At the heart of True Nature Travels is our commitment to service. We are honored to work with so many amazing partners around the world and are grateful for the opportunity to give back and help in as many ways as we can. The following is a recent note we received from Lindsay Padilla, our partner for our service project in Costa Rica. Here, Lindsay shares her story and reminds us why what we do matters. Read on for an inspiring note from this incredible woman!
Happy Farming Service Project in Costa Rica
For the ones that know about my family history, we have had a difficult time because of cancer. During the last 5 years, 2 loved people (my aunt and my grandpa) died because of cancer and at the same time, my mother is a cancer survivor.
One day, the doctor told us that mom could not live longer and it would be impossible for her to win the battle against cancer (she was almost in stage 4). But my mom said there is a purpose in everything and God is the One who knows the future, so she came back home with faith and many changes in her life.
I remember that at the end of that week, we welcomed a True Nature group and there at mom’s kitchen, most of the visitors sitting on the floor, started singing with Luna and Joshua! I saw her smile again. She told me she felt “Open to Grace” If you listen that beautiful song you realize “Cuando caigo, para crecer de nuevo,” to grow again, that was what she did.
We started planting our veggies. Her hands were busy. Then she started sharing the harvest and we eliminated all the processed food from our diet. Some years have passed and mom is still in the treatment, but cancer is gone! Happy and simple lifestyle results! Gratitude is the key.
Because of the past and thinking of the present, this project was born. We highly believe that love and happiness are the medicines to the entire world. 
That is why we are employing people from the village to farm in harmony with nature. That is our Happy Farm Project that includes planting what we eat, collecting eggs from the farm and growing tilapia. Our commitment is to avoid chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides while we have a responsible use of energy and natural resources to ensure healthy food and farm from today and for the future.
The builder you can find in the pictures is Marvin. True Nature helped him to improve his home last year. A group came to paint his home one day prior to his daughter’s wedding because they were planning to have the party at home. What a nice gift! Marvin is the one who leads the groups that come to build and repair in the village. He also will sell fresh tilapia from the farm. By now he is busy building the hens coop. This project includes a tilapia fish farm while we recycle the tilapia containers. When we started this project, we bought an electrical machine for saving water, but it doesn’t work without electricity. That is why we are doing the tilapia project in my mother’s property, so we can use water pressure from the river, saving electricity and water, while we can hire local people for building, farming, cooking, and selling high-quality products that are not expensive.
Nothing of this could be possible without the support of True Nature. During many years they have helped us to improve our village, to have new opportunities for the local people to work.
Literally, True Nature has put color on the village for years. They have been there to help us to make many projects a dream come true and we honor their good works.
Thanks very much, True Nature!
You believe that it is possible to improve our lives while we practice a happy and healthy lifestyle.
