Back in Costa Rica!

Back in Costa Rica!

I didn’t know how much I missed the United States until I went home for 3 weeks between schools. I missed the food, the shopping, throwing toilet paper in the toilet (and not in the trashcan), and most of all my friends and family! But, now I am back in Costa Rica and readjusting again to life here. We started the new DTS (Discipleship Training School) January 7th where I am serving as a leader. The new school has 32 students (25 girls and 7 boys) with 10 staff members! This is the biggest school that San Jose base has ever had, but God has given us an incredible group of students!

I have a lot of responsibiliites with this school. I am leading a small group every Friday, I have 4 girls of which I am serving as a one-on-one (kind of like a mentor), I am responsible for snacks everyday in class, a driver of one of the vans whenever we need to go somewhere, help cook lunch every Thursday, leading a Bible study every Thursday night, a local outreach group leader, and in charge of all media for the classroom. As you can see, I am keeping VERY busy! I got here and really hit the ground running and didn’t have a break until last Thursday, but things are finally getting into a routine for me. This last weekend we took the whole group of students to Jaco Beach for their first beach experience in Costa Rica too which was fun.

The last week’s teachings were on Intimacy with God. One thing that God has reminded me of with this teaching was about hearing His voice. John 10: 2-4 talks about the sheep knowing His voice and obeying (“But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”). One thing that the speaker said was that the more time we spend with God in His presence, the more we will recognize His voice when he speaks to us. I have been wanting to hear His voice more and more lately. A relationship with God is not a monologue, but a dialogue. This is such an important reminder for me because many times I come to God and just speak and speak and forget to listen to Him. I don’t want to have a one sided conversation with God, because I know He wants to speak to me. I am learning to practice the art of listening and being silent when I pray so I can hear Him speak.

One other incredible thing for me was learning my spiritual temperament. There is a book called “Sacred Pathways” and the author talks about that there are 9 different spiritual temperaments or ways that each person is inspired most or feels closest to God. One of my temperaments is naturalist. This means that I am most inspired by God in nature. I love going to the beach and just experiencing God through the outdoors and His creation. I have a hard time having my quiet times indoors or in a room…I love to be outside and I feel so close to God there. Knowing this has really helped my worship times and my quiet alone times with God.

God is taking me on a journey with Him. This next part of the journey has been compared with the Israelites crossing the Jordan River in Joshua 4. Joshua commanded the people to pick up a stone as they crossed the river in order to remember what God had done in their lives. As we started this school, each of us picked up a stone as a reminder that we are crossing our own Jordan Rivers, but God is going to do incredible things during this time and to not forget what He has done and what He will do! I am very excited to start on this new journey with Him!

We are now on our second week of teaching which is about the Character and Nature of God. The students are starting to adjust a little more and we are getting into the flow of things more. Thank you again for all of your support over this time! It is the only way that I can stay here and do what I am doing. Some prayer needs: please pray for finances for a couple of the students who are still missing the total amount of their money, please pray for me that I would hear His voice more everyday! Let me know if you have any prayer needs, because I would love to pray for all of you! I love you all and miss you!