My second adventure begins

The three crazy Canadians in the School of Worship (ironically Hannah is wearing an American sweater...)

So I’ve been back in what I now consider my second home, Costa Rica, for one month now (already!). After a month- long visit back to Canada in March, I returned to YWAM San Jose at the beginning of April to do a secondary school, School of Worship.

During my five month DTS adventure here, I discovered rather quickly, that I had an honest passion for worship. I’d grown up playing piano, joined jazz band, and eventually went to study music in university for a couple years, so music had always had a presence in my life.  But one of the first times we had worship as a whole YWAM base, I experienced God’s presence in a way I never had, and it made me thirsty for more. I now realize worship is probably the strongest time that I hear God’s voice and connect with Him. I love and look forward to those times so much.

It feels awesome to be back on base and to see a lot of the people that I missed. Obviously, I miss quite a few from my DTS who aren’t here, but YWAM is about building really deep relationships that will last no matter where you are in the world. It’s so cool how God brings you into an amazing family who you get to know really well, and this new, strange country ends up being your second home. 

So, School of Worship has a similar structure to DTS in terms of how classes are run. We have a new speaker every week, talking about a different topic, but focused on worship and specifically worship through music. In the end though, it’s all about going deeper with God, getting to know who He is more, and discovering who you are in Him. So far it’s been amazing, really.  We’ve had four weeks of classes and I love each speaker in a different way, I couldn’t pick a favorite. Each speaker brings totally new things to the table, each have different teaching styles and ways of helping you learn. It’s so cool!

In SOW, there are only seven of us (a bit of a change from the twenty-two in my DTS), so the atmosphere is quite different than DTS class time. SOW feels more like a place to not only get information thrown at us, but to discuss it amongst ourselves, ask questions, or even question the information given. I definitely find it easier to learn in an environment like this, so I feel like God’s been giving me so much revelation!

First week of classes were taught by one of the base leaders, Spencer Pavely (also one of the awesome Canadians on base…go Canada!). He taught on the Foundations of Worship, so basically what you need to possess as a daughter/son of God before you go and lead people, and that involves knowing God’s character and who He is. There’s always a topic of the week, but often we end up talking about everything and anything, that’s the cool thing about it. If the speaker is being lead by the Holy Spirit, you can get so much out of a class.  I love when Spencer teaches because he’s honest, speaks from experience and has an awesome Canadian sense of humor… which often involves corny jokes with some sarcasm thrown in for good measure!

Second week was a bit of a mash-up between song writing classes with Marcello Rojo, and Hans Wust speaking about our identity as worshipers. Both were incredible! Marcello makes his living as a musician, teacher, and song- writer. He’s an unbelievable pianist and can come up with a new song in two minutes flat (rhyming lyrics included, no joke!). So he basically walked us through the process of song writing, and the difference between writing worship songs versus maybe more commercial music. It was definitely a blast, and in the end we came out with a few new songs written by our class as whole.

Hans Wust is a local Tico, and is one of the most honest people I’ve ever met. His quiet way of speaking combined with his ability to challenge you to be honest with yourself definitely shook some things up in me. He spoke a lot about finding a community of people that you can be totally honest with. That’s what being the church is all about…community, honesty, and accountability. Feeling like you don’t have to hide whatever things are messed up in your life at the time. Having the total freedom to share with people and have them walk alongside you and support you through those struggles. No pretending, no pressure of having to be perfect, just being brutally honest. That’s how we should try and be as the Church. Alongside that, knowing your identity in Christ, instead of your “worldly” identity was another subject he touched on quite a bit. Identity is something we all struggle with, and it’s been something I’ve had to “un-learn” almost. In society we’re taught that worldly things define who we are: what we study, our job, the instrument we play, what sport we’re good at. But any of that could be taken away in an instant…so what would you be left with? I’ve been slowly learning to put my identity in Christ, and the fact that I’m his daughter. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s more than enough for me.

