Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This has been a Thanksgiving unlike any I have ever had. It sure did not seem like Thanksgiving to me (Costa Rica does not celebrate Thanksgiving, being as Thanksgiving is an American holiday). The nice thing was that I was able to talk, at least for a short while, to my family (it was a different year for all in my family because we were spread out in 4 different locations this year). Then this evening we had our normal Thursday night cell group. We ended the Bible study time with my director talking about what Thanksgiving was and a tradition many families hold to, giving thanks to God for things He has done/given us throughout the year, so we all shared. That is when I realized I should write about what I am thankful for on my blog, so you can know what I am thankful for this year.
This year I have many things to be thankful for. When we were told to share something this evening, the first thing that came to my mind was the time I had at home in October. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to return home for a month and not only help with the Peruvian pastors, but also to be able to see family and friends whom I had not seen in at least 10 months. What a blessing it was to be home and be rejuvenated by everyone I saw!
However, the thing I realized I am most thankful for is what God has done and who He has become to me this last year. It was a year ago today I celebrated my last holiday at home and I was anticipating my trip to Costa Rica. When I look back at what I thought I would experience and how I thought I would feel a year ago during my time here, I realize how great God is and how much I have to be thankful for.
For those of you who know me well, you know I love being with my family. I am the "homebody" of our family. I thought I would cry every night for at least my first month here, yet I did not. I thought I would be extremely homesick, but I have not been. I thought I would be a bit lonely, but I am not. (That is not to say I have not had moments of each because, believe me, I have been homesick, I have cried, and I have been lonely, but definitely not to the extent that I imagined.) I definitely did not think I would sign on for an extra 9 months, yet I am. God has shown me how He is enough and that when I act in obedience to Him, He provides for me, He fills me, and He gives me what I need.
I am thankful for the family He has given me here in Costa Rica. I have many new little brothers and sisters here. I have aunts and uncles, and in some ways, parents. Even though I am living FAR from my blood family, God has provided me with a family here, and for that I am greatful.
I am thankful for my blood family back home. I am thankful for my parents who have stood beside me and supported me my whole life and even now, when I have moved to another country where communication is not always possible and we have gone long months without seeing each other. I am thankful they love God (and me) enough to let me go, even though they would rather hold on. I am thankful for my brother and sisters who have supported me as well. It has been difficult being so far from them, but they have continually given me encouragement. I am thankful for my grandparents. The have also supported me in everything. What a blessing it has been for me to grow up in a Christian home, with not only godly parents, but godly grandparents as well, all of whom have provided great examples to follow.
I am thankful for the spiritual family back home. I thank you for the support you have given, in sending me out and then continue supporting me in praying. What a huge blessing to have so many people behind and beside me, supporting me, lifting me up in prayer. It is humbling.
I thank each of you who have given me the opportunity to be here, serving God. May the Lord bless you!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Do not forget to give thanks every day for the things God has provided for you. Thanksgiving should be an every day celebration.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Life Back in CR
Well, I've been back in CR for about 2 1/2 weeks now. It's been somewhat different getting back to life here after being home for a month, but not as hard as I was thinking. Both my transitions into life at home and life in CR were much different than I was expecting. (Which is a good thing!)
Since I've been back, the new intern has arrived. It has been good having someone else to do the different activities with, I am no longer riding around town by myself! We haven't done a whole lot yet, because he's working on learning Spanish (but he's progressing very rapidly!), but we've kept fairly busy.
Another new thing that has started since I have been back is a small group that we're hoping will turn into a church plant in a town not too far away. We have had 2 Bible studies. There have been about 12 adults and 5 kids at each so far, so that has been nice. Please be in prayer about this church plant. Please pray that more people (outside our church group) will start coming and that soon we will have enough to have 2 groups. This is an exciting time and your partnership through prayer will be greatly appreciated!
The final new thing that has started up is an ESL class. Last week we started a 4 week course to get the idea planted before Christmas, and hopefully after Christmas we will have even more students! For now, we have 6 teachers (our last week we will have 4 because 2 of the teachers are visitors) and we teach Tuesday and Wednesday nights for an hour and a half. We want to use this as an outreach ministry to bring in people from the community (our eventual hope is to use this near our church plant, but for now, we do not have the space, so we're staying at the Alliance churh we attend). We currently have about 20 students, and the majority attend our church (or other local churches), but we do have a few who are not Christians, so hopefully through this class, we will be able to win them for Christ. Please also be in prayer for this ministry. It is an exciting ministry because we will have people coming to us, and therefore will be more likely to be more open to the Gospel message. Please be prayer for us teachers, for the students, and the ministry in general.
