I am now in what people call “the Home Stretch.” I have 4 weeks left as an honorary Costa Rican, or “Tica.” Two weeks of classes, one week of finals, one week of playing tour guide to my family, then I am right back in Lancaster County. I remember thinking in September that June seemed so far away and that this long stretch away from home would be so incredibly hard. However, I consoled myself with the idea that I would be fluent in Spanish. Spanish was my biggest goal of the year.
Flash forward to May 10. I am not fluent in Spanish, not will I be by June 5th. I have greatly improved, yes, but I have problems with my accent and speaking and such. However, my spirit has changed. I have grown spiritually this year, more than I really ever anticipated. I can honestly say that this year has been one of the best and possibly most profound experiences of my life.
For a long time, I fought to make every aspect of my life spiritual, instead of having a spiritual life and an “every other thing” life. But I usually fail miserably. I didn’t expect it to be different when I came to Costa Rica. But I have spent a lot of time learning about the Bible, reading the Bible and being around so many godly, passionate people both Costa Rican and American. And something crazy happened. I began to see life differently. I began to see God differently. Now, I am different. Many people, the cynics, will tell you that a person cannot help but change their viewpoints when they leave their small and protected bubble of home. But the internal changes that I am dealing with are not merely from traveling to another country (though at the same time, it took traveling to another country for me to discover these things.) But my heart is different because God worked in me. He could have done it in Pennsylvania, he could have done it in New Holland, but he chose to do it in Costa Rica.
Now, enough of all this, “I am changed” and “my heart is different;” here is how:
A brief summary of my “enlightenments.”
1. I am the made, not the Maker.
2. On the concerns of God’s will:
One thing that I have noticed in myself and among other people on my team is that usually God’s calling lies in what you are most passionate about. I love working with kids, especially those with disabilities, so it would make sense that God called me to work with kids in Peru. There is a little book called “God’s Will.” I highly recommend it. In it, the author writes, and I’m paraphrasing, that sometimes people think that God wants to stick you with something that you hate. For instance, God wants to take a football player, break both his legs, and make him play the piccolo. But God doesn’t normally do that. He uses people’s strengths.
3. God doesn’t really need me.
He could do it all my Himself if He wanted. But He wants to use His people to be a part of his plan. The strengths that you have were created by God. He created you for a specific purpose. If someday you are called to be a worship leader, then you should believe that God created you with that in mind. He put the love of music in you, he set trials up in your life so you could relate to people, and so on and so forth. Personally, God gave me a compassionate heart and a sister with Down ’s syndrome. I believe that he put her in my life so that I could go out and help other families who have a member with a disability. If we let it, everything in our life can point to our purpose.
4. I needed Costa Rica more than it needed me.
This is the downfall of a lot of mission trips (especially short term trips.) I felt this way when I first came down, I felt this way about Peru, and I have seen a lot of people who come here on short term trips demonstrate this mindset. It’s a hard one to break. But break it anyway. People are tempted to think that they are going to be this divine helper swooping down to better the lives of the poor people they are helping. Yeah…..no. It doesn’t quite work that way. We need to instead pray that God uses us and if we make a difference, to one person or a thousand people, it is not us at all. God used us and God made a difference to one person or a thousand people.
5. The Word is Lamp to my feet…..
This Biblical definition of faith is “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1 and Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a light to my feet and a light for my path.” Notice that it says “to my feet.” What happens when there is only a light around your feet? You have to walk slowly and you can only see literally what is right in front of you. There is a reason that God only wants to light up your feet. He wants you to trust Him completely. That being said, it is far far far easier to say that than to do that. I have found that the easiest way to keep the faith is to………….dun dun dun…..read the Bible.