Last week was also taught by a local Tico, David Bastamente  Alongside Hans, David is a brutally honest guy, and has an incredible, incredible testimony. He’s an unbelievably talented guitar player as well as singer, and leads worship at one of the Vineyard churches in Escazu, about twenty minutes from the base. All week with him was basically about being raw, real, and again, insanely honest. He shared his struggles, testimonies, and stories of his life, and expected us to do the same. The basis of what he taught on was finding that community, that family you can belong to, and be totally raw with. Again, that’s what being the Church really means. You need to have those brothers and sisters you can go to without having to put on a mask, and pretend to be the perfect Christian…there’s no such thing. We’re all God’s broken daughters and sons, no matter what. The point is to bring our failures and brokenness to the cross and to be forgiven. It was a challenging week in terms of bringing up things that we maybe didn’t want to bring up, but in the end that God forgives and heals you of.

It’s been an amazing time of learning so far, God is so awesome and I can’t wait to see what else He’s going to do during this time. Before I sign off though, I want to introduce my School of Worship family:

Hannah: fellow Canadian, my amazing leader for my outreach to Brazil, a singer and guitar player, loves chocolate, super crazy and funny.

Joe: from Colorado, was part of my DTS, plays guitar and is just a super chill, awesome guy.

Josue: from Costa Rica, was also part of my DTS, plays drums and loves to bother me like my older brother does.

Kourtney: another fellow Canadian, did her outreach to Costa Rica while I was doing my DTS, plays piano, same sense of crazy Canadian humor Hannah and I have.

Hazel: from London, England, plays the flute and has a hilarious sense of British humor (I don’t think she’s too scared to have three Canadians living with her).

Sharon: from Singapore, plays guitar, really honest, and loves to have fun with the other crazy gals in her room!

Back in the frozen tundra

Our outreach team to Brazil

I realize I haven't blogged in over a month, and I apologize. I didn't bring my computer with me on outreach to Brasil so it was a little difficult for me to blog. Hopefully I'll be able to cover all the important points of outreach though!

So the adventure has drawn to a close, I've officially graduated from DTS in San Jose, Costa Rica. Crazy to think that five months went by so fast, I never thought I would say that! I flew back into Toronto to see my brother on the 25th, and now I'm in Calgary visiting my sister for one week before I head back to cold land of Winnipeg. I had some crazy adventures on outreach in Brasil and even though some of it was hard, the amazing moments totally over shadow the not-so-great ones.

Basically our outreach was divided into five weeks of different ministry in Brasil. We were supposed to stay the whole time on the YWAM base in Rio, but that changed once we got there.
Our first week was spent at a church in a town about 20 minutes away called Xarem where there was serious flooding. We ended up doing kid's camps there, church services, and hanging out with youth. We were supposed to help with clean up of the flooding but they said what they needed most was financial aid. Luckily we were able to bless them that way and they could continue with rescue efforts. The hospitality of the church was incredible, I've never experienced anything like it! We wanted to be there to bless and serve them, instead they wanted it to be the other way around! It was amazing.

Our team with church youth in Xarem

Paloma, one of the youth from the church

Second week was spent in a totally different environment. We ended going into one of the most dangerous favelas (slums) in Rio called, Parada de Lucas. This is a community that is still run by drug lords, so there are men standing around on corners in bullet proof vests with automatic rifles...they're not the police. We were warned we "might" see guns, so I took that as probably not...definitely not the case! It took a little while to get used to the shots that were fired off in the middle of the night but eventually we calmed down. In the community there's a YWAM "safe house", so that's where we stayed for the week. While there we did a lot of testimony sharing, worship, kids camps, and dramas. One of the last nights we did a prayer walk around the favela with the pastor and we prayed for many of the drug lords. God really broke my heart that night because I realized if I cared so much for these people, how much does He care for them and want the best for them? That's definitely a huge aspect of God that I came to learn about on outreach.

