The New Property!

We’re moving! The word on the street is that we will be moving on or before September 20. YWAM San Jose is buying and remodeling an old coffee processing plant. The building is really quirky and fun, and the property is large with a banana grove out back, a river out front, and a bamboo wall along one side. There’s also what looks like a pool that used to be used to store coffee beans before they were processed.

On Wednesday night almost everyone from the base went over to pray for the new property. We prayed, sang, and then took out our crayons and markers and got to work on the walls. We covered the drywall that the guys had just put up with scripture promises. It was so encouraging to walk around and see God’s word written everywhere. Once the walls were more or less covered, we stuck around to help a bit. My contribution was helping to hang drywall. I put in a grand total of 6 screws. Don’t laugh yet. They’re using metal support beams, so I had to drive the screws through the drywall and the metal beams and it was hard work. I was quite proud of my accomplishment.

On Friday night we all helped move heavy machinery from the current base to the new property, and then stayed to play sardines. We had so much fun, but let me tell you, walking through a dark banana grove in the dark is scary. But, now that I’ve done that, I think that I won’t find the property nearly as intimidating. Of course the dark crawl spaces and the pits underneath the floor with grates over them are still a bit scary, but hey, they certainly make the building interesting.

Poas

Yesterday we took a trip to Volcan Poas. It’s about 2 hours away from San Jose, up in the mountains. The air temperature got colder and colder as we went up. Just 10 km. away from the park, we stopped at a souvenir/snack shop by the road and bought some of the reddest sweetest strawberries I’ve had in a long time.

We thought we were going to freeze when we got out of the bus, so we decided to walk to the crater as fast as we could. The day was very grey and overcast, so we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to see the crater, since we heard that it’s often covered by clouds after 10:30, but when we got there at 11, the crater was clear. It was such an amazing site. The water temperature in the crater is about 104 degrees, and the air temperature was probably close to 50 (we could see our breath when we left), so there were clouds of steam rolling out of the volcano.

After admiring the volcano for awhile and taking a ton of pictures, we took one of the trails through the woods. The woods were actually a little bit spooky. It was dark and overgrown and foggy. But there were also a lot of neat plants- giant fern trees and bromeliads and other plants with giant leaves.

We ended our day with a trip to the coffee shop, where the hot chocolate I drank was super yummy, and warmed my freezing hands.

Stay in the River

My favorite place in Tabarcia was the river behind the church. It was one of those perfect rivers, with smooth boulders, rounded pebbles on the bottom, rushing water and still pools. I loved looking at those rocks, the way the rushing water had smoothed away all their sharp edges over time.

Sometimes, I feel stubborn, hard as a rock. There are things in my life I want to change. I want to have more humility, be less selfish, trust God more and worry less. I can get discouraged as I look at my life and see myself still dealing with those same heart attitudes. I sometimes feel like it’s impossible for me to change who I am.

That’s when I realized, looking at the river, that, just as the river wore away the sharp edges on the rocks over time, God is making and molding me over time. He is wearing away my sharp edges, making me into the image of his son. As long as I stay in the river, dwelling in Him, he will continue to work in my life. John 15:1-5 says "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” It may not be an overnight process, but God has promised that he will complete his work in us (Philippians 1:6). I need to trust Him to complete the process. If we took the rocks out of the river before they were rounded, they would have stayed sharp and pointy. In the same way, if I try to change myself in my own power, I’ll stay the way I am. In Phillipians 2:13 it says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” So, stay in the river. Allow God to work in your life. He’ll show you what He wants to change in your life, but He doesn’t want you to change it on your own. He'll be there, working in you.

“Faithful is He who calleth you, who also will do it” I Thessalonians 5:24

Small Town Living

Tabarcia seemed like a picture-perfect stereotypical Central American town to me. The town was built around the catholic church.

There were a couple of small “pulperias” or corner stores that sell everything. This particular store sold everything from machetes and rubber boots to soccer balls, batteries, toilet paper, chocolate, fresh tomatoes and probably just about anything else you could imagine.

There was the elementary school and a high school

And just around the corner from them, a snack shop that always had a crowd of students in their uniforms in front of it.

The daycare doubled as a nutrition center, and was right next door to the clinic and the red cross.

I really enjoyed the small town atmosphere. It was quiet and friendly, and after being in town only a week, we had already made friends with some of the local kids who we ran into almost every day.

Outreach in Tabarcia!

Last week instead of having class, we headed to Tabarcia, a small town in the mountains about an hour outside of San Jose. Isaac, who is on staff here at YWAM San Jose is from Tabarcia, and he talked to his pastor who set up the opportunity for us to come. Working together as a team all week was good preparation for outreach, where we’ll be doing the same sort of thing for 8 weeks.

We were able to be involved in a lot of different types of ministries. We helped clean, paint, dismantle cabins, cook, prepare church services, and present children’s programs. We also hung out in the plaza, played soccer with the high-schoolers, picked up trash around the neighborhood and practiced our dramas.

Here are some pictures from the week.

Me teaching Sunday school class

JT and I as Arragachito and Arragachita in our children's drama

Reanna and I in the mask drama on Saturday night.

Katie and I picking up trash

Disassembling the cabin (see the sparks flying?)

Kathia smoking out a wasp nest

hard at work

Chove, Rossela, me, Katie and Mariana in the back of a truck on the way to work.

The Father Heart of God

Lemuel just turned one year old last Saturday. Since we’ve gotten here, I’ve been enjoying watching him learn to walk. His smile of joy and accomplishment when he walks from one person to another makes me smile in return. I can’t stop looking at him and smiling. On Sunday he started walking independently for the first time. I was so proud of him! The other day he was sitting in his high chair watching cartoons and I came over to say hello to him, and he reached up for me to pick him up. I was so pleased by his desire to be with me.

Ever since week one, the Father Heart of God has been a recurring theme in our classes. As I look at Lemuel, God’s heart towards us becomes even clearer to me. I’m not even related to Lemuel, and yet, each accomplishment he has fills my heart with joy. Every time he smiles when I’m around, I smile in return. God is like that with us. Our accomplishments, our growth from baby Christians to mature men and women of the word, fill Him with joy and pleasure. When we delight in his presence, he is pleased. He is longing for us to run to him, to stretch out our arms to him and acknowledge our need for him.

Tessa isn’t even one month old yet. When I hold her, I feel such contentment. Watching her mother and father look at her and hold her, you can’t help but see the overwhelming love they have for her. She’s done nothing to deserve it. All she can do is receive their love. She doesn’t even smile or coo in return yet, she’s too little. And yet, their love for her is immense.

God loves us like that. We can’t earn his love. He loved us before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1: 4 says, “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” When he sees us, he looks on us as his sons and daughters, “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6)

Accept your Father’s love as a little child accepts love from their father. Turn to him to provide for you and protect you. Delight in his presence, and know that he delights in your trust in him.