Mission Trip Report: Northern Europe
August 25, 2025
Our team of multi-generational ministry veterans of 10 departed on July 19th and returned home on July 25th. We partnered with Praying Pelicans Missions, a trusted partner and supporter of the local church. Naza and Eddy served as our leaders for the week. This was the first international trip for 4 members. For 3 others it was a reunion with Naza and an opportunity to serve in her hometown and meet her family. God brought together a mature, skilled and experienced team focused on telling others about Jesus and how he is working in their lives. The team consistently placed their "yes" on the table, for any opportunity to serve each other, our PPM leaders, the church and the community.
The team served Pastor Oscar and his wife Pastora Maria Cruz, leaders of the Iglesia Menonita Rios de Agua (Mennonite Church on the river) in the town of Sarapiqui in the northeast portion of the country. Sarapiqui is a very biodiverse area known for banana and pineapple production and tourism with many national parks in the area.
The Pastors have a powerful story of overcoming painful events as they seek to be a beacon of hope and transformation in the community they serve. We witnessed first hand how they loved and served the church and the surrounding area each day. Pastor Oscar is highly active in discipleship to the leaders, men and youth in his church. Pastor also serves the nearby town of Nogal, by serving as their interim pastor and discipling the next pastor and his wife. Pastora is extremely active with the women of the church and the community. They have a heart for restoring families and caring for and teaching the children about God's love for them.
Our team was blessed to have 3 scheduled opportunities to speak in separate church services. It was awesome to see how God ordained these opportunities, formed the team and prepared the individuals and their messages long before we recognized them. The team was also surprised to learn moments before our first service Sunday morning we were forming a new choir to perform during services in English and Spanish. After a quick moment of fear, the team embraced the opportunity and quickly was blessed by joining others in the Spirit to worship the Lord. Eddie from PPM led the group on guitar.
The night of our arrival we had the opportunity to speak at the weekly Youth Service. Teammate Kolten, our one student on the team, shared his testimony with the youth. Teammate Don then shared a message before we played some interactive games and hung out before ending the night. Sunday morning we traveled to the nearby town of Nogal, where Pastor Oscar is serving as interim Pastor and is discipling the next pastor for Emmanuel Christian Church. Teammate Mike had a timely message from Romans 12 on how to be an effective disciple. This was also the team's choral debut, it was a beautiful picture of the global church worshiping the one true God. Sunday evening teammate Tim delivered a message from Acts 27 and how Paul handled the storms in his life. The message set a tone for the team and the church to recognize the purpose of those storms and how God uses them for his glory. This helped the team grow closer throughout the week as they shared with each other. It also prepared our hearts as we entered peoples homes and heard of their stories, allowing the team to serve and love them well.
Monday morning we kicked off our service projects with a version of our "Feed the City", we assembled and delivered 16 bags of food to the community. We utilized our teammate Heather's experience who serves as a leader for our FTC efforts to keep us on track. The team was amazed how we were so warmly and freely welcomed into their homes. The greatest blessing was how they openly shared their lives with us, from their fears and struggles to their wisdom and encouragement to us.
Pastor Oscar described his building as about 90% completed but had a couple of projects he wanted completed to ensure they were compliant with local codes and to support their efforts to better serve the community. We had a highly skilled team able to complete any building project. Teammate Jason's leadership and supplying the team with a tool kit was highly valuable in completing all our tasks.
One of the projects to complete a storage area and access to that area required a great amount of welding. We relied heavily on our teammate Elijah, a newly licensed welder. We were all blessed to see how he and Pastor Oscar, a veteran welder, worked and shared in their craft, learning and growing from each other. The team was also able to bless Pastor Oscar by exceeding his expectations on finishing the area above of the stage. Their skill and willingness to give sacrificially for extra materials was a great blessing to him and the church. They will now be able to use that area to project videos and lyrics during service and ministry events.
Our team was blessed to bring the VBS theme "Magnify" from Jersey to Sarapiqui. The Kids Ministry blessed our team with supplies and crafts from our recently completed VBS. Teammate Makayla was a blessing and seasoned "Magnified" pro as she loved and cared for each child she had at home and in Costa Rica. We served 60 kids through VBS with lessons, games, crafts and songs that Magnified God allowing them to see the bigness of God in their lives. Teammate Noah brought the stories to life on the day we took VBS on the road to the local school, and was highly active in game time.
A unique opportunity we had as a team was to lead and host a women's event with over 25 women from the church and nearby community. Pastora Maria Cruz's desire to lead and care for these women was a blessing to us all. The women opened with some icebreakers and shared some funny life lessons they have learned. Our teammate Chrissy then shared a message on God's design and purpose for women. The group then spent some time in fellowship completing a craft and enjoying coffee and a snack. The men along with Pastor Oscar had a time of fellowship with some of the husbands and children as the women enjoyed their afternoon.
Wednesday evening was bittersweet knowing it would be our last gathering with the church and community as we ended the day with a Celebration Service to glorify God and how he moved throughout the week. It was a packed house, filled with the church members and those we invited from the community throughout the week. We began with extended worship to include the final performance of our choir, a powerful moment as we sang a song of blessing over the church. Pastor Oscar spoke on the goodness of God and the many blessings of the week by his grace and mercy. The church and our team had the opportunity to share a testimony, teammates Noah, Jason, Chrissy and Mike joined Pastora Marie Cruz and a church member to express their joy in how God moved in and around their lives this week. Pastor Oscar and Pastora Marie Cruz ensured the team would always be welcomed and have a home in Sarapiqui. We ended the night in fellowship with hearts full of love and eyes with tears of Joy.
Thursday morning began with our team devo and final breakfast with the Pastors and the team that cooked, cleaned and lovingly served us all week. We said our "see you later's" and departed for some recreational activities. We had an awesome opportunity to go to Naza's family farm and meet her family. We spent the morning tubing, and seeing the local culture and traditions through a horse show and activities in the afternoon. We enjoyed amazing food, coffee and snacks. We then traveled back to the San Jose area to avoid a super early morning trip up and down the mountain. We stayed at a local church near the airport that evening which included dinner with another missionary team from Texas. It was a good night of fellowship and rest before traveling home Friday.
The week is summarized by God's grace, love, mercy and provision. It was amazing to see how God intentionally formed this team and led us to exactly those he had prepared us for. We are extremely grateful for a church committed to missions through Pastor Matt's leadership and a staff fully engaged in support of the mission. The team was continually blessed and supported by the congregation through encouragement, prayer and support. We can not begin to thank Mrs. Penny for her leadership and guidance at every step of the way. She is an incredible example of servant leadership and what it means to be sent! I am excited to see how the team grows and is used in new and exciting ways back home through the lessons and experiences God provided this week. I was blessed in seeing God move in their lives as they shared about the storms they have faced and how they could only rely on God through surrendering all to him.
Team Costa Rica 2025
