Hola!
Somehow I just have 1 week left here in San Jose, Costa Rica! At the end of this week, we will be leaving San Jose and heading on outreach, as I'll explain later on. Lecture phase has gone incredibly quickly, and we as a team have learnt so much about God, missions and how we fit into God's plan.
Class during week 9 was based on Discipleship, in particular 'Discipleship Making Movements'. Throughout the week we learnt lots of new tools, not only to evangelise and grow disciples in different cultures, but also with friends and family in our immediate sphere of influence. We focused on the importance of making disciples, and how our identity and calling as Christians is to do this.
Class during week 10 was on the Biblical basis of Missions. We were taught by Douglas, who leads the School of Frontier Missions here at YWAM SJ. Him and his wife Karen mobilise and engage people in Central America to step into frontier missions. It was a really great week of learning the basis of missions throughout the Bible, and of why missions is part of our call as Christians. We also learnt a lot about unreached people groups and frontier missions, as this is where Douglas' passion lies. Some of the statistics and figures were overwhelming as we realised how many people groups have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus, and the lack of missionaries going to these places.
Both Douglas and Fran's weeks were also really useful for looking forward into what God is calling each one of us to do with our lives, whether that be full time missionary work, or not. Regardless of whether we find ourselves being called to full time missionary work, 'missions' is something that we as Christians should be involving ourselves in. We are called to be a blessing in whatever sphere of influence that we find ourselves in. For some people, their mission field is running a business and being different in the way they treat and work with their employees and clients. For others, it means being a teacher that shows Jesus' love in the way that they genuinely care for and look after the children they teach. And for some, that call means moving to a completely different nation, embracing a new culture, and bringing the Gospel of Jesus to the unreached. And a part of being a disciple, is giving up that right to choosing which of those areas you want to step into, and instead allowing God to guide you and show you where He wants you to be.
Some really simple ways that you can get involved with missions, are simply praying (for missionaries that you know and also for specific people groups) and financially giving and supporting missionaries. During my time here, I've found the Joshua Project to be a really great resource regarding unreached people groups. They have an app, which shows you a different unreached people group each day, with different prayer points for you to use. Interceding for these groups, and asking the Lord to send workers where there aren't any, is so important! And as well as interceding, financially supporting those willing to go to the unreached, is a way we can partner with what the Lord is doing.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." - Mark 10:2
Outside of class, we've been continuing with our preparation for outreach which has been really great! We've also been prepping and getting lots of things ready to be able to leave in a few weeks.
It was also my birthday last week, which was a really lovely day despite being away from home. They had organised a cute surprise birthday picnic in the afternoon, and it was a really sweet day!
Last week we had a really special night to say goodbye to the team that are moving to Lebanon in April. They are moving, and planning to stay in Lebanon fulltime and for the foreseeable future. It was a beautiful night, and was emotional as many of them have spent many years dreaming and planning of this moment. It was bittersweet as some of them have spent a lot of their life here with YWAM San Jose, and it was difficult to say goodbye. But we are all so excited to see what the Lord does through them in this next step into the Middle East. We are confident that the harvest is ready, and we're excited to see more workers being sent!
Looking forward:
Before we go and start our outreach (starting in Talamanca) we are heading on a 5 day survival teambuilding camp...which I'm very excited about! We're going in completely blind as they're not allowed to tell us what happens on the camp, so it should be interesting! Straight after, we'll be working for a week in Talamanca, doing local outreach there, and then we'll be continuing our outreach in Puerto Viejo. We'll be working with kids and young people, doing Bible distributions, evangelism and lots of other exciting things! But we've got a lot to prepare, so this past week has been quite busy and stressful as we all get our heads around what we need to get done.
Then after Talamanca and Puerto Viejo, we'll be heading back to San Jose for a few days before flying to the Middle East. Have a look at my previous post about outreach for more information, but we're really excited and expectant for what the Lord is going to do during our time there!
Prayer:
There's a lot of challenges and changes coming up in the next week, and so I would really appreciate your prayers as we prepare and leave to go and serve.
- For the provision of finances that are needed for our outreach. That as a team God would provide the finances required to do what he has called us to do.
- Pray for Niko, that it would be a great time of bonding as a team and that we would learn to trust and rely on each other
- For Talamanca and the work that we'll be doing there. Particularly for the young people in the area. There's a lot of spiritual darkness and fear among the people in this area, so pray that God would be softening and opening peoples hearts to his light and goodness.
- For the YWAM base that is being pioneered in Talamanca, and that it would grow to become a great blessing for the area
- For Puerto Viejo, and the different ministries that we'll be working with.
- For protection and safety as we travel, and for good health.
- That God would place people in our path with open and receptive hearts.
- That God would be strengthening our team, as we learn how to work together better in ministry.
- That we would all be able to adapt to the changes and challenges that we are going to face.
- For our leaders, Evelin, Diego and Majo, that God would strengthen them and give them wisdom and clarity when making decisions.
If you would like more regular prayer updates, particularly for when we are in the Middle East, please let me know so that I can add you to my WhatsApp group.
Blessings,
Amy