Hey y’all! 

I want to acknowledge that this blog will mainly highlight love and how God has redeemed it’s meaning for me. However, I do want to share a few updates! First of all I am so extremely thankful to announce that I am fully funded! I want to thank each and every single person who has supported me throughout my fundraising journey. I have also recently completed my training camp in Gainesville, Georgia! Also, last month I spent two weeks in New Orleans, Louisiana to serve with Samaritans Purse. There I helped with hurricane relief spending all my time on a roof. It was such an amazing opportunity, I can now say I am confident tarping roves. The domestic outreach was such a great preparation for the ministry field out of the country. With that I want to fast forward to where I am now. My squad and I have safely left the country and are now living in Jacó, Costa Rica, a beautiful tourist surf town where we are partnered with Horizon Church and Oceans Edge! 

It is now month three since I left home. My living conditions have changed, scenery has changed, and I have changed. The Lord has been so evidently present and has radically redeemed the term “love.”. The book, 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 has been such a guiding passage for me in this time of transition. Verse 13 states, “so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The greatest of these is love. Wow. What power the term love holds. Between living in a community with 40 something people and daily ministry, I have had so many opportunities to practice and live out loving like Jesus.  

When living with so many individuals, there are bound to be harder times than others. When I started the race I dwelled on how challenging it was living with them and, with that it became even harder to love them well. The Lord eventually reminded me that I do not have to show them love, I get to. Each and every one of them deserves it just as much as I do. Three months ago, I was dealing with a lot of hurt in the love area of my life due to some past trials that I was still healing from. But God helped me to quickly recognize the power of love and the even more powerful impact it leaves. Gods love for me is enough and He will never remind me of the things of my past, therefore Satan had been whispering lies to me allowing me to misinterpret the true love of Jesus. 

Love is a very outwardly noticeable character trait of Jesus, and stepping into a life of ministry, I have seen exactly what it looks like for my squad mates to execute love. And I have seen how the love of Jesus impacts any passing person on the street.

Since arriving here in Costa Rica my squad has been assigned two main areas of ministry. One being working with people who do not have homes, and two, going out onto the streets touching up, cleaning, and even creating the artwork painted on the light posts throughout Jacó. I personally have been assigned a ‘mural artist’ along with two other girls, where we are in charge of designing new ideas to be drawn onto light posts, hand washing stations, and soon, the local skate park. I have received so much love from the locals and even the tourists! Jesus has allowed me to step into the love he willingly invited me into so that I can love those I interact with just as he would. People might not remember what you said but they will always remember how you made them feel. Love others as Jesus loves you. 

Ministry might not always be the most exciting thing, but my hunger to love others because Jesus loves me is exactly the motivation I need to get up in the morning and love my community. A friend recently reminded me that we have tasted a single drop of the vast ocean of God’s love for us. I am so thankful that I can provide a way for others to also be able to taste and see exactly what that feels like for themselves. 

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:7

Until next time!

-Ev