I was driving home from town today, and the song "More" by Matthew West came on the radio. Now I've heard this song before and didn't think much of it, but as I listened it hit me: God has blessed me more than I can even fathom or imagine. The song talks about just looking around to see the love God has for me. Well, last night the sky was more clear than I have seen in a long time. I felt like I could see every star in the universe. Now if you know anything about me, the night sky is my absolute favorite part of creation. I think it's breathtakingly beautiful and I could stare at it all night long. Because of the frigid weather here in Indiana, however, I didn't stay out very long last night. But it was enough time for God to take my breath away and cause me to praise him. Then this morning I woke up to find a little over two more inches of fresh, sparkling, white snow on the ground. God is so powerful and cool! And he loves me more than all that beautiful creation of his?! Wow. But not only his creation has blown me away, I can just look at my life and see how much he has shown his love to me even just in the past months. Taking a glance behind me - he sent me to Costa Rica, placed incredibly wise and caring leadership over me, placed me in a room with three of the most awesome girls I could as for as sisters, provided more than the comfort I was expecting, threw opportunities my way countless times, and surrounded me with so many best friends I don't even know where to start in counting them!! Ok now looking around in the present - I'm back with my incredible family, my friends all love me and I have already gotten to see a few of my best friends (even one who lives in NC), I just hung up the phone with a close friend who has a crazy awesome blessing straight from the hand of God, and it's the Christmas season when I can remember the gift of his Son that he gave for us. And even taking a peek into the future I can see how much he loves me - I'm preparing to head back down to paradise to learn more and more, and I have college already set up for next year. Yeah. God has blessed me. And this is proof that he loves me so much. But I have to do something about that. I can't just take God's love and leave it at that. The song says “shine for me.” I need to use the love that God has for me, let it fill me up, and allow it to overflow in my life so that no matter what's going on, no matter where I am, no matter who I'm with, I shine like God's love. I want to emanate the love inside me so that no one is left with any doubt in their mind who I serve. The love God has shown me is powerful, I need to let it affect everything I am and shine for him.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Wrapping Up and Ready For Christmas
These past few weeks have been really cool. Everything has started to come to a close, and preparation has begun for going home for the holidays. I'll try to organize this into paragraphs in regard to relevance.
Coronado wrapped up and the kids began practicing for their Christmas program that they're performing on the 11th for all the parents. Last Saturday we all got to help them remember where they needed to go. I worked with the main character, a crippled lamb, who is played by a boy named Keylor. He is precious. He's about 7 years old and has grown so much over the course of the Coronado kids club. He loves coming and brings his Bible and absolutely loves memorizing the verses. Plus, he gave me a flower this past week. I was inside helping set up, and he poked his head in the door, looked around shyly, grinned at me, walked over, and handed me a flower. My heart melted. It was adorable. I'm going to miss those kids.
Youth group at El Alto finished up with a Christmas party. This was a pretty exciting night because one of my GAP friends, JR, was going to give the message. Our pastor has called him "Pastorcito" since pretty much the first day we got here, and finally he asked him to give the message. But the catch is, JR doesn't speak Spanish yet. So guess who got to translate? Yep. Me. YIKES!! It was awesome. I was so nervous, but I spent pretty much the entire day of praying for God to give me the words to say. Some of the times when he was talking, I couldn't think of what to say, but when I opened my mouth the words just came out. God is so incredible!! And another awesome thing, our pastor liked it so much he asked us to do it again on Sunday morning. Wow. Even scarier!! But it all went well, and everyone was very gracious with my mistakes. We left the church that Sunday with many tears, and warm goodbyes.. but we'll see them again in January.
For our Villa Church that we have on Sunday nights, we did things a little differently this week. Since it was going to be the last time together, we did what I like to call a Prayer Walk. There were about 7 stations of different things to pray about. Such as: a bowl of water on a sheet where you could confess your sins, wash your hands, and leave them there; a cross where you could write something you adore about God on a sticky note and post it up; a box of sand where you could write out someone you were thankful for, who had left a footprint on your life, and thank God for them; a wall with everyone's name written up to encourage them; a white board to write your goals and pray for God to help you achieve them; and a worship station. It was super cool! We all did this prayer walk for about 45 minutes, and then John preached about how to tell the 'wheat' from the 'tares.' It was perfect for getting ready to go home. We learned how to live like a real New Creation in Christ, and witness to others who need him. It was a powerful message. Thanks John.
In coming back to the Villa, it was about 10 in the evening. This was the start of a 24-hour Battle Cry that we planned the week before. We set it up to start at 10pm Sunday and continue until 10pm Monday. Each of us signed up for a 2 hour shift, and had a specific room set aside for us to pray in during our shift. That way we would all be trying to focus on praying all day, but the real deal was being held in a room with people together praying hard-core for 2 hours. It was so awesome. The main things on our hearts to pray for were: breaking strongholds back home, staying faithful in the Word away from our encouraging family here, living out the changes God has made in our lives the past 3 months, and witnessing to those back home that really need Jesus Christ. Just praying for each other as we go back to our old lives in the States, back to the temptations, habits, and just the different culture, was a really powerful thing to do. It's going to be so different. But at the same time I can't wait.
