My team and some of our work, God knows exactly what we need :)

My teammate and Eddy, it's the group!

Washing the Chairs for Church,

trying to get them to once again be white :) 

One of the main moments we felt like we were truly becoming one with Costa Rica.
We Burned all the trash :D 

Cats and mice! The kids love this game so much!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

Some Of My Devo Time Here In Costa :)

Love, a word that has always been so dear to my heart, I word I thought I kinda understood.  But, it is a word that I don’t think I will ever fully understand.  I might know the dictionary definition, I might know the Corinthian definition, but as life goes on I am learning more and more of what Love truly means.  1 John 4:10 “And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Yea, I memorized this verse in training, I can say it by heart, but do I truly – with all I am – understand this use of the word Love? Not even close.  This, the greatest form of love, is so close and still so foreign to me.  

I say I love you to my parents, brothers, family, friends, my class of IGNITE,  and to my Savior.  But, do my actions follow my words, are they a close second, do I even know what actions I should take?  How naive of me to think that I could actually have an understanding of this vast word love? Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt you.  He asks us to look through His eyes, with a heavenly perspective.  He does not wish us to look through our own lenses that are so often scuffed and dirty.   I want to grow in Christ’s love.  The Bible says they will know you by your love for one another, for Christ is our example, we are called to love as He loves. Wow! How then should our love look?  That is truly insane, utterly insane, if you think about it. 

“God will not judge us according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.  The Christians who suffer for their faith in prison could love, I am a witness that they could both love God and man.”

– Underground Christian, prisoner.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without even knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2

To all men my love is to look like Christ’s.  The world’s standard and God’s standard of love is so far apart and different.  Being in the middle is not what I am called to, I am not to be luke warm.  Search me oh God and know my heart, try me and know my ways, teach me how to love like You, for I cannot love on my own as You have loved me. 

Let Go and Let God

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with the carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you suddenly like a trap.” – Luke 21:34

                Over and over again during training we were reminded that while on the field, and for the rest of our lives, our first mission fields are ourselves.  After ourselves comes our team, the people that God has put together to work for His glory.  When focused on these two things, when one is constantly mindful of keeping Christ the center, running their race well and not becoming stagnant, then his or her work on the mission field God will bless.  How can one pour out on people, if they themselves are empty?  I read this verse in my devotions the day after I had started to feel a little weighed down with the anxieties of the world (God always knows what we need).  It can be so easy to worry about things and, especially for me, people that we care about.  We can’t see into the future and many times our hands are tied and we are incapable of doing anything.   Yet God continues to bring me back to Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

                We so easily can begin to slip into worry and anxiety.  But, by doing this we are taking our eyes off the Author of Life and becoming distracted by the world.  Concern and worry are two different things, and concern should bring us to our knees and bring us to the cross so that we can lay it down at the feet of our Creator.  This is something that God has been continually showing me, and exactly how much I need to completely rest in Him.  He knows exactly what I need and what those around me need.  If I seek Him first in all that I do, if I don’t get distracted by the worries of this world, but instead I am distracted by Jesus, then I will know that I am in His perfect will.  I can do nothing to further His Kingdom by my own strength, and I can never change someone’s heart.  I need to lean not on my own understanding, but trust in Him with all, key word, all of my heart, and fully allow Him to direct my path.  Peace and Joy are two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, showing that we are filled with Him, anxiety is the opposite of these two things.  I want to be distracted by Jesus. 

First Week of working with the kids has been amazing!  I know that I was only home for ten days, but I truly missed being jumped by some adorable children.  God is so good all the time.   

Happy Easter From Costa Rica!!! 

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:14-16

Got to help paint the new church today and meet some amazing people that we will be spending six months with! :) 

Cooked Our First Meal Here in Costa Rica!! :)