DTS is over!

Hola! Today is graduation! The last day of DTS! I can’t believe how time has gone by so quickly. I will back track to the start of November and catch you up on what I have been up to. On November first we left San Jose to continue our outreach phase in the southern province of Costa Rica, Talamanca. Our team had already been to this area before while completing our NIKO. For the first week we stayed in a church in a small town named Margarita. While there we planned lead services and clean the local community. For one day we went to the big city, Bribri and helped out in Red Cross location. We ended the week by taking the day off and going to a beautiful beach on the Caribbean side. From there we went to the YWAM Talamanca base, in the town of Bambu. We lead church and then packed up again and went to for three days to a really remote town. To get there we had to drive an hour to get to the river location where we would get in canoes and go up stream for 45 minutes to then get in another bus (that drove through the river) to finally get there. While there we mostly did physical labour helping build a house for a school teacher. Our last day, back in Bambu, we helped make a fence for a community cow to live in. This past week was a YWAM conference hosted by our base, with over 300 people coming and the founder of YWAM, Loren Cummingham, was the lead speaker. It was a really excited time. God was really moving a lot. It was so awesome to be a part of. My job at the conference was to babysit the kids in the evening. I had such an awesome time, all together. It was a great way to end off my DTS experience. That brings us to today! Grad! It has been a great experience, I cant believe it’s over. But it is definitely time to go home! I miss home a lot. My flight to Toronto leaves on Monday around 2. Unfortunately I won’t arrive home until Tuesday morning after a night in Calgary. Please keep me in your prayers. Only 3 days and I will be home!

Panama

Hola! Sorry, it has been a while since I have written, but things have been busy and time is just flying by. My time in Panama has already come to end. After our time in the Embrera tribe we spent two weeks in a village in the mountains. To get there we had to hike for 45 minutes with all of our stuff for the 2 week stay. But thanks to NIKO, we were well prepared for the hike. While there, we did a combination of physical work and ministry, with a lot of walking in-between. For me personal, it was time of a lot of spiritual struggle, but I am happy to say God brought me through it all. I was even able to share a short meditation on James 1:22 -25 during ministry. It felt really awesome! Unfortunately, one of my team members, Melissa broke her arm and had to be taken to the hospital (45 minute walk plus a 45 minute car ride away) where she had to undergo surgery. But things have been going well for her since. Our last week in Panama, we spend it in the city mostly doing street evangelism. Our last Sunday in Panama we attended an English church. It was so nice to fully understand a full church service. And I was able to share my testimony for the first time on outreach. On our last day we visited the Panama Canal. I loved it and totally recommend everyone to visit it. Now I am back in Costa Rica and will not be going to Nicaragua anymore but instead finishing off the outreach in the southern coast of Costa Rica. There is only 3 more weeks until I arrive home.

Panama!

Hola! Outreach has started! We arrived in Panama on Sept 30 around 3:30am local time (which is 1 hour a head of both Costa Rica and Saskatoon). Our first two days in Panama, we spend at the YWAM base in the small town of Chilebe (which is about 45 minutes from Panama City). We did local ministry in a park, where I was able to share with some kids the story of my Lisa Bear. On Oct 2 we left our comfort zones to live with the Embera tribe. It was quite the experience. We lived in huts with birk floors and washed in the river. Most of the week we did small physical tasks, such as helping collecting sand for a water cleaning system, finishing the roof on a hut, and widing the path that leads to the river. We did get some ever awesome experiences to share with the people about our faith. The tribe has had many missionaries over the past few years come and share with them, over 400 missionaries! But we were the first team to stay for more than 2 nights! Because of that we really were blessed to be able to build relationships with the people. One afternoon Paola and I spend 2 or more hours just taking to a woman in her hut. Most of the girls in the tribe are married off at the age of 13 or 14! This woman we were talking to was 22 years old and had a 7 years old daughter. All the people in the tribe know Spanish, and luckily for me some people even know english. God really blessed me with this little girl named Ester. She was six years all and the only kid in the tribe that knows english. Esters know is only 19 years! We really grew close to people and it was really sad when it was time to live. But on to the next adventure! Tomorrow we will be going to a village high up in the mountains. We will be there for 10 days, mostly helping with more physical work. Please pray for us as we continue working in Panama.

Survived NIKO!

