Guarari

A community rejoices

And mourns

In the same breath

Grateful for the blessing

of precious moments shared.

Grieved to lose

Their tangible glimmer of hope

In the dreary world in which they live.

Though peoples faces come

and go

Encouragments and raising up

There is one with them remains

Tried and true

Hope anew

Mercy and grace

Together dispel the shame

That society has black-marked them with

From behind the walls

Their light will shine

And bring forth this glory divine.

And walls will fall

Brick by brick

Until the life outside

And life within

Will grow to greater heights

Seeds have been planted.

Beneath concrete they lay

Whose roots will grow strong

And push back these layers

From generations past

The rains will pour down

And heat of the sun will wear

Until the sprouts break free

Shattering the concrete

And all will see

The glory of our Lord in

Guarari

Unity in Love Transforms Communities

These past few weeks have been INCREDIBLE. I have been translating for a team from Spruce Groves, Canada, and it’s been such a pleasure. They have truly accepted me as a part of their team, and there is such unity between the translators and the team. We are working as one to raise up a community. I love their approach to missions. It is one of love in relationships. They have the mind of Christ in their worldview, and it is so refreshing to see. They have been coming to Costa Rica for the past five years and have established a really good relationship with the community of Guarari. Guarari is a community that has been overlooked and outcast in this country. The city even built a wall in front of the community so that its tin houses can’t be seen from the mall.

We would be swarmed with kids from the moment we arrived. We were divided into three teams, one for the construction site where we are building a new community center, and one for the Vacation Bible School, and a woman’s group. I love how no one is overlooked. The children have their Vacation Bible School, teach the women different crafts, and the men (including drunkards of the community)helped build. Among the team were four girls from a local church in Heredia, who helped this team do ministry- it was a time of empowerment for these girls of Heredia to minister to their own people.

One thing that was so exciting to see was these kids really become kids. These children are normally left to fend for themselves at home while their parents are involved in drugs or simply don’t pay them any mind. We took 80 of the children to a farm sort of situation with big open green grass fields to play soccer, a swimming pool, and a little park. It was such a beautiful experience.

There is something BIG going on within this community. The children who normally go on Saturdays for a weekly children’s ministry prayed every week for houses to replace their dirt floor tin walls and roof that surround them. The government started this housing program, chose Guarari, and from the WHOLE community those who have received the new houses are the CHILDREN WHO PRAYED FOR THEM! PRAISE JESUS!

We would have a little time for devotions in the morning so a small group of woman and I would get together to discuss the different prompts. From the beginning of the week I had been praying for God to tear down walls. Two of the woman had expressed that they wanted to open up and be able to share themselves with people, but that they were afraid of rejection. I was asking God to make their hearts cry out for that deep companionship that only comes from being completely vulnerable... and at the end of the week one of the prompts that we were asked was "what one thing do you want to exchange in your life for what God has for you" BAM Everyone poured out their hearts to each other, we were able to support, pray for, and have a deep sense of fellowship. It was incredible. I guess I've taken for granted my ability to make deep friendships. It seems that every country I go, every group i am with I have someone who I bear my heart to, and they with me. We stand in prayer with each other as sisters in Christ. Until this last week, I didn't realize what a precious and rare gift fellowship of the heart is.

Little Miss Susy Homemaker

...
With a handful of our staff gone for the week, translating in Sardinal, the rest of us had to pick up a little bit of slack. This is an example of a normal day...

4:30am - wake up spend time with Jesus :)
5:00am - run
5:30am - shower
6:00am - breakfast prep
7:00am - serve breakfast
10:30am- lunch prep
12:30am - serve lunch
1:00pm - lunch cleanup
(4:00pm - dinner prep
5:00pm - serve dinner... some days)
6:00pm- dinner cleanup
11:00pm - sleep :)

WHEW!

Last night the team came back, so I am looking forward to having a little bit of a break - and am so STOKED to start translating.

El Alfarero

I arrived at the base to translate in Heredia. The first night was kind of awkward, I didn’t really know what was going on, but unpacked my things and settled in a bit. It was really different and intimidating to be at the base not knowing anyone. But God is so good, he allowed for one of my friends that I had made in 07 be there, it was just a point of comfort in transition, so that I would feel more ubicada.

I woke up at 4:30 the next day! God woke me up 2 hours before my alarm- but it was just enough time to type of my dreams from the night before, go on a nice praiseful run, spend some sweet time with him, and shower before breakfast. AMAZING, GOD WHAT A TREAT TO START MY MORNING WITH YOU

On top of that I was totally lost in worship today and it was so amazing to be able to be so near so saturated with the presence of God. I had prayed that God would help me for it to be just He and I, so that I wouldn’t worry about how other people thought of me, and just do it for Him. And that is EXACTLY how it was. Before the worship leader had started I was already lost from this world and totally experiencing Him. It was simply INCREDIBLE…

I had the opportunity to join with a DTS coming from Colorado to translate during their time of ministry. We went to a place called El Alfarero, meaning “The Potter” It’s a drug rehab center for men. The time that we spent with these men was BEYOND BELIEF. At first they played soccer and as I watched I prayed for them, and God showed me His heart for them in this beautiful vision.