A view from the roof of our safe house

The third week we moved to another favela, but this one was pacified. Since both the World Cup and Olympics are coming to Brasil, they're trying to clean up the city and make it more secure for everyone.  So there were no drug lords standing around with guns, only the police hanging out making sure everything was going smoothly. It was neat to compare the two communities and we had two totally different experiences. We ended up doing a lot of painting, some worship, and praying for people in the community.


Fourth week of outreach we went to another church in a different part of Rio. The first night that we arrived in Rio we did a service at this church and after that they asked if we could come back for a few days. Again, the hospitality of the church was incredible and no matter how much we tried to help with food prep, or cleaning dishes, they insisted on doing it! Again, we did quite a few church services (testimonies, worship, and sermons). We also got to do house visitations for church members, so we got to talk and pray for them. We also did a lot of painting, cleaning and organizing for the pastors at the church which was really cool for us. Even with the language barrier we were still able to communicate and have a really amazing time there with them.

Our final week of ministry was spent in the heart of Rio during Carnaval! Our DTS team took part in a four day "camp" (ministry) called "Impacto Carnaval" with 300 hundred other youth from other parts of Brasil (and one other YWAM team from Holland!). In the morning to mid-afternoon we slept, had free time, devotions, and training and then around 8-11 pm we gathered together to do worship, testimonies, a message (etc). After that, we went to the streets! From 11 pm until 5 am we talked with people who were out at Carnaval, we got to pray for them and just hang out. It was an incredible experience! For me, since I'm a North American, I'm used to people being so closed off and not wanting to talk or hear abut God at all. Latino culture is so different! Even if they don't share your point of view, they still love to talk with you and share what they think. Latino culture is all about relationships and quality time, which is different than North American culture. It was encouraging because street evangelism is something I find challenging, I'm not somebody usually comfortable going up to strangers. Carnaval ministry was incredible but really, really tiring at the same time. The last night our whole team prayed for strength and refreshment and God totally delivered! It was so cool to see everybody on our team talking with people, sharing and nobody was tired until we took the metro back to where we were staying. All in all, Carnaval ministry was one of the toughest ministries we did, spiritually and physically, but I would do it again in a heart beat.

Part of our team at the metro, heading to Carnaval



The last three days before we flew back to Costa Rica were spent in debrief. We got to hang out, relax, and talk about what God showed and taught us all over outreach. It was awesome to have that time to spend time altogether without being busy planning ministry (etc.). We got to enjoy each other for the last time before we all went our separate ways.


What I just wrote about is literally a fraction of what we did and what went on. It's hard for me to only share the big points, but that's what DTS is about I suppose. You learn and grow so much internally and there's so much that goes on under the surface that only God knows about. It was my personal journey and I don't regret one second of it. Every situation I went through caused me to grow, every person that God put in my life had an impact on me. I went on this journey with twenty one other people and I love each one them. So it's the end of that adventure and the start of a new one for me! I'm back home for a few weeks and then I get to head back to Costa Rica for a secondary school...School of Worship! Worship is something that is so important to me and God really revealed to me that it's one of the ways I best connect with Him. I'm excited to go back to San Jose for another three months and really dig deeper into His word and grow more. Although it won't be the same adventure, I'm looking forward to this new one.

Thank you for your support the past five months, for your prayers, and for reading this. I feel blessed to have gotten to go on this journey and who knows...maybe it will inspire somebody else to do a DTS.

Our DTS graduation night

Blessings...

Nicole


-Ecclesiastes 3

Off to Rio, Brazil!

Hey everyone,

So I realized I should probably post before I head to Brazil because things will get crazy and I'll forget to blog later about local outreach...