This week has been filled with finals and packing. It's been super chill though. I've loved it. Even though we've had to study a lot, we've just hung out a ton because our finals are usually finished for the day by 9:30 or so. It's been super awesome. I've spent a few afternoons laying out by the pool in the sun.. needless to say I'm not that excited about going back to Indiana sub-freezing degree weather. Buut I am excited for snow!! And of course to see everyone that I love. Thank you so much for all of your faithful prayers. I could not have done any of this without the help of my All-Powerful God. Give him praise for all he's done this year.
I will be home from December 12th-January 7th. Email me! hannah@roxsoftware.com
Coronado wrapped up and the kids began practicing for their Christmas program that they're performing on the 11th for all the parents. Last Saturday we all got to help them remember where they needed to go. I worked with the main character, a crippled lamb, who is played by a boy named Keylor. He is precious. He's about 7 years old and has grown so much over the course of the Coronado kids club. He loves coming and brings his Bible and absolutely loves memorizing the verses. Plus, he gave me a flower this past week. I was inside helping set up, and he poked his head in the door, looked around shyly, grinned at me, walked over, and handed me a flower. My heart melted. It was adorable. I'm going to miss those kids.
Youth group at El Alto finished up with a Christmas party. This was a pretty exciting night because one of my GAP friends, JR, was going to give the message. Our pastor has called him "Pastorcito" since pretty much the first day we got here, and finally he asked him to give the message. But the catch is, JR doesn't speak Spanish yet. So guess who got to translate? Yep. Me. YIKES!! It was awesome. I was so nervous, but I spent pretty much the entire day of praying for God to give me the words to say. Some of the times when he was talking, I couldn't think of what to say, but when I opened my mouth the words just came out. God is so incredible!! And another awesome thing, our pastor liked it so much he asked us to do it again on Sunday morning. Wow. Even scarier!! But it all went well, and everyone was very gracious with my mistakes. We left the church that Sunday with many tears, and warm goodbyes.. but we'll see them again in January.
For our Villa Church that we have on Sunday nights, we did things a little differently this week. Since it was going to be the last time together, we did what I like to call a Prayer Walk. There were about 7 stations of different things to pray about. Such as: a bowl of water on a sheet where you could confess your sins, wash your hands, and leave them there; a cross where you could write something you adore about God on a sticky note and post it up; a box of sand where you could write out someone you were thankful for, who had left a footprint on your life, and thank God for them; a wall with everyone's name written up to encourage them; a white board to write your goals and pray for God to help you achieve them; and a worship station. It was super cool! We all did this prayer walk for about 45 minutes, and then John preached about how to tell the 'wheat' from the 'tares.' It was perfect for getting ready to go home. We learned how to live like a real New Creation in Christ, and witness to others who need him. It was a powerful message. Thanks John.
In coming back to the Villa, it was about 10 in the evening. This was the start of a 24-hour Battle Cry that we planned the week before. We set it up to start at 10pm Sunday and continue until 10pm Monday. Each of us signed up for a 2 hour shift, and had a specific room set aside for us to pray in during our shift. That way we would all be trying to focus on praying all day, but the real deal was being held in a room with people together praying hard-core for 2 hours. It was so awesome. The main things on our hearts to pray for were: breaking strongholds back home, staying faithful in the Word away from our encouraging family here, living out the changes God has made in our lives the past 3 months, and witnessing to those back home that really need Jesus Christ. Just praying for each other as we go back to our old lives in the States, back to the temptations, habits, and just the different culture, was a really powerful thing to do. It's going to be so different. But at the same time I can't wait.
This week has been filled with finals and packing. It's been super chill though. I've loved it. Even though we've had to study a lot, we've just hung out a ton because our finals are usually finished for the day by 9:30 or so. It's been super awesome. I've spent a few afternoons laying out by the pool in the sun.. needless to say I'm not that excited about going back to Indiana sub-freezing degree weather. Buut I am excited for snow!! And of course to see everyone that I love. Thank you so much for all of your faithful prayers. I could not have done any of this without the help of my All-Powerful God. Give him praise for all he's done this year.