There was a time of sharing and each of the young men shared their testimonies, and it was so INTENSE. Walls were coming down, and people’s faith was being encouraged by their brother’s testimonies. It was so REMARKABLE to be a part of as a translator. I was also able to share the vision, and they were really encouraged by what God’s heart was for them. The DTS leader prayed a POWERFUL prayer that I could feel in my spirit came straight from the heart of God WOAH! POWERFUL STUFF

I feel like my heart GREW in capacity to love and in COMPASSION for these men, and for all of God’s beloved –in just the few short hours we spent with them.

JESUS BLESS THEM, REVEAL YOURSELF MORE AND MORE TO THEM. FATHER, I ASK FOR MORE OF YOUR SPIRIT, MORE OF YOU IN THEIR LIVES. FATHER, I ASK FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW IN LOVE AND COMPASSION.

Time with the Bedenkop Bunch.

I had the special honor of being able to spend 3 days with an AMAZING family who blessed me immensely in the short time that we were together. It was so exciting to do life with them, and dream about our future together in ministry (more on that later). We had sweet times of waiting on God together and they just POURED into my life. I love spending time with whole families. I didn’t have a healthy marriage to be able to model after for future reference, and God keeps blessing me with INCREDIBLE couples to be this model for me.

God really ministered to my heart through them especially the last night and I feel I should share it here. I shared with them the immense paralyzing fear that comes over me when anyone comes to correct me or has a request for me to do something differently. I knew this was not normal, nor of God, and so I asked for prayer. Sarah was given a picture of me as a little birdy in a nest with my mouth open as wide as I could, hungry for love. And when people passed through my life what I would get was just a drop. God didn’t want me to be that little bird, but an eagle soaring to great heights, confident of the love that has been given to me.

We asked God to reveal the place where the enemy first spoke lies over me that I wasn’t enough, or that I was too much. It was something that I had received while in the womb. Then I asked God what He spoke over me and what He repeated over and over and over was, “you are my precious gift the world.” Sarah added that God painted. So she got out everything – finger paints, water colors, colored pencils, markers… etc And I had fun painting as God showed me different pictures of what he spoke over me, what he thought of me, and it was a sweet precious time of Him enveloping me in his love.

This was a day marking endings – the end of searching for love from people, the end to the bitterness and hurt I carried in my heart, the end of the fear of man, the end of comparing my worth to others. It was a day to mark new beginnings- beginning to knowing the height and the width and the depth of God’s love, the beginning of falling so much more in love with him, the beginning of restoration, that I in turn will bring to the nations.

Tilaran

We woke up super early to say goodbye to my mom and Kris, and hit the road with my cousin Joe, my uncle Jorge Luis, my dad, and my sister. We drove some 4-5 hours stopping once along the way to eat breakfast on the beach in Puntarenas. (Pictured is me eating a "granizado""Churchill" "Copo" its made of shaved ice, falvored syrup, powdered milk, and condenesd milk- this one always I had another casado con pescado. We had some very INTERESTING experiences with the people looking for money on the beach. We made it to the little town of Tilaran in Guanacaste and met up with my cousin Sisgo. He works at the ICE (the only telephone company in Costa Rica) he came up with some crazy plan for the land for harvesting energy, so he’s putting it into practice. We went to go see the windmills up the mountain a ways, and had a fun time checking them out and taking pictures. We left fairly quickly and started home on a way that would go around the lagoon, and in front of Volcano Arenal (the volcano that showed in Spy Kids) we saw some AMAZING views on the way home. I slept the whole way home, it was a very nice day.

Down Town

We took a bus downtown San Jose from Sofi’s and met up with the rest of my family at the National Theater. We enjoyed a lovely cup of coffee there (mine was a mango milkshake) and then started walking the streets of the central avenue. We stopped to feed some pigeons. One landed on Kristoffer’s head. We listened to a band who was playing some ACDC and walked some more. We ran into my cousin, and then went to el Mercado to eat a “fruit salad) which is a lot of ice cream with jello and fruit. I had a casado since I hadn’t eaten yet. Casados are made up of rice beans salad meat (I always ask for fish) and some other side. It was SO GOOD! We walked around some more before busing it home. It was the first time my immediate family had a chance to hang out and it was really nice. Kris walked around in the rain holding up just the handle to an umbrella and got a lot of nice looks