At War

Week 8, the final week of the summer. Lake Murray Baptist Church from Lexington, South Carolina. Ministry in Bagaces, more specifically the communities of Salitral, Monte Redondo, and Montano.

God came through in a big way this week. Due to unforeseen external circumstances, we were unable to setup the specifics of this trip prior to the group's arrival. We only had a basic itinerary. Door to Door evangelism, VBS at a school, serving lunch to people who live/work in a landfill. Of these we were only able to go door to door.

You see, at this point in the year in Costa Rica, there is a huge festival/pilgrimage to Cartago (Central Costa Rica) to see/pray to la Negrita, a special statue of the virgin of los Angeles. The most pious of those who walk the 22km from San Jose complete the last 100m or so on their knees. It's a huge Catholic holiday. We had no idea that the spiritual oppression would affect our ministry so much.

Though we had previously received approval for our group to spend time at the school, the director rescinded his offer of welcome simply for the fact that we were evangelicals. This was an easy fix; we instead hung out at a soccer field nearby, and the kids came to us! As for serving lunch, someone had told these people about us before we arrived and were offended by the idea that we thought they needed our help. We worked around this by inviting all the families (whose kids we played with everyday) to join us for a dinner and a viewing of the Jesus film in that same open area.

Even though we were able to go door to door in the areas, we definitely faced rejection. The week prior to this, the team had been invited into homes and allowed to share. This week we had outright refusal to listen, and doors shut in our faces. It was quite the change.

All of this oppression/persecution opened up discussion for us about spiritual warfare and led to meaningful times of prayer for the communities we served in.

All was not lost though. Ironically, on our last day of ministry, we went to another community where we once attended church. Our contact asked if we wanted to visit the school there. Even though I was full of doubt, I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Lo and behold, we pull up to the school, spend 10 minutes talking to the director, and then we were in! Granted we were only allowed 40 minutes.. but still! We had tried all week to get into one school and were refused, and then it was like God said, "Look what I can do!" Awesome.


Highlights from Bagaces (Aug 3-10): 

• Driving the beast of a van, Charlie
• Feeling the Holy Spirit working in me and speaking through me
• Finishing the summer with a gold brooch (Spanish saying)

Praise God:

• For the ways he proved himself mighty
• For becoming closer with my ATLs
• For the student who decided to start living for Christ in both word and deed
• For a flexible group leader who understands that things don't always go as we plan!
• A RENEWAL!!!! THEY SIGNED UP TO GO AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!

Pray for:

• Light to break through the darkness in that area
• The church to do ministry in a healthy way that draws people to Christ
• Our contact Anabelli, who needs funds to keep her ministry base open

Aaand the trip journal link: http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals?tripid=1996

Spirit-Filled

My second to last week. Up to this point, I'd been learning a lot and feeling like I'd grown so much more in faith and prayer and even coming to know the Holy Spirit more. This was, ironically (or maybe not so ironically), the other week I felt extremely spiritually attacked. Week 7 of the summer. ATLs: Shelby, Luis, Mark, Kristy. This was Kristy's only week as an ATL, and yet, she was absolutely meant to be with us. I picked her up at the end of my descansa and we got to spend a couple of days together before the team arrived. She is Spirit-filled. Immediately when I met her, we started talking about real things and how the summer was going and who I am, really. I shared with her what I was learning, and she told me point blank that this week I would be attacked, that the enemy was going to try and make me doubt all that I was learning about the Spirit. (Of course I didn't remember this until mid-week.. when I was under attack..)

But this time, unlike the first week, I knew I couldn't fight it alone. I sought out the support of my ATLs, and they prayed for me. They encouraged me. They spoke truths into my life that would combat the lies satan was feeding me. Ephesians 6 was becoming real. 

This week was also at two of my favorite churches with two of my favorite pastors, Pastor Jose and Pastor Adolfo. Pastor Jose is the one who hosted us and introduced us to Pastor Adolfo. He did so much to help set up the trip and members of his church cooked us many meals. He is absolutely a blessing and man who wants his church to be a blessing to others. (And at the end of the week, he told me I'm tica!) Pastor Adolfo is such a loving man. He has such great vision for his church, and when you catch that vision, you can't help but be excited for what God is going to do. He is 65 years old and jumped into the big pit and worked hard with some of the men from the team. He joked and played and encouraged. And he told me mid-week that he loved me! Such a precious, precious man! While serving with these churches, it is clear that the Spirit bonded us despite language differences. We worshiped in Spanish and English; we prayed together; we played together. 

