Earlier this month, Galilee sent a mission team to Costa Rica. If you can believe it, this is the ninth trip Galilee members have made to our mission partners at the Iglesia Metodista Palabra Viva (the Living Word Methodist Church) in Carillos, north of San Jose. We started going in 2006.

Read: Kant Chiang’s Reflection on Costa Rica

That first year, just four missioners from Galilee flew to Central America, along with ten others from a United Methodist Church in Medina, OH. The orginal Galilean missioners were Carrie Harris, Sarah Calvert, Miles Carlson, and of course our current lay leader Jen Shah, who has gone on all nine trips.

Jen Shah with Galilee missioners on Butterfly Hill, where the group does morning devotions

That first trip, Galilee’s members met Pastor Eddier, who led a small Methodist congregation in Carillos. Pastor Eddier had precious few resources and a shoestring budget, but he had a larger vision for what his church could be—a community center and focal point for God’s work in the region.

Read: Jen Shah’s Love for Costa Rica 

That’s where American missionaries came in. We would support the church and provide labor and materials to help them build. Over the years, Galilee has cooperated with four churches in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in working to realize the Palabra Viva vision.

Click: The Mission in Costa Rica in Pictures, 2006-2023

This year’s trip is the first one to go since 2019. It consisted of Helga Ishikawa (team leader), her husband Ryan McDonnell, Jen Shah (also a team leader), Kant Chiang, Roshni Puterio, Stephen Jermstad, Samantha Moore, Austin Moore, Sam Moore, Alex Bower, Winston Smith, Chris and Reiko Crabtree, and our wonderful online lay leaders Chris Richter and Stephanie Ruiz, who live permanently in Costa Rica.

Also, very specially, the team took along the ashes of one of our own, Michael Butler. Michael died in 2019 at the age of 27. He was the veteran of multiple trips to Costa Rica, a country he very much loved. His ashes accompanied the team to spots familiar to Michael, or Miguel as he was known in the land of “pura vida,” before being entrusted to God’s care at a ceremony on Butterfly Hill, where our missioners conduct their morning devotions.

Read: Helga Ishikawa’s Take on Costa Rica

Time out for dancing

The mission in Costa Rica involves real physical labor. We are concretizing Pastor Eddier’s vision, after all. But more than labor, the mission is about relationships. And also fun. 

Read: Winston Smith’s Thoughts on Costa Rica

The team lived, worshipped, ate, and celebrated with the people they have come to know and love in Carillos. They visited local attractions like a volcano, a rain forest, a coffee plantation, and nearby towns and markets. All over, they saw new expressions of God’s love and creative power. 

Read: Roshni Puterio’s Impressions of Costa Rica

This was Galilee’s ninth mission to Carillos. We thank God that it was successful, restorative, enlivening, and productive. We can’t wait to go back—and some of us don’t have to: Chris and Stephanie have made Costa Rica their home.

Read: Chris Richter and Stephanie Ruiz Are “Galilee South”

We lift up Jesus Christ when we go on mission. Check out the pictures from this latest endeavor to be the hands and feet of Christ on the ground in Costa Rica: