• Tomorrow I will be going with Jamie to the Red Zone in San Jose.  I started going with her on Tuesdays.  On Tuesday’s Jamie, and other ladies, serve the women of the Red Light District; known here as the La Zona Roja. I was asked to come help on Tuesday’s specifically to man the door.  Only women are allowed into the center.  This gives the women a few hours to be out of the lives they live.  Jamie, and the other women who serve these women, minister to these ladies.  I will go into more detail in other posts about how these RZ ladies are ministered to. Today I want to share what I observed and experienced last Tuesday.  As I mentioned earlier, I was asked to come and ‘man’ the door.  Recently, men have been trying to get into the center.  These are ‘street’ men.  Some are the pimps of the ladies being served.  Some are husbands and boyfriends, and some are guys who just want stuff. They asked me to stand at the door to unlock and lock the door as the women come in and go out.  This frees up Jamie and the other women who serve to concentrate on their serving; and they don’t have to deal with the men at the door. So, as I was performing this task I observed Jamie and the other women as they went about serving these ladies. Again, in future posts I will go into more detail about the women being served.  For now though I wan to share about the servers. In a nut shell, a person has to be called by God in order to effectively serve in this ministry.  My observances: These servants of God devote themselves to paying attention to these ladies. They don’t judge them.   They listen to them.  They serve them a meal.  They hand out donated clothes; when they have them.  They share God’s Word with them and pray with them. As they are able, they go out with the ladies to buy them medicines and other items as God leads them.  For example, recently one of the ladies came in with a swollen face due to an abscessed tooth.  The dentist had told her the tooth could not be pulled until she had taken antibiotics.  Michelle and Jamie and another server took the lady to the pharmacy to obtain the medicine.  There’s a miracle in this part of the story too but I’ll share this one another time. As I observed I thought of these Red Zone women.  They did not start life this way.  Each of them was someone’s daughter.  God created them.  How and/or why they ended up selling their bodies for $4, or less, on the street God only knows.  He loves them and tells us to love them too. So Jamie, along with the others, use their God-given gifts to show them the love of God and the light of Jesus. Please continue to view our posts and read more of how God is using The Journey Of 2 in Costa Rica.
  Ron McDonald Jamie Rich-McDonald
• Viviendo el sueno
  
  

​morning Scripture: 
We wait in hope for the Lord;

    he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,

    for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,

    even as we put our hope in you.
– Psalm 30: 20-22

• Last week Jamie and I made an ‘immigration run’ to Guatemala.  Since we do not have residency here in Costa Rica, we must leave the country every 90 days for at least 72 hours. It is not just the cost of obtaining residency, it is the overwhelming amount of people applying; mainly Nicaraguans, who are trying to escape the turmoil in their own country.  There are pros and cons of traveling every ninety days.  I will write about this in a future post. Concerning Guatemala, Jamie and I are grateful for the opportunity to visit there.  It’s a small country with a surprisingly high population of over 17 million people (Costa Rica has a population of just over 5 million). We spent two days in Guatemala City (the first and last day) and three days in Antigua.  On Friday and Saturday, the traffic in Guatemala City is best described as horrendous.  Horrendous, yet very well-organized with polite drivers. Antigua is well worth visiting.  There are numerous places to stay with a wide variety of choices.  Jamie and I stayed at an Airbnb in the southwest area of the city.  One of the great things about Antigua is that you can easily walk anywhere in the city.  There are many taxis and ‘tuk-tuks’, and even Ubers, if you chose to use them.  However, walking is more fun. There is also a vast number of places to eat with just as many varieties.  Overall, we enjoyed our short stay in Guatemala.  I have more to write, not only of our journey to Guatemala, but other journeys and experiences of The Journey of 2.  I have recently made a commitment to post every Monday.  

The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.

– Psalm 19:7-10

​Evening Prayer: Lord, you did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. Today I relinquish my fears to you, I renounce feelings of insecurity and anxiety, and I receive a calm and stable spirit and will walk in the freedom you freely give. I put my trust in you.

We wait in hope for the Lord;

    he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,

    for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,

    even as we put our hope in you.
– Psalm 33: 20-22