The Goveas spent Christmas 2011 in Nicaragua renewing our tourist visas.
I have lived in Costa Rica for four months and was only in Nicaragua for six days so the following comparison is not a completely fair analysis, but one that I did want to make.
Nicaragua
Food is cheaper and tastes better.
It is a more agricultural country.
Many people use bicycles and motorcycles as their main source of transportation and will carry whatever they need to on them such as: three other people (including babies and children), propane tanks, groceries, cakes, etc.
There are less ants.
Gasoline is cheaper.
The roads are better.
Overall, the people seem to be gentler, more accommodating.
Lake Nicaragua is very impressive. ("Despite being a freshwater lake, it has sawfish, tarpon, and sharks!") Here is one of the many videos that I shot on our trip.
Costa Rica
There is a wider variety and abundance of restaurants.
The literacy rate is higher (96% vs. 87% in Nicaragua).
The people are fairer-skinned (which means that I don’t stand out quite so much).
The streets are cleaner; people throw trash in the garbage can instead of on the curb.
The wealth of flora and fauna (such as iguanas, parrots, monkeys, palm trees, and fish) is beautiful.
What’s Christmas like in Costa Rica? Do they celebrate Christmas? Are there Christmas trees? Do they have Santa? These are the questions that family and friends back home have asked me.
Yes, Costa Rica celebrates Christmas a lo grande (bigtime) from Christmas trees to lights to Santa to music to nativity scenes. Since this culture doesn’t have to compete with Thanksgiving, people start decorating at the beginning of November! Although the only thing that we did this year in terms of decorating was to string up some lights in the window, our neighbors have wreaths, reindeer, Santas, Christmas trees, and lights up.
There is no other way to celebrate this season here than to call it Christmas so there is no debate with holiday trees or Happy Holidays (although there is the Felices Fiestas [Happy Parties] to encompass New Year’s as well). Even government offices have huge nativity scenes on display which I love.
Fireworks are for sale everywhere and I hear that many will go off on Christmas Eve, but we won’t be here (more on that in a moment). The major difference here is that the big celebration when families get together, have dinner, and open presents is on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. That and the fact that mailing Christmas cards to each other is nonexistent.
We won’t be here because we’ll be driving to the neighboring country of Nicaragua to renew our tourist visas. A kind family has graciously offered us their vacation home in León so we´ll most likely stay through Christmas. We’re leaving tomorrow so I better pack!
For the past few years, our church – North Point Community Church (NPCC) – has done a Christmas campaign called “Be Rich”. An emphasis is placed on realizing how rich we are and how much we have to give in terms of time and money. Individuals, families, and small groups are encouraged to help others through a variety of service projects, donate shoe boxes filled with goodies for Operation Christmas Child, and give offerings to support local charities.
This year, our pastor set a crazy goal of raising $500,000 for the Christmas season starting in November. Would you believe that $1.7 million was raised in just one week? That’s awesome! I’m so proud of my church’s members and attendees who went above and beyond to help people they don’t even know!
Here, in Costa Rica, we are also doing a type of “Be Rich” campaign entitled ¿Cómo ser ricos? (How to be rich). It’s a three-part series that began in a surprising way. Before I tell you how we kicked it off, I must give you some background information.
When Openhouse (that’s our church) started, the pastor said that an offering plate would never be passed around. Julio said that, because people here are leery of evangelicals (that’s us) when they “ask for money”. The concept of tithing and offerings is misunderstood and not well received here. The culture, as a whole, may be used to giving some money to the Catholic church during mass, but generally what’s left over or change found in your pocket – not giving the “firstfruits” or a set percentage.
The first Sunday of this series, Julio said that he was going to do something that he had never done before. He was going to pass around the offering plate. A lady in our small group later said that she knew that this would one day happen. But not how she thought.
Offering plates were passed around, but not to collect money. To give money! That Sunday that Andy set the goal of $500,000, our church’s stewardship team was visiting NPCC in Alpharetta and was moved by the sermon. Upon their return to Costa Rica, they decided to give their own money to start a movement of generosity at our church. They provided enough money to fill envelopes to pass out to a little over 200 people with either $10, $20, or $30 in each envelope.
Julio told the congregation that they were being given God’s money which is a great responsibility. They could do whatever they wanted with the money except for spending it on themselves and giving it back to the church. We have heard wonderful stories about how people were so surprised to receive this gift and how they chose to duplicate the amount that they received in order to help others more abundantly.
In conjunction with “Be Rich”, our church adopted an area of town called La Carpio. We are partnering with Hope Partners International and Seth and Andrea Sears by hosting a food drive and a toy drive to help about 120 people of the poor families there in one of the poorest slums in Central America.
As church staff, our desire is that our congregation will realize how rich they are when Jesus is a part of their lives and that we have so much to give. We hope that people will recognize that God wants us to give every part of ourselves to Him including what we hold so dear – our purse strings. Of course God doesn't need any money – he wants for us to understand that we are just stewards of His blessings.
