Week of Orientation

 

  Tomorrow marks a week exactly of the student’s arrival. In this last week we decided to give the students a relaxing week, and just let them get settled in. Costa Rica is a different atmosphere than most would expect. Most of the students expect it to be just like Mexico, but in honestly its really nothing like that.The Spanish a tad different, food is not a like, and the cultures are really not too similar. Our town is also thought to be a little country mountain town, and even though in a sense it is, its really not. I know its confusing but more so San Isidro is a fairly busy city with outskirt residential neighborhoods, all in the middle of a jungle mountain forest. So basically its more of a city than a bo-hunk mountain town, but still beautiful nonetheless. The students now being here have been able to experience all this greatness first hand. A couple of them looked a little overwhelmed and culture shocked last week when we picked them up, but now the students seem to have comfortably settled in. We have been taking them all over town; showing them our favorite places to eat, taking them traveling to some of the local fun spots, and also taking them to our city’s weekly ferria(farmer’s market). It has been an amazing fun filled week, but tomorrow the classes fully start. If you remember please keep both the students and staff in your prayers. We all got a lot of things still yet to be done, but we know by His grace He will finish it. In His mercy and love lies our hope. 

Students Arrive

   The Students have now arrived! Yesterday we spent all day picking up the six students from the San Jose airport. We rented a 26 passenger micro-bus to transport the students in style and comfort from San Jose to San Isidro . The students came in pretty tired and slept a good amount on the windy mountain roads, so that worked out in accordance of avoiding any car sickness…praise the Lord. It’s definitely still a shock having these students here. We spent three months at CCBC Murrieta preparing and conversing with them about this semester, but it still seems weird that its actually all happening. We have a very good group here for our first semester and I’m definitely excited to see what the Lord is going to do. He has been faithful so far to bring us here, and it’s definitely going to be for something good that He is going to do here.                                                                                                     Here is a list of the students names;

1. Ecna Perez
2. Justine Marees
3. Chandler Walker
4. Taylor White
5. Tarah Joi
6. Korina Bowman
7. Gerry Carrillo

These students are such great brothers and sisters in the Lord and will definitely be used by God greatly here. But also no doubt will go through some hard times as well. Please keep these students in your prayers. Thank you guys, Lord bless you.

Calvary Chapel in San Jose

“Blessed are the flexible”-Chuck Smith. One aspect of being in Ministry is definitely the willingness to be flexible. Many times God isn’t  giving us a detail by detail blue print plan, but more of a step by step moment by moment call of direction. This last weekend we found out that the Pastor of Calvary Chapel San Jose(Costa Rica’s Capital), had to return to the states for a family emergency. His father in law became very sick, and he and his family had to return there on a very short notice. I don’t know all the details about it, but please keep them in prayer. With all that said, the church did not know who would be able to teach the Sunday morning English service. Ryan and I were going to be in San Jose that afternoon to run some errands, so with God directing it all we left on the 6:30am bus early for the church service. Ryan was definitely used by the Lord to share a great message on the Holy Spirit, which blessed me and the entire congregation. He not only spoke by word, but showed by action who the Holy Spirit is and how He empowers us to do His will according to His ways. He is a person and leads us in His power for His glory. It was a blessed time of just fellowshipping with the folks there and seeing the Lord glorified. It was also really neat to have lunch with the group on the top right corner. They’re great family in the Lord. Two of them are actually missionaries from Jamaica, and it was so interesting to just listen to them speak and hear their accent. They’re just in love with Jesus and love to share about His name.

Building on the firm Foundation

    Well its been about a month and a half since the last update of the physical church building. For the most part, everything has pretty much been set on pause. The Schockey’s Colorado home church took on the task of laying the concrete floor down for the building, so this past month and a half has been an awaiting period for their arrival. The church sent a group of five experienced construction guys down as a work team to Costa Rica. These guys cemented the entire floor of the church and sidewalks in just 2 days. They did a great job, and the church looks beautiful. John Senior, the man in the yellow shirt, was such an encouragement and blessing to us all. He is a 75 year man who just would not stop. He worked full out, as well did the whole team, laying the cement down with a quickness in the Costa Rican heat just serving unto the Lord. Because of our Panama trip we didn’t really get to help out with the cement, but definitely blessed to enjoy the fruit of this team’s hard labor to the Lord. Praise the Lord for the work He has done, He is so rich in mercy and so worthy of all our praise. May He continue to use all of us, His children, in all His plans according to His good pleasure. We are very excited to see not only the physical work God has done, but the spiritual work He is doing and is going to do as well. Praise Him.