I will be home from December 12th-January 7th. Email me! hannah@roxsoftware.com
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
A Sacrifice of Praise
Wow, God, I am so blown away. I can't even express how thankful I am for all you've done in my life in this past week. First of all, your hand is so apparent in Coronado. The people are so open to your Word, and there is such a hunger and thirst for sound teaching. Thank you for the leaders we have there, and the way that they are working. Bless them in their efforts, and continue to give them strength and encouragement in the work that they do for you. Second of all, I thank you with my whole heart for the family that you've blessed me with here. They come around me and encourage me, keep me accountable, pray for me, love me, work with me, laugh with me, and just simply are my family. I love them all so much. Especially during Thanksgiving when I missed my family they became my family, and we shared in giving thanks to you all the way from a different country. They mean so much to me, and I couldn't make it here without them. Thank you so much for each one of them. My roommates in particular have been incredible. You have blessed me immensely with the perfect three girls to help me grow and become who you want me to be. Help me to bless them as much as they bless me. Make me into the loving roommate, friend, and sister that I need to be to them. Third of all, God, I thank you for the teaching I've been given. You have placed a mighty spokesman here to guide us in truth, and you have blessed him with exactly what we need to hear. You are a great and sovereign God who is in control of all that happens. Everything that I have been learning has been perfect for your plan for my life. I have been challenged in my worship, mastery and change over my old self, service to your name, and preparation for my Christian life in the future. I pray now that you would teach me to lose myself in you. I cannot do anything apart from your strength, and only a miracle can save me from myself. Please take my life and form it into an on fire life used to further your kingdom. And fourth of all, God, you worked a wonder right before my eyes tonight. I went to youth group knowing that I was going to translate a message. I thought I was ready, and yet at the same time I knew that I couldn't do it. But I completely gave it over to you. I begged you for words and the strength to think on the spot. And I was amazed at what happened. I sat there not knowing what to say and all of a sudden words began coming out of my mouth. You are all powerful and worked through me and JR in a miraculous way. He was able to bring an important message to people who were so ready and excited to hear it, and all only by your Spirit speaking through your Word in him and Spanish words in me. I am still amazed that we were able to convey a beautiful and powerful message. You amaze me. Thank you so much for that blessing. I'm speechless when I think about it. You rock. I love you, God.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Paradise Twice
Since coming to Costa Rica, I've been able to be involved in some pretty awesome ministries. I'm involved in a church, planting a church, a kid's club, a youth group, leading worship amoung the GAP students, and other random opportunities into which I'm able to get involved. But as you can imagine, with plugging into so much ministry comes fatigue. I get tired. I get tired of helping, serving, ministering, studying, working, planning, and everything else. This is the reason we all get Monday's off. We study in class for 6 hours a day during the week, and jam-pack our weekends with ministry. By the time Monday morning hits, there is no longer any way our minds, spirits, or bodies can keep going without a break. We desperately need a chill day to relax, unwind, hang out with God, and do nothing planned. However, going hand in hand with the busyness of the week comes the desire to do things other than school and ministry. Things such as Ultimate Frisbee, shopping in the San Jose market, cleaning at Coronado, going out to eat, or just leaving the Villa fill Mondays almost instantaneously. Because we want so badly to get out when we don't have school, our free day in a sense is no longer free. After compiling close to 3 months now of this routine, I along with the rest of my group, seriously needed an extended break from everything. Therefore.... this weekend we went to the beach for 2 days!!! Oh my goodness. How fantastic does that sound?! Yeah, it pretty much was. From start to finish.. I was finally experiencing the perks of living in CR ;)
After already thinking I lived in paradise with merely slight degree changes from perfect weather, overpoweringly gorgeous scenery, people speaking a beautiful language, and the coolest ever team, I found myself in paradise twice. Moving from the mountains to the ocean I climbed out of the bus, looked as far as my eye could see, and saw nothing but horizon. I dropped my bags and ran to the beach.. across the sand and directly into the pacific. WAHOO!! Oh man.. not only in Costa Rica but at the beach. This is the life. God is so beautiful. So after swimming out to "Isla Tomar El Sol", walking the coastline, eating sandwiches and juice boxes for lunch, I ventured inland for the first time all day, only to find a sand volleyball court. I got pumped and ended up playing for a few hours straight. The sun was awesomely bright and hot, making me sticky and tired. Yet so happy. I love playing beach volleyball... When I got tired I jumped into the pool expecting to cool off. But as soon as I got in, a bunch of guys were talking about water polo. I got curious and very soon the lifeguard showed up with 2 nets and a ball. Looked like I was playing some water polo :) It was so fun.. I had never played before, but it wasn't that hard and it was super fun! By the end of the game though I was doubly pooped. Luckily it was time to check into our rooms so we got to go crash in our rooms. I drug my bags all the way up the mountainous climb (no joke) to room 206. My roommates and I took showers and collapsed on the beds for about an hour. Then Club Lucas decided to take adorable roomie pictures on the beach. We donned our black and jean and posed and smiled and captured all our love ;) It was awesome. Then we headed to dinner.. but