We left for our first outreach location, Chiroles, which is in the province of Limon, on Dec. 28th and it took about 4-5 hours to get there by van. Luckily this time we had no van trouble, yah! For those of you who have lived in northern manitoba, Chiroles is very similar to the reserves we have up there (except think jungle, not boreal forest). One of the staff members at the base here, Luis, grew up there so it was great to have somebody to show us around and introduce us to the people. It's a very small community (most people are related) so everybody was friendly and glad to have us there which was nice.
While we were there we stayed at a bible camp, we got to sleep with scorpions, snakes, and large mosquitoes...just kidding we didn't actually see any scorpions, but we were warned to check our bags and shoes before we put our hands in.

The first day we ended up doing manual labor around the bible camp, it's still relatively new so there's always stuff to do. Being in Chiroles was how I thought Costa Rica was going to be like: jungle, really hot and humid, and sunny. It was definitely a change from the cool temperatures of San Jose. The next few days we did kid and youth camps which were awesome! I felt called towards the 11-14 year old age group, so me and five of my DTS team members got to plan activities for them. We did dramas, games, teachings, small groups, and on the last day we broke into separate guys and girls groups, and we painted the girls' nails. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them, it was fun and I was forced to use my Spanish which was good for me.

As a surprise on New Year's Eve, we ended up going to the beach for the day which was super relaxing and fun because we got to spend all day together as a DTS. In the evening we did worship for awhile, and then our DTS collected enough coconuts for each of us and toasted at midnight. I don't think the leaders of the bible camp were too happy but we realized, when else would we be able to welcome in the new year in Costa Rica?

Toasting the New Year with coconuts...some of us in our P.J's.

The last night in Chiroles we ended up having an 'Evangelism Night' which was definitely an experience! We set up in the soccer field and we were supposed to have lights, but somehow it didn't quite work out like that. They had set up instruments on the back of a flat bed truck for us to do worship, and the sound system was working, but they couldn't get lights working. A few guys eventually strung a bunch of lights between two bamboo poles and then we got things going! We did worship, dramas, and the pastor did a short message. We got to talk and pray with a lot of people, and it ended up being a really great night.

We left Chiroles the next morning and made our way over to the small beach town of Puerto Viejo, which was only about 45 minutes away. It's a tourist-y town because it's literally right on the beach, and it was strange seeing that many gringos in one place after going months without seeing any. Basically our plan for Puerto Viejo was going to be similar to that of Chiroles, but it didn't end up that way. For the kids/youth camp, we barely got any kids let alone youth, so we had to change our plans a bit. We ended doing a lot of street evangelism, just talking to people and seeing what they thought about God. Being in Puerto Viejo was actually really spiritually difficult, despite being in the tropical location we were. People go there to relax and party, so hearing about Jesus isn't exactly on their list of top priorities. Puerto Viejo is also a huge drug town, every corner you turn somebody is offering you some, so that also contributes to the heaviness there.

It ended up being a good time though, we had a lot of good conversations, and we did quite a few prayer walks around the town, and different evangelism activities. I'd always known that spiritual warfare existed but I'd never felt it as strongly as I did being in Puerto Viejo. I definitely learned a lot about it during our week there and my views of it have changed a lot.

We left Puerto Viejo on January 10th in the morning and got back in the evening. We had van trouble on the way back...it wouldn't be a YWAM trip without some car trouble. The van was fine until we started to go up the mountain, then it decided it didn't want to continue. Luckily a tow truck came by so we got towed to the highway police station (the highway we were on wasn't the safest in terms of people getting robbed). On top of that, our second van had run out of gas up ahead of us (again luckily they ran out at the police station) so that's where we all met up. They filled up the one van and then we waited for a new van to come get us (we were only 45 minutes away from San Jose, so it wasn't long). It was a long day, but we were really happy to be sleeping in beds, and be eating real food. Outreach is definitely a stretching experience in every way, but it's also really fun. I'm excited to see what Brazil holds!

The Brazil team leaves today, and the team going to upper Central America leaves on Monday. I don't want to think about how many tissue boxes will be used up today when our DTS splits up...

On a happier note, we know that that's where God called us to be so we just keep that in mind. Five weeks goes by really fast, and we'll be back in San Jose in no time. We always appreciate prayer, so feel free! Thanks for reading!

