In and Out of Classrooms

Our fourth full day here in Cachi is drawing to a close, and we have spent each of those mornings in local schools, building relationships with Costa Rican students and looking for opportunities with which to talk to them about Jesus.

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Our ministry was often broken up into two distinct time frames: within class periods, and the breaks before, in-between, and after. Within the classes, our team was broken up into three groups and paired with translators from our church here in Cachi. Class time often began with fun English language games and would conclude with conversations about God. Isabelle in particular has done a fantastic job engaging with her Hispanic peers in class, utilizing her Spanish to really help establish connections (which I am both envious of and deeply impressed by!)

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During breaks our team did a great job of engaging students through playing futbol (soccer), volleyball, and hackysack. It was natural for teams to form along country lines, but Matthew helped blend the teams better so that we were not just competing with each other but actually forming bonds with our new Costa Rican friends.

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Our time on Friday morning was spent just a little differently. We were still spending time in classrooms with the kids (this was at an elementary school) but it was also the final days of classes before summer break in Costa Rica. So we got to add in some elements of celebration as well!  One of the classrooms featured face painting (Afton’s artwork was particularly impressive, going beyond just stencils and even freestyle painting national flags!) and another classroom had a few of our students creating balloon animals.

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Finally, around 11am on Friday, our team got to perform some of their skill groups that they had spent afternoons at Training Camp learning. 2 puppet songs, 2 dance songs, and concluding with a brand new Gospel drama. After this, our Costa Rican friend Daniel shared the salvation message with the school. I also want to shoutout Jentzen, who noticed a woman had been watching the performance through the fence, and through our translator Mariano he explained the drama, and subsequently the Gospel to her. When he asked if she would have any interest in putting her hope in Jesus, she said that she did not. But as we learned at camp last week, Successful Witnessing is taking the initiative to share Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God. Our students have a great first week of doing just that. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how our second week goes!

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