not only dinner.. buffet dinner. Now if you know anything about Villa food you'll know how deeply we all appreciated and got very excited for this buffet dinner. We had options, we had GOOD food, and we had multiple servings. We didn't have corncob/banana soup, hot dog casserole, broccoli bacon pasta, cheese soup, or hot dog spaghetti. Living the good life. So after stuffing ourselves we were extremely full and content. During the after dinner hours those of us from Indiana figured the best way to digest was to not move from the dinner table. So we pulled out a handy deck of cards and dealt up some Euchre. Finally. We had been talking about playing ever since we found out there were 4 of us from Indiana all who know how to play and love the game, but we had never actually played. It was a blast. So for the next 2 hours we played some Euchre and chatted it up. Then close to 9 we walked back to our neighborhood since our rooms were right next to each other so I could grab my guitar and head down for some worship on the beach. I had never played my guitar on the beach before, and in my head it was pretty cool. So I decided to make an announcement that 9 pm on the beach there would be a worship service. It was far better than I had ever imagined. I played for close to an hour straight and we just sang in the dark listening to the waves and knowing and seeing and feeling how awesome God is. We stared out at the ocean, knowing that it's one of the most vast things man can come close to viewing, and yet tiny is not even a small enough word to describe how small it is in comparison to our great God. After some heartfelt, passionate, loving worship and prayer, we dispersed and had the rest of the evening to chill. I took my guitar back to the room and then walked back to the beach to pray with some friends about our group. Then I proceeded to wander nearly the entire camp twice looking for my roommate who turned 19 at the strike of midnight. My plan was to knock on her door at midnight and sing to her, but I couldn't find her until about midnight o five. But it was alright. I still sang obnoxiously and she enjoyed it ;) Bedtime was next.. sorta. We went back to our rooms, but I ended up staying awake talking until close to 3. Oops. Oh well. We got up to another beautiful day on the beach. More incredible buffet for breakfast, only this time accompanied by monkeys. They were everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They would hop down on tables and steal food, take food from your hands, and crawl all over the roofs waiting for someone unaware. It was hilarious. I fed one with a baby on its back a banana and it didn't even share with the baby... pig. After breakfast we headed out to the sand courts for a hardcore 2 on 2 tournament. One boy one girl, best 2 out of 3, play to 15 with a 2 point cap, 3rd game to 10, single elimination. Oh yeah, in the scorching sun with lots of sand to stick to your sweat every time you dove. It was awesome. What a way to spend the morning. I played for about 4 hours, probably 6 games straight, and was undefeated. Derick and I were a team and we beat everyone in 2 games. It was so much fun. Between games we had some rest time and we fueled up on coconut milk, which we learned afterwards has about twice the electrolytes as gatorade. So we really were juiced and ready. We were both completely covered in sand, soaked in sweat, dominating the court, slowly tiring out, and having tons of fun!! After we won (*grin*) we showered most of the sand off and jumped into the pool. It was pretty refreshing, but we just got out and walked to the ocean which was cooler and even more refreshing. After our short swim, we dried off and headed up to lunch. Yep. More buffet ;) By this time my body was screaming at me to sleep. So I headed to the beach with the plan to fall asleep in the sun. However, this plan was quickly thwarted with one look at the overcast sky. So instead of getting my tan on, I hung out by the pool and watched some of our guys be pretty retarded. It was really fun. After another hour or so it was time to go home. Happy, dry, tired, and yet rested, I loaded the bus for a gorgeous drive home. On the way to the beach I slept the whole way so I had missed all the scenery, which was absolutely incredible. So this direction I decided to stay awake and check out God's awesome creation in another country. During the drive it hit that magical hour of about 5 o'clock, and it got dark. But the cool thing was we got to watch a full moon rise and hang out over the mountains. It was so bright and gorgeous.. I love the moon :) God is cool. When we got back to the Villa, there was no food waiting for us so some people decided to make some pancakes. I grabbed some in between unpacking and just sitting around. Then my roommates and I showed Madison her CL birthday power point that I made for her. She loved it. I was so glad that it was an awesome birthday for her, even away from home, she had fun and friends and a great 19th. For the rest of the night we just hung out in Club Lucas. It was quite the weekend. I loved just being in some gorgeous creation, in which the mighty hand of an incredible powerful God was consistently apparent :)
After already thinking I lived in paradise with merely slight degree changes from perfect weather, overpoweringly gorgeous scenery, people speaking a beautiful language, and the coolest ever team, I found myself in paradise twice. Moving from the mountains to the ocean I climbed out of the bus, looked as far as my eye could see, and saw nothing but horizon. I dropped my bags and ran to the beach.. across the sand and directly into the pacific. WAHOO!! Oh man.. not only in Costa Rica but at the beach. This is the life. God is so beautiful. So after swimming out to "Isla Tomar El Sol", walking the coastline, eating sandwiches and juice boxes for lunch, I ventured inland for the first time all day, only to find a sand volleyball court. I got pumped and ended up playing for a few hours straight. The sun was awesomely bright and hot, making me sticky and tired. Yet so happy. I love playing beach volleyball... When I got tired I jumped into the pool expecting to cool off. But as soon as I got in, a bunch of guys were talking about water polo. I got curious and very soon the lifeguard showed up with 2 nets and a ball. Looked like I was playing some