Highlights from Liberia/San Rafael de Buena Vista (July 26- Aug 2): 

• Soccer against the youth from Pastor Jose's church
• Madness and gelato during a horse exhibition parade
• Connecting with the group and group leader
• Catching Pastor Adolfo's vision
• Pastor Adolfo saying he loved me/Pastor Jose calling me Tica.

Praise God:

• For the connections made between gringos and ticos
• For giving me the courage to be vulnerable with my ATLS
• That I began to lead well/with confidence
• For a great group leader
• A RENEWAL!!!! THEY SIGNED UP TO GO AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!

Pray for:

• The members of Centro Evangelistico Zuriel, that they would be a lighthouse in their community
• The feeding program that they will be starting in November for the poor and abandoned children of the area (and the group from Delaware that is taking up an offering to help support them!)
• My relationships there to continue, especially since we are returning!
• Kristy and her family and her marriage. She was a blessing to me, so I want her family to be a blessing to her!

I forgot. Here's the trip journal link: http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals?tripid=2005

Descansa

During my group-free rest time, I had definitely planned to blog more, but somehow I totally missed it. I think I just needed the break of obligations. So I'll let you know about it now! (Way, way late. I apologize.)

It was so good to visit my family in Manuel Antonio (you remember, from the first week of the summer?). I'll just tell you their names so that I can not explain it each time. Marlon was our chofer and worship leader at Iglesia Hosanna and his son Jhonner hung out with us all week. They are my brothers. I never lost contact with them all summer, and I went to visit them twice during my two week gap. 

The first weekend, I arrived and waited while they finished setting up the sound system at church. Then we went and watched the sunset at the beach and then I treated them to their first Thai meal ever! It was fun to just talk about life and ministry and food and simply hang out with no schedule. Sunday afternoon they invited me to come see their house and to meet Marlon's wife, Edith and puppy, Poocher! It was nice to welcomed in as truly part of the family. We didn't even do much; we played Uno all afternoon! Then at church that night, since both of them play in the worship band, I took a seat by myself. I'm feeling kind of weird sitting by myself, but in walks the guy who served me breakfast at the hotel that morning! We instantly recognized each other and he came to sit with me and we were friends, just like that! The next morning he was working again, so we sat and talked for like an hour about faith and relationships and healing and all that good stuff that you don't normally get to when you first meet people. It was nice. Then I went to the beach with Marlon and Jhonner and treated them to their first gelatto! I got to introduce them to wordly cuisine! :) After that I had to head north for meetings the next day. And I spent the week in Liberia with the other staff who were leading teams, all the while missing my family in MA. 

Luckily, I was assigned the perfectly horrible task of driving back to the airport (3 hours south) at 5am the next weekend. (I escorted our ATL who was going home and who had to turn in her rental car, which was under my name.) Since I had to drive 3 hours south, I figured that I'd drive a couple more hours and spend another weekend with my family! Then I got lost (see previous blog post!). In arranging my hotel stay this time, my friend who worked there told me not to get breakfast included so that it'd be cheaper. He would just treat me. So nice. That night contained pizza and UNO at Marlon's house. And rain. And loss of power. Good stuff! 

