Wow! It’s so surreal to be in Costa Rica again! On Thursday I will have been here for 2 weeks, and I finally feel like I’m settling into my new home here on the YWAM San Jose base. The “base” is an old coffee factory which has been turned into a compound of classrooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, a full service kitchen, a dining hall, lounging areas, and guest rooms. We are surrounded by beautiful mountains and lush green vegetation, but we are in the city with access to all sorts of stores and cafes. We are in the rainy season, so sometimes it rains a lot and other days just a little shower. If it rains all day, it’s super chilly at night. It’s typically around the mid 70’s during the day with a nice breeze some days. At night we sleep well, as the temp. is around 60 degrees. Overall, the weather here beats out the humid and intense heat of Houston any day!
I have enjoyed catching up with old friends here, and have met people from all over the world! I have already made some great new friends, and met people from Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Estonia, the UK, Bolivia, and all over the USA. I’m super excited about meeting people from different parts of the world and learning about their cultures!
We currently have 2 schools running, a Discipleship Training School (DTS) and a Children at Risk school. The summers are busy around the base and some teams are here for a week and others for several weeks on their DTS outreach or as part of a summer program. (Some of you may remember that my outreach was in Germany). We just had a group of high school students and several adult sponsors here from a church in Salisbury, NC that were working with our Homes of Hope staff to build a house for a family. We also have a group of teens here from Montana for a month. They are part of a 2 month fine arts program and some perform dances while others play instruments and/or sing, and some do mini sports camps around the city. I also had the privilege of doing kids ministry with a group of Korean students this week from New York. They are absolutely amazing young people, the youngest of which is 11 years old. This group has also done homeless ministry and manual labor on and off the San Jose YWAM base.
We also have a DTS here that started in New Zealand. They are a part of the “Around the World” DTS, so they travel to several countries over the course of 5 months. They will meet the rest of their team who are traveling around the world in 4 other groups in Madrid this week for debrief, and will graduate on the Mount of Olives in Israel. How cool is that?
As for me, I got to do kids ministry and visitations this week with my awesome Metro leader, Renate! She is about my age and is from Germany, and has a huge heart for kids at risk and their families. It is such a privilege to work with Renate in this ministry, and I know I’m going to learn so much from her in the next 2 months. She is the only full-time staff member in this ministry and plans out every detail. She gets the lessons from Metro Ministries in Brooklyn, NY, and translates them into Spanish. She works endlessly to prepare each week. We travel to 2-3 communities a week doing a full kids program in the Metro Ministries truck. The side of the truck folds out into a stage, and we bring balls, and play games with the kids before the program starts. The program consists of 2-3 energetic worship songs, teaching a Bible verse in Spanish (then the kids come up and recite it)a mini-Bible lesson, and a game.
We also do visitations in these communities on a weekly basis. During visitations, we don’t do a program, we just go visit parents and kids, assess their needs, pray for them, etc. A group will also simultaneously play with kids during this time. For the majority of programs and visitations we will be accompanied by either a few DTS students or some of the students in the Children at Risk School.
In addition, Renate plans out events like VBS for 6 days this month. Currently we are planning out events in 2 communities next month for Mother’s Day. We will have a nice breakfast and Vanessa, one of the FT staff here will share an encouraging message with them. We will also have a craft in one community and manicures in another.
Many of you are probably wondering about what’s going on with Pedro and I, but this blog will not share details as this is to update folks on what is going on in ministry, as well as what the Lord is teaching me or doing in my life. If you want to know more, you will have to e-mail me! For those of you who do not know who Pedro is, I will share that we met here in San Jose in our DTS last Sept. We are getting to know one another slowly, and we are still praying about dating. He is a very special man, with a beautiful heart for God and people. We both want to honor God if we are going to be in a relationship, so we want to be sure that this is truly God’s will for us before we jump into anything serious.
Please stay in touch and keep Metro in your prayers. I am already so blessed after just 2 weeks of being with the kids. I really want to make a difference in their lives in these 2 months, and will be praying about joining Renate FT in the ministry in January. I will not be able to work with Metro once I start the Bible Core Course here on Sept. 23. The course runs through the middle of December, and then I will head back to Houston for about 2 weeks for the holidays. I am planning to return to work FT with YWAM San Jose in January, but will wait for the doors to open here and see what the Lord wants me to do. I was reading in Proverbs yesterday and found a great verse that speaks of this:
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
Please also pray that the Lord would be very clear about a possible relationship with Pedro and that He would provide for me in every way. I will be living by faith more than I ever have, completely relying on His Provision. Please let me know how I can pray for you too!
Feel free to e-mail me or set up skype a date with me! I want to stay as connected as possible with family and friends from the USA and all over the world!
Living for Him,
Stephanie
