By Ashley Bloudoff
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| The QUEST team in Costa Rica |
This year has been so incredible. I
don’t even know how to sum it up more than by saying it has truly had a
wonderful impact on my life. Not only has this whole year in Quest been a great
year all together, but the Costa Rica mission trip was definitely a huge
highlight for me. It was so impactful and so amazing to be able to go on this
trip this year and see what God is working on in that area of the world.
While we were down in Costa Rica we met
with three missionaries who live there and were able to guide us through our
week with them. After our first night in San Jose we continued on and spent
time in the jungle with a pastor of a church in an indigenous village. We hiked
3 hours to the church in the jungle where we stayed 3 nights. Now, I absolutely
hate snakes so the hike was quite interesting for me as I stressed about seeing
one on our journey; it was a long hike for me, that’s for sure.
When we arrived at the church we setup
our tents and a makeshift shower out of a tarp and learned what we would be
doing there for our weekend stay. We worked on a water well project to get
water up to the church from the stream as well as making benches for the church
and spending time with the people there. Though it was challenging to
communicate at times, we all had fun acting out what we were trying to say! Our
group quickly learned that no matter what needs to get done or what projects
need to be finished, the only thing that matters to the people there is quality
time with each other. I learned how to really slow down on this trip and take
the time to be with other people in an intentional way. One of our days
included a community soccer game and lunch with the indigenous people. Even
though it was pouring rain, our group still played soccer in the mud and
puddles and as a result, the people from the area saw us and just had to join
in on the game!
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| Ashley enjoying some local produce |
Our group is the only group of
Christians the village people have seen and so to see us having a blast in the
rain and mud made them want to play and spend time with us! It was amazing to
see how interested and grateful they were for us being there. We then had a
church service where some of us from our group shared a little of our faith
story as our guide translated for the people. We sang songs and prayed in ways
churches here in North America don’t. It was so amazing to see these people
thanking the Father, the Son and the Spirit over and over again. This service
had such an impact on how I view worship and praise and community, and I want
to live my life in the way we were all shown by this small group of people who
just live simply and faithfully.
Not only was this group of people
blessed and impacted by our presence, help and willingness but all of us were
also so blessed to have experienced all that we did in this amazing culture. I
know that God planned our entire trip to change so many lives that week; it is
amazing and powerful how he brings people together to do his work. I am so
thankful to have experienced this trip and had the chance to see God in so many
new and amazing ways. Looking back it’s amazing to see how God prepared and
changed our hearts throughout the preparation for and during the trip. We are
so blessed in life and Costa Rica changed my perspective in great ways,
equipping me in many different ways to be a light in God’s Kingdom.
Ashley is wrapping up her year as a QUEST student at Columbia. To learn more about QUEST please visit www.columbiabc.edu/QUEST.
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