Debriefing!

we´re in debriefing now just outside of san jose. the camp we´re staying at is pretty nice, the apartment where the sr. women are staying is brand new and so the nicest spot on camp. our balcony has an amazing view of the mountains and at night you can see all the lights of san jose. we have huge picture windows so in the morning we just open them and sit and enjoy the cool of the morning. unfortunatly a beautiful green bird kamakazeed into our window this morning and thus lost it´s life... bummer.

we went to a volcano yesterday! it was rad, pretty cloudy, so we didn´t see tons, but way cool anyway. our students also played mud soccer. wow. one of the coolest things ever! haha.

you can be praying for the students as they work through the debriefing process that they can come home ready for the challenges that comes along with it.

kids...

i wish i had a picture to add, but i havn´t put them on the flash drive to bring over yet. yesterday we spent a good part of our day hanging out with kids at an Orphanage. it was a pretty nice facility, but you still have to hurt when you think about what these kids have been through. the facility held a lot of kids, all running around from infants to 17 year olds. some of our students were really struck by these kids. as it would turn out, a few of the girls are girls that we had played against in soccer last week. one of the girls in particular had really connected with some of our students and it was fun to see that relationship continue. a lot of these kids just wanted to be huged or wrestled, or just looked at. they were enamered by our cameras and wanted to take pictures of everyone and everything and then look at themselves and laugh. dispite the language barrier, our students loved on these kids so well. some of the guys played soccer or basketball with the older guys and some girls braided hair and played duck duck goose.
overall it was a very impacting day and i´m excited to see how God is going to use it in the lives of our students.

ice cream.

Our team is pretty rockin awesome. its fun to watch them grow and learn. Each time a student shares their faith, i can see in their eyes the excitment about being used by God. Also, they are great at soccer! our guys kicked some serious butt last night. i think the final score was 17-8. it is of course 5 on 5 footsol so its played indoor and the ball is a little smaller, but it really is fun to watch.
oh and ps. ice cream here is amazing.

wooty woot.

before i post my reflections from the other night, we sang DAYS OF ELIJAH today in church!!!! of course it was in spanish, but i was busting it out in english! it made me miss home, but at the same time gave me a cool perspective of worhsip and blievers all in one accord lifting the name of the Lord all over the world.

Be sure and check out my facebook pics, i´m adding more all the time!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019933&l=af10d&id=163800297

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019672&l=296c0&id=163800297

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019672&l=296c0&id=163800297

thoughts:

“And I’ll stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the one who gave it all, and I stand, my soul Lord to you surrendered, all I am is yours”

Tonight I think about different worship songs and about the time I was told by a good friend of mine, “Don’t sing in worship services along with the songs if you truly cannot say them to God.” Some worship songs are easy for me to sing; easy to throw up my hands and truly mean that God is amazing and huge and creator. I can even sing to my own sin, and stupidity and need for my savior. But this song tonight slapped me. The biggest impact is that there is none of me in this, it is total abandon and surrender, this simple little line calls me to a way of living that goes outside of the 20 minute worship service. It calls me be completely selfless and completely physically, mentally and spiritually dependant upon God. “All I am is yours” doesn’t mean everything except one, two and three. No, it is EVERYTHING! What about those things that are hard for me to give up? Everything. What about those things which hurt too bad to even think about? Everything. What about those things that I don’t even admit I hold on to? Everything. What about the good things? Everything. What about my family, friends, job, school, money….life? Everything. Wholly surrendered. We talked a lot of theology today, we talked about a loving God allowing pain, we talked about a loving God allowing damnation, and we talked about our own fallibility when it comes to interpretation of scripture, but even in the midst of all of those conversations we have to come back to an understanding of our core theology. What is the core? Christ died, buried, and rose again and calls us to die to self. God calls us to something that he knows is beyond us. The concept of total dependence is lost on us once we hit the age of two and everything that needs to be done can be done by “mine self”. Before that it is truly dependence. But have you ever noticed how a baby can much more openly say when they need something than adults can some times? A baby is hungry it cries, poopy, cries. Sometimes I think that we need to learn this simple expressing of turning to the one we are dependent upon to meet our needs. Wouldn’t it be funny to watch a 6 month old baby trying everything it could with a determined look on its face to change its own diaper because the way he can do it is probably better than the parent? That’s just ridiculous! No child can provide for their own needs…. We cannot provide for our own needs. I’m sure to God, he sees us trying to change our own diapers, saying to us, let me help you! But our ever determination only gets stronger the harder we fail. Total abandon. Utter surrender. All I am is yours.