Hola! This past week was our team was in the south east coast of Costa Rica completing NIKO. NIKO is a camp designed to stretch people so that you can no longer rely on yourself alone, and you have to rely on God and your team. We are asked to keep the details of NIKO a secret in order to keep future participants from knowing what is to come. I can tell you how it affected me. It was difficult physical very difficult for me. God really blessed me with a supportive and helpful team and leaders. God also helped me push much farther than I thought was possible. I was very proud of myself because I felt that through it all I kept a very positive attitude. It felt really good, because that is something I have been working on with the Lord. Over all it was a very tiring week but I had Saturday and Sunday to recover before leaving for outreach! Tomorrow, early in the morning we will be leaving for Panama for a month! It is very exciting! We don’t know all the details yet because of the last moment planning. I will try and keep you update as possible. Please continue to pray for my team!

END OF LECTURE PHASE! START OF PHASE TWO: NIKO and OUTREACH!

Hola! Oh my gosh, lecture phase is over! I have already completed twelve weeks here in Costa Rica! This past week was a fun one! On Monday it was Central American Independence Day so we went downtown to watch parades and practice evangelising. It was so much fun! The whole San Jose showed up to watch the numerous parades. One of the coolest things was that almost all the kids under four were dressed up in typical Costa Rican outfits. On Tuesday we drive out to the bench to baptize people! It’s about a 3 hour drive and most of the drive is through the mountains! It was beautiful! It was really special witness the baptisms of 8 of my class mates. Some people were getting baptized for the first time and others were being re baptized. On Wednesday and Thursday we had our last days of class. Our topic was Unity in God. It was a really important topic for us as a team, especially being that we will soon be leaving for outreach! Today we had the day to pack up all of our stuff. Tomorrow we are leaving for a week in the bottom corner of Costa Rica where we will be camping in the rain forest (NIKO)! Before we leave tomorrow we have to be moved out of our rooms. There is a new school starting next week, that will be taking over our rooms! It feels weird to be moving out, this has been home for the past 3 months. On September 29, we will be leaving for Panama! Where we will be for the first month of outreach. From this point on I am not sure how often I will have access to the computer. I will try to write on my blog and keep everyone up to date. Please pray for me and my team as we go on NIKO and outreach.

Change of Plans!

Hola! There is only one week few of lecture phase! Time has been flying by here in Costa Rica. This past week was a very difficult week for the team. We had so much going on, that people became very worn out and some even sick (which includes me, I have a sore throat). We had outreach planning, homework from class, packing and fundraising all to do in the little amount of time we have to ourselves. On Wednesday we lead a fundraiser Coffee House. We had everyone from the team cook traditional food from their country. I cooked nanaimo bars, and they were a hit! There was not that many people there, but it was a fun night. Thursday morning though, was a real low point for most of the team. We woke up to realize that there was only 24 hours to get $13000. As the hours went by we realized that something was going to have to change, because we could not afford to send the whole team to Mexico. Our staff set praying and asking God what He wanted of us. Friday morning and we still need that $13000, so we came together as a team to discussion what was the next step. In no way did any of us lose faith that God could provide, and so we had to look at ourselves did we do what was asked of us? As a team we failed, some people did not do their parts in helping fundraising and instead of encouraging people to keep working, the other people just took on more work. And that is not how God wanted us to work as a team. God was us to be united and work as one. As we prayed we felt God telling us, the location is not important, unity is. And so we made a discussion as a team, learning from our mistakes, that we need to go on outreach all together, and that means not to Mexico! But that’s okay, because now we get to go to Panama and Nicaragua! I am very excited! Some people may not know this but while I was deciding to my DTS, I had originally picked to do it in Panama! I feel God has really give me a heart for the country and the people! In both countries we will be working with indigenous tribes. I know to most people this would seem crazy to change everything and try and plan an outreach only 2 week from when it is. But here in Latin American, this is how everything is planned, and also we are in God’s will, and God will provide! Please pray for the countries that we are going to, that God prepares the hearts of the people, and pray for our team that God prepares our hearts as well!

The End of Week 10!

Hola! Week ten has come and pasted, and now there is only two more weeks of lecture phase left. This week our topic was World Missions, we focused on other religions and how to mission to them. We studied Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and tribes. It was really interested to learn more about other religions and how they are different or simpler to Christianity. Our teacher was a missionary in the Middle East for many years. He taught Spanish in the Middle East and through friendship with his students he showed them the compassion of Jesus. We have become really busy with planning for outreach and raising the funds so that everyone can come. Everyday we have been writing testimonies, practising dramas, doing car washes and selling cookies all to prepare for our outreach in Mexico! We don’t live for Mexico until September 29, but the week before we leave we will be in the rain forest. For four days we will be completing an adventure camp, called NIKO, where we will live in the jungle and learn to work as a team and trust in God. We leave for NIKO on September 20 and turn to the base on September 26, leaving only two days to pack for outreach! Please keep us in your prayers as we plan and prepare for outreach, and pray that all the money needed will come in.