water polo :) It was so fun.. I had never played before, but it wasn't that hard and it was super fun! By the end of the game though I was doubly pooped. Luckily it was time to check into our rooms so we got to go crash in our rooms. I drug my bags all the way up the mountainous climb (no joke) to room 206. My roommates and I took showers and collapsed on the beds for about an hour. Then Club Lucas decided to take adorable roomie pictures on the beach. We donned our black and jean and posed and smiled and captured all our love ;) It was awesome. Then we headed to dinner.. but not only dinner.. buffet dinner. Now if you know anything about Villa food you'll know how deeply we all appreciated and got very excited for this buffet dinner. We had options, we had GOOD food, and we had multiple servings. We didn't have corncob/banana soup, hot dog casserole, broccoli bacon pasta, cheese soup, or hot dog spaghetti. Living the good life. So after stuffing ourselves we were extremely full and content. During the after dinner hours those of us from Indiana figured the best way to digest was to not move from the dinner table. So we pulled out a handy deck of cards and dealt up some Euchre. Finally. We had been talking about playing ever since we found out there were 4 of us from Indiana all who know how to play and love the game, but we had never actually played. It was a blast. So for the next 2 hours we played some Euchre and chatted it up. Then close to 9 we walked back to our neighborhood since our rooms were right next to each other so I could grab my guitar and head down for some worship on the beach. I had never played my guitar on the beach before, and in my head it was pretty cool. So I decided to make an announcement that 9 pm on the beach there would be a worship service. It was far better than I had ever imagined. I played for close to an hour straight and we just sang in the dark listening to the waves and knowing and seeing and feeling how awesome God is. We stared out at the ocean, knowing that it's one of the most vast things man can come close to viewing, and yet tiny is not even a small enough word to describe how small it is in comparison to our great God. After some heartfelt, passionate, loving worship and prayer, we dispersed and had the rest of the evening to chill. I took my guitar back to the room and then walked back to the beach to pray with some friends about our group. Then I proceeded to wander nearly the entire camp twice looking for my roommate who turned 19 at the strike of midnight. My plan was to knock on her door at midnight and sing to her, but I couldn't find her until about midnight o five. But it was alright. I still sang obnoxiously and she enjoyed it ;) Bedtime was next.. sorta. We went back to our rooms, but I ended up staying awake talking until close to 3. Oops. Oh well. We got up to another beautiful day on the beach. More incredible buffet for breakfast, only this time accompanied by monkeys. They were everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They would hop down on tables and steal food, take food from your hands, and crawl all over the roofs waiting for someone unaware. It was hilarious. I fed one with a baby on its back a banana and it didn't even share with the baby... pig. After breakfast we headed out to the sand courts for a hardcore 2 on 2 tournament. One boy one girl, best 2 out of 3, play to 15 with a 2 point cap, 3rd game to 10, single elimination. Oh yeah, in the scorching sun with lots of sand to stick to your sweat every time you dove. It was awesome. What a way to spend the morning. I played for about 4 hours, probably 6 games straight, and was undefeated. Derick and I were a team and we beat everyone in 2 games. It was so much fun. Between games we had some rest time and we fueled up on coconut milk, which we learned afterwards has about twice the electrolytes as gatorade. So we really were juiced and ready. We were both completely covered in sand, soaked in sweat, dominating the court, slowly tiring out, and having tons of fun!! After we won (*grin*) we showered most of the sand off and jumped into the pool. It was pretty refreshing, but we just got out and walked to the ocean which was cooler and even more refreshing. After our short swim, we dried off and headed up to lunch. Yep. More buffet ;) By this time my body was screaming at me to sleep. So I headed to the beach with the plan to fall asleep in the sun. However, this plan was quickly thwarted with one look at the overcast sky. So instead of getting my tan on, I hung out by the pool and watched some of our guys be pretty retarded. It was really fun. After another hour or so it was time to go home. Happy, dry, tired, and yet rested, I loaded the bus for a gorgeous drive home. On the way to the beach I slept the whole way so I had missed all the scenery, which was absolutely incredible. So this direction I decided to stay awake and check out God's awesome creation in another country. During the drive it hit that magical hour of about 5 o'clock, and it got dark. But the cool thing was we got to watch a full moon rise and hang out over the mountains. It was so bright and gorgeous.. I love the moon :) God is cool. When we got back to the Villa, there was no food waiting for us so some people decided to make some pancakes. I grabbed some in between unpacking and just sitting around. Then my roommates and I showed Madison her CL birthday power point that I made for her. She loved it. I was so glad that it was an awesome birthday for her, even away from home, she had fun and friends and a great 19th. For the rest of the night we just hung out in Club Lucas. It was quite the weekend. I loved just being in some gorgeous creation, in which the mighty hand of an incredible powerful God was consistently apparent :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Gracias A Dios
Hey! Yes, I'm still alive, and yes, I'm still in Costa Rica. Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting in a long time. It often gets pretty crazy busy around here. Many things are much the same: classes, ministry, Bible study, church, and daily life at the Villa are all still rocking and rolling. God's hand is so visible everywhere and yet every time it still amazes me. Instead of trying to tell you all that's happened recently I'm just going to mention some pretty awesome praises that I have.
