Nearing the end of lecture phase

So it’s been a little awhile, and I’m behind… however, my lovely sister encouraged me to write another post so I’ll do my best to not miss anything important. We're nearing the end of lecture phase (scary to to think!) but it's been a blast so far. 

John Ray and my friend Hannah Doak

Praying during the baptism

The week of November 5^th-9^th was the topic of our Identity in Christ, and our speaker was John Ray, who is a truly amazing man of God and a great speaker. It was definitely one of my favorite weeks. I received so much revelation, got severely challenged by John, and received a new list of books to read! It was also super special because on Wednesday we drove an hour and a half away to a tiny beach town called Jaco, on the Pacific Coast. We had class at the beach, communion, and then six of us (me included!) got baptized in the ocean. It was a beautiful day of much needed sun, hanging out, talking, swimming, major sunburn and a lesson of boogie boarding for me! 

The six of us who got baptized

The next week, November 12^th-16^th, was on the topic of Godly Relationships (not just dating, but with friends, parents as well). Our speaker was Elaine Allegretto, who comes from Texas. It was also a good week for learning new concepts, and to have some teaching on a subject that doesn’t get taught on much. It opened my eyes to how much value we have as humans, and how we need to respect the opposite gender and honor our differences.

For our local outreach on Thursday of that week, we headed to the University of Costa Rica to talk with students and get a feel for the spiritual situation they were in. It was intimidating at first to walk up to somebody we didn’t know, and to try and talk in a different language, but it was so cool too! Students are really open to talking and meeting new people. It’s such a different culture than North America, where students are fairly closed off, and you’re considered strange if you talk to somebody you don’t know. On top of everything, I have multiple friends who attend UCR who did an exchange program to Canada this past summer in July for two weeks, so I got to meet up with them which was fun.

At my friend Gabi's house with Grace, Esteban and Hannah

The next week was Biblical Worldview (November 19^th-23^rd) taught by Giacomo Coghi, who happened to pioneer this base with his wife, Mar. They’re still the leaders of this base, so we see them around a bit but we hadn’t gotten to know Giacomo much until that week. Every week is good, and this one was no exception. The biggest thing I got out of that week was that with God it is possible to plan for the future! God has put desires and dreams in our hearts and if we plan alongside God, we can know what we want to do in ten years. We can’t know exactly what we’ll be doing, down to the little details, but He can give you a vision and confirmation. That was comforting for me because it’s hard for me to live literally day by day (which God does ask us to do), but He also wants us to ask Him about our future!

Besides classes, a lot has been going around here! We’re now in full preparation mode for outreach. I made the decision to go to Brazil for my outreach two weeks ago. It was quite the lengthy process of prayer for me! I felt called to both locations really (Brazil and Central America), and in the end God told me He wanted me to choose. So I did! I’ll get to experience another new culture, which will be awesome! Our plan is to be in Rio de Jeniero for five weeks doing ministry in the favelas (Brazilian slums), helping out at local churches, doing street ministry, and doing whatever we’re called to do to serve God! We’re doing a lot of prayer and intercession for the big things God wants us to do while we’re there, but a big part of prayer is for finances. Our team needs $50 000 for the trip, and right now we have around $20 000. So we still have fundraising to do! We’re totally trusting in God for the money to come through, and we’ve all decided that any ‘what ifs’ or doubts are not allowed! We’ve all been called to Brazil and that’s where we’re going!

Other things that have been going on around the base…we had American Thanksgiving last week which was a blast! Four girls from my DTS (me included) volunteered to help cook the feast for 130 people. Some staff started prepping the day before, and then at 1pm the day of, the cooking began! In the end, it was an amazing time of food, friends, and conversation. It really helped a lot of us from North America feel like we were at home, and it gave the locals a new meal to try.

Alex (Portland, Oregon), Kayla (Alberta, Canada), and I

The other weekend we also had a base soccer tournament on Sunday after church. It cost 1000 colones (two dollars) to enter, and different teams played against each other and were eliminated until eventually one team won. It was another good day of hanging out with everybody on base.

Some serious soccer playing going on!

A huge surprise I got this past weekend was a visit from my parents! My dad had to go to Lima, Peru for business so my mom and him thought they’d stop over. I had a wonderful weekend of visiting different parts of Costa Rica; the mountains and the beach, eating amazing food, and spending some quality time with my parents. They are incredible and I feel so blessed to have them in my life!

Anyways, that’s about the gist of what’s been going on around here. If you could just pray for the two outreach teams; for finances, and for unity that would be much appreciated! Thanks for reading!

My DTS all together 

Philippians 4:4-9

Shouldn't there be snow?

