The Harvest Christian Academy mission trip in Costa Rica is already off to an amazing start. We have been enjoying getting to know this great group of Juniors & Seniors as they embark on their first international mission trip. God is already stirring up His Spirit within these young people. After our delicious breakfast, morning devos, and church property tour the group was able to interact in the community and quickly jumped into some soccer practice with Costa Rican high school students at the soccer field in the center of the small town. The locals embraced our students and seemed to really enjoy interacting & playing soccer with them. It was then time for our main adventure of the day - the canopy zipline tour through the rain forest. The students LOVED it!! Once we were harnessed up we hiked up the base of a volcano about half of a mile and began to ride back down on a total of 11 different ziplines. Each zipline is connected to a huge tree. As we approached the tree we used a hand brake to slow down. Once we arrived at the tree we stood on a platform as guides switched us from one zipline to the next (we were constantly attached to a safety line as we transitioned from zipline to zipline). Usually the platforms were 50-75 feet above the ground. It was so much fun! The final zipline was about a third of a mile long. It was incredible! After the ziplines we had lunch and then went to tour the nearby town of Guayabo. We got to observe the day-to-day work life of typical Costa Ricans as well as check out their local stores & very small restaurants. It's always eye opening to see how people in another country live. We then toured the Banyan Resources property to see the fish farm and bunkhouses prior teams have worked on. We talked about the property vision for the 100 acres of land and prayed for the entire property project. We returned back to the church at 6pm in time for the best meal ever - Lela's chalupas!!! They are so delicious!! The HCA students and the local church youth group then hooked up for an impromptu worship jam session in the church. It's so cool to hear the same worship songs that we sing in the US are many of the same songs they sing (but in Spanish). We serve a mighty God who is worshiped all over the world =). We finished up with some quality team time praying for the upcoming days & sharing highlights of the day. It was not just a good day... it was an amazing day!! Praise God =)
PS: More pictures to come tomorrow
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