Sunday morning, I sat in the restaurant and had my quiet time and relaxed and watched/prayed for other guests as I ate. Then it started pouring rain again. And it never stopped. all. day. Rolvin (hotel worker) got my lunch, too, and then we watched Despicable Me 2 in Spanish  (mi villano favorito 2) on my computer. After our afternoon cafecito, I took Rolvin back to his house to change before church, and that was quite the experience. It's always interesting to see how people live and the choices/priorities that families have. Rolvin had previously told me that no one in his family was a believer, so I will a little afraid to answer the question when his brother asked me what I did. But when I told him, I got a reaction I wasn't expecting. He proceeded to tell me all the things wrong in his life, things he did, and situations he was in, and how God hadn't helped him at all. I spit out some words that I hoped would help and invited him to church with us that night. No go. Rolvin said that he always promised, but had never actually gone. Two of his other brothers chose to come with us. And for some reason, right before we left, I decided to open it up to anyone in the family, expecting to be shot down immediately. But strangely, Rolvin's mom volunteered his brother that had been completely open with me. He was trapped. So he decided to come. I was really excited for what the night would hold! We got to the church a little early and waited, and when it was about to start, I looked around for Rolvin's brother. He was no where in sight. Apparently, when he had excused himself to go to the bathroom, he really just ran away. I tried to go on with the music, but really felt like God was saying to go after him. In my head I saw it as a symbol of God never giving up on him and choosing to pursue him, even when he runs away. Rolvin volunteered to come with me, but I told him to stay with his other two brothers, then ran back out into the rain. I got in the car and prayed that God would help me find the lost brother. I had no idea where he would have gone. I just started in the direction of his house, and at my first turn, there he was. And he immediately knew it was me. I rolled down the window and simply said come. And he got in the car. And we drove back to the church. Before we went in, I told him I would be right there. And then I checked on him several times during the service.. Especially since God aimed the sermon right at him. It was intense. I think before this summer, I would have been worried about his reaction because it hit so close to home, but strangely enough, this time I was like, "Okay God, you speak to him!" No, he didn't come to Christ that night. But for me the celebration was that he came to church. For the first time ever. And the word of God never returns void. Amen.

Also, at the end of service, they always want to publicly welcome visitors. Rolvin pointed at me, and Pastor Gerardo declared from the front of the church that I was part of the "casa" now. Proud moment for me!


Be in prayer for him. And for all of Rolvin's family. And for Rolvin to be a light to them. 
Pray over Marlon and Jhonner. That God would bless their ministry and their sacrifice. (They moved to help the church out for a while.) That God would bless their family.
Lift up Iglesia Hosanna. Pastor Gerardo, Diego, Chris. Their ministry. The outreach. The discipleship. The worship. That God would move in mighty ways in Quepos, breaking the chains of addiction and drawing people to himself.

Amen.

Lost.. in Wonder

I really need to learn how to get from the airport to the 27 freeway in Costa Rica. I've failed twice now. This time I guessed which way to go. I was going the wrong way, but I saw a sign for the town I wanted on a pass above me, so I made a few loops and headed that direction. That road took me around and down... and then up.. and I saw a sign for a town that I'd heard of, so I figured I was safe. And let me tell you, Atenas is REALLY pretty. I would totally live there. Then I passed through a few other towns.. I didn't know the names.. I didn't know which road I was on, but I knew that at some point, it would take me where I wanted to go. Then the houses thinned.. and I started to climb a mountain. Then I realized I was in the clouds/fog. And I wanted to stop and take a picture, but there was no where to pull over! For the next 40 minutes, I was in awe of the wonder around me. God made ALL of that! At first I was little sad that I couldn't really share it with anyone, but then I realized I had the BEST person to share it with! I didn't care that I had no idea where I was. I knew I would get where I was going eventually. It was also nice to not be in a hurry or have any schedule at all. I kept trying to relate to faith, but I didn't want to get distracted while driving those tight mountain curves. The best I could come up with is that I'm headed in the right direction. I trust I'll get to where I'm supposed to be eventually, but I don't want to miss everything that's around me right now. God has crafted everything (and everyone!) perfectly. I want to see the beauty in it all. I don't want to take a moment for granted. I've been praying that I would learn to enjoy the Lord, and I'm getting there. Little glimpses like getting lost today help remind me to get lost in my Savior every now and then. It's totally worth it.

(PS. I'm writing this from my intended location. No worries!)

This doesn't even capture any of it...

I seriously wish you could have been there. 

"I want to take them deeper."

That's what I heard during my quiet time on the Sunday morning of this trip. 

I learned from the Group Leader that only about half of this group regularly attended the high school ministry meetings, so they didn't really know each other. And after waiting a full minute for a volunteer to pray for our first meal (and our second.. and our third..) I realized that they didn't really know their Creator either. That sounds kinda harsh, but I realized that prayer was this big thing for them when it's really only talking to God. It's hard to explain, okay? But really God said he wanted to take them deeper.

