My team arrived in the touristy Jaco, Costa Rica last week and have since been adjusting to the new culture here as well as our new ministry opportunity with an organization called Oceans Edge. Although it all feels very different from our last mission site in rural Granada, Nicaragua, I am so excited and expectant to see God work in and through my team!
In February of 2003 the founders of Oceans Edge bought the property with a vision to sow true life into a community that is very deep in the trenches of spiritual warfare. Outside of all the tourism, flashy lights and busy street life, lies a heavy blanket of prostitution, human trafficking and alcohol/drug abuse. From the minute my team arrived here in the city, there was an apparent shift in the spiritual atmosphere, and has been something that we have been praying over and would love if you could also be joining us in prayer over Jaco and for our team.
One of the first things I learned about Oceans Edge was their mission statement to “Live the abundant life through a mission lifestyle”. This means that no matter where you are—whether on a mission trip a thousand miles from home, at your workplace, your doctors, or serving at your local church—we, as believers, are ALL called to live a life under God’s mission. And this call is to be the hands and feet of Christ no matter where we are or who we are with! I find it so encouraging Christ is NOT limited to our location and the Gospel is not designed for containment.
Oceans Edge recently started a project that will help employ the community by adding a building that will have a coffee shop and boutique. On the top floor of these stores will include a business school used to further equip missionaries called to start businesses, as well as local owners and dream seekers wanting to strengthen their leadership abilities in Christ. One of the first things we did as a team when we got here was bless the property and the site where the new building will stand and were able to contribute to an art project that will be displayed when the building is finished.
Outside of that, our team is currently being blessed with the opportunity to learn and grow in those areas as well! To help jump start Oceans Edges’ business school and test their curriculum, the leaders have designed our daily ministry schedule to include classes Tuesday-Friday morning from 10-12:30pm, with a devotional starting at 9am. We will be learning about a multitude of things involving the practical and spiritual side of the business world, and what that looks like in a Christian-mission lifestyle context. Being a recent Graduate from OSUs Fisher College of Business and having a vision to run my own non-profit organization someday, you could say I was excited!
After those classes, we will have an opportunity to go out every afternoon in the community of Jaco to evangelize and pray over the streets and people here and put what we learned into practice. We will be going into local businesses and creating relationships with owners so that we can help edify and strengthen the community through spiritual and physical networking. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, a lot of places here have shut down or are struggling in other capacities, so part of our role during this month is to seek out legitimate businesses and update the status of those places via an online database too.
As believers, we have a responsibility to each other in the faith to keep each other accountable. Growth often feels uncomfortable. Change is not always easy nor fun. So, whether you are called to start a business or become an artist or be a doctor, my prayer for you is that you find the strength to step out in faith of all that God has called you to. I pray that you look at your life and see a mission-oriented lifestyle looking back at you. YOU are so much more capable than you think, and God has a plan so much bigger than you could ever imagine or work up. So, take that dream and vison that God has placed on your heart and run with it—if He sees you to it, He will guide you through it.
Please be praying for protection over my team as we step into a spiritual battle here in Jaco, Costa Rica and let me know how I can be praying for you!
“I know what it is to be in want, and I know what it is to have more than enough—in everything and in every way I have learned the secret of being full and being hungry, of having abundance and being in need. I can do all things through HIM who gives me power.” Philippians 4:12-13 CJB
“Adonai will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!” Exodus 14:14 CJB
Hello Erin,
I love all that you have shared in this post! It gives me such a clear picture of the ministry you are working with there in Jaco as well as additional ways I can be praying for you and your team. I love your heart and your loving spirit as I have read each of your posts. You have so much wisdom and grace for your young age, I can only imagine the great things God has planned for you! Thank you for your reminder that no matter where we are or what work we do, it should be a mission-lifestyle. I am lifting you in prayer now, Erin, that God will continue His great work in and through you!
Blessings,
Stephanie Gibert (aka. David’s mom)
Life is ministry and ministry is life. Love that you’re getting to live this out. What Oceans Edge is doing sounds incredible!
Praying for you, Erin, that you will walk closer with Jesus as a result of your time in CR, that you will be effective and powerful in everything He gives you to do there, and that you will be INSPIRED for what is to come in your future. I sense a gift for encouragement in your writing, and I believe the Lord is using you to encourage and inspire others, as He inspires you. He is with you, wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Sincerely,
Jillian Rose (Carson’s mom)