Day Three!

It´s dark out and there is a slight breeze coming from the open gates. Andrew is picking away at the guitar, there are candles lit around the room and hallways and half our group is in the kitchen cooking dinner for themselves. For me, this is a time of reflection, however surface or deep it may be.

We started off the morning with a Bible study time at the Crusade house with Carlos and Tatiana. We read from Romans 10 which is a passage about sharing faith. I think it directly correlated with what we are doing here in San Jose, Costa Rica. One verse said that the feet that bring the gospel are beautiful. However t went on to say that some will not listen.

Holly and I found this to be true during our sharing times today. Yesterday I was encouraged by conversations with Tiqos that understood what it means to have a personal relationship with God. Today it felt like the Tiqos God brought us to understood the idea of God, but not in a personal way. On the surface, I feel like not much was accomplished. However I know in my heart that God was at work and He will continue to be at work.

At the end of our sharing time today I talked with Donald for a few minutes. Hé´s from Costa Rica but has spent the last five years in Mexico working. He´s been back in this country for about three weeks. I found out that Carlos had brought him to Christ in 1999. He asked me what I liked about talking to the Tiqo´s. I replied, telling him I appreciate the openness they seem to have for deeper questions and their willingness to put up with my terrible Spanish. He said this is very different from how things were five years ago. Hmmm Is God at work on this campus? I then asked him if he had spent much time in the states. He said he had, and that it was very different. Apparantly, no one would help him when he needed directions and stuff like that. In those moments, I felt ashamed of the American culture I have grown up with. Here I am in a foreign country surrounded by people that sometimes go out of their way to help me out. But when the tables are turned, how often do I turn away from someone who needs help, foreigner or not? I sensed disappointment from Donald and I feel like his view of the American culture apart from who he knows through Crusade has been stained.