Girl’s Housing

  The girl’s housing has been such a blessing and such a step of faith so far. First of all, the house itself wasn’t found until the final days of our due date. Then once we found it, we tried figuring out how God would provide to furnish and  meet the rest of the students’ needs. God is so God though, and He has everything under control always promising to work all things together for good! And wee as His own, can fully always confidently trust in that. God opened doors for us to have a great friendship so far with the actual owner of the house(we’re just renting), and even so much as now God has the owner lending the girls his dinning room and sofa set. We would have never seen the things God has planned out thus far coming, but all has been so good and so mind blowing in His perfect plans. As you can see as well; the fridge, stove, and mattresses have also all been purchased and the rest of the house is coming together beautifully. Ryan finished the bunks today(sorry didn’t get a picture), and students will arrive Monday. Keep us in your prayers as the students arrive and as we go pick them up. Thank you guys, Lord bless you!

1st Panama trip 2011

 

  Thank you everyone so much for your prayers, our Panama trip was such a blessing. For those of you that didn’t know, we had to take a trip down to Panama(our neighboring country) this last week for our visas. The students arrive Monday, and in order to have their 3 month visas and our 3 month visas line up for the 4 month semester, we had to leave and re-enter the country right before their arrival. So this trip served with the two purposes of fulfilling our visa alignment needs and for an opportunity to scout out the land for our semester missionary trip(our semester missionary trip will be in May). God’s hand was definitely on us in this trip. We had no real connections in Panama, didn’t have the travel arrangements exactly in detail planned out, nor did we know exactly what to expect; but God took care of it completely. Every time we needed whatever, whether it was a taxi, bus ride, or directions to the hostel we needed to stay at(which we only knew the name of), God provided it every time. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield(Psalm 115:11). God is so worthy to be trusted. He is always there to help us and will protect us through anything He calls us to. How can we, seeing the great cloud of witnesses He has shown, have any doubt in taking the steps of faith He calls us to take. God is so worthy, leap…jump in the things He commands for you in your life.

He has all things planned

Girls housing Insituto Biblico San Isidro

Well we've been praying for this for a while, and now God has answered our prayers. It's always so cool to remember how God is in control and how He has everything He wants to do already planned out in His timing. The house is about a 7 minute walk from our house and is very secure. It's in a middle class Costa Rican neighborhood and has an amazing breeze(very necessary here) coming in through both the front yard and back. The backyard is connected to a private technical school with a good size campus, so there is nothing blocking any wind current coming through. They will definitely be blessed, and it is going to be amazing seeing what other Eph3:20 things He has in store. Keep the house's furnishing and appliances in prayer, everything is very expensive here, but God has it already all planned out. Lord bless you guys, enjoy the video!

Dominical Surf Camp

February 3rd-5th was the first Campamento de Surfear (Surf Camp) Calvary Chapel Dominical has hosted. CC Dominical has a weekly Monday night study happening in a “more needy” little town called Dominicalitos. Every Monday night they get together for some fellowship in the word, hot dogs, and Wii. It’s a study for the youth of the town, ages range from 8-15. God has been bringing the kids faithfully to the study, so Pastor Mike thought it would be a great idea to do a Surf Camp Retreat for them. It was such a beautiful time to spend studying the word with the kids, who lets just say are not the typical Sunday School Children. It definitely was a stretch in a lot of areas, but God came through so much and showed Himself strong. We were blessed to lead these kids in songs, bible teachings, surfing, boogie boarding, and Christ’s love through action. God definitely already, even at the camp and at this last Monday nights study, is showing fruit. Please keep these kids in prayer. They come from some harsh backgrounds with poverty, bad home environments, and some already having to deal with the stress of going to school and working (pretty much full time). God is so faithful though and as Paul reminds us of, at the end of Romans 8, he is convinced that nothing can separate us from the Love of God. We know that their circumstances might be hard and extreme looking at times, but in truth God is greater than all their circumstances combined; and in His love by His Spirit He can and does change lives. Lord we lift up these kids to You. And as you testified by the kids’ response in wanting to know more about You and wanting to follow You in their lives, I pray that You will continue to work in them to will and to do of Your good pleasure. In Jesus Christ’s name-Amen.

