April 2011, Shannon Forest High School seniors left their comfort zones and dived into ministry in La Cuenca, a slum of San Jose, Costa Rica. Here is their conclusion of their trip… no their story. May it not be the end.
Kevin Arnold once said, “A memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose.”
The memory of Costa Rica will forever be something I never want to lose, something that I will always love and it will always be a part of who I am now. As I was boarding the plane to go to Costa Rica I had a profound sense of fear, the fear that hits the pit of your stomach with a thud and makes you reconsider your decisions. The fear was the fear of the unknown; I was stepping out of my comfort zone, entering a world filled with poverty, an alternate language and different people. I had already made conclusions about this mission trip before I had even landed. I was sure I wouldn’t be clean, get enough to eat or communicate with anyone. It wasn’t until I stepped onto the bridge entering the slum of la Cuenca that I realized my life was going to change forever.
