Costa Clems

This is the thing we get asked most right now, maybe it will continue to be, and we have had many different length conversations about it with family and friends during different stages of our journey. My plan with this blog is to work a little bit backwards and a little bit forwards from this point. Today is January 10th 2026. Which means we’re in Seattle waiting for 2 more weeks to head back to Costa Rica.

Here’s the quick re-cap that I’ll visit in more detail in some of the “looking backwards” posts –

In January of 2020 I was in Costa Rica with my friend and pastor Ryan Smith on a trip with MOVE Ministries to build a church in Upala. At that time things were not going so well at home and my life felt like it was just about going to work, making money, buying stuff to make my family feel better, and being frustrated that no one felt better. It was on that trip, however, that I felt a draw and a call by God to be in Costa Rica. I didn’t know what that meant, I didn’t know if it was possible, I didn’t know if we could, I just felt like there was a promise that something more was possible for my life and that there was hope for the first time in a long time of more meaning in how we were living.

Lots of things have happened between January of 2020 and January of 2026, hence the need for additional posts, but it led us to this point:

As of today we own a small farm in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica. It’s about 7 acres and a 30 minute drive to a small community called “La Malinche” which is a very poor area surrounding a Chiquita banana plantation. Currently in La Malinche they don’t have clean drinking water, paved roads, a school that goes past 6th grade, or many paths to get out of the cycle of working the banana plantation which is both dangerous and unable to provide the people with means and opportunities to change their living situation.

This is the area we feel called to work with, and to live with. I want to be extremely clear here, we are not trying to save a people group or convert un-reached people; in that sense what we are doing is as far from most people think of as traditional missionary work as you can get.

We are going because God told us to go. There is a church in La Malinche that has been closed on Sundays for the last 7 years and we have been given the opportunity to open those doors. We want the people there to share in a hope that we have, to have opportunities to learn and grow, to deepen their faith, to learn job skills and English, to help the kids have enough to eat, clean water to drink, and dreams of a future that is full of possibilities.

What does that look like? Stay connected and we’ll show you as we go. I’m sure the vision will change as we go–it already has several times since 2020. I’m sure there will be challenges and unseen issues that we face, but here is what we see right now:

We see young girls that are 12 who have no school to go to and no work to participate in whose parents struggle to house and feed them and they end up pregnant and unable to support themselves and their babies. We want to help give these families and girls other options.

We see young boys that have to go to work in a dangerous adult environment at 12 who might not know any other life than hard manual labor for pennies per hour that fall into a cycle of work, drink, sleep, repeat – we want to help give them dreams and hopes for the future.

We see an empty church on Sundays that was built to try and reach this community 20 years ago that is ready to be a place where many gather on Sundays to open the Bible, to sing together, and to learn about the purpose and calling for which they were created. We want to help this church to grow and to identify, teach, and train pastors and deacons from this community to continue to minister to this community into the future.

We see families that subsist on rice and beans that cannot afford fresh vegetables and meat for their children – we want to help provide affordable food from our farm that nourishes and blesses families and fill their bellies.

We see a life that will be uncomfortable, hard, and a big adjustment to the expectations of American life that has a purpose and a meaning outside of ourselves and is part of what God has called us to.

So will you join us? Check out our partner with us link to see what our current needs are for partnering with us. Also, we want you to come visit! We want you to see what’s taking place. We are working to prepare our property to host our friends and families that want to come and see what it’s all about. Please reach out and if you are willing to make a trip to come and see what God is doing with the Clems in Costa Rica we want to help coordinate a trip for you to visit the jungle!