-1 Chronicles 28:20

Merry Christmas from Costa Rica!

Hey y'all...

Merry Christmas! Only two days until the big day! Again, time just seems to fly here, and we officially finished lecture phase on December 14th, which is crazy to think. Twelve weeks gone by in the blink of an eye.

Since I last blogged we had two weeks with a well known pioneer YWAM-er, Donna Jordan. She was with Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) since the beginning days in Kona, Hawaii, so it was super cool to hear her stories of how it all started. Donna is such an incredible example of a disciple of Christ, she walks what she talks about, no questions asked! She definitely startled us all in the DTS the first week she taught and I think we were shocked at the way she challenged us all in ways no speaker had thus far! So Donna arrived for week #1(November 26th-30th), and taught on hearing God's voice, as well as the Kingdom of God. The way that she includes Jesus in EVERYTHING she does and every decision she makes is insane! I think a lot of us in the DTS were startled that we could hear from God and that He wanted to speak to us, and that's definitely a big revelation that I got. I'd often thought that hearing from God was reserved for Elders in the church or 'special' people, but Donna definitely broke that assumption. My relationship with God definitely changed that week, so it was a really special few days.

The next week (December 3rd-7th), Donna continued challenging us to listen to what God was speaking to us, but she also spoke a lot about spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit. Many of us had a lot of questions about tongues and prophecy, and she answered many of those but also encouraged us to go to God with them and always check back with scripture, because that's the only place to find truth. Donna prophesied over a few of us, and it was interesting to hear what God spoke to us through her. All in all, the two weeks Donna was here were my best weeks so far, and I can see that a huge chunk of my growth came from there. She was definitely a huge blessing to all of us!

The weekend after our second week with Donna, basically the whole San Jose YWAM base took off for another province in Costa Rica called Guanacaste. There's another YWAM base there in a place called Nicoya, and every year all three YWAM bases in Costa Rica get together for a weekend of relaxation and fun. Nicoya is in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, along the Pacific Ocean. It borders Nicaragua to the North. Basically...it was HOT! We're used to moderate temperatures here in San Jose because we're in between valleys, so we definitely felt the temperature change. We had so much car trouble on the way there though...
First, one of the vans didn't want to shift gears, so we had to head back to the base and switch vans. After that, the van got a flat tire in a town called Punta Arenas. God was definitely watching over us there though because we almost got robbed at gun point. A man on a bicycle drove by to tell us that a few men across the street were planning to rob us, but they had just gone to get a gun! Most of us hopped in the van that was working and drove to get the police. We were definitely praying the whole time and thanking God for sending us the man on the bicycle. Luckily nothing happened and the guys were able to change the tire. Unfortunately, the battery had died while the tire was being changed though and we were wondering who could jump start the van...just then Giacomo and Mar (the San Jose base leaders) drove by and were able to help us out! BUT again, trouble. Their car didn't want to start after they helped us out, so we waited around for a few hours for their car to get fixed. We were eventually able to continue our journey and we arrived hours later than planned in Nicoya, safe and sound. The base has such a different landscape than San Jose, and it felt so awesome to be out in nature with no cars around! It ended up being a great weekend of meeting new people, going to the beach, hiking, and seeing a new base.

At the YWAM base in Nicoya, Guanacaste

The beach we went to about an hour from the Nicoya YWAM base

My friend Alex and I enjoying the sun in Nicoya

On Sunday of that weekend, fourteen students in our DTS had to re-new our visas (they expire after 90 days), so we headed north to Nicaragua! We definitely had an adventure...I'd never crossed a border in the way that we did. It was definitely a stereotypical latin american border! It was really confusing, dark, so many people, and of course they only wanted us to pay in American dollars! We managed to get through though and we stayed over night at a YWAM-er's home, then took off the next morning to catch a bus back to the San Jose base. Now I can add one more stamp to my passport!