The Psalm also starts out with, “Your word is a lamp…” Honestly, before I came to Costa Rica, I never had a regular quiet time. I prayed and read my Bible and journaled and such, but I was never consistent and I never really get fed through my quiet times. I relied on church and youth group too much. Then I came to Costa Rica and BAM! all the sermons and youth group lessons are in Spanish. Suddenly, I wasn’t getting fed the way I used to. So I started reading the Bible….a lot. And a strange thing happened. The more I read the Bible, the more I wanted to read it. God gave me a thirst for his Word. I have gotten a great deal of direction from my quiet times. I understand the Bible better and I’m learning scripture by heart. I am being prepared to go into battle. The living Word of God is powerful. Learn to be saturated in it. No matter what you are going to do in the future, whether it is a gym teacher or a missionary in Africa, you will need to know the Bible. It is a strong weapon against the enemy.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. I am trying to make these last 4 weeks really count.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Mountians and Easter
Hello again!I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday tomorrow! He is risen, He is risen indeed!
Easter is a bit different here. They take Good Friday and Holy Week very seriously. Thursday, no one was able to buy alcohol anywhere, and yesterday (Good Friday), the whole city shut down. Everything was closed and all public transportation stopped running. This is also the weekend most families go camping or on vacation, so churches usually aren’t too full on Easter.
Last weekend I went with a group of 9 other GAP students, my leader Justin, and three national missionaries to a group of indigenous people in the mountains of Costa Rica. We left Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast (pancakes) and arrived in the early afternoon. Our first stop was a church about 30 min. by foot into the mountain. We ate lunch around 4:30 in a little house made of tree limbs and planks tied together and a dirt floor. We sat on low wooden benches and watched kittens and chickens run around our feet as we ate. From there, we walked back to the church and got the equipment set up for the movies we were showing that night. The church had 2 single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, which they screwed in when they needed light and unscrewed when they didn’t. When everyone arrived (and there were about 50 or so people there because they had all heard we were showing a movie) the GAP group sang a few songs then showed a movie about Adam and Eve and another called The Peace Child. After this, we served everyone supper. Then the pastor of the church and some other men got up and did a song in their own Cabecan language. After the song, everyone prayed out loud at the same time for about 30 min. It sounded so beautiful to hear everyone talking to God in their own language at the same time.
We slept in the church that night. The next morning, we ate breakfast (banana pancakes) and had church. It was the most laid-back church service I have ever attended. I’m sure most pastors back home would faint dead away if their congregations acted in such a laid-back fashion. We sang some songs, one of the GAP girls told the creation story several times, the missionary spoke a bit, then the pastor spoke for a while, then they got up and did some more songs, then we played a game. And all the while, the people were walking in and out of the church and talking to each other during the lessons. The service stopped several times and we just sat there waiting for what was next.
After lunch, we gathered the things we would need for the night, neatly stuffed them into our backpacks, filled our water bottles, and headed up the mountain towards the next village. It took us a little less than 2 and half hours to make it up. By this time, I felt like I had died at least one death. I believe hiking that mountain was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And then to add insult to injury, as I staggered up the last large hill, panting and breathing with all my might and imploring my legs to take just one more step, our young Cabecan guides RAN it. I guess that’s what happens when you live in the mountains, you learn to run up cliff-like hills.
We reached the schoolhouse of the village in the late afternoon. I have never felt so away from all of society and civilization in my life. There were a few scattered houses down the hill from the school, but other than that, there was nothing. It was eerily quiet; nothing but a few mountain birds calling back and forth and the faint sound of the river rushing below. Once in a while a dog barked. There were green mountains all around us. We had taken a step back into time, to a place where there was no electricity and the world was unspoiled by pollution or garbage. We were the first white people in that area.
A little after our arrival, the boys went off and gathered firewood, and our guide built a fire in the building designated at the kitchen. By this time, it was dark, and with no electricity anywhere, I was very thankful for a full moon. A few of the girls and I made supper by candle and flashlight in the kitchen, while the rest shared the gospel and the Jesus film in the schoolhouse next door. This was the first time they had seen a movie and it was the first time they had heard about Jesus. It was a really awesome opportunity.
