Til He Returns

When we first got to Costa back in January, I promised a more in depth overview of what ministry looked like! Now, my squad has finished out our time in Costa, are fresh out of a week of debrief and processing, and en route to our next country—read my next blog to find out where that is!!! 

I’m going to make this short but sweet! If anyone is interested in hearing more in depth stories from our time in ministry here in Costa Rica, feel free to reach out and set up a coffee date (or zoom/facetime because, ya know, covid) when I get back home in June! 

Our ministry was with the nonprofit Til He Returns (locally known as The Hope Project). Their name reflects their mission: to be the hands and feet and heart of Jesus, until He comes back and reconciles us all back to Him. This ministry has a lot of moving parts, but I’ll do my best to explain them all:

• The Refuge – We worked with the counseling / pregnancy center offered by THP. Moms can come in and receive pregnancy or parenting counseling, chat with other moms, and be prayed over. After a certain number of visits, the moms can earn “points” that can be traded in for baby clothes. Our part in this was greeting moms when they came in, serving them coffee, and spending time with them while they wait / before / after their appointments. We also regularly sorted through donations of baby clothes and re organized their display. One of our Racers even painted a beautiful mural on the wall of the room used for counseling!
• House of Raw! One of the unique outreaches of THP is their dance studio that targets the inner city community. They hold classes almost every night of the week for Dance Hall (a kind of dance born out of Jamaica), Krump, Hip Hop, and occasionally others. While House of Raw doesn’t include Bible studies or music that makes it inherently “Christian”, all of the instructors are believers, and all of the participants are prayed for by the Ambassadors that work for THP. There are some really cool testimonies of people who have been inspired to leave a life of gangs and drugs to pursue dance through House of Raw and have eventually given their lives to the Lord through spending time in an environment surrounded by believers! Our part in this ministry was to attend dance classes and build relationships with the people who take them, as well as praying over the space and the people. This was one of my favorite things we did during our time here!
• Evangelism! We would go to the park and approach people and ask them to talk, or if they needed prayer. We were able to hand out Bibles and sometimes food, and one of our groups saw a salvation through this ministry!! Thanks God!!!!
• Alllll the other things! We got to lead women’s programs on the weekends and pour into them and encourage them to share their stories. We provided childcare for women attending the refuge. We helped teach conversational English classes and social media marketing classes. We created content for THP’s online marketing, cleaned multiple times a day, and helped market their bracelet making ministry called Waves of Grace that provides women with bracelet making skills that help them provide for their families. 
• Intercession! When we didn’t have anything to do, we just prayed over the ministries, ambassadors, and the community. This ministry taught us a lot about stewarding your time for the Kingdom and having intentional, edifying conversations with the people in front of you! 

Thank you so much for keeping up with what God is doing in Costa Rica! Thank you for praying for me & for supporting me financially. Being here with Gap D has been my favorite season of life so far, and I couldn’t do it without the body of Christ coming together to help me get here! 

COMING UP: a blog about where we’re traveling to for the last two months! Spoiler alert: I’m writing this from our layover in PANAMA! 

Blessings,

Nicole