I’m going to admit it: I started playing Christmas music last night already… I couldn’t help it! One of my roommates strung up Christmas lights around her bed, and so I pulled out the Michael Buble Christmas tunes! It was great, but also slightly weird/sad because there’s no snow outside, so it feels like summer. The nights are actually fairly fresh these days though because we’re in the rainy season, so that makes it nice to sleep.

So I feel like I have a fair amount to share because I haven’t blogged in a bit. Two weeks ago we had a speaker, Jack Kody, who spoke on the topic of the Father Heart of God. This was an amazing week because Jack demonstrated so clearly what the Father’s love for us is like. I feel so blessed because I have an amazing earthly dad, who sets a great example for me and for what a father figure should be like. So for me, seeing God as a Father wasn’t a huge struggle for me, but of course I still learned so much. For others though, that week was a life changing experience because many didn’t have good father figures, or even fathers at all. Jack definitely started a healing process for their hearts which is awesome!

Last week was a highly anticipated week among the DTS and staff because it was Inner Healing Week. That basically means that all of the issues in your life that you are holding onto or haven’t forgiven yourself/others for, you get out in the open and receive healing from God! It was definitely an emotional week for a lot of people, and God did amazing work in everyone’s heart. The first three days of the week we had teaching on what causes roots of different issues such as: rejection, shame, rebellion, unbelief (etc). With these issues one thing leads to another which leads to another…but the basis of all of them is a deficit of love. As humans, our biggest desire is to be loved. When that isn’t fulfilled, roots start to grow in our hearts which lead to big problems if we don’t deal with them.

The last two days of the week were reserved for sharing with one another, breaking soul ties, forgiving people in our lives, and most importantly forgiving ourselves. It was such a powerful time because many people had never told anyone about the things that had happened in their life, so we prayed for courage and boldness. I’m proud of everyone, and it’s amazing to see how getting issues out in the open can help a person begin to heal, and also to help unite a group. It was also a time for me to give up my chocolate addiction, so for the whole week I went without chocolate and sweets. Looking back, it was poor timing because that was probably the week I could have used chocolate the most!

Besides classes though, there’s been a lot going on at the base. I’ve decided I love Sundays because it’s a day where everybody on base is literally just hanging out together. We have church in the morning (which is in Spanish so it really tests your language abilities), and then after that the day is free to hang out, do homework, or play sports. You will literally watch at least one soccer game on Sunday if not more! A lot of the time someone is making tacos or BBQ-ing, so I like to steal some and go chat with someone. It’s such a great time of building community, which I love.

On Saturdays we have local outreach sometimes, and last Saturday we did something really cool! We went around to different womens’ homes who are apart of a women’s group at one of our DTS leader’s (Vanessa) church. We went in groups of two, one English speaker and one Spanish speaker and just talked with them and prayed for them. Most of them come from really poor areas of San Jose, so going to their homes was a shock for a lot of us. For me, the woman whose house I visited, lives with fourteen other people in a tiny little shack. It was heart breaking, but so awesome too because she was so hopeful and on fire for God and ready for change. We prayed a lot for her and her family, and it was such a blessing to spend the afternoon with her.

Saturdays are often free though, and one weekend I went down town with a local Costa Rican and got shown around! It was cool because I saw the Central Market with all the neat food, clothes, and knick knacks and then we walked to a beautiful park. It was a blessing because I feel like I haven’t seen that much nature in awhile, plus it was a sunny day! Basically weekends are an awesome time for exploring and doing new things!

The most exciting thing around the base right now though is the announcement of outreach locations for the last two months of DTS. This morning the staff let us know we would be split into two teams, one is going to two Central American countries (Guatemala and El Salvador) and the other team is going to Brazil. They’re both really exciting locations and we’re all praying about where God wants us to go. The Brazil location is double the cost of the Central American one, which is hard to swallow but we’re trying to not worry about cost because God can provide for us in any situation if that’s where He wants us! Prayer for decision making would be appreciated!

This week we have a speaker in from Arkansaw, John Ray. He’s speaking on the topic of finding our identity in Christ. He is such an incredible speaker and is really challenging us! Class is a mixture of him speaking and us discussing as a group which is perfect because it keeps you engaged which is essential for absorbing ideas. I’m excited for the rest of the week, and what he has to teach us. He’s an outdoorsy, crazy, adrenaline- seeking guy, so for tomorrow’s class we’re going to the beach for class which I’m stoked about! Enjoy your week!

-Luke 11: 1-13

Our DTS group plus staff above

To Know God And To Make Him Known!

Just a few of the amazing people I've met!

A part view of the main building