By Olivia Jones
Costa Rica 2022 with the Ride Nature team was a monumental point in my life. Prior to this trip I had never been out of the country, so as you can imagine it was quite a culture shock. It took the first couple of days to adjust to this foreign but beautiful country. I didn’t know what to expect going into this trip, I just knew that I had been walking through a pretty rough season up to this point and was praying for the Lord’s strength and peace as I was preparing to leave on this eight day trip. Little did I know that the Lord would do incredible things in the days to come.
We arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica on March 6th and started out on our first two days with the team at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base. While we were there, we spent our time at a local skatepark hanging out with skaters, hosting a skate competition, serving food, and sharing the gospel. I had always seen pictures of the Ride Nature team doing this type of ministry in other countries and hoped to experience it for myself. Finally, I was able to witness their ministry on a global scale and my eyes were opened to just how universal the skate world actually is. Obviously, there is a major culture difference between the States and Costa Rica even down to just the language but when we showed up to the skatepark using the same skate lingo, there was almost an immediate understanding that happened between us and the locals. Through that initial conversation about skateboarding our team was able to dive into gospel-centered conversations. I’ve witnessed Ride Nature use action sports as a tool to share the gospel in the States but to see the same effect take place in another culture with a different language was incredible. In fact, the last night of our trip we were able to witness one of the older local skaters named José surrender his life to Christ. It was truly a testament that God can use anyone and anything for His glory!
For the duration of our trip we stayed in Tamarindo, which is about an hour away from Liberia. While we were there we helped at a local feeding center that was established by Casa Vida Church. The feeding center was located in the impoverished area of Tamarindo and would use donations to feed the local children Monday thru Friday. The center itself was not in the best working conditions, there was a lot of extra sheet metal laying around the yard and the space itself didn’t function well as a feeding center. We were able to create a safe space for kids to play and cleared out one side of the center to build an awning over the ground for them to eventually plant food for the feeding center. While fixing up the center we were able to play with the kids and share the love of Jesus with them. It was such a sweet time to see how the Lord was working so clearly right in front of our eyes.
Through this trip I was given rest and an awareness of a slower pace of life. For instance, it’s a pretty normal thing for people to be late to work if they are in the middle of an important or deep conversation with someone else. In this culture they don’t set aside a time slot for conversation and being with people, they are focused on being in community and engaging with one another regularly. It was honestly refreshing that you could talk to someone and not be pressed for time. I was also noticing on this trip that when I felt my comfort being stripped from me that all I truly had to lean on was the Lord to satisfy and sustain my needs. This was a huge eye opener for the rough season I had been in. Even in the middle of darkness and having my comfort stripped from me, even when I couldn’t feel His nearness, that I could still rely on who my God is.
“Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”
God is all I need and He is my everything but it just took a long and really tough season to truly understand what that meant. The day after we got back to States I read this verse and something just clicked in my mind and I felt the peace of the Lord. This hard season may be coming to a close and there are a lot of things I could’ve mentioned about how terrible it was but because of this season I’ve been able to see the Lord do only things he could do and I’ve been able to learn more about his nature, his faithfulness, and his glory. I would love to leave off with a piece of encouragement that the Lord is near even in the darkest days when you wonder how long will it last or will it ever be over? Even though we aren’t promised that hardship will be over on this side of heaven that one day it will be over. Until that day, lets be faithful servants to share the good news to the ends of the earth.
