Costa Rica - Day 2

Day two started much sooner than we would have liked, but we were greeted with an assortment of cereal choices and some amazing homemade rolls that were well worth getting up for! We spent some of our breakfast time trying to figure out the mystery flavor of the glaze topping – we don’t know yet, but we are determined to find out. And maybe get a recipe that we can run through Google Translate! If we get it, we promise to share it, you won’t be disappointed.

We got all fancied up, loaded our bus (just one bus for our entire team – YEA togetherness) and embarked on a beautiful 45 minute drive to church. So many things to share about that . . .

The trip was beautiful. Mountains, rushing streams, pineapple fields, sugar cane (growing like we are accustomed to seeing corn in the midwest), and more flora and fauna than you can imagine.

When we arrived at the United Methodist Church in Santa Marta, there was a feeling of welcome that is hard to explain. Smiles and nods, greetings in a language that almost none of us speak, and a feeling that there was something special going on here. The greetings didn’t come from two assigned greeters at each door, but from every person that we met. The welcome was casual, humble, honest and overwhelming in it’s sincerity.

Our team sat, mixed in and around the local church members, as their worship team began to set the mood for the service.