First, I've had some crazy cool opportunities to speak Spanish. Our class has changed a little in respect to the fact that we have quit doing just random busy work and have started practicing giving our testimonies and sharing the Gospel in Spanish. Each day my teacher will start one of our hours and say "Ok, today *insert name* is going to witness to *insert other name*." Yeah. Relevant practical practice in another language. Cool!! And we do a lot more translating too. When one of us gives a testimony, another of us translates. It's perfect. Also we started reading a book in Spanish - a chapter or so every day. It's really good for learning vocabulary, plus we have to listen hard and practice our pronunciation when it's our turn to read. I love it. And I'm getting better!! Yay!! Then this past Saturday, I went to Coronado in the morning like always and then to a friend from church's house for lunch, then youth group. All day in Spanish :) But it didn't end there. As we were leaving youth group JR and I were talking with our pastor and he's always said that JR is going to be a good pastor someday. He even calls him "Pastorcito." Anyway he asked him to preach on a Saturday night sometime soon. So not this coming Saturday, but the one after that, JR is preaching and I'm translating... INTO Spanish. YIKES!!!! I have been praying to be stretched in my Spanish in order to improve.. I guess I have to be careful what I pray for! It's going to be a real challenge for sure. Right now I can translate into English from Spanish with pretty much no problem. But going the other way is a whole different animal. I'm really really excited, but also very nervous! But I'm most definitely thanking God for this crazy cool opportunity.
Second, the ministry in Coronado is blooming. It's soo cool!! We have an average of about 40 kids every Saturday, and they are always so excited to be there and learn more. Then there are a bunch of women that come to the Bible study on Saturday afternoons and are being mentored by Bethany and Valeria (my Spanish teacher who lives at Coronado as the SCORE missionary there). One of these ladies is the mom of two adorable little boys, Gary and Keylor, who come every Saturday. She has told Bethany recently that Keylor used to have a HUGE problem with getting up for school. He would hate getting up in the morning and would cry and throw a major fit. But then on Saturday mornings he would get up by 6 am and be begging his mom to leave for "camp." So she began to tell him that if he wanted to be able to go on Saturdays he would have to learn to get up for school in the morning too. She has seen such a major change in him, and says that it's incredible to watch God change his life from the inside. Praise the Lord!! THEN... this past Tuesday 3 boys that come every week showed up on the property and just hung out with Bethany for a while. They told her that they wanted some help growing in God. She has some material for new believers and is going to, with the help of a few of our guys, disciple them. Wow!! So pray that the desire they have stays and grows, and that we can help them learn more about living for Christ even despite their strict "religious life" catholic background. But it's been amazing to see all of that this week because it means we're making a difference. We're touching lives with the love of God!! Glory be to his name :) But the Coronado ministry doesn't stop there. We had the first Sunday church service there today. There were close to 30 people total there. It was incredible!! The pure message of the Gospel was preached from John 14. Jesus is the only way to Heaven, not by works, not by someone else, not by anything other than faith in his blood. I can't wait to see this part of the ministry grow. God is big and he is good. Keep the prayers rolling in!!
Third, I get another vacation-like take-advantage-of-being-in-another-country experience this weekend. We get to spend two days at the beautiful beach, Punta Leona. Two days of no classes, no work, just relaxing in the water in the sun on the sand with all my friends :) I'm so excited. It's going to be a perfect break before we hit the books hardcore as finals are coming quicker than we realize. I love everyone here and can't wait to just chill out with them all for a weekend. Costa Rica to the max ;)
Fourth, a prayer request. One of our sisters had to leave yesterday because of health problems. Her name is Devin and she had brain surgery over the summer because of an aneurysm. She recovered well, but recently has been having pretty terrible headaches again. She went to the hospital to get checked out, and they found that it was her medicine causing the problem. Although this is a good thing because it wasn't her brain, it's still a pretty serious situation and she needed to go to her own doctor and be with her mom to get it figured out. It's been hard for us to loose another girl, but we know that she's going to be coming back with us in January all fixed up. It's only a short time before she can join us again. Please be praying for her as she deals with missing out on our last month, healing up, and staying up enough on the language that she's not completely lost by the time January comes around.
Fifth, I got to skype my sister for her birthday!! I got to talk with ALL of my family (including Lucas over skype/speaker phone). It was so fun :) They did eat delicious Mama Starrett desserts in front of me though.. that was painful... but all in all it was really cool to see the fam and watch my little teenage sister open gifts. I love them all :) God has truly blessed me with an incredible family not only here but at home behind me as well.
Alright. This post is long enough. Thanks for all your prayers they are much appreciated! Keep them coming as we have one month to stay kicked in high gear before we head back for the holidays. Praise God for what he's doing down here, I thank him so much for the opportunities and growth that I've personally gone through and am still going through. Join me in praising him as well for the blessings and success in all our ministries here. He is sovereign and reigns with a perfect plan. God rocks! I love you all :)
First, I've had some crazy cool opportunities to speak Spanish. Our class has changed a little in respect to the fact that we have quit doing just random busy work and have started practicing giving our testimonies and sharing the Gospel in Spanish. Each day my teacher will start one of our hours and say "Ok, today *insert name* is going to witness to *insert other name*." Yeah. Relevant practical practice in another language. Cool!! And we do a lot more translating too. When one of us gives a testimony, another of us translates. It's perfect. Also we started reading a book in Spanish - a chapter or so every day. It's really good for learning vocabulary, plus we have to listen hard and practice our pronunciation when it's our turn to read. I love it. And I'm getting better!! Yay!! Then this past Saturday, I went to Coronado in the morning like always and then to a friend from church's house for lunch, then youth group. All day in Spanish :) But it didn't end there. As we were leaving youth group JR and I were talking with our pastor and he's always said that JR is going to be a good pastor someday. He even calls him "Pastorcito." Anyway he asked him to preach on a Saturday night sometime soon. So not this coming Saturday, but the one after that, JR is preaching and I'm translating... INTO Spanish. YIKES!!!! I have been praying to be stretched in my Spanish in order to improve.. I guess I have to be careful what I pray for! It's going to be a real challenge for sure. Right now I can translate into English from Spanish with pretty much no problem. But going the other way is a whole different animal. I'm really really excited, but also very nervous! But I'm most definitely thanking God for this crazy cool opportunity.