Even Spiders need Jesus...

Excitement happened a few nights ago when a large taranchula decided to join our team for a bit. one of the students was kind enough to give him a lil Jesus.

Costa Rica is still blowing me away at every turn. I spent a lot of time during training camp stuck on the Genesis 22 passage where ¨on the mounain of the Lord it will be provided¨ is declared boldly. i´ve since come back to that several times. in fact, sitting here, up in the mountains, i´m inclined to speak it for myself and wait patiently for the Lord to provide. my big question is what is he providing for me that i need right now? i know i will look back on this summer knowing exactly what it is that the Lord had provided, and i know that it will have been exactly what i needed, but i wait expectantly now knowing that it is coming.

i decided to stay back today as our team headed into another village, i am working on re-organizing my pack and getting some thoughts together. while i am a little bummed to not be with them, i am excited for a little alone time, it is few and far between here. but tomorrow we get to go to San Jose, a bigger city where we finally get to do some shopping! haha i love it.

holler.

...wow

so much happens here every day, so rather than trying to write it all, i´ll just tell a few cool things i personally experienced in the last 24 hours. yesterday we went on a 2.5 hour prayer walk around the city of Cachi, its really not that big, but we went the REALLY long way. i ended up walking with a Tico (what costa ricans call themselves) named Nimrod. after telling him i have my degree in youth ministry, he was sharing with me his own struggles in ministry. he´s 21 and is basically running a youth ministry for 10-13 year old boys with a small staff of 15-21 year olds. he doesn´t feel equipt to do it and had several concerns. we talked for a long time about how to practically love on the boys and how to build into their lives and also the importants of his own personal continual growth. what a huge encouragement and blessing to hear that some of the struggles i have are aslo felt way down here.
we also had the chance as sr. staff to sneak away today for this great lunch at this little place off the main street a few miles up the road. the pastor picked us up and recomended a dish. wow. is really all i can say, it was SO good. and to drink we had this fruit juice that was to die for! the chicken was cooked over an open flame on coffee wood. it was truly amazing. it was also fun to be in a car for once :)
check out a few pics i put up on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019672&l=296c0&id=163800297
pray that our team doesn´t get sick!

Cachi.

it´s official. I now have 25 countries under my belt! woohoo. alright so here we are, Cachi, Costa Rica. wow. i can´t really tell you how amazing this whole thing really is. we havn´t done a ton of meandering around yet, but the exploring we have done has been phenominal. this morning, while our students spent some time at a public school doing some work projects and their gospel presentation, Bryana and hiked up through the streets and up into the mountains a little bit. nothing huge but i tell you what, the Glory of the LORD is here! the land is amazingly beautiful and on the side of every mountain is terraced with coffee and bananas growing like crazy. Yesterday was our first official day of ministry down here, what an amazing adventure, we had to hike accross a suspension bridge which was about 150yds over a river... not gonna lie, pretty scary, especially since it was raining and the bridge was a bit wet. the students have done an outstanding job of stepping out and sharing the Love of Jesus Christ with people, dispite the language barrier. it is beautiful to watch the students realize that their love for each other, and for the people of Costa Rica will transcend language barriers.

We also have lots of dogs. and i mean lots of them. it´s kind of sad to see some of them because they´re gross. but some of them are so stinkin cute! we have one, his name is Paco. he chills with our team and follows us around. this morning while the students were getting up i walked up the street to the phone and Paco kept me company.

well, i would have to say once again that rest is really the biggest prayer request. sleep is a precious thing, pray that the hours we sleep are enough to push us through, and if they´re not, that God would provide for the endurance we need. Also pray for safety, some of our students are pretty hard core at soccer and lets just say the ¨sticks¨drama also gets a little dangerous when the students get too into it and beat eachother in the face.

thanks for your prayers!!!