How, where, and what does one begin to write when their entire journey has been influenced by a power so awesome that it cannot be comprehended by the human mind?  If one believes that God is directing the journey, then one should also believe that it will be God that forms the words transferred to paper about it.  That is what I find myself believing here and I pray that through Him I'm able to capture just half of what He has shown me as our team moves to the back end of our trip to Costa Rica.

 I have been on missions before.  However, these missions weren't aimed at saving humanity by bringing them to the love of Jesus Christ.  These missions consisted of fifty United States Marines touching down in a hostile country armed to the teeth with the intent of saving humanity from itself.  We lived by the credo, "Let God sort 'em out," as we sighted in on potential targets without giving a second's thought to whether or not they believed in Christ, Buddha, or Santa Claus.  Two years ago I would have mocked a Christian and called him a fool for believing in such imaginary things.  Now I find myself in a foreign country helping to bring others to a fire that for so long I had tried to extinguish.  

There are really no words in the human dictionary to describe exactly what this trip has done for me.  "Overwhelmed in the most powerfully awesome way," would have to be the closest fit... if the feeling I was trying to relay was dumbed down by about a thousand percent.  To look out on a majestic third-world cityscape without a rifle in my hand for HIM.  To see past the shacks and tin-roofed shanties to the sprawling mountains blanketed by soft white clouds.  To touch a 17-foot crocodile, a dinosaur, a veracious predator, a pure killing machine that was made by God long before He created man.  To watch a sunset from a mountain top overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  To hold the hand of a child as he leads me to sidewalk chalk and a cement canvas after random strangers led by Jesus Christ gave him the opportunity to draw.  To feel His grace every waking moment knowing that just fourteen short months ago, after twenty-seven years of running, He stopped me, looked me in the eyes, and told me to come home.  To see God at work everywhere I turn and finally realize that it's been Him all along.  Looking back now, "Overwhelmed in the most powerfully awesome way," while dumbed down, still doesn't even begin to describe or define the feeling inside of me.  I'm so honored to be a part of this trip. 

God is doing great works in Costa Rica and the experience has been completely priceless.  The kids here are growing up with almost nothing to their names yet they remain so happy about everything and are a joy to be around.  They love to laugh as they play soccer on concrete fields while their toes literally hang from the fronts of their ravaged shoes.  We as Americans live in a country plagued by pride and self-importance and I almost dread going back to it.  I can do nothing but once again reclaim my life to Christ and promise that I will stop at nothing to be where He wants me and wait until He calls on me to be wherever He wants me next.

Brian Tagliaferro