We fed everyone the food we had made, then my whole group (5 guys and 7 girls) settled into a tiny room between the kitchen building and the schoolhouse for the night. We ate breakfast the next morning (pancakes, again) then started back down the mountain. Going down was significantly better than going up and we made in back in an hour and 15 min. We swam in the river for 2 hours until lunch (I almost went down rapids and drowned but there was a perfectly placed root under the water that I grabbed before I went down, so all is well.) Then we ate lunch, packed up, walked 30 min. to the bus and took off back to San Jose.
And Villa sweet Villa, it was good to be home. I definitely appreciate my bed and shower and indoor, flushable toilet a great deal more.
Tomorrow for Easter, we are having a big dinner, and then we may be watching the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We are also having an Easter egg hunt and dying eggs. One can never be too old for such things. Happy Easter to everyone!
Easter is a bit different here. They take Good Friday and Holy Week very seriously. Thursday, no one was able to buy alcohol anywhere, and yesterday (Good Friday), the whole city shut down. Everything was closed and all public transportation stopped running. This is also the weekend most families go camping or on vacation, so churches usually aren’t too full on Easter.
Last weekend I went with a group of 9 other GAP students, my leader Justin, and three national missionaries to a group of indigenous people in the mountains of Costa Rica. We left Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast (pancakes) and arrived in the early afternoon. Our first stop was a church about 30 min. by foot into the mountain. We ate lunch around 4:30 in a little house made of tree limbs and planks tied together and a dirt floor. We sat on low wooden benches and watched kittens and chickens run around our feet as we ate. From there, we walked back to the church and got the equipment set up for the movies we were showing that night. The church had 2 single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, which they screwed in when they needed light and unscrewed when they didn’t. When everyone arrived (and there were about 50 or so people there because they had all heard we were showing a movie) the GAP group sang a few songs then showed a movie about Adam and Eve and another called The Peace Child. After this, we served everyone supper. Then the pastor of the church and some other men got up and did a song in their own Cabecan language. After the song, everyone prayed out loud at the same time for about 30 min. It sounded so beautiful to hear everyone talking to God in their own language at the same time.
We slept in the church that night. The next morning, we ate breakfast (banana pancakes) and had church. It was the most laid-back church service I have ever attended. I’m sure most pastors back home would faint dead away if their congregations acted in such a laid-back fashion. We sang some songs, one of the GAP girls told the creation story several times, the missionary spoke a bit, then the pastor spoke for a while, then they got up and did some more songs, then we played a game. And all the while, the people were walking in and out of the church and talking to each other during the lessons. The service stopped several times and we just sat there waiting for what was next.
After lunch, we gathered the things we would need for the night, neatly stuffed them into our backpacks, filled our water bottles, and headed up the mountain towards the next village. It took us a little less than 2 and half hours to make it up. By this time, I felt like I had died at least one death. I believe hiking that mountain was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And then to add insult to injury, as I staggered up the last large hill, panting and breathing with all my might and imploring my legs to take just one more step, our young Cabecan guides RAN it. I guess that’s what happens when you live in the mountains, you learn to run up cliff-like hills.
We reached the schoolhouse of the village in the late afternoon. I have never felt so away from all of society and civilization in my life. There were a few scattered houses down the hill from the school, but other than that, there was nothing. It was eerily quiet; nothing but a few mountain birds calling back and forth and the faint sound of the river rushing below. Once in a while a dog barked. There were green mountains all around us. We had taken a step back into time, to a place where there was no electricity and the world was unspoiled by pollution or garbage. We were the first white people in that area.
A little after our arrival, the boys went off and gathered firewood, and our guide built a fire in the building designated at the kitchen. By this time, it was dark, and with no electricity anywhere, I was very thankful for a full moon. A few of the girls and I made supper by candle and flashlight in the kitchen, while the rest shared the gospel and the Jesus film in the schoolhouse next door. This was the first time they had seen a movie and it was the first time they had heard about Jesus. It was a really awesome opportunity.
