Well we are winding down our time here in Costa Rica. It's been an absolutely amazing and God filled time! Youth stepped out of their comfort zones, shared real and moving testimonies, and interacted with the Ticos. I am proud of every single person that went on this trip. New friendships were made, old friendships were strengthened, and we will miss everyone that we've met. Let's just say facebook is an amazing tool for keeping those friendships for years to come.
Today was an exciting day. We white water rafted down a pretty strong river. Some of the youth were scared at first, but once we got going it was all fun. Even when some toppled over the side and into the white water, they always came back with a smile. I think my favorite fall was when Joey fell in almost in slow motion. All that went through my head was...Joooooeeeeeyyyyy, beeeeee caaarrreefffuullll!!! It was also great when Andrew, Melissa, Stephen, Zach, and Rachel W's raft got stuck and their guide called Stephen an idiot. I don't think he meant anything mean...but it was hilarious.
After that we had lunch then headed to the zip line! Every single person did it, including Melissa! She was nervous, but with much coaxing from Andrew she did it and had a "little bit" of fun! Zip-lining was amazing! You zoomed over the tree tops looking at beautiful fauna, rivers, and jungleness. I loved it and I think everyone else did too...at least to some extent! We all made it, no one got hurt and everyone had smiles on their faces. I call that a success.
Now we are getting ready for another Tapon concert. This is our third Costa Rican concert since we've been here. Let's just say we haven't been "roughing it" too much.
Thanks for praying for us and we will see you late tomorrow night!
Crystal
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Costa Rica 2010: Outeach Complete
Hey guys! Sorry we haven't updated in a few days. The last three days we have been at our outreach location with no internet access. However, it was a powerful three days.
On day 1, we woke up and drove to Vina del Este. We got started on our work projects right away. We sanded a handrail and concrete. It was great to finally start working. It was only our two teams and Mario, the church grounds keeper guy. The youth worked hard because they were ready to get their hands dirty. We then went to the resort, yes resort, that we were staying at for the next two nights. It was a glorious place. It had hot showers and we had about 7 people to a room which was a change fromt the 56 people to a room. It was on the top of a mountain and the veiw was beautiful. It also had 3 pools, however, we didn't get to enjoy them.
In the afternoon we did a kid's ministry. We had about 25 Tico children come and we did the Velveteen Rabbit puppet show, did lots of songs and dances and a craft with the kids. We also had a cookout afterwards. It reminded me a lot of the Freedom Outreach Party in the Parks expect we couldn't speak Spanish. We gave out hotdogs, however, hotdogs are individually wrapped in plastic here and we didn't know that. So the first round of hotdogs were cooked with plastic around them...Oops! We then performed the dramas for the families and AJ and Liz, a girl from Manchester, shared their testimonies.
The next two days were similar. We worked on our projects, sanding and painting the youth room and doing kid's ministry. The kids are absolutely adorable and so much fun to be around. They are easy to communicate with too! We also walked around the neighborhoods a few times handing out invitations to a Tapon concert. It was awesome to see the youth walk up to complete strangers, attempt Spanish and invite them to church. Stephen is a natural.
Today we headed back to the base. On our way home, we stopped at a park and did an open air minsitry. The drama team did The Family, Sarah shared her testimony and the other drama team did The Champion. Afterwards, a man came over to us and asked us to pray for him. He had an alcohol problem and had left his family because the problem was that bad. He decided that he was going to stop drinking and give his life to Jesus! YAY!!!
Overall, I have been very impressed with our youth stepping out of their comfort zones, taking risks, and sharing their testimonies. They are real and have been touched my God so much on this trip! They are going to come home different.
Tomorrow we are going white water rafting in the morning and zip-lining through the jungle in the afternoon! Pray I see a wild monkey :)
We miss you, but will see you in a few days!
Crystal
On day 1, we woke up and drove to Vina del Este. We got started on our work projects right away. We sanded a handrail and concrete. It was great to finally start working. It was only our two teams and Mario, the church grounds keeper guy. The youth worked hard because they were ready to get their hands dirty. We then went to the resort, yes resort, that we were staying at for the next two nights. It was a glorious place. It had hot showers and we had about 7 people to a room which was a change fromt the 56 people to a room. It was on the top of a mountain and the veiw was beautiful. It also had 3 pools, however, we didn't get to enjoy them.
In the afternoon we did a kid's ministry. We had about 25 Tico children come and we did the Velveteen Rabbit puppet show, did lots of songs and dances and a craft with the kids. We also had a cookout afterwards. It reminded me a lot of the Freedom Outreach Party in the Parks expect we couldn't speak Spanish. We gave out hotdogs, however, hotdogs are individually wrapped in plastic here and we didn't know that. So the first round of hotdogs were cooked with plastic around them...Oops! We then performed the dramas for the families and AJ and Liz, a girl from Manchester, shared their testimonies.
The next two days were similar. We worked on our projects, sanding and painting the youth room and doing kid's ministry. The kids are absolutely adorable and so much fun to be around. They are easy to communicate with too! We also walked around the neighborhoods a few times handing out invitations to a Tapon concert. It was awesome to see the youth walk up to complete strangers, attempt Spanish and invite them to church. Stephen is a natural.
Today we headed back to the base. On our way home, we stopped at a park and did an open air minsitry. The drama team did The Family, Sarah shared her testimony and the other drama team did The Champion. Afterwards, a man came over to us and asked us to pray for him. He had an alcohol problem and had left his family because the problem was that bad. He decided that he was going to stop drinking and give his life to Jesus! YAY!!!
