Over the past 11 days, the Costa Rica 2018-19 team has grown in more ways than I could ever begin to explain. We’ve made countless memories over the past week… we’ve laughed together, played games, explored airports, learned new songs in Spanish, lead groups with hundreds of kids, prayed together and so much more. I wish that words could explain the love and joy that was shared during our time in Costa Rica, but there are no words that give it justice. God showed up in big ways and taught each member of our team valuable lessons that we will never forget. From what I have seen…our team usually goes into this trip expecting to bless so many kids and change their lives, but the truth is…they end up blessing us and changing our lives more than we could ever imagine. 

Yesterday was a very long yet good day for our team. We were in a bus since 10:30 the night before and then got to the airport around 4:30 am yesterday morning in San Jose just to get on a flight to Dallas. We were in Dallas for 7 hours and just got home into Fresno at 8:30pm last night! Our team is tired and a little worn out from a long week of working and serving, but our hearts are full of joy knowing how many seeds were planted in the lives of so many people during our time in Costa Rica. 

I want to personally say thank you so much for praying for our team as we have been on this crazy journey. Thank you to those of you who financially supported us and for those of you who lifted us up in prayer as we headed out into the communities and poured out our love to the beautiful people of Costa Rica. 

-Kaitlin Riffel