Explosion!!!!

"Smoking, the van is smoking!" What!? I look over as one of the 19 year old twins from Pennsylvania is sitting next to smoke that is filling 1/8 of the van. My heart begins to beat 100 miles an hour as the teenagers begin to scream laughingly.

This was no laughing matter to me. In the past 3 weeks I had ridden in two prior vans that had broke down. One van for 6 hours, a van full of 12 New Yorkers while heading to a Volcano, the other was a van heading back from the beach with a team from Wisconsin, and NOW for the third week would there be another van crashed on the side of the road!

I thought, no, this couldn't be! As the van began to fill with more smoke, my mind began to wander with possible problems. Suddenly, the other twin from Pennsylvania screams. "Jump out of the car! It's going to explode."

So guess what I do? In the middle of the San Jose highway, while the car is stopped, I literally jumped out of the car. As I earnestly jump out of the van expecting a heard of people to follow me I realize that I am the only one on the road. What was going on!? The worse part begins. The driver is unaware that I have jumped out of the car and continues driving!! I begin chasing after the van exclaiming, "Stop the Van! Stop the Van!" After about 10 seconds jogging after the van in 4 lanes of chaotic Costa Rica traffic, the driver stops and everyone, laughing hysterically, pull me back into the smoky van. I felt safe again.

I later find out that the smoke was only water steaming and the van was not going to explode.

I share this story not only for a good laugh, but also for an important lesson that this experience later taught me.

Sometimes as we are in the midst of fear, struggle, and hopelessness. We earnestly want to jump out the world, or quite frankly the van. We many times want to flee from our problems, finding the easy way out. The easy way out for me at the moment was to jump out of the van. However, my plan of escape was only into more danger. The danger of uncontrollable traffic.

I want to encourage us as we are dealing with fears, pains, and problems not to to just run from those problems. First of all what is the problem? Maybe the problem is an easy fix like the steam in the van. Sometimes are problems appear to large to fix. Maybe they are, but we have a BIG God who can work on our hearts to confront the problem and change it. He can change our hearts and He changes hearts.

I'm so thankful the van stopped for me, just as God has stopped for all of us. Thank you God for the cross and your grace. Thank you because you STOP for us.

Pennsylvania Team

The last team to enter the red gates of the YWAM base were a group of chill and "pura vida" youth. (pura vida is a term used in Costa Rica meaning layed back. In general, Cost Rica is "pura vida.") As this group from Pennsylvania joined us in ministry, my heart began to ask God for strength and passion to pour into these youth. I felt tired, passionless, and dry.

It was a Thursday morning. This was the last day that I would be working with these Pennsylvaniates before they headed off to serve in a far off village for the remainder of their time. While I was praying that morning before we were to head out to the salvation army, God gave me the chapter Psalm 139.

"OH Lord, you have searched me and you know me..." The chapter continues with David, the author, stating that God knows everything about him and when he sits and when he rises. That God knew him even before he was born.

It was incredible how this verse filled my heart and soul. How this psalm made my heart feel close to God's because he knows everything about me. This verse also continues to say that "you are fearfully and wonderfully made." Wow, fearfully and wonderfully made. I shared this verse with my boyfriend Jono, and later with the Pennsylvania group before we began serving food to the homeless at the salvation army.

One girl exclaimed, "Wow, that was perfect." Yes it was. God knows when we are feeling tired and exhausted. He knows EVERYTHING about us. He so much seeks for us to ask Him for help, for wisdom, for encouragement. I would encourage each one of use to give Him all of our thoughts and desire through prayer. Yes, he already knows them, He's put them in our hearts, but He desires us to seek Him. Thank you God for prayer. Thank you that we can speak to you and you answer.

New York Team

It's Saturday morning, and I'm just reminiscing about the past week with a spicy team from New York. These New Yorkers that ranged from 12 years old to mid 50s were full of joy and boldness as we shared Christ's love through children's ministry, prostitute ministry, and tons of prayer for the city of San Jose, Costa Rica.

One experience that sticks out in my mind as one of the most moving nights was a night when we went out to do ministry on the streets of San Jose. Before we ventured out to minister to broken hearts, the team and some leaders worshiped together to ready our hearts for the ugly world of prostitution and human trafficking. While we were praying a gal by the name of Dotty had a name that popped into her mind. "Rosa!" she proclaimed to all of us as the prayer night was ending, "We are going to meet a Rosa tonight." So as we ventured on the streets into the great by white YWAM vans our hearts began to anticipate a night of redemption on the broken streets of Costa Rica. We went out in groups of 3 or 4 and began sharing and praying with women and transvestites that were selling themselves on the street. As we shared the love of Christ with the precious people of God, we gave them mirrors that said "You are beautiful in the image of God." (obviously written in spanish.) The women and transvesites were very grateful for the mirrors and prayed with us.

The night was getting later and we still hadn't found our "Rosa." I quite honestly had forgotten about the name. As we were making our last stops a group of 3 ladies went and prayed for one of the last groups of prostitutes. These prosititutes were a bit uneasy with us coming and sharing with them so Paola, the leader of the street ministry, quickly asked to pray for the women. They agreed. she began asking there names... and one of the ladies said her name was "Rosa!" The New York women began to tear up as one of them by the name of Ana ran to the van to grab Dotty and tell her "We found our Rosa!" Dotty than ran out of the van and began ministering to this precious woman of God and spoke many words into her life that God had shared with her while praying. It was a "WOW" moment for all of us. How great is our God!? He is great!

Lastly, the best part of the whole night is that 2 nights later 2 boys that were ages 16 and 18 came to the YWAM base for a worship night. These boys had been selling themselves for the past 5 years on the streets. It's the beginning of redemption.... thank you God!

Oregon team

My first team of Mission Adventure's flew in on June 24th, my birthday :), to embark on a 10 day mission trip with Youth With A Mission in San Jose, Costa Rica. I was privileged to work aside a tica, Costa Rican, gal named Paola my first week working with