We're Home

We are home safe and sound. What a wonderful week each of us had. Our lives have definitely been changed by seeing how God worked through each of us during this trip. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and encouragement throughout the week. It was greatly appreciate.

And The Ground Shook

Today was a fruitful and restful day. On our way to Jaco, we had the opportunity to stop at one of Costa Rica's national parks and go to the beach for a short period of time. The ocean here is breathtaking. After our ministry time we settled in to our new hotel rooms and headed out to do our final ministry project here, a childrens' festival at one of the local churches.

Many of the people in the village were waiting for us when we arrived at the church. We started the evening with a  quick Bible study, and then continued with face painting and recreational games for the kids. People young and old had such a great time, the team included. It was wonderful to see the faces of the children to whom we were ministering light up with such joy. Even the adults were getting their faces painted. What a way to end our ministry here.

During dinner this evening, God allowed us to experience an earthquake. It measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, and was felt down the entire length of the country. The epicenter was just north of San Jose, which is about 2 hours from where we are staying this evening.

This is the first time many of us have ever experienced an earthquake. For those of you who haven't experienced an earthquake it makes you feel uneasy. Like the ground is going to fall out from under you. Once it is over it feels like the earth is still shaking, I would compare it to having sea legs when you leave a boat or ship you've been on for a few hours and/or days. It definitely threw many of our equilibriums off kilter. The tremors after the quake lasted about an hour.

Tomorrow our work in Costa Rica will come to an end. All week our driver, Alfredo, has faithfully and very patiently been driving us from place to place and taking care of what we''ve needed. He is such a godly man. In the morning, we'll be having our last breakfast at the home of he and his family. Alfredo is truly engrained into our team and each one of us is looking forward to meeting his family and thanking them for allowing him to be with us this week so that we could accomplish the work which God called us to do during our stay here.

After breakfast, we''ll head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 3:05 p.m. Atlanta time. Please pray for travel mercies and continued team unity, that our luggage will arrive in Atlanta with us, and that God will speak clearly to each team member about the path He'll wants us to take next. Also, please continue to pray for our Costa Rican friends and that God will bring great revival in this land.

Leaving Dominical

Yesterday was a wonderful day of ministry. When we arrived at the school the children came running to us. We were each welcomed with hugs. What a way to start the day, hugs from children. God's gifts are always right on time. The children were all very receptive to the programs we presented and really enjoyed playing games during the recreation time.

Last night we presented our final men's and women's seminars. The church was filled. It has been a great experience for each of us to be able to worship along side our Costa Rican friends. Praise God for the seeds which He is planting in these people.

This morning we've packed our bags and will shortly begin our journey back to San Jose for our departure on Saturday. During the day we'll go to one of Costa Rica's national parks and see some sights, and this evening we'll put on a children's festival in Jaco. We have great anticipation to see all that God will do in and through us today.

God once again showed us that He is in control of this trip and our schedule. Today He blessed us with the opportunity to share His love with 60 children instead of the 20 we had orignally planned. The children are always so excited to see us and are very receptive to hearing the Gospel. Please pray that God will nourish the seeds that were planted today, and throughout the week.

During lunch today we were given the opportunity to go to the beach for a few minutes. What a great treat this was. After lunch, we went to the church where we'll be holding our men's and women's seminars tomorrow evening. The pastor of the church has been very busy caring for his church members and was unable to clean for the events. So, a few of  the team members helped him clean while the rest of the team prayer walked and did home visits in the community where the church is located. We invited the community the the event tomorrow evening and let them know that we would be working with their children during the day, as well. 

Please pray for the seminars we will be holding tomorrow evening. Pray that bondage and strongholds will be broken and that many families/individuals within the community will come to the event to be filled with God's love, and to learn of His grace and forgiveness. Also, pray that all will go well during our time with the children in the morning.

Praising God

This evening during our dinner time instead of sharing what our favorite part of the day was, we praised God for what we saw him do today. Here are some of our praises:

1. That He's enabled us to recognize when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us to change the program, assist another team member, or to speak to a student/teacher/church member.
2. His grace is sufficient.
3. His Mercy today when He gave us a few hours of rest, which were unplanned.
4. Sending His love to the Costa Ricans we are reaching.
5. That He's been giving more than one team member the same message.
6. That He's used the team in the salvation of several people since we've arrived in Costa Rica.

We look forward to sharing many more praises with you over the next few days and when we return. Below are a few pictures from yesterday. Thanks for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for the people in Costa Rica that we are reaching, especially Charlie, Senia, and Eduardo who've accepted Jesus as their savior.




This is  one of the mudslides that we drove through. This is actually the road.




A man and his donkey. He walked by one of the schools we were at.




A few of the kids in the first village we stopped at.



Busy First Day

Today God showed us many things, including a monkey and cow that decided to hang out in the middle of the road and block traffic.

God's work has been so evident in all that we've done today. We started out the day with God showing the team that He is the one in control. The teacher at the first school we visited today was out sick so the school was closed. This enabled us to go to each house in the village to call the children, and pray with and witness to the parents and other villagers. How fun. We were also able to give several of the villagers In Touch Messengers. This is the first time the these villages/schools we are going to have been visited by missionaries or have had the Gospel shared with Him. We all feel humbled that God is using each of us to share His great love in such a capacity.

After finishing at the schools we went back to the place where we are staying and prepared for the Women's Seminar we held this evening. What a wonderful time of worship. In Costa Rica when they pray, they all pray out loud instead of having one person leading the prayer and everybody else praying silent. What a powerful experience it was to hear prayers in Spanish and English being lifted up to the Lord at the same time. There are no barriers with God, not even language differences. While the ladies were helping with the Women's Seminar, the men prepared doors for painting. All in all it was a very fruitful day.

We've Arrived!

After an aborted take off in Atlanta we finally arrived in San Jose about an 1 1/2 hours late. The instant we arrived it began raining. Apparently, the rain was so heavy in the area during September that there are mud slides, which have closed three of the four routes from San Jose to Dominical. Because of this, we had to take a longer route. On the drive to Dominical we saw God's awesome hand through His creation in the mountains. Also, His provision in overseeing our safety as we encountered many treacherous spots on our drive, which included several mudslides.
Our time from San Jose to Domincal was a great time of fellowship. During our drive we practiced songs we'll sing during our worship time at some of our events. We also sang many TV them songs and also tried to think of as many songs as we could that included rain. So, for all of you following this blog, what are your favortie TV them songs and do you know any songs that include rain in them?

Tomorrow we will start our day in one of the local schools doing VBS-activities.