Looking for the Light in Costa Rica
Looking for the Light in Costa Rica
by Kira Aaron
To Be Found Faithful as God’s People.
More than a just a motto in the Sanctuary, this phrase captures Dawson’s heart: one body of believers at Oxmoor Road, part of a global family worshipping the same faithful God. And just as He is faithful, He calls us to reflect that faithfulness of His image to others.
In late May, I joined 57 others from Dawson’s Sanctuary Choir & Orchestra on a mission trip to Costa Rica, where I deeply experienced God’s faithfulness. I have vivid memories of youth choir trips with my home church, First Baptist Dadeville, but this was my first as an adult. Of course, I expected the Lord to work in Costa Rica (that was our purpose in going!), but I didn’t expect to be so personally enriched.
Saturday, our first full day in San José, started with gallo pinto, a traditional rice and bean dish, at breakfast. Then we loaded buses with our incredible guides, Diego and Gustavo, who filled our drives with history and culture. We wound through narrow mountain streets to a small church in a poverty-stricken neighborhood, where we partnered with José and Renata from Metro Ministries for a children’s carnival.
The church was a fenced compound that included a kitchen and an all-purpose building shaped like an aluminum airplane hangar. Our group set up games, crafts, and face painting. José and Renata hoped for 100 children but over 150 of them came! I bonded with Brittany, a 15-year-old local girl who is the same age as my oldest daughter. We traded bracelets and practiced our languages—my rusty Spanish and her English from school.
The children played until the candy ran out, then the kitchen crew served arroz con pollo, a traditional chicken dish, to everyone. While there, we learned that the church feeds its people every time its doors are open. Though the space was simple, the joy was rich. There were full bellies, happy kids, and hearts that were ministered to.
On Sunday morning, we led worship at International Baptist Church (IBC), where 40 nationalities gather. Rose, one of the worship leaders, joined John Woods, our Music & Worship Pastor, in a powerful rendition of Goodness of God. We sang different songs in each service, and afterwards people shared the ways the songs ministered to each of them personally. God had prepared the song list and the hearts of the people who would sing and hear them.
That afternoon, we returned to the “hangar” church. We knew this would be different than IBC—a less formal setting, smaller crowd, but just as moving. Familiar faces from the carnival appeared, including Brittany who arrived with a gaggle of teenagers! As team members shared testimonies in Spanish, faces lit up. The joy of the Lord filled the room, even as the Spirit ministered to each of us in our own griefs, struggles, and celebrations.
After the concert, as we raced for the buses in the rain, a woman hugged me tightly and rattled off something in Spanish. I smiled, shrugged my shoulders, and our guide translated: “This was my first concert. I almost missed it, and I’m so glad I didn’t! You blessed me. I’ll be praying for you!” Her graciousness undid me. She may rely on church meals to feed her children, and yet she offered prayers for us strangers.
On Tuesday night, we performed at a large church on the other side of San José. (Before the concert, their hospitality team served us the most amazing chicken!) As we walked in, we saw a banner with Philippians 2:10–11, the very verse shared during the song, I Speak Jesus. When Tracy Thornton began to recite it in Spanish, everyone joined her—just a glimpse of the family of God, beautifully knit together.
At every church, though settings varied wildly, when we sang One Day, the hope of Heaven filled the room: “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!”
Before Great is Thy Faithfulness, Allison Powell shared the ways God’s people had tangibly shown her His faithfulness. As we sang the chorus in Spanish, every congregation raised their voices in unison. What a moving preview of Revelation 7:9–10, when every tribe and tongue will cry “holy is the Lord!”
That was the message that stayed with me: the Lord uses His people to lift each other up and point each other to Him.
I loved ministering to the churches of San José, and I was just as encouraged by my time spent with Dawson folks. On the buses, at the Ruins of Cartago, Hacienda Doka coffee plantation, La Paz Waterfall Gardens, and in the National Theatre of Costa Rica, where Tracy sang “O Mio Babbino Caro,” the Lord filled my cup with natural and familial beauty, joy,
and grace.
The day we returned home, I received devastating news. But because the Lord had filled me so richly the week before, I was ready—and I knew on whom to lean. Just like we sang in Honey in the Rock: “There’s honey in the rock, purpose in your plan... I have all that I need.”
The next day, my daughter asked me to take her and a church friend to watch the sunset from Shades Mountain. They read Scripture as they watched the Lord paint the sky—another reminder of His daily faithfulness. I reflected on the mountaintop experience of Costa Rica and how God often brings us to high places to prepare us for the valleys. Saturday night after the carnival, we literally went up a mountain to a restaurant overlooking the Central Valley, where 4 million of Costa Rica’s 5 million people live. We admired the twinkling lights and each picked one to pray for: a specific place, a specific need, a specific soul.
And I thought—what a picture of the world. So many people live in valleys of darkness, looking for the Light. Like Moses, we may visit the mountain for a time, but the good work happens in the valleys because of the finished work of Jesus, through the guidance of the Spirit, for the glory of the Father.
How amazing is it that He invites us to join Him in that by faithfully ministering to those in need, walking hand-in-hand with fellow believers through the valleys, headed together toward the Mountain we’ll one day call Home.
I’m grateful for the trip to Costa Rica. I’m grateful for the faithfulness of the people of God. And I’m so grateful for the steadfast goodness of the Lord.
Kira Aaron is the instructional partner at Vestavia Hills High School. Her children, Elizabeth Anne, Charlie, and Lolly, enjoy participating in Collide, Middle School, and Chapel Choirs, where they all learn Scripture’s truths through song!