Our last local outreach!
Posted by Amanda , Monday, March 29, 2010 2:14 PM
Friday was our last local outreach for our school and there were sad faces all around. We went to Metro Ministries and hung out with the same kids from last week. We started off playing “Duck, Duck, Goose” with the kids again and then started another game of “Red light, Green light.” I just love the excitement of the kids. They were thrilled with whatever game we were playing and got so into it. The little girls were always grabbing my arm and rattling off in Spanish (so of course, I just smiled and nodded and giggled). For our program, we were able to share several testimonies and play some fun games with them. Scott, the leader of Metro Ministries, told them it was our last week there and we wouldn’t be coming back. After that, many of the kids were just sitting with us crying. I feel like it’s one of the hardest parts of only doing short-term ministry. You get very attached to the kids and they get attached to you. Then, three months later you’re leaving and you find yourself not wanting to. It’s especially hard when it’s such amazing, beautiful kids full of life and joy. It’s like, in those two hours of ministry time, you forget everything else in the world exists except you and those kids. You just give them love and pour yourselves into them. It’s hard to leave them. But, the excitement is knowing that I get to spend so many more months living in Jaco and spending everyday with the kids there. I will get to know them so much more intensely and I know they will steal my heart just as much as the other kids I have worked with.
On Saturday night, a few of us went to Jaco again. Since our speaker this past week was teaching about human trafficking, we went with her to observe the nightlife. We headed downtown around midnight and were shocked by how busy it was. There was an amazing amount of people on the streets and about twice as many prostitutes. Ro told us that she started counting the prostitutes, but had to stop once she hit 50 because there were just too many to count. And that was only including the women that were on the street, in plain sight. As we were walking down the street, we passed an old man—probably in his 70’s—with a young prostitute who couldn’t be more than 18 or 19 years old. They were laughing and talking. It was such an odd sight. The amount of men that were on the streets was unbelievable. There were old men, young men, men from all over the world, locals…any kind of man you could imagine basically. I have a feeling I will have a hard time liking men while I am living there. Anyways, it looks like outreach will be a challenge, but I know I will learn a lot. I’m truly excited for what is going to happen in Jaco. It will definitely be an adventure!