So each night, we had a devotional about prayer. We talked about the authority we have in Christ and the fact that we should be praying about everything, and with each other. That there is power in prayer. And the cool thing is that they got a chance to see prayer in action. Coincidentally (or God-cidentally), a team from the World Race was sharing the church with us. Together, our staff and their team prayed over many things and invited the students to join us. We prayed healing over the pastor of a church we visited, healing over a boy from the church who has the ebola virus and is confined to his bed with limited brain function. Then before the team left, the World Race group prayed over them. I'm truly praying that God continues to teach them how to really live their faith.

In other news, our schedule TOTALLY flipped on us the day we arrived. It was not what we had planned at all, but fortunately, God put in place a group leader who was totally chill about everything and really supportive/encouraging to us as staff.

Highlights from Paso Canoas (July 6- 13): 

• Meeting and getting to know the World Race team
• Teaching the group about prayer and learning/practicing it more myself.
• Rec day. It was just fun and relaxing.

Praise God:

• For the ways he worked in the lives of the students, even though we may never know
• For giving me cooler weather so that I could wear pants and keep the bugs away
• For healing my bites quickly
• For an easy-going group leader
• For a staff that worked together

Pray for:

• My trip set up time. That it will be productive, but also relaxing/rejuvenating
• The other PPM trips going on currently. That God will be revealing himself to the participants, staff, and the communities.

Trip Journal

Profundo

The word profundo in Spanish means deep. Interesting, right? Cuz it sounds like profound? I love language. It's so cool like that.

But anyways, week 3 was deep. And profound. Again, with a lot of bumps, but as always, God's grace and goodness wins out.

This week was just COATED in prayer. This team came in and they just got it. So we were able to spend a significant amount of time in prayer. In fact, on our first day in Nicoya, I felt like we needed to push back our orientation meeting and just spend some time covering the week and each other in prayer. It was awesome and Spirit-filled and cool.

I actually got to play translator a lot this week, which was cool. And intense. And strange for me. I mean, I got to be a part of really cool conversations about the Gospel and was a part of leading people to Christ. That was the cool part. The intense part was the fact that I had to make sure I was conveying correct information! That's such important stuff that I didn't want to be wrong! And the strange part was that even though I was involved in these conversations, I wasn't really part of these conversations. They weren't really my words or ideas; nor were they really my relationships. Hence the odd part. But it was cool nonetheless.

Highlights from Caimital (June 29- July 6): 

• Chile pepper eating/everyone's differing reactions
• Getting to translate
• GOD MOVED

Praise God:

• For the handful of people who came to know Christ as a result of intentional conversations
• For the relationships formed between the group and community members
• For giving me the ears to listen to the Spirit's leading
• For prayer and the power that it has
• For the possibility of a return trip from Bethel Baptist Church to Caimital, Costa Rica, to focus on women's ministry

Pray for:

• The relationships formed to continue
• The community of Caimital to really come to know Jesus and his saving power
• The Iglesia Rosa de Saron to be a light to those who are seeking in that community.

Trippity Journal Link

Worst Blogger Ever.

So I was a LOT busier than I anticipated these last few weeks. It was CRAZY. So I'm just now getting to each of the trips I led. And other thoughts. So you may have like 4 blogs coming at you this week. Or today. Ouch.

But ok. Here we go. My second week was SO healing and encouraging. I actually was placed with two ATLs who were not around the first week. So they had no idea of the stresses and overall blegh-ness that was experienced then. I had to fresh ATLs who were an absolute God send in the ways they encouraged and supported me that week. I was so blessed and was able to just let the previous week melt away. God is good.

Highlights from San Fernando (June 22-29): 

• The group was a bunch of hardcore workers who laid the floor of an entire church, as well as started a sidewalk on one side. ALSO, at the school site, they extended the cement for the soccer field, painted a classroom, and took down the roof of an eating area that was being changed.
• My BIRTHDAY. Well, kind of. I went ziplining, but then came back to a stressful situation.
• Even though there were lots of bumps on the road, my ATLs and I figured everything out and worked together to make everything work. 
• Getting to know the host pastor and his family, who are WONDERFUL.

Praise God:

• For the amount of work that was accomplished!
• For the roof that is going to be donated to the school because of the extension of cement that was laid.
• For the youth that showed up to help work, even though they weren't members of the church.
• Gaining confidence in my position as trip leader.

Pray for:

• The relationships formed in San Fernando to continue
• That Ministerio Casa del Nuevo Pacto continues to be a beacon of light in their community
• The bus drivers to come to know Christ's saving power

Also, Trip Journal.