Rescued by Christ

Sunday

We went to church and two of the intern staff had a chance to be in the praise band during church.

Allison and Kyle did an amazing job and I may be bias here but this weeks worship was the best so far!

Worship Band with Gringos (Kyle and Allison) Sunday Morning 

In the afternoon we went to San Jose with the Fuse team. We got to do a prayer walk around the Hotel Del Rey. The Hotel Del Rey is the biggest brothel in this hemisphere. Prostitution is not illegal in Costa Rica, and so one day many years ago some Gringo (who, by the way, has a wife and a daughter) decided that it would be a good idea to open up a hotel/casino/bar in the middle of San Jose where women could be hired to show off and sell their bodies to middle aged men for the U.S. As far as prostitution goes, the Del Rey is the best of the best for the women in the business. When the girls work at the Del Rey, they get the title of "prostitute" placed on their ID's. That title enables them to receive free monthly health checkups. And the Del Rey requires that checkup to remain current in order for them to continue to work. In addition to that, we've come to find out that girls make about $100 an hour before tip. That's around $125,000 a year in a country where the average annual income is roughly $20,000. It's good money. But at what price? The Del Rey almost explicitly caters to older white men who want a nice place to stay with a little extra thrown in. Married men come down and play it off as a business trip. Retired men come to live it up in a place where the beer is cheap and the girls are throwing themselves at the men. The girls basically do all the work. All a guy has to do is sit down at the bar or the slots and within a minute he'll have at least one girl approach him. So what do we do? We need to pray. Every team we take into San Jose prayers for or prayer walks around the hotel. We pray that it goes out of business or the owner has a change of heart or some kind of code gets violated. Something! Anything! We pray that it gets shut down in some capacity. Not only because what happens there is inherently evil, but also because when people make an argument for keeping prostitution legal in Costa, they point to the Del Rey. It's clean, its safe, its good for the economy. But what they don't see in the argument for prostitution is what ensues in the surrounding areas. What happens in the Cafetal is a direct cause of prostitution being a viable option for a girl's future.
 I was able to go inside the Del Rey with some of our staff members and we sat down and just observed and prayed for the people in there. I could just feel the darkness in the room. It was an experience like none other before. After the Del Rey we ended the night by eating pizza with the team in San Jose.

Monday

We started off with orientation, then a prayer walk. The new team is from Pennsylvania and they are from a group called, "Light of Life". On the prayer walk we went to the catholic church, the park, the municipalidad, and the police station. The amazing and interesting thing about this group is that they operate as part of a rescue missions, so a few of the team members used to be homeless at some point in their lives. It was cool to see how some of the places here in Costa really impacted those team members.

After lunch we went to the community of Lagunilla, where we started doing kids ministry there and ended the afternoon there playing with the kids as well. The group got to experience their first Pali run and got to exchange their dollars for colones, that is always an interesting trip! 

Tuesday

We went into Verbena in the morning and loved on the kids there. We got to do the normal stuff there and it was amazing. It was the first time this group had got to see Verbena. I always like to take a step back once we get in Verbena to see how the team reacts. It is one of the most dangerous and poverty stricken places we go here and its amazing to see the teams hearts melt before our eyes while playing with the kids in Verbena. I personally have fallen in love with the community of Verbena and the kids that are there. 

In the afternoon we got the opportunity to clean up the Cafetal. They did such a great job of cleaning and it was a great experience. There were so many people coming up to us and thanking us for what we were doing. I think one of the greatest things we do other than our feeding centers is cleaning up the Cafetal because it shows Christ's love in a whole different way then normal Christianity. Also, it is just plain gross and its dirty work but the world of the Lord is going to be dirty work and be hard!

Inside Cafetal - Tuesday 

Inside Cafetal where someone lives - Tuesday 

Wednesday

In the morning we went to Verbena to play with the kids. We also split up the team to do medical rounds in Verbena as well. Kelly, our nurse on staff, was there to help the kids and to give them the care they need. I was back with the team that was playing with the kids and had an amazing Tico vs. Gringo game, which we lost 100-1 it seemed. At around 11 in the morning 5 of the team members got to go back to the church for the homeless feeding center where Pastor Harvey got to give his testimony. His testimony is unique for the audience because he himself was at one time homeless. I really wish I was able to be there to hear it but I hear nothing but great things about it.

In the afternoon we went to San Jose with the team but Allison, Virginia, Brandon and I went out on an adventure we will not soon forget. We were suppose to go to a store to buy crosses and soccer jerseys for the 6:8 store and found ourselves completely lost. In Costa Rica, the street signs are not very good and we just had no clue where we were going. At one point we had realize we were not in the right area of town, we believe we were in the "RED" zone, which if you know anything about that kind of name, you will know it is not a good place for gringos, or ticos for that matter to go. All in all we were saved by Dan V, which took us right where we needed to go.

Thursday
In the morning we went and played with the kids in Tiribi until the mobile feeding center there that started at 11. Most of the members of the team got their faces painted by the kids and it was a sight to see!
In the afternoon, we all went to the park and started playing with the kids there. Some of the adults started to talk with the homeless men and women and were praying for them. Myself and some team members played basketball and of course soccer with the Ticos.
I ended the night by getting the opportunity to play djembe for worship with our band called ABC Trinity. I always enjoy playing for worship, might become something I try to continue with after Costa for sure! It was some good bonding experience, I will really miss everyone that I got to work with here in Costa.

Friday
It was the teams free day and they went to the Waterfall in Lapaz. Meanwhile, the staff and myself helped out with the homeless feeding center at the church and then Kyle, Alix, Charles and myself all went to Escazu for the day. It was where I drank my first Mt. Dew in over 6 weeks, it was worth the 1.50 I spent on just a can of it!

Saturday
In the morning we all went to Verbena. We had a group that played with the kids in Verbena and then another group headed up by one of our nurses Dena doing medical rounds in the morning as well. We all met up again at 11 do to the mobile feeding we have in Verbena. Not only did we get to give our food but also we got to give out sandals to all the kids that needed them. That process was a bit crazy!
At lunch I managed to sneak away to get a Tico haircut next to the park. It was an experience, as I had Alix translate for me what I wanted as far as a haircut. She is very nice because she totally could have got me back and told the guy to do something crazy, so thanks for being nice Alix!!

Alix and I in San Martin with my Tico Haircut

In the afternoon, we to San Martin and played with the kids. I had an amazing time playing 4 square and soccer with some of the Tico kids. Before dinner I trailed off without the team and got the 6:8 Store some Costa Rican Jerseys, I got them for a good price!

Until Next Time,

Cody Perman