never end. The intense pain of being separated from Him, I will never experience because He promises that He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me! What incredible news! Meeting group after group of great people this summer has been a fun adventure...yet, I can hardly convey just how blessed I am to have the community that I do in Wilmington to return to!

This past week I went with 6 others to a remote island of unreached Costa Ricans. Traveling down a croc infested river in a small motor boat made me feel like the missionaries, Jim and Elizabeth Elliot... I loved it! Our group was a dental group who came to offer free dental care to the poor. Although I am not qualified to do dental work, I felt like I was supposed to go with this group and pray for the sick. After roughly an hour boat ride, we came an extremely muddy coastline. The air was pungent with the smell of fish, and I could see a huge pile of old fishing nets piled along the shore. When I stepped out of the boat, my foot sunk about a half of a foot deep into the mud. I immediately laughed because earlier that morning I tried convincing Erin, one of the other interns to come with me to the island. Imagining the type of reaction she would have to the mud and scenery made me laugh, as well as praise the Lord that I was unsuccessful in convincing her to come with us! I think, no I know, the mud would have been over the limit for her! The island was primitive to say the least, and definitely an eye opener to a completely different way of life. All summer, I have been trying to discern what is going on in the spirit here in Costa. There seems to be a country wide spirit of purposelessness, and people in Costa seem to just be existing. Noone really has any major goals, and there isn't much of a drive to do hardly anything, at least in the area I am in. I think that this definitely plays into the fact that hardly anything here seems to be important. "Oh you need something from the store...we'll have it in a month or two." Dogs can just roam around the streets, we don't care.

The buildings on the island were made out of sticks, branches, old signs, and scrap pieces of wood. Soon upon our arrival we were greeted by one of the cutest grandmas I have ever seen in my life. This woman was probably in her mid-seventies, had leathery brown skin, twig legs, and the biggest smile on her face. She welcomed us with a kiss on our cheeks, and began speaking Spanish really fast. Not long after we were there, and had set up camp, the Grandma came over and asked if we wouldn't mind coming and praying for her daughter and son-in-law. Immediate confirmation in my spirit about coming to the island to pray for the sick! We walk over, and are welcomed into the woman's shack with Jason and Kristen, our leader and one of the members from Pensacola. We ask the sick woman in Spanish if we can lay hands on her, and when we do I notice that her body is burning up, and she is shaky which is probably because she has such a high fever. She tells us that she has had a fever for three days and she and her husband haven't eaten anything. As we pray, we simply invite the Holy Spirit to come and heal this woman, then we went and prayed for her husband. The next morning, as I walking back from the ocean I hear someone yelling, and I look over and see the woman we prayed for the day before. She looks completely different, and much healthier then then day before and calls out to me "Come over here, your prayers worked! You prayed to God and he took away my sickness! Both my husband and I are completely fine!" Thank you Lord, you are our healer, and a good good Father!

This next week, well 8 days, Erin, Heather and I are living likes queens here at Refugio Solte! There won't be a group here until Houston comes, which will be our last one for the summer. I look around and cannot believe how blessed I am to be living in such a huge, beautiful structure...wow Lord, you give good gifts.