Spring breakers minister to Ticos in Costa Rica

Photo by Bethany Desplaines

Elementary school students in Cachi, Costa Rica hear the Gospel from high school and college students during a day of outreach. Members of the outreach team presented a drama called Frozen in Time that showed how many people live their lives moving in circles around Christ, never entering a personal relationship with Him. The team also distributed bracelets with the message of salvation.

Photo by Bethany Desplaines

STUART (FBW)—Twenty-one high school and college students from Treasure Coast area churches spent their Spring Break in Cachí, Costa Rica March 21- April 6 to continue an expansion project for a local church and to reach the community with the Gospel.

The team worked four days laying the concrete foundation for a new building for Spirit of Life church, a 150-member congregation established seven years ago in the coffee plantation town of Cachí.

Last year’s mission team put the structural framework in place.

“What we accomplished last year and this year was the equivalent of a 10-year project on their books,” said Joe Miller, youth pastor of Tropical Farms Baptist Church in Stuart. “There isn’t enough money for them to buy the materials; plus, the manpower just isn’t available.”

Visible signs of the team’s presence were readily apparent in the town of 5,000 people, as the visitors spent money in the local economy and lived alongside the residents of Cachí, known as “Ticos.”

Photo by Bethany Desplaines

Justin Doyle plays with an elementary school student during a day of outreach in Cachi, Costa Rica.

“It’s a real witness. The whole town knows we’re here,” said Miller. Each student stayed with a host family from the church, connecting students to families with kids similar in age and personality. “Staying with a Tico family allows the students to experience the culture and food—and develop meaningful relationships in a way they wouldn’t be able to if they had stayed together,” said Curtis Burnam, one of the trip’s coordinators.

While the American students worked hard to communicate with their host families in Spanish, the families worked just as hard to learn English.

Eleventh grader Maranda Spinweber, said she was surprised cultural and language barriers came down so quickly.

“At first, the idea of staying with strangers truly scared me,” she said. “But as soon as I met them, I felt at home. We ate together, laughed together and had an amazing time.”

The people of Cachí are almost exclusively Catholic. Nearby Cartago Province draws hundreds of thousands of Costa Ricans each year who pilgrimage to the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles (Our Lady of the Angels Basilica), which they believe will appease the saints and God.

According to Burnam, this ingrained religious tradition can become a roadblock to accepting the Gospel, as relationships must be cultivated slowly in order to break down stereotypes about Christianity. Partnering with a local church then becomes critical in seeing real decisions for Christ.

Using that approach, the team worked with Spirit of Life to plant seeds in Cachí through outreach activities, according to Miller. One event at a local elementary school allowed the team to present a drama, “Frozen in Time,” to over 300 elementary students. Told through music, the presentation crossed language barriers to communicate that many people live their life just moving in circles until time runs out. It bring homes the message that Christ is waiting for them in those circles.

At the same event, the team distributed bracelets containing the Gospel message. One small boy brought the bracelet home and asked his mother to read it to him, Miller remembered. The boy’s family lived next door to the pastor of Spirit of Life, who had been praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with them.

The trip also impacted the lives of the team members, providing further direction for some students.

“Before this trip I knew I wanted to become a kindergarten or first-grade teacher,” said Rachael Albright, a high school senior. “I feel like God is leading me to become a mission teacher.”

Others found their walks with Christ deepened through challenges they faced on the trip.

“I was confident that Cachí would be a week of just working to glorify God,” said Rachael Mitchell, one of the team’s young adult leaders. “I realized that being on a mission trip didn’t automatically exempt me from normal, everyday sin, weakness and anxiety.”

The team began preparing for the trip in January through a series of training sessions where each learned how to share their personal testimony and the Gospel. They also learned about Costa Rican culture.

Much of the time was spent in prayer, which drew the team together.

Jessica Skinner, a high school junior, was surprised by the team’s cohesiveness.

“With five different churches coming together, no one would have believed that we didn’t know each other before preparing for the trip,” Skinner said. “We’ve all grown so close.”

The team’s leaders said trips like these are important to students because it gives them an opportunity to serve others and raises awareness of a world without Christ.

“They get to see how God can use them to impact others,” Burnam concluded.