Hi friends!

My team and I have been living in Costa Rica doing ministry in Los Chiles for almost a week now and it’s absolutely incredible. The Lord has been so gracious to us and given us such a sweet community with each other and with the team Kingdom Kids who is living here with us. Our hosts are so precious and the way they talk about God is so sweet. I’ve never experienced anything like this place so it’s challenging to put it into words, so I’ll just tell you a little story.

Yesterday morning, as I was sitting with the Lord, I read from Mark 1:40-45 about Jesus healing the leper by touching him. It stood out that Jesus touched him because leper's are unclean and this man had not had human contact for as long as he had had leprosy. The bible doesn’t say how long that was but if I go a full 24 hours without a hug or a pat on the back I’m not myself so I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for him. It’s so sweet that a touch is how Jesus chose to heal him.

As I marveled at the magnitude of this action the Lord whispered to me “You will give the same kind of touch today”. Hugs are my favorite so this wasn’t a scary thing, only exciting.

In the afternoon we went to lead games and songs for a Sunday School type gathering of some kids in the community. The language barrier was a challenge but God still enabled us to communicate well enough and laugh and play with the kids. After being there for nearly an hour and a half with no reason to hug anyone I began to think I may have misunderstood the Lord’s voice.

While playing hopscotch, in all the silly ways kids do, this one little boy (8ish years old) stopped in his tracks and turned with outstretched arms, he asked me something, and not understanding I could only nod. He then gave me the biggest hug, as he did I heard the Father say “well done” and I felt the overwhelming feeling of love and peace that comes from walking in His will. I don’t know why this was so important, I only know that it was.

Well, that’s my story for today. Until next time, adios!