Dear friends and supporters,
Here is a summary of the ministry that we did with Fundacion Replenda, in Costa Rica. There are two locations that we worked in, Los Chiles (aka the Farm) and Platanar (aka the host home).
The FARM
The farm is in the middle of the jungle of Costa Rica close to Nicaragua. Ministry at the farm consisted of painting, cleaning, gardening, making desks, laundry, chopping wood, and a lot of manual labor. Also, we did Saturday ministry. Everyone at the farm, that is my team Oasis and Kings Kids, became very very close and we became the Farmily.
Ministry for me looked a little different because of all my allergies. I could not do a lot of the manual labor involving the garden, so I did a lot of cleaning and did almost everyone’s laundry. I also help Rosita in the kitchen. Laundry was an all-day every-day thing depending on the weather. We had a “washing machine” really just an agitator and also had a spinner to sling all the water out of the clothes, then they would go up on the outside and inside lines. On laundry days I did close to 20-25 lbs of laundry per day, approximately 15 people’s clothes from three days. While the loads were drying I would clean and mop the showers, sweep and mop the floors in the main area and kitchen, and help with lunch. Then pull off the dry clothes folded by person and move to clean the bathrooms. After lunch I would check the lines and grab the dry stuff and fold etc… by then it was time to start the second batch of clothes, usually the girl’s laundry, and start the same process all over again. Then around 3 o’clock, we would have a coffee break where we got coffee and some sort of snack. That was the time I got to see everyone who had been working in the fields and get to know them better and share funny stories but also gets to have deep conversations. For about two weeks I would have to rush out to the lines and move everything over to inside halfway through the coffee break because I could feel the rain. Yes, I can feel the rain before it rains, perks of growing up in South Georgia with the crazy humidity and pop-up rainstorms. We would get back to work around 4 and work till 5, but with laundry, it only drys as fast as it can so I would move the clothes from the outside lines to the inside lines before the dew hit at 5:15. The laundry was almost always done by 6:30. By that time I would head back to the kitchen and help with dinner if it was my day to help, if not then I would take a shower or call home. I would go to bed by 11 and start the next day with breakfast at 7 am and repeat the whole process over again.
On Saturdays at the farm, we would ride in a trailer to do bible school with kids in a neighboring community for about 3-4 hours. Saturday morning we would receive the Bible verse for that week from our host and we started creating lesson plans with memorization games and activities like soccer and much more. Then after lunch, we would hop in the trailer and go. Once we got to the soccer field, where we did ministry, we would hit the ground running. Every week I would go to the group that needed help, I was a floater going where I was needed. Our numbers would vary week to week so I was there to help. We would start the program off with worship and do two to three songs then prayer to open. Our hosts Tony and Rosita would greet the kids in Spanish and split the groups up. Rosita would take the moms to a house nearby with two of my squadmates to do women’s ministry. Tony would stay with us to help translate. We had two to three groups depending on numbers. The group’s ages ranged from 4 to 8-year-olds in the littles group and 9-16 in the big kid group. We also had some of the kids learning guitar as well. We would split and start with the memorization verse with activities. We would follow the lesson plans that we made as groups and we knew we were almost done when one of the ladies would come to the field and plug in the coffee pot. We would end the day with a few soccer games and coffee with snacks. Then we would say goodbye to all the kids and moms, we would clean up the snack and pack up . Then hop back in the trailer and head back to the farm to start cooking dinner.
That’s the Farm for you! To read about our Ministry in Plantanar Read my next Blog!
With Love,
Lydia Strickland