We fed everyone the food we had made, then my whole group (5 guys and 7 girls) settled into a tiny room between the kitchen building and the schoolhouse for the night. We ate breakfast the next morning (pancakes, again) then started back down the mountain. Going down was significantly better than going up and we made in back in an hour and 15 min. We swam in the river for 2 hours until lunch (I almost went down rapids and drowned but there was a perfectly placed root under the water that I grabbed before I went down, so all is well.) Then we ate lunch, packed up, walked 30 min. to the bus and took off back to San Jose.
And Villa sweet Villa, it was good to be home. I definitely appreciate my bed and shower and indoor, flushable toilet a great deal more.
Tomorrow for Easter, we are having a big dinner, and then we may be watching the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We are also having an Easter egg hunt and dying eggs. One can never be too old for such things. Happy Easter to everyone!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Here is the link to the Lifehouse skit video I was in at Word of Life Camp in Panama.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=388614820968
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=388614820968
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Panama is awesome
So the beauty of a blog is that I can write whatever I want and people who are interested can read it and people who just don’t care don’t have to. It’s rather a lovely concept.
So I came to Costa Rica to learn Spanish, more about the Bible and just generally prepare myself for becoming a missionary in Peru. I had no intentions of falling in love with Costa Rica. And I was right. I don’t love Costa Rica the way I love Peru. I love many people here and I am building special relationships with people here, with both Costa Ricans (Ticos) and members of my team and I will be sad to leave, but Costa Rica hasn’t gripped my heart the way Peru has. This place will always be a nice place to come back and visit, but not much more than that.
However, I have spent the last week in Panama. I love Panama. I spent 7 days there (two of which were actually travel days), and put simply; I adored it. The landscape is break taking, the people are sweet, and Colonial part of town is charming, Panama City is modern and bustling, and the country is seeped with history. I know I am going to return to Panama at some point in my life. Almost my entire team wants to have our reunions in Panama and several want to live there for a time. It really made an impact on us. It is hard to exactly state why Panama struck a chord in so many of us in such a short time. But why does any place leave an impact on one’s life?
We arrived at the Word of Life camp around 7 last Wednesday. We had been driving since 11:30 the night before and needless to say, we were all quite fanatic about getting off the bus. We spent the few days we had at the camp interacting with the campers and staff and helping out anywhere we were needed, which usually ended up being in the kitchen. I think I have chopped and peeled enough carrots and potatoes to last me the rest of my life. J Several of us also put on the Lifehouse drama. I am hoping that someone will upload the skit to facebook so I can post a link on here. For those of you who have not seen it, it is a silent skit done to the Lifehouse song, Everything. It starts out with Jesus and a girl dancing, then different snares come along and pull her away from Jesus, such as a boy, money, drinking, etc. At the end, she fights to get back to Jesus, and then Jesus comes between here and all the sins and saves her. It is a really powerful drama.
The campers left Saturday morning, which gave us a wonderful day to relax and just enjoy each other’s company. Sunday we took a trip down to the Panama Canal and Panama City. The historic part is right next to the ocean is so beautiful. At times I felt as if I were in Italy or some small town in Europe. We also took a trip into the modern part of the city and went to the largest mall I have ever seen in my entire life. It had three food courts (one of which has a light show every hour), a bowling alley, a movie theater, and hundreds of stores. It was also a favorite because it was cheap. Panama is significantly cheaper than Costa Rica. J
Monday had us at the beach for the day, then we packed up and arrived back home at the Villa around 2 yesterday afternoon. It took us about 16 hours to travel and our air conditioning on the bus broke. I’m not complaining, but it was pretty darn uncomfortable in 80-90 degree weather. And the most sleep I got Monday night was 2 hours at the border at 4 am where I spread out on the floor while we waited for the boarder to open.
We didn’t have classes today to give us a chance to recover, which was fantastic. Tonight we are going to meet some pro-football players who came down to do a camp. That should be nice.
