Fourth Trip to Pavas... Feeling the !mpact

Another year has passed and once again I find myself home exactly one month after our October !mpact trip to Costa Rica.  If you've been reading the past few blogs about our trips, you may wonder what's with the word !mpact (spelled with an ! instead of I)?  Why not just say 'missions'?  Well, the concept is quite simple. We leave our homes to make an impact in the world; however, what ends up happening is that God makes an impact on us.  The exclamation point just accentuates how it feels inside, thus !MPACT.  But how is it possible that both happen at the same time? Glad you asked. Here are a few stories from the Women's !mpact Trip 2017.

Last year was the first time our women's team attended church at the Hope Center in Pavas. The service attendance was small but the people were warm and welcoming. This year we were invited not only to attend, but also to share a message and help with the children. Arriving in Pavas was like coming home. It was familiar, yet the changes are immense. For starters, the walls in front of the Hope Center have been raised higher, smoothed over, and repainted.

Smooth high walls

The courtyard now contains a concrete floor along with a playground and water station for drinking and hand washing.

New playground

The floor in the comedor (dining area) now has clean white tiles and the walls have been given a fresh coat of paint. The food preparation area has gone from a run-down home-style kitchen to an industrial professional kitchen meeting today's sanitary standards.

Women working in their new kitchen

All the classrooms have received improvements, especially the one dedicated to computers that are now up and running. The physical changes were made possible through financial donations by people who wanted to make an impact, but it was us who were impacted as we walked down the halls marveling at what was once just a vision that has now come to life. There is still more work to be done; however, the changes over the past year are just amazing.

New art in courtyard

This year the congregation has grown larger and was supported by a full youth band to lead everyone in worship. One of our team leaders shared God's word (in Spanish) while several of us helped with the children's message and activities. This moment was one of the highlights of the trip simply because it was almost inconceivable to imagine just a few years ago.

Youth band bonding with us over music

Our service project work for the week consisted of painting the inside of the outside wall of the Hope Center. It was primed and ready for us so after a light sanding, we got to work. This project was especially amusing to me because I had been on the family team trip that had painted this exact wall a few years before. As my brush made long strokes on the wall it gave me time to ponder the significance of working on the same project. It was the same wall, but it was different. This time it was taller and much smoother. It was easier to paint and looked better when finished.

Familiar walls

I thought about how some things in life are opportunities to grow and learn. But once you think you've mastered something, God shows you where you can still improve and there you are growing and learning again but not with the same results... instead the results are new and improved and the lessons are sometimes quicker to learn. Proverbs is full of advice encouraging us to never stop receiving instruction. The walls were making an impact on me.

The afternoons are often our favorite times because this is when we have an opportunity to show God's love to the women in the community. We invited them to a worship time, a message, and a craft. As you may recall, we have done arts and crafts with these women for the past two years, but this was the first time we had a worship time and a message from the Bible. One of our native Spanish speakers on the team delivered the message while several other women helped with the children.

Speaking on 2 Kings 4:1-7

I had felt lead to intercede in prayer for each of the women and did my best to ask God for his blessing on their time here, their lives, for their community, and ultimately for their salvation. By the end of each day, we noticed that some of the women were asking us to write down particular verses or request prayer. A few of them tried out some newly acquired English words (I remember "coffee" and "sugar" were particular favorites) and several of them lingered behind to talk or give us hugs.

Lydia, also known as "Coffee, coffee, coffee"

One women I will always remember is an older lady whose son was shot and killed in drug/gang violence just shortly before we came. The depth of sorrow in her eyes I will never forget. She received extra hugs from us and we can only hope that she felt the impact of God's love in some way over the time we spent with her.

The woman is in white. We couldn't hug her enough.

A significant moment I had was with a woman we had prayed for the year prior. A few of us gathered in a room with her to find out how she was doing. She broke down and told us that things with her adult son are still very difficult. It just so happened that we had someone on our team trained in addiction counseling who joined us. I sat and listened as the words were translated back and forth from Spanish to English, but this woman's concern for her son transcended all language barriers and she spoke directly to our hearts - mom to mom. She had been praying for her son but felt defeated and hopeless because she couldn't fix his problem. The details are private, but what I can tell you is that information was shared to help her understand the problem from a physical health perspective and also from a spiritual perspective. She prayed that day with power and authority. We were amazed with her transformation right in front of our eyes. Our time with her made such a huge impact on me and I hope we made an impact on her as well.

Another impact story was with a girl who has become an adopted daughter to all of us moms. She's a real sweetheart and it's easy to fall in love with her. We had such a nice time together. She is helpful, kind, curious, and affectionate. She was also patient with us gringos and our attempts at Spanish. On the final day at the Hope Center she trusted one of us with some information about her life. It was something unknown to the staff and most definitely a burden she had been carrying alone. It happened at the last possible moment literally as we were about to board the bus. With our time having run out, we left not being able to give her the love, assistance, and encouragement she would need. It was heartbreaking, yet God was already busy at work. Later that evening we found out that there was someone at the Hope Center with the resources to come along side and be a support system for her. God is so good.

The final impact story I will share is with a woman who cleans at the Hope Center. Her name is Teresa but we call her Terre. I met Terre on my first trip. She was shy, quiet, and withdrawn. I hardly ever saw her smile. It's taken a few years, but Terre has finally warmed up to us. As a matter of fact, on the last day Terre was wearing a hot pink shirt and skirt with bright pink newly decorated flip-flops courtesy of Old Navy and a big smile.

Terre

But her life is not easy. Her husband has passed away, her adult son has mental challenges, and she is raising a beautiful teenage daughter alone in a very rough area. Her current home is very small and when it rains, the water runs right through her living room. Thanks to the generosity of some people, enough money was raised to purchase a new home for her directly behind her current location. Our group was invited to see the new space that will become her home. As the bus pulled carefully through the narrow streets and stopped in front of her home we got our first look at the conditions. The doors opened and we piled into a small metal box similar in size to a railroad car.

Terre's front door

You could see the light coming in through the corners of the roof where it meets the walls. The ground consisted of dirt except for a large pile of gravel standing in the corner of the room. In the center was a twin size bed sitting on wood planks. The bed was immaculately made with a blanket and a stuffed gorilla on top.

Daughter's bedroom

It only took a second to realize that this is where her daughter sleeps at night. Looking around I could see no electricity, bathroom, kitchen, or even a chair... just this one bed and a spot to hang her laundry. Her mother and brother are currently still living behind in the original house. As Ashley (the director of the Hope Center) went on to explain all the plans they have for improving the house, it was hard to imagine what it would be like to live here. She said they work on the house when they get donations. "How much will it take to finish the house?" Ashley was asked. "5,000 dollars," she said. That's not spare change, but considering how much we pay for even the smallest of homes here, $5,000 is not that much. It's hard for something like that to not make an impact on us. And can you imagine how much of an impact that home is going to make on her life?

Terre's son, daughter, a friend, and Terre (LtoR)

These are just a few of the stories we experienced on this trip. There were eleven other women with many more stories of people whose lives they impacted as well as the moments that impacted them.

God is always at work. You don't have to leave the country to make an impact, but sometimes by branching outside of your comfort zone you end up finding something that really puts the exclamation point on it. I hope some of these stories might encourage you to think about the !mpact you can make in the world today.