Please continue to be praying for me as I am here and that I will be effective wherever God places me and with all the people He puts in my path. Your prayers specifically in that will be a huge blessing. Thank you for all that you are doing to make my time here possible. I am blessed and honored to have your support!
Since I've been back, the new intern has arrived. It has been good having someone else to do the different activities with, I am no longer riding around town by myself! We haven't done a whole lot yet, because he's working on learning Spanish (but he's progressing very rapidly!), but we've kept fairly busy.
Another new thing that has started since I have been back is a small group that we're hoping will turn into a church plant in a town not too far away. We have had 2 Bible studies. There have been about 12 adults and 5 kids at each so far, so that has been nice. Please be in prayer about this church plant. Please pray that more people (outside our church group) will start coming and that soon we will have enough to have 2 groups. This is an exciting time and your partnership through prayer will be greatly appreciated!
The final new thing that has started up is an ESL class. Last week we started a 4 week course to get the idea planted before Christmas, and hopefully after Christmas we will have even more students! For now, we have 6 teachers (our last week we will have 4 because 2 of the teachers are visitors) and we teach Tuesday and Wednesday nights for an hour and a half. We want to use this as an outreach ministry to bring in people from the community (our eventual hope is to use this near our church plant, but for now, we do not have the space, so we're staying at the Alliance churh we attend). We currently have about 20 students, and the majority attend our church (or other local churches), but we do have a few who are not Christians, so hopefully through this class, we will be able to win them for Christ. Please also be in prayer for this ministry. It is an exciting ministry because we will have people coming to us, and therefore will be more likely to be more open to the Gospel message. Please be prayer for us teachers, for the students, and the ministry in general.
Please continue to be praying for me as I am here and that I will be effective wherever God places me and with all the people He puts in my path. Your prayers specifically in that will be a huge blessing. Thank you for all that you are doing to make my time here possible. I am blessed and honored to have your support!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
WA Vacation
Visiting Family!
Between translating for my church and another local church, I was able to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law in Washington. That was a definite highlight of being home. It had been a year, almost to the date, that I last saw them, so it was SO good to see them again before heading back to CR. Not only was I able to spend time with them, but my Grandma traveled with me to visit them! It was definitely a GREAT time for us all to spend together!
My brother took us flying, which was BEAUTIFUL. Being in WA during the fall was perfect to see the different colors of the trees. Not only that, but we were able to see snow on the tops of the mountains!! We flew to Friday Harbor in the Puget Sound. We also visited Leavenworth. We had lunch at the park, and again, experienced the beautiful fall weather and scenery.
Then, to show how great of a brother and sister that I have, even though they only had me for a few days, they shared me with perfect strangers (to them) by allowing me invite friends from the first mission team I worked with (the CR team). It was fun being able to see those that were able to come.
I was definitely great being able to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law for a couple days!
Between translating for my church and another local church, I was able to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law in Washington. That was a definite highlight of being home. It had been a year, almost to the date, that I last saw them, so it was SO good to see them again before heading back to CR. Not only was I able to spend time with them, but my Grandma traveled with me to visit them! It was definitely a GREAT time for us all to spend together!
My brother took us flying, which was BEAUTIFUL. Being in WA during the fall was perfect to see the different colors of the trees. Not only that, but we were able to see snow on the tops of the mountains!! We flew to Friday Harbor in the Puget Sound. We also visited Leavenworth. We had lunch at the park, and again, experienced the beautiful fall weather and scenery.
Then, to show how great of a brother and sister that I have, even though they only had me for a few days, they shared me with perfect strangers (to them) by allowing me invite friends from the first mission team I worked with (the CR team). It was fun being able to see those that were able to come.
I was definitely great being able to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law for a couple days!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Pastor Juan and Family in MN
I know this is extremely late in getting on my blog, but hey, better late than never!
Our time with Pastor Juan and his family (the pastoral family of our sister church in Peru) was wonderful! I will be completely honest and say it was VERY tiring as well, but it was definitely worth it!