Tide Chart Project

        Like every live to surf surfer around the world, the surfers in Costa Rica rely most on a tide chart. With that they are able to determine when they should plan their surfing that day. In Dominical especially, it seems that life revolves around these charts. Surprisingly enough though, there are only 2 publishers of tide chart in the town. One publication is in a New Age magazine and the other is in some random hippy one. Seeing this opportunity Pastor Mike decided to put a tri-fold 3 month tide chart/Gospel track together to give free to the community. Since God put me in a Multi-Media class that was centered completely on Photoshop last semester, I was able to put this together with the vision he had for it. After many Google image searches, and many mistakes this was the final result. It isn’t perfect, but it was definitely a blessing to see how God is using the things He has skilled me in before now for His ministry. He is continuing to stretch and teach me more, as the Lord leads I’d love to see what project He will have me work on next.

Joyce and Marty

    Being in Dominical this last week, Sunday through Monday, I was able to go down and fellowship with some great brothers and sister I met last time. One of the couples we got to hang out with was Joyce and Marty. They are a married couple from New Jersey with Joyce having one of the most thickest New Jersey accents I’ve ever heard. That doesn’t say much because I have never been to New Jersey, but it was still interesting. They moved down here about half a year ago in plans to build a resort and use it for ministry according to how God has told them. They have a beautiful property with an incredible beach view and are continuing forward with the building of The Creation, that’s the name and theme for the resort they feel God has given them vision for. They are an amazing couple gifted with the gift of hospitality, and as the Lord continues to miraculously provide, its going to be a blessing to see what He is going to do. They have currently hit a bump in the road and are waiting to see what God is going to do next, but are eagerly awaiting to see. Keep them in your prayers as they have taken this step of faith, God is definitely stretching them but has used them already to encourage many. Phil,.1:6, its always an easy thing to say but harder to trust in. Continue in faith Joyce and Marty, God bless you guys.

Bible Study in Dominicalitos

      Monday nights in Dominicalitos (small little suburb of Dominical)  Calvary Chapel Dominical does a youth bible study there for the kids of the neighborhood. It’s an all Spanish bible study for the kids in town and is led by their Spanish ministry leader Edgar. It was a great time of just seeing hard working less fortunate kids coming together to study the word of God and enjoy Him. We took the guitars and cajon over to the house and the kids had a blast. After the study, which lasted about 25 minute(couldn’t believe how interested and attentive the kids were during the study), we let the kids jump on the instruments and they went at it. We had a blessed time just serving the kids, jamming out, eating hot dogs, and spending time with them just hanging out. This week Thursday-Saturday we will going back down to help the kids and church with their surf camp in Dominical. The kids of the study have been praying for provision and open doors to be able to have a surf camp, and its exciting to see their prayers being answered. The kids in order to go had to clean up the beach for a couple hours and are now excited to be able to attend. Gabo and I will be teaching 2 studies for the camp, so keep us in prayer. It’s such a privilege to serve the Lord and to serve His little ones. We are definitely excited to see what the Lord is going to do, so please pray for a easy flowing camp with no injuries and just enjoyment in His Son. Thank you guys, God bless.

!Chelly’s Birthday!

   Monday Night when we got back from San Jose, we jumped off the bus and went straight to Curtis’ house for Chelly’s Birthday get together. I was taught not to ask a woman her age, so Ill assume it would be just as rude to post it on the internet. Chelly turned ___ and we were able to come over and enjoy the blessings of fiestas with eating cake and pizza. Chelly made cake, and we bought the grub. We enjoyed the night with sending the kids off to bed and then playing some fun group games. Chelly is one of the hardest working young mother I’ve ever seen with; 4 kids under 8 years old, a starting church work, and a Curtis to take care of. The Schockeys have been a blessing to us, and it was a good time in hoping to bless them back. Happy birthday Chelly!

Dave and Hollie

      Pastor Dave (the director of CCBC Murrieta), his son Andrew(didn’t get a picture of him but he kind of looks like Dave with brown hair), and Hollie were able to come down on a 10 day trip and visit us. We had such a good time in fellowship and being encouraged by one another with the work God is doing. Dave and his son were able to spend some good time together around the country and Hollie was able to see first hand more of what the missionary life in San Isidro is like. When it was time to go to the airport, Gabo and I were able to take Hollie up a day early and spend the night with my family in San Jose. We had a blast hanging out, and just soaking up the Costa Rican life. After all was said and done…after all my own stress about trying to make sure everything worked out…it was so good to see God’s hand on everything. We got Hollie safely and on time to the airport and then later even got to have lunch with Dave and take him to his flight too. God is so good, and even when are plans aren’t looking to sure, we can always trust His plans are good and true.