Overall, I have been very impressed with our youth stepping out of their comfort zones, taking risks, and sharing their testimonies. They are real and have been touched my God so much on this trip! They are going to come home different.
Tomorrow we are going white water rafting in the morning and zip-lining through the jungle in the afternoon! Pray I see a wild monkey :)
We miss you, but will see you in a few days!
Crystal
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Costa Rica 2010: The Outreach Begins
Sorry it's been a couple of days since we've posted. We've been going non-stop with training and visiting the community we are going to be serving at. But just so you know, I woke up early (and I'm not a morning person) to share what we've done the past few days.
We continued with training on Friday. The theme here is relationships: Relationships with God, ourselves and others. We've been learning about pride and how to be humble. The cure to all the lies that we tell ourselves is community! We need to love each other to be truly real.
Besides that, the youth have been sharing testimonies. Rachel W. shared hers in front of all 120 people. It was truly amazing and she touched many hearts with her story. Isaac and Elizabeth have also been brave souls to stand in front of our team and share their stories. God is truly challenging the youth to be real with who they are and with who God is.
Yesterday, we visited Vina del Este, which is the church we will be working at. We were given a tour of the church and shown the project we will be doing. We will be sanding, painting and putting windows in their youth center room. Monica, a woman that works at the church told us about the community. One side is a very poor area and the other is a very wealthy area. There are many teen moms and drug addicts and they have a very big burden to help and reach the people. She also shared a prayer request for the church. They gave classes to help the Tikos learn skills they can use to get a job, however, they are not pursuing a job because they have no where to leave the children. The church wants to start a free daycare but they are having difficulty getting approval from the government. Please pray for favor so they can begin this ministry.
We then walked around the neighborhood doing trash pick-up. Costa Rica is not a very dirty country. They have a garbage system and a truck that picks it up, but there is still a small amount of litter. So we walked around with gloves and open hearts to help clean the community. Along the way, we had awesome conversations and prayed for quite a few people. One man in particular shared that he really felt the Holy Spirit as the team was praying for him. Another woman was homeless with 4 children, a widow, and her mother was a drug addict. She needed prayer desperately.
Some of the fun things we've done is go to a Christian Concert. The bands name was Crossover. It was a fun night out and at times it felt like we were at a Spanish Jeremy Riddle concert. It was a great cultural experience. We also had youth group with Vina del Este young adult group. We played an ice breaker game and Marcus, the leader of the group, shared about miracles.
Today we are heading back to Vina del Este to have church, play some futball de cinco, and just spend time with the community. It is the sabbath and we love resting and having fun. Pray we win a game of futball against the Tikos!
Thanks so much for praying for us and supporting us. It's been an amazing and life-changing time so far and it's going to continue to be! We are also becoming more bold to try the different foods they are serving us. So I'll leave you with a little ditty...
Where God leads me I will follow.
What they feed me I will swallow.
By God's grace I'll keep it down.
And I will not frown until they turn around!
Thanks,
Crystal
We continued with training on Friday. The theme here is relationships: Relationships with God, ourselves and others. We've been learning about pride and how to be humble. The cure to all the lies that we tell ourselves is community! We need to love each other to be truly real.
Besides that, the youth have been sharing testimonies. Rachel W. shared hers in front of all 120 people. It was truly amazing and she touched many hearts with her story. Isaac and Elizabeth have also been brave souls to stand in front of our team and share their stories. God is truly challenging the youth to be real with who they are and with who God is.
Yesterday, we visited Vina del Este, which is the church we will be working at. We were given a tour of the church and shown the project we will be doing. We will be sanding, painting and putting windows in their youth center room. Monica, a woman that works at the church told us about the community. One side is a very poor area and the other is a very wealthy area. There are many teen moms and drug addicts and they have a very big burden to help and reach the people. She also shared a prayer request for the church. They gave classes to help the Tikos learn skills they can use to get a job, however, they are not pursuing a job because they have no where to leave the children. The church wants to start a free daycare but they are having difficulty getting approval from the government. Please pray for favor so they can begin this ministry.
We then walked around the neighborhood doing trash pick-up. Costa Rica is not a very dirty country. They have a garbage system and a truck that picks it up, but there is still a small amount of litter. So we walked around with gloves and open hearts to help clean the community. Along the way, we had awesome conversations and prayed for quite a few people. One man in particular shared that he really felt the Holy Spirit as the team was praying for him. Another woman was homeless with 4 children, a widow, and her mother was a drug addict. She needed prayer desperately.
Some of the fun things we've done is go to a Christian Concert. The bands name was Crossover. It was a fun night out and at times it felt like we were at a Spanish Jeremy Riddle concert. It was a great cultural experience. We also had youth group with Vina del Este young adult group. We played an ice breaker game and Marcus, the leader of the group, shared about miracles.
Today we are heading back to Vina del Este to have church, play some futball de cinco, and just spend time with the community. It is the sabbath and we love resting and having fun. Pray we win a game of futball against the Tikos!
Thanks so much for praying for us and supporting us. It's been an amazing and life-changing time so far and it's going to continue to be! We are also becoming more bold to try the different foods they are serving us. So I'll leave you with a little ditty...
Where God leads me I will follow.
What they feed me I will swallow.
By God's grace I'll keep it down.
And I will not frown until they turn around!
Thanks,
Crystal
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