Jumping back a bit, last week we had our children’s carnival in Los Guidos. It was very chaotic, but it turned out great. We had about 200 kids there. The kids had a lot of fun and it gave us a great opportunity to share the gospel with them!
I would love to hear how you are all doing. Send me an e-mail at redroses2@frontiernet.net.
So I came to Costa Rica to learn Spanish, more about the Bible and just generally prepare myself for becoming a missionary in Peru. I had no intentions of falling in love with Costa Rica. And I was right. I don’t love Costa Rica the way I love Peru. I love many people here and I am building special relationships with people here, with both Costa Ricans (Ticos) and members of my team and I will be sad to leave, but Costa Rica hasn’t gripped my heart the way Peru has. This place will always be a nice place to come back and visit, but not much more than that.
However, I have spent the last week in Panama. I love Panama. I spent 7 days there (two of which were actually travel days), and put simply; I adored it. The landscape is break taking, the people are sweet, and Colonial part of town is charming, Panama City is modern and bustling, and the country is seeped with history. I know I am going to return to Panama at some point in my life. Almost my entire team wants to have our reunions in Panama and several want to live there for a time. It really made an impact on us. It is hard to exactly state why Panama struck a chord in so many of us in such a short time. But why does any place leave an impact on one’s life?
We arrived at the Word of Life camp around 7 last Wednesday. We had been driving since 11:30 the night before and needless to say, we were all quite fanatic about getting off the bus. We spent the few days we had at the camp interacting with the campers and staff and helping out anywhere we were needed, which usually ended up being in the kitchen. I think I have chopped and peeled enough carrots and potatoes to last me the rest of my life. J Several of us also put on the Lifehouse drama. I am hoping that someone will upload the skit to facebook so I can post a link on here. For those of you who have not seen it, it is a silent skit done to the Lifehouse song, Everything. It starts out with Jesus and a girl dancing, then different snares come along and pull her away from Jesus, such as a boy, money, drinking, etc. At the end, she fights to get back to Jesus, and then Jesus comes between here and all the sins and saves her. It is a really powerful drama.
The campers left Saturday morning, which gave us a wonderful day to relax and just enjoy each other’s company. Sunday we took a trip down to the Panama Canal and Panama City. The historic part is right next to the ocean is so beautiful. At times I felt as if I were in Italy or some small town in Europe. We also took a trip into the modern part of the city and went to the largest mall I have ever seen in my entire life. It had three food courts (one of which has a light show every hour), a bowling alley, a movie theater, and hundreds of stores. It was also a favorite because it was cheap. Panama is significantly cheaper than Costa Rica. J
Monday had us at the beach for the day, then we packed up and arrived back home at the Villa around 2 yesterday afternoon. It took us about 16 hours to travel and our air conditioning on the bus broke. I’m not complaining, but it was pretty darn uncomfortable in 80-90 degree weather. And the most sleep I got Monday night was 2 hours at the border at 4 am where I spread out on the floor while we waited for the boarder to open.
We didn’t have classes today to give us a chance to recover, which was fantastic. Tonight we are going to meet some pro-football players who came down to do a camp. That should be nice.
Jumping back a bit, last week we had our children’s carnival in Los Guidos. It was very chaotic, but it turned out great. We had about 200 kids there. The kids had a lot of fun and it gave us a great opportunity to share the gospel with them!
I would love to hear how you are all doing. Send me an e-mail at redroses2@frontiernet.net.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hello all of you again!My past few weeks have been hectic and there is no end in sight. J
Last weekend, I went with a group of 10 others including our leader to the town of Alajuela for the weekend to do ministry. We arrived Friday night and settled into our host homes. Saturday we split into teams and went around to different parks and markets and did evangelism. God really worked in hearts that day; around 24 people were saved! We went back to the church for lunch, then we hung out at a park for the afternoon with the church to play volleyball. That evening, the church showed the movie Up. Sunday morning, we put on the Lifehouse skit, then one of the GAP students gave the message. We made such wonderful connections at this church that they invited us back! We send a group of three this past weekend and are sending a group about every week until the end of the year!
