Here are a couple of examples:
Denise (not her real name) is an American who has a degree in criminology and chose drug trafficking as a career and was living a double life. Caught smuggling drugs out of Costa Rica, she was just sentenced to five years as part of a plea bargain. She “came clean” with her parents and says she is thankful that she was caught and relieved of the burden of her secrets. Her job in the smuggling ring was recruitment of young women to transport drugs. Her goal now is to take what she is learning in Celebrate Recovery and mentor young women coming into the prison.
Alexandra is from South Africa. She was caught smuggling drugs the very first time. She, too, gives thanks to God that she was found out, and is learning to make better choices through Celebrate Recovery.
These are just two of the women who are working hard and seeing changed lives through Jesus Christ and Celebrate Recovery.
Now for some more cultural contrasts from an article that appeared in the English newspaper Tico Times:
In the US:
The large double size of a product adds up to a 50% savings.
In Costa Rica:
The large double size adds up to more than the total price of two of the small sizes.
In the US:
Most people eat a different meal every night.
In Costa Rica:
People eat rice and beans every day. (In fact, tomorrow we're having a group of folks over to the house from Tejarcillos. We told them we'd be preparing American food. While some were excited about that, others couldn't understand why we'd serve anything but rice and beans and are not excited about eating anything else!)