Second, the ministry in Coronado is blooming. It's soo cool!! We have an average of about 40 kids every Saturday, and they are always so excited to be there and learn more. Then there are a bunch of women that come to the Bible study on Saturday afternoons and are being mentored by Bethany and Valeria (my Spanish teacher who lives at Coronado as the SCORE missionary there). One of these ladies is the mom of two adorable little boys, Gary and Keylor, who come every Saturday. She has told Bethany recently that Keylor used to have a HUGE problem with getting up for school. He would hate getting up in the morning and would cry and throw a major fit. But then on Saturday mornings he would get up by 6 am and be begging his mom to leave for "camp." So she began to tell him that if he wanted to be able to go on Saturdays he would have to learn to get up for school in the morning too. She has seen such a major change in him, and says that it's incredible to watch God change his life from the inside. Praise the Lord!! THEN... this past Tuesday 3 boys that come every week showed up on the property and just hung out with Bethany for a while. They told her that they wanted some help growing in God. She has some material for new believers and is going to, with the help of a few of our guys, disciple them. Wow!! So pray that the desire they have stays and grows, and that we can help them learn more about living for Christ even despite their strict "religious life" catholic background. But it's been amazing to see all of that this week because it means we're making a difference. We're touching lives with the love of God!! Glory be to his name :) But the Coronado ministry doesn't stop there. We had the first Sunday church service there today. There were close to 30 people total there. It was incredible!! The pure message of the Gospel was preached from John 14. Jesus is the only way to Heaven, not by works, not by someone else, not by anything other than faith in his blood. I can't wait to see this part of the ministry grow. God is big and he is good. Keep the prayers rolling in!!
Third, I get another vacation-like take-advantage-of-being-in-another-country experience this weekend. We get to spend two days at the beautiful beach, Punta Leona. Two days of no classes, no work, just relaxing in the water in the sun on the sand with all my friends :) I'm so excited. It's going to be a perfect break before we hit the books hardcore as finals are coming quicker than we realize. I love everyone here and can't wait to just chill out with them all for a weekend. Costa Rica to the max ;)
Fourth, a prayer request. One of our sisters had to leave yesterday because of health problems. Her name is Devin and she had brain surgery over the summer because of an aneurysm. She recovered well, but recently has been having pretty terrible headaches again. She went to the hospital to get checked out, and they found that it was her medicine causing the problem. Although this is a good thing because it wasn't her brain, it's still a pretty serious situation and she needed to go to her own doctor and be with her mom to get it figured out. It's been hard for us to loose another girl, but we know that she's going to be coming back with us in January all fixed up. It's only a short time before she can join us again. Please be praying for her as she deals with missing out on our last month, healing up, and staying up enough on the language that she's not completely lost by the time January comes around.
Fifth, I got to skype my sister for her birthday!! I got to talk with ALL of my family (including Lucas over skype/speaker phone). It was so fun :) They did eat delicious Mama Starrett desserts in front of me though.. that was painful... but all in all it was really cool to see the fam and watch my little teenage sister open gifts. I love them all :) God has truly blessed me with an incredible family not only here but at home behind me as well.
