Packing Party

Tonight, we leave for Costa Rica.  I’m so ready.  It almost doesn’t seem real.

We had our packing party and last meeting last night. I walked into the room and saw open suitcases and containers of bubbles and popsicle sticks for crafts, and everyone around me working so hard to do the final things for this trip.  While we were working, the Dominican Republic team was preparing for their trip.  They left today, and I’m praying for each of those team members.  We’ll be ministering in different countries at the same time, and that’s amazing to me. 

We made our family creed last week – a sort of list of all the things we want to be as a team.  We said we would be respectful, accepting and loyal to each other as a team.  We said that we would serve wholeheartedly.  We said we would be prayerful.  We said that we wouldn’t complain!  We said that we would be flexible when plans change.  We said that we would be sensitive to the Costa Rican culture.  We said that we would have fun! We said that we would recognize that IT IS NOT ABOUT US.  This week, it was all written out.  In small groups, we went out to pray together and sign that creed.  We all realize that we need God’s perfect peace to bind us together, so that nothing can keep us apart.  The Bible says that our God is Jehovah Shalom – God our peace.  He IS our peace.  Pray for that binding peace all around our team so that we can give, give, give.  

I can’t adequately put into words what we’re all feeling, or what’s going on in everyone’s heads today.  I know that many of us are worried about one thing or another, like a work situation or a family situation.  Some of us are having physical problems.  At the end of our meeting, we had a time of prayer.  We went to God about the fears we had for this time in Costa Rica – safety, unity, and the doubts we maybe feel about our ability to actually make a difference.  We prayed over the sprained ankles and the heel spurs and the back pain and the knee pain and family we may be leaving here.  I believe that God is going to heal our team’s pains because He is that kind of God.  We prayed for the people of Costa Rica.  They’ve been abused, taken advantage of, hurt, and forgotten by the people around them.  But not by God.  Pray that they would be opened up to the love we just want to cover them with, and that they would know that they can have that love for themselves.  Pray for them and for us too.

One of the things I want for this trip comes out of a song called “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United.  Here it is:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

It encourages me to trust God, who knows every detail of this trip, and to simply follow His lead. 

So let’s get going here, my CRamily!  

(written by Kayla Petersen)