We also sent a team to an ingenious people group this weekend also. This group of people worship the earth.
My other church is El Faro en Los Guidos, which the poorest past of San Jose. This coming weekend, my church group, along with some help from the rest of the GAP students, are doing a carnival in Los Guidos for about 300-400 kids. Today we are having a bake sale in a nearby park to raise money for supplies. Later, a friend from our church in Alajuela is coming to hang out with us for the evening.
Next Wednesday, our whole groups is leaving for Panama. I can’t believe it’s time for our mission trip yet! Time is flying!
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Last weekend, I went with a group of 10 others including our leader to the town of Alajuela for the weekend to do ministry. We arrived Friday night and settled into our host homes. Saturday we split into teams and went around to different parks and markets and did evangelism. God really worked in hearts that day; around 24 people were saved! We went back to the church for lunch, then we hung out at a park for the afternoon with the church to play volleyball. That evening, the church showed the movie Up. Sunday morning, we put on the Lifehouse skit, then one of the GAP students gave the message. We made such wonderful connections at this church that they invited us back! We send a group of three this past weekend and are sending a group about every week until the end of the year!
We also sent a team to an ingenious people group this weekend also. This group of people worship the earth.
My other church is El Faro en Los Guidos, which the poorest past of San Jose. This coming weekend, my church group, along with some help from the rest of the GAP students, are doing a carnival in Los Guidos for about 300-400 kids. Today we are having a bake sale in a nearby park to raise money for supplies. Later, a friend from our church in Alajuela is coming to hang out with us for the evening.
Next Wednesday, our whole groups is leaving for Panama. I can’t believe it’s time for our mission trip yet! Time is flying!
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A New Year, a New Semester
Hello from Costa Rica! I have been back for two weeks and already exciting things are happening! I will try to be a more faithful blogger this semester than I was last semester.
I spent my first week here at a Word of Life camp in Guanacaste, CR. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Word of Life Institute, it is an Bible school with locations in New York, Florida, and Argentina. They also run camps for children up to 18. In Costa Rica, the camp runs for 4 weeks, however, my group only stayed for one. We helped in the kitchen and with general prepping and setting things up, but in our free time we got to be regular campers! It was fun to go back to being a camper! We made a lot of great connections at the camp. A lot of the friends we made at camp live in and around San Jose; we are already planning things to do with them! It really helped my Spanish to be so immersed as soon as I returned. And it was awesome to see a lot of lives changed at camp. There were at least 25 that were saved at camp the one week we were there!
Classes resumed this past week. I feel I have a renewed motivation to learn Spanish from being at camp. There are so many people I want to connect with, but can’t because of the language barrier. I am really praying that God opens my mind and really helps me to understand and retain this language.
This semester I will be having 4 Bible classes as well as my Spanish classes. One is on Bible Doctrine Theology, one is on Missions around the world, one on the book and Ephesians (which is in Spanish by the way with a translator) and one on the Old Testament. I am very excited for these classes.
I am going to be getting many, many ministry opportunities this semester. My first one is February 12-14. I’m in a group with 9 others and we will be going to another church about an hour away to minister to the people in the church and the surrounding town. Then in March and April, I will be taking two trips to a group of ingenious people. These people live an hour away from civilization; we will need to walk or ride horses for an hour to reach them. And we’ll be sleeping in hammocks and bathing in a stream; it will be quite the adventure I’m sure. J
My friends and I are also planning different fundraisers for the churches we’re involved with, as well as a girls’ purity retreat here at the Villa for the girls in our youth groups. I am sure this semester will fly by, as busy as I’m going to be.
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers!
