Costa Rica Mission Trip - June 2025: Update #2

We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel. Most of us had some mix of eggs, toast, and gallo pinto, along with local coffee and juice. After eating, we loaded up and headed over to the church to get the day going. Once we arrived, we got a full tour of the facilities and heard more about the story of how the church was built. One of the highlights was seeing the gym where they hold Sunday services and a library stocked with books for the church community to check out.

After the tour, we jumped into our first big project—painting the upstairs classrooms. We took it room by room and were able to make some solid progress throughout the morning. The whole team stayed focused, and things moved quickly with everyone pitching in. Around midday, we broke for lunch and sat down with Pastor Esteban’s family. We had rice with chicken and vegetables, plus fresh mangoes and bananas on the side.

During lunch, Esteban brought out his beekeeping setup and showed us the hive and how he harvests honey. It was a unique hands-on moment that gave us a deeper look into his life outside the church. After that, we wrapped up the last of the painting for the day. It only took about an hour more to finish what we had started, and then we packed up and headed back to the hotel to rest up for a bit.

Later in the evening, we met up for a chili dinner and then walked back to the church gym. Some of the church members invited us to join in on a game of floor hockey, which turned out to be a blast. The Mars Hill crew held our own and had a great time connecting with the locals through the game. That wrapped up day two—tired but thankful, and ready for whatever tomorrow brings. —Caleb Pratt