After a late arrival (problems with the airlines lead to a late night call the night they were to leave Lima, which then brought us into a minor panic attack, and ended with them not leaving Lima until 24 hrs later than the intended time), we took off with the ball rolling full speed ahead. We had AWANA activities, pumpkin carving, visiting the Mall of America, the Zoo, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, and the favorites: the Dollar Store and Goodwill. On top of all that was the services we had – Friday night, Saturday morning breakfast, Saturday evening, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening service. The week was jam-packed with activities, sights to see, and people and places to visit.
As I was the translator for the week and had the family staying at my parent’s home, I got to experience things through the eyes of this family. I knew there would various things that for us are normal, everyday events, but for them would be new and exciting. It was this that I was looking the most forward to, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was able enjoy having a personal car (when they are used to walking, taking taxis or mototaxis), the American streets (where this is less chaos, potholes, and garbage), shopping (everything is one convenient location), and a church that is completed (no dirt floors, a roof over head, a kitchen to cook, a gym to play, a nursery for kids). After having these things my whole life and living my whole life in the USA, I was ready to leave and be somewhere else, but it was fun being back and experience the things we all take for granted every day through new eyes and appreciate it all again.
It was also fun to see how involved people from church were. My heart and passion is to get other people EXCITED about missions, about what is going on around the world – outside of the little bubbles we put ourselves and to share what God has blessed us with others who have not been so blessed. So for me, having Pastor Juan and his family visit my church and help the people of my church to understand why I personally (and the dozen or so others who have been to Peru from my church) LOVE being there and want to help them, was the BEST experience of all. Then to see how the church responded, we had the highest attended, most involved and appreciated missions conference in YEARS, and then the love offering that was given to the family/church just topped it all off.
I am SO glad I was able to be home to experience all this and to play a small role in it. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making it all happen. I know you were publicly acknowledged in church, but I want you to know, and everyone who reads my blog to know, how blessed the church is to have you and how great was the work you did. I also want everyone to be aware of how blessed Pastor Juan and his family were by you and your thoughtfulness, and then through them, their church as well!! THANK YOU!!!!
Our time with Pastor Juan and his family (the pastoral family of our sister church in Peru) was wonderful! I will be completely honest and say it was VERY tiring as well, but it was definitely worth it!
After a late arrival (problems with the airlines lead to a late night call the night they were to leave Lima, which then brought us into a minor panic attack, and ended with them not leaving Lima until 24 hrs later than the intended time), we took off with the ball rolling full speed ahead. We had AWANA activities, pumpkin carving, visiting the Mall of America, the Zoo, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, and the favorites: the Dollar Store and Goodwill. On top of all that was the services we had – Friday night, Saturday morning breakfast, Saturday evening, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening service. The week was jam-packed with activities, sights to see, and people and places to visit.
As I was the translator for the week and had the family staying at my parent’s home, I got to experience things through the eyes of this family. I knew there would various things that for us are normal, everyday events, but for them would be new and exciting. It was this that I was looking the most forward to, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was able enjoy having a personal car (when they are used to walking, taking taxis or mototaxis), the American streets (where this is less chaos, potholes, and garbage), shopping (everything is one convenient location), and a church that is completed (no dirt floors, a roof over head, a kitchen to cook, a gym to play, a nursery for kids). After having these things my whole life and living my whole life in the USA, I was ready to leave and be somewhere else, but it was fun being back and experience the things we all take for granted every day through new eyes and appreciate it all again.
It was also fun to see how involved people from church were. My heart and passion is to get other people EXCITED about missions, about what is going on around the world – outside of the little bubbles we put ourselves and to share what God has blessed us with others who have not been so blessed. So for me, having Pastor Juan and his family visit my church and help the people of my church to understand why I personally (and the dozen or so others who have been to Peru from my church) LOVE being there and want to help them, was the BEST experience of all. Then to see how the church responded, we had the highest attended, most involved and appreciated missions conference in YEARS, and then the love offering that was given to the family/church just topped it all off.
I am SO glad I was able to be home to experience all this and to play a small role in it. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making it all happen. I know you were publicly acknowledged in church, but I want you to know, and everyone who reads my blog to know, how blessed the church is to have you and how great was the work you did. I also want everyone to be aware of how blessed Pastor Juan and his family were by you and your thoughtfulness, and then through them, their church as well!! THANK YOU!!!!
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