Les & Diana Morris

Then and now…

People like to think of themselves as OK.  The world is full of self-help books.  Titles like, I’m OK You’re OK, by Thomas A Harris MD abound. And nations, in the same way, like to put their best foot forward, so to speak. After all, you want the world to see your best side.  If you’re looking at brochures for New York City, there are tours to the National Museum of History, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, not to mention Broadway theaters, art museums, incredible restaurants, with every imaginable cuisine and fashion shopping galore. There are even whale and dolphin watching tours in the New York Harbor, since these mammals have returned. The list goes on and on. If you watch HGTV, you’ll see pictures of multi-million dollar apartments with incredible views in Manhattan.  Full color glossy brochures portray each thing in the best possible light and of course marketing firms write copy that make everyone long to come visit.  Perhaps what is more telling is, all of the places you won’t see pictured in those brochures, all the streets that you’d be an idiot to walk on at night, all of the smells and gutters that don’t look appealing, drugs, gangs and prostitution. Yet these are parts of New York City too. And the same is true the world over.

So in the end, trying to feel good about ourselves and to portray ourselves in the best possible light won’t work the way we want, because of what is inside the hearts of men.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam blamed Eve for his problems, his sin, while indirectly blaming God and Eve blamed the serpent.  They knew what they had done, but they wanted to look, if not good, at least better. This was not God’s way and didn’t do them any good.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Prov 9:10

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.  1 John 1: 8-10

So why am I talking about the original sin and how a country or city sees itself?  Because it is fundamental to a lot of the work that needs to be done in Costa Rica – work that the church and missionaries need to be doing. In many many ways, it is a truly beautiful country.  BUT it is also a broken country and the first step to receiving healing is recognizing the brokenness that comes from sin, instead of portraying broken things as acceptable, cultural, just the way things are.  Or even worse, simply turning a blind eye to the unappealing, dangerous things.  The first step to healing …. is admitting that something is broken, sick and NEEDS the Great Physician to change and heal.

Los Anonos has about 4000 people, but La Carpio(pictures above) has more than 40,000! And you will find these precarios, big or small on the edges of so many communities.  Following is a quote from a newspaper article about La Carpio in Inside Costa Rica by Lynn Schneider, October 4, 2008. This is, of course, just one author’s opinion and can probably be written about most cities in every country.  It’s certainly not what we want other people to know or see about “our country.”  It is, however, very telling and reflects some very hard truths that need the love of God.

La Carpio’s 40,000 residents, around half of whom are immigrants from Nicaragua and other Central American countries, live in an area of 296 square kilometers, surrounded on two sides by rivers and another by a landfill which receives over 700 tons of waste daily.  Founded by squatters in the mid-1990s, waves of poor families have continued to inhabit La Carpio at rapid rates, moving into increasingly hazardous zones due to limited space … Costa Rica’s reputation is one of a social democracy, a peaceful society with little inequality and first-rate ecological practices and policies. Yet this reputation, perpetuated abroad and within Costa Rica, is in large part a myth reflecting more how Costa Ricans like to think of their nation than the reality that exists.  A look at the living conditions and status of the poor residing in marginalized communities reveals that in fact there exist great inequality, violence, discrimination, environmental injustice and insecurity, and basic needs that go unmet. …Hostile perceptions of, and attitudes towards, immigrants are reinforced and perpetuated by the media and xenophobic discourses, making it acceptable for Costa Ricans to blame immigrants for unpleasant aspects of their society. This generates cultural violence, as Costa Rican society dehumanizes immigrants, placing them in the category of the disliked ‘Other’ who is violent and bad-natured, the source of the nation’s social problems, and therefore deserving of poverty and injustice.

These are difficult things to write about and this information is in no way intended to sit in some sort of judgement about Costa Rica.  These same things can be written about every nation.  Similar situations and these same attitudes are universal, they are in the United States too. But this “brokenness” was brought home to us recently.  A short term mission team recently visited Los Anonos.  After much work, the team took a day to go to the beach.  While there, a member of the team became very ill and died of a brain aneurysm.  But while the team was gathered around their teammate, praying for him, making phone calls to 911, performing CPR, their focus was on their friend – not on their “stuff.”  Sunglasses, cameras and a surfboard were stolen.  A couple of the young men that live in Los Anonos were there with them.  They are Christians and love the Lord.  They are special to our hearts too.  Yet after this unconscionable theft, they shrugged and commented that, “that’s just the way it is.” They simply accepted it.

For those of you who have not been here, you need to understand that in many ways this is culture that lives in fear of theft.  You lock your iron gates to your front porch/yard area, that are usually topped with razor wire.  You lock your outer or screen door, which also has iron gates. You lock the solid wooden door. And you even lock the doors to your bedrooms.  Your windows are covered by bars too. You don’t wear gold jewelry downtown. You cannot keep anything in your back pockets. It’s best to wear your back pack on the front. And if you carry a purse, you grip it tightly and carry it in front too. Theft is a huge problem.  It makes people sad, but they’ve accepted it as normal.  But it’s not!

“You shall not steal. Exodus 20:15

The 1st step to healing is admitting that there’s a problem. 

Adam and Eve didn’t want to admit to a problem.  They didn’t want to take responsibility for their actions. The same heart of sin is still thriving today.  It may be a little better covered up in the United States.  We may have better police protection.  The average US citizen believes that stealing is wrong and works hare to fight crime as wrong.  Here in Costa Rica, the average Tico believes stealing is wrong.  It makes them sad.  On the other hand, they are not willing to resist the thefts and don’t report them, for fear of retaliation.  Perfect strangers have warned us that especially as Gringos to please, please be very careful… but it’s just the way it is. It wasn’t always this way, but now it’s just the way it is. And people that have lived their lives in the precarios just think it’s normal. God so wants to change the hearts of these wonderful people to understand that there is much in the culture that is broken – much that He wants to fix, by changing hearts and mending lives.

The 1st step to healing is admitting that there’s a problem… and knowing that Jesus is the answer and that God’s ways are possible. 

Rodney and Cindy LaFrance have been working in Los Anonos for years.  Now we’re here learning Spanish and learning from them.  We are intentionally praying for other Gringos AND Ticos to come work with us.  Prayerfully, we invite you to consider whether God may be calling you to join us in short-term missions or possibly even to move here and join the team.

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