Today was loco.
This morning we were invited to church by a Costa Rican woman Amanda met randomly at the gym last month. To be perfectly honest, we had kind of put off attending with her for a few weeks, but finally ran out of excuses and showed up this morning. The church is nice, and the people were super friendly and welcoming. We were sitting with Amanda’s friend and her husband, and towards the end of the service, during one of the songs we noticed that the two were using sign language to communicate with each other. Amanda and I looked at each other with with mouths agape.
After the service Amanda asked if her friend spoke sign language, and she said that yes, her whole family did, because their daughter is deaf. Then she said that there was a deaf church just around the corner where her daughter attends, and she asked if we would like to go see it. We quickly accepted, and five minutes later we were standing in front of a dozen deaf congregants while Amanda introduced us in ASL (American Sign Language). About half of the congregants understood ASL, while the others only know Costa Rican Sign Language (LSCR). There was another woman there who understood ASL and LSCR, so she was interpreting from ASL into LSCR for the rest of the group. It was surreal.
After the service, the leader of the congregation came up and introduced herself to us. When she heard we were missionaries, she told us that they currently did not have a pastor, and asked if I would be willing to come back next Sunday and give a sermon to the congregation, while Amanda interpreted. We of course said yes, and walked home in a state of shock. Our minds were blown away by the way God poured out this blessing on us, and potentially opened a huge door for Amanda for the remainder of our time here.
I think it is safe to say that the first two months we have spent here in Costa Rica have been a difficult period of adjustment for us, for various reasons. However, through it all, God has been faithful in showing us all the ways He intends to use this season in our lives to bless us and grow us into the followers He desires. When we pause and reflect and seek His will, He surprises us in ways we never could have predicted.