Alright. This post is long enough. Thanks for all your prayers they are much appreciated! Keep them coming as we have one month to stay kicked in high gear before we head back for the holidays. Praise God for what he's doing down here, I thank him so much for the opportunities and growth that I've personally gone through and am still going through. Join me in praising him as well for the blessings and success in all our ministries here. He is sovereign and reigns with a perfect plan. God rocks! I love you all :)
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Deja Vu
Following two days of fantastic ministry, church going, and incredible worship Sunday night, I rose early this morning on the floor of my awesome mentor's room in the midst of the aftermath of a girls slumber party. The night consisted of a buffet of candy and snack food, laughing, movies, and a unifying activity. Needless to say the weekend rocked, but it's today that really iced the cake. Starting with a bus ride we headed out toward San Francisco to hike a very tall mountain up to the cross. From the bus window I could see the mountain looming in front of us all with a tiny speck of what slightly resembled a cross on the top. My mind flashed back to riding the top of a rickety pick up truck, surrounded by luggage, and staring up to the top of Mt Grenier to a tiny speck of blue that was pointed out as the church. The same thought kept repeating itself in my mind, “I'm supposed to WALK all the way up there?!” Yeah. And just like it was in Haiti the hike was rough. I sweat like crazy, my muscles were burning, I lost my breath often, and occasionally took a break to allow myself to be amazed at the view spread out before me in every direction. On one side was mountainous terrain, the other was open out to the city of San Jose, and ahead of me, just up up and more up. Eventually I arrived at the first cross. Holy cow was the view cool from up there. You could see all of San Jose and the surrounding areas. I could see downtown with all the tall buildings, the national futbol stadium, and more city as far as the eye could reach. Then I would look to the other side and see the other mountain with squares of field and different patches of color surrounding tiny houses. It brought back memories of standing on Grenier and looking over to Gremoth.. totally cool. And looking up to the cross was amazing in itself. It was tall and covered in lights in order to be seen from the city when night fell. It was breathtaking just to stand up and look out, and then turn around and look up to the cross remembering all that Christ has done since the beginning of the world: created all this beauty, humbled himself to join us in our humanity, died on a cross, so that we could have life – full, abundant, eternal – life through him. Praise be to the name of our Lord and Saviour! But the hike didn't stop there. We weren't done yet. We took about a million pictures at that cross and enjoyed a break, but soon were continuing up once again. This part of the hike was way more rocky and covered by trees. It was shaded and somewhat wet from some water source above most of the way to the second cross. This portion was shorter so I was soon finding myself emerging into a clearing where I could see a cross about four times as big as the first one. This one didn't have quite the view as the first as it was set into the woods more. But what was super cool about this one, was that it was in the clouds. Another flashback to Haiti. I watched the clouds roll over and encompass us in whiteish gray mist. I could see my breath when I huffed, and as the cloud passed over I could see less and less of the scenery and then more and more as it disappeared once more. This cross was where we stopped for lunch. Taking a seat and pulling out my sandwich was a wonderful feeling after hiking for so long. But just as I swallowed my last bite, someone yelled from down the other side a little ways that the best view he had ever seen in his life was a mere 300 yards down the other side. So over I went. Hiking down felt nice and suddenly I found myself on a sort of land bridge between two mountains. Wow was he right. On the right was a valley between mountains that had a river at the bottom. I couldn't see it, but I could hear the water, including a waterfall at one end. Then on the left was out over the city just like at the first cross, but there was a wider view from this vantage point. It was absolutely breathtaking. Derick, one of my fellow Indiana gappers, fittingly commented, “So I just had a crazy thought, if this is what earth is like, what's heaven gonna be like!?” After more photo ops the hike back started. Back up to the second cross, to go back down to the second cross, to go back down all the way to the bottom. The whole day worship songs were playing over in my mind.. I know, who would have thought Hannah Starrett would have music in her head.. ;) God is mighty and powerful and so crazy cool. I loved everything about being in his creation today and praising him for it as I hiked up to a cross where I was reminded all that he did for me. Incredible. Words can't even describe it all.. my continuous prayer is still that God would take me and use me for his work and glory. In Haiti I saw his hand and was changed, now in Costa Rica I see his hand and beg him to change me.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Humans Flying Is No Myth
We, as students in Costa Rica, get to occasionally reap the benefits of living in another country. This past Monday we were able to go zip-lining through the mountain rain forest of CR, and it was incredible!! We got up early and headed out on a bus that was "coach," but was more like an airplane set up than bus seats.. I slept most of the way. When we got there, all the guides were waiting for us and one was dressed up like a chicken. We had to do the chicken dance as our initiation and it was NOT the chicken dance I'm used to. It was in Spanish of course and very.. different. Then we signed our waivers and got helmets and headed up the mountain. On the way up we had to do some team challenge type things, do an Indian dance around a teepee, and sit in the river as punishment for losing. Needless to say, wet jeans plus tight equipment wasn't the most comfortable way to hike the rest of the way up. There were 5 lines and they were all a blast!! The first one was pretty normal, but it went over a gorge between the two mountains.. super cool!! And you could see an amazing view of San Jose from where we were flying. Pretty cool. There was one line where they allowed us to go upside down. We got hooked up to the line, grabbed our gear with our hands, and held the cable with our feet. Then once we were past the platform we could let go and hang our hands down so we were flying upside down across a huge mountain gorge... what a rush!!! That was my favorite part by far. It was sooo cool!!! Then the last one was the highest and fastest, and we got to jump off a platform as our speed start which was really cool. Little did we know that those who went in front of us would be waiting at the end with water bottles ready to soak us.. That was quite the surprise, and my whole right side was completely soaked.. they had mercy on some people, but I was toast. It was still awesome and I then got to enjoy watching everyone else get the same loving treatment :) Then at the very end there was a free-fall swing type deal that was offered to us for ten bucks.. yeah I did it. Too cool. They hooked me up with a bunch of ropes and cams and the like and said, “Ok jump!” … so I jumped.. I flew through the air and then swung back and flew again.. it was awesome! It's crazy what we do for adrenaline rushes ;) We had brought sandwiches for lunch and were given some water and time to just chill, then I slept on the bus ride home as we headed back to the villa for the rest of our free day. It was a good one to be sure :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)