I don't know how many of you have been in a foreign place, outside of our great country of old. Outside the great walls that our military has built to protect us. Outside the greatness of protection & the ability to walk the streets without having to worry about being blown up in .237 seconds. This is the greatest of all things, freedom. How many people in the world have this freedom? Only the few. We are some of the more fortunate. Makes a big difference when you travel to some place unlike our own. However, there is one thing that can give us all a different kind of freedom. A freedom so unlike what you're capable to receive through good deeds & hard work. This kind of freedom is exactly what we are trying to bring to the people of Cariari, Costa Rica. Jesus Christ.
We really don't know what to expect when we travel down to Cariari, Costa Rica. We know that we will be helping missionaries from our church, in building a church & working with young adults & teens & children younger than us. It's exciting, to know that we will be working with other people in sharing the gospel. It's exciting to know that God gave us this opportunity.
There is a lot of work that we have put into this missions trip. We have read 49 chapters of the Bible, 25 hours of community service [or more.], learned how to use a God Stuff Booklet [I'll explain later], had to write out outlines for 7 lessons & elaborate on 1 of those, read a book called Serving With Eyes Wide Open & write a report. We also have gone to many meetings, & have done fundraisers & have sent out support letters, to gain support for our trip. It sounds like a lot of work, & it is/was. But the outcome, the result? It will be so rewarding in the end. God is going to use us in powerful ways, I'm sure far greater, than what we can see or comprehend.
Although this already sounds great, enlightening, thrilling... etc. We are already facing difficulty. Pastor Dan, our youth pastor, the leader of this trip, that brings us such joy & fun, is recovering from a recent heart attack that he encountered in Adventureland. We are so thankful that God has not called Dan home. However, the details of his heart attack etc are yet to be known for sure. With just hearsay to go on, I will not give any false facts. Updates on Dan will be followed up on, once we learn exactly what has happened, & what will happen. The one thing we all know, is that his recovery does not allow him to drive for 2 weeks. This also means, flying is out of the picture. Which means, he is not allowed to go on the trip.
I do not know what God is going to do through this, how He is going to use Dan's condition to glorify Him. I do know, that there is a reason for this. & it will eventually show in the big picture. But for now, I'm asking all of us to pray for Dan & that he will recovery quickly & with ease. Heart attacks are not something you mess with, & we pray that he will have no more. We love you Dan.
in Christ's loving name.
We really don't know what to expect when we travel down to Cariari, Costa Rica. We know that we will be helping missionaries from our church, in building a church & working with young adults & teens & children younger than us. It's exciting, to know that we will be working with other people in sharing the gospel. It's exciting to know that God gave us this opportunity.
There is a lot of work that we have put into this missions trip. We have read 49 chapters of the Bible, 25 hours of community service [or more.], learned how to use a God Stuff Booklet [I'll explain later], had to write out outlines for 7 lessons & elaborate on 1 of those, read a book called Serving With Eyes Wide Open & write a report. We also have gone to many meetings, & have done fundraisers & have sent out support letters, to gain support for our trip. It sounds like a lot of work, & it is/was. But the outcome, the result? It will be so rewarding in the end. God is going to use us in powerful ways, I'm sure far greater, than what we can see or comprehend.
Although this already sounds great, enlightening, thrilling... etc. We are already facing difficulty. Pastor Dan, our youth pastor, the leader of this trip, that brings us such joy & fun, is recovering from a recent heart attack that he encountered in Adventureland. We are so thankful that God has not called Dan home. However, the details of his heart attack etc are yet to be known for sure. With just hearsay to go on, I will not give any false facts. Updates on Dan will be followed up on, once we learn exactly what has happened, & what will happen. The one thing we all know, is that his recovery does not allow him to drive for 2 weeks. This also means, flying is out of the picture. Which means, he is not allowed to go on the trip.
I do not know what God is going to do through this, how He is going to use Dan's condition to glorify Him. I do know, that there is a reason for this. & it will eventually show in the big picture. But for now, I'm asking all of us to pray for Dan & that he will recovery quickly & with ease. Heart attacks are not something you mess with, & we pray that he will have no more. We love you Dan.
in Christ's loving name.
