In August of 2014 I traveled to Alajuela, Costa Rica, with a missions team from my church. Our teams purpose was to aid the Rice and Beans Ministry. The director of RABMin, Fred Curry, warned us that not everyone that we would encounter would accept us with open arms. Fred knew that some locals would embrace us and dote on their American visitors, on the other hand, he knew people that would not.
He conveniently failed to mention that some days we might return to base camp with our tail tucked between our legs and our feelings hurt. Those are the days that count. Those are the days that made us question why we packed around two hundred food bags a day to deliver to people who might not welcome us. The worst area we reached out to was called…
La Herradura is a U shaped staircase with houses littered every couple of steps. These homes were single rooms with maybe one mattress and a stove or microwave. This was a massive change from the suburban neighborhood I grew up in. We broke up into smaller groups and went door-to-door asking the people to please accept our food bags and allow us to pray with them. We had been warned about the different ways people would react to us, but it had in no way prepared me for what happened. A docile looking elderly man who,…
We were offering free food to people who needed it, nevertheless there are people who think that our differences do have to divide us. Everyone on Earth is more alike than we presume. We each think we are right in our choices and beliefs. In order for the world to co-exist we must embrace and respect our similarities and differences alike. One of my favorite authors, C. JoyBell C., once said, “We are all equal in the fact that we are all different. We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. We are united by the reality that all colours and all cultures are distinct &…