I spent my first week here at a Word of Life camp in Guanacaste, CR. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Word of Life Institute, it is an Bible school with locations in New York, Florida, and Argentina. They also run camps for children up to 18. In Costa Rica, the camp runs for 4 weeks, however, my group only stayed for one. We helped in the kitchen and with general prepping and setting things up, but in our free time we got to be regular campers! It was fun to go back to being a camper! We made a lot of great connections at the camp. A lot of the friends we made at camp live in and around San Jose; we are already planning things to do with them! It really helped my Spanish to be so immersed as soon as I returned. And it was awesome to see a lot of lives changed at camp. There were at least 25 that were saved at camp the one week we were there!
Classes resumed this past week. I feel I have a renewed motivation to learn Spanish from being at camp. There are so many people I want to connect with, but can’t because of the language barrier. I am really praying that God opens my mind and really helps me to understand and retain this language.
This semester I will be having 4 Bible classes as well as my Spanish classes. One is on Bible Doctrine Theology, one is on Missions around the world, one on the book and Ephesians (which is in Spanish by the way with a translator) and one on the Old Testament. I am very excited for these classes.
I am going to be getting many, many ministry opportunities this semester. My first one is February 12-14. I’m in a group with 9 others and we will be going to another church about an hour away to minister to the people in the church and the surrounding town. Then in March and April, I will be taking two trips to a group of ingenious people. These people live an hour away from civilization; we will need to walk or ride horses for an hour to reach them. And we’ll be sleeping in hammocks and bathing in a stream; it will be quite the adventure I’m sure. J
My friends and I are also planning different fundraisers for the churches we’re involved with, as well as a girls’ purity retreat here at the Villa for the girls in our youth groups. I am sure this semester will fly by, as busy as I’m going to be.
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Buenos Tardes!
This is going to be a extremely busy weekend for me. Tonight my group is having a "fall fest", then I am leaving early tomorrow (6 o'clock!) for church.
There have been some miscommunications with my original church, so my church group (there are 4 of us) are being placed in a new church every other weekend. I will have two churches now, one where I will be doing a lot of outreach with and be living with, and with the other (my original church) we will focus on growing. The GAP program used the new church I will be going to in past years but it is about 2 hours away, so they tried a different, closer church this year instead. Unfortuently, this church is very small and is not very intent on growing. This has been very discouraging for my church group, so we're very thankful that we are able to go to another church every other week.
I will be spending all day Saturday working with the new church doing outreach in the community, then I will be staying with a family from the church overnight and attending church with them Sunday morning. Then I will return to the Villa with my church group around 4. We then have worship here in the evening for an hour or two. Monday I am up bright and early again for a trip to a famous Catholic Cathedral for the day.
November 13 we are hosting a Jesus video for our community. I am working on translating my testimony to Spanish so I can share it with some of the people who come. We now have learned enough spanish that we are starting to go out into the community to share the Word of God! It's so exciting to finally be using what I've learned.
Thank you for all your prayers and support!
God bless!
This is going to be a extremely busy weekend for me. Tonight my group is having a "fall fest", then I am leaving early tomorrow (6 o'clock!) for church.
There have been some miscommunications with my original church, so my church group (there are 4 of us) are being placed in a new church every other weekend. I will have two churches now, one where I will be doing a lot of outreach with and be living with, and with the other (my original church) we will focus on growing. The GAP program used the new church I will be going to in past years but it is about 2 hours away, so they tried a different, closer church this year instead. Unfortuently, this church is very small and is not very intent on growing. This has been very discouraging for my church group, so we're very thankful that we are able to go to another church every other week.
I will be spending all day Saturday working with the new church doing outreach in the community, then I will be staying with a family from the church overnight and attending church with them Sunday morning. Then I will return to the Villa with my church group around 4. We then have worship here in the evening for an hour or two. Monday I am up bright and early again for a trip to a famous Catholic Cathedral for the day.
November 13 we are hosting a Jesus video for our community. I am working on translating my testimony to Spanish so I can share it with some of the people who come. We now have learned enough spanish that we are starting to go out into the community to share the Word of God! It's so exciting to finally be using what I've learned.
Thank you for all your prayers and support!
God bless!
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