My friend Hannah, DTS leader Dave, and I in Nicaragua eating dinner...yum!

A few of us from the DTS, plus our leader, Dave in Nicaragua

Our last week of classes was on 'Spiritual Warfare' with the leader, Terry, from the third YWAM base in Heredia, Costa Rica. It was a great way to end lecture phase and we learned a lot about how real the enemy is, and how much we miss out on the goes on in the spiritual realm.

On Sunday (December 16th), our whole DTS and four DTS staff members left for another part of Costa Rica, called Cartago for a five days in the Costa Rican wilderness. Many YWAM bases include what's called 'NIKO' as part of the DTS program. I can say much about it because they try to keep the element of surprise for people who will be doing a NIKO in the future (we all had to sign a 'secrecy' paper at the end), but basically it's all about learning to work in a team, learning what your strengths and weaknesses are, and growing in those with God. Most of the activities were really challenging, and all of us felt really accomplished at the end of the five days. All of us were stretched in ways we didn't think possible (literally) and we came away with new perspective and respect for one another. If you don't ever plan on doing a NIKO and want to hear all the cool, crazy things we got to do, let me know...I'd be more than happy to fill you in! I've got some great stories!

The day after we got back from NIKO was a day of rest, while we got our stuff back in order. The girls had to move out of the bedroom we were in because there are teams coming through from different places on outreach. This time of year is super crazy because we get a lot of teams wanting to come help out around the holiday season, and this means limited space, plus a lot of the staff have left to go home for Christmas, so it's slightly insane.

Today was the first official day of outreach for our DTS, and we're doing a week here in San Jose to start things off. In the afternoon, we headed down town to one of the main squares to do some evangelism. A few of us we're doing worship and singing some Christmas carols, while others we're doing a cool evangelism activity we learned. We set out many cards with different images on them and asked people passing by to pick three that represented their life right now. We would talk with them about that, and then ask them to pick three cards that represented what they wanted their life to look like in the future. Again, we talked, and finally we asked people to pick three cards that represented what their relationship with God looked like. It was an incredible time of talking, getting to know people, and praying for them. People were so open, and a lot of the people stood around and ended up joining in on the songs we were singing. It was a great way to start outreach :).

This Friday we leave for another part of Costa Rica, Talamanca, to do outreach for one week, and then the following week will be spent in another part of Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo, doing kids camps as part of our outreach. We're all really excited to be starting outreach officially, and we know God has a lot of amazing things planned!

On January 12th, my DTS divides into our two separate outreach groups, and my group heads to Brazil! It's incredible how God has provided for people to be able to pay for outreach and I want to thank my home church for supporting me to go on outreach! I was in shock when I got the email saying  they wanted to support me, and I can't thank them enough! I'm really excited and pumped to see what God's going to do through us!

On December 21st, the base had an official Costa Rican Christmas dinner which was really fun. We all got dressed up, ate tons of food, sang, and hung out. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but the DTS is still going to be helping out in the morning. We're heading out to help serve breakfast at a soup kitchen for 6 am. It'll be an early morning, but I'm excited to serve and bring people some Christmas cheer. Later on in the afternoon, our DTS is having some fun Christmas activities that we've planned out, and on Christmas day we'll be doing a Secret Santa within the DTS and staff. It'll be a different Christmas than I'm used to, but new experiences are all part of life! I've definitely missed home the past few days, just because it's so close to Christmas, and I miss all the traditions our family has. It's been a bit difficult, but all of us in the DTS are in the same boat, so we've been comforting each other...the girls have been baking Christmas goodies/listening to Christmas music/crying together and the boys...have been watching movies?? I don't know...boys clearly aren't affected in the same way the girls are. Strange.

My friend Alex and I at the Christmas dinner

Anyways, it's bound to be a great Christmas and a great three weeks of local outreach. We appreciate any prayer if you feel so inclined to do so :). Have a Safe and Merry Christmas, thanks for taking the time to read.

-Matthew 2:10

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