If given the opportunity to experience one of the things off of my bucket list, I would choose to travel to a different country for a missions trip. I’ve always wanted to go on a missions trip and help others. I’ve always heard good things about them and it’s always intrigued me. Also, I’ve never traveled to another country before so I would really like to do that and find out what that is like.
The particular missions trip I am traveling to will be in Costa Rica. When I think of Costa Rica I picture a vacation spot. In fact, when I’m booking plane tickets for the trip, all the pictures I see just look like a tropical getaway. However, I know there is much more to Costa Rica than just a vacation area, it’s a troubled country in some spots. That’s why I will be traveling with my church to Costa Rica to help out those in need.
The worst part of the trip is the actual traveling part of it. Since Sioux Falls doesn’t have flights that go many places, I have to take multiple flights to get to Costa Rica. The flights wear me out since they are so long. But my anticipation of being in a new country keeps me going. So after about a day of nothing but traveling, I finally arrive in Costa Rica.
It is much more humid than I’m used to and everything feels so warm. I don’t mind it that much, it will just take some getting used to for me. I was told to bring appropriate but light clothing to wear on the trip. Everything looked like how it did on the websites, beautiful and tropical. I knew I was seeing the side made for tourists to see though.
After my church and I got settled in at the place that we were staying, we grabbed some granola bars to give us energy and decided to get right to work. We traveled in old school bus to get to the orphanage we were first going to. We put on a small show for the kids and ministered to them. After we prayed for all the children, we decided to have some fun and play with the kids. We brought new toys for them to play with and some basketballs and soccer balls. We played some games with them and said our goodbyes.
The next place we traveled to was a small type of village. We just set up our show and invited locals to come watch. We did the same show we put on for the kids and did a version of it for the adults to. My church ministered to those who decided to come and watch and prayed for them as well. We had boxes of clothes for people to pick up if they needed them and some more toys for the kids. There were a lot of people who looked like they need food, so we gave out protein bars and other things to help fill them up. We also played with the kids and prayed with the adults.
After getting to help others all day my church surprised us with bringing us to an area that is similar to a beach. At this place my church requested a spot for us to swim with dolphins! Not only did we swim with dolphins, but we were able to swim with sting rays and see other sea creatures. Also while there, I learned how to surf for my first time. I had an amazing day helping others and experiencing new things.
After getting to swim with dolphins and learning to surf, my day was about up. My church loaded onto the bus and headed to the location where we were staying. We all had a big dinner and said our goodnights to everyone. The couple of days I was in Costa Rica was busy and life-changing. Over the short amount of time I was in Costa Rica I experience many once in a lifetime things that I will never forget.