Perspective

“I’m realizing just how alike we are. I think I expected that Costa Rican students would be really different from us, but they aren’t.  Our likes and dislikes, our struggles, and hopes are so similar.”

1 Peter 2:5

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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Monday marked a significant shift in our ministry. The two week break from school that the Costa Rican students were on, is over and our ministry has shifted to working in the public schools. It has been a shift in thinking for our students to be invited into public schools and be free to share the gospel. Monday through Thursday we worked in middle and high schools in three communities. It has been an exciting, hard, and varied experience for our students. Their experience has been wildly different from class to class. At our first school in a neighboring community, our students were split into two groups. One group was assigned to work in an English class for seniors. The room was very subdued and getting students to engage was difficult for our team. The students in the class lacked confidence in their English and lacked motivation to engage in the class or with us. Our team persevered. They faithfully shared the gospel and worked to engage the class the best they could. The other group from our team was assigned to a class that was focused on training in practical skills for working in Costa Rica’s tourism industry. Conversational English was an expectation for the class. This class of students could not have been more excited to have a dozen English speakers join their class. The teachers had them break into smaller groups to give our team a tour of the campus and then paired off to have conversations to get to know each other, which were then reported back to the whole class. Our team shared the gospel, played games, and taught worship songs. At one point, the students in the class showed off their skills with an espresso machine making coffees for the team. They had a fantastic time.

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As a teacher myself, it is really fun for me to hear how leading a classroom of students has impacted the perspective of the students on our team. They have expressed frustration at some students unwillingness to engage or that at every pause they lose the class's attention to their smartphones. On the other hand, they have experienced the thrill of a class engaged and ready to participate. I pray this experience matures our students to be better listeners and more engaged students as many reenter classrooms in the fall.

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In quiet times this week we have been reading through the book of Act and spent time teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church. We have learned that each believer is a living stone, part of God’s spiritual temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Our unity, in the midst of diversity, is essential to the work of the Holy Spirit, both in the church and in our ministry. We have not come to bring the gospel to Costa Rica, but to join in the work God’s people were already doing in Costa Rica. It has been our joy to partner with our Costa Rican brothers and sisters in Christ in the unity of the Spirit. So regardless of English or Spanish, Super Bowl or World Cup, bean and rice or burgers - we are citizens together in God’s Kingdom, adopted together into God’s spiritual family.

Ephesians 2:19-22  

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

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Matt Swanson

Costa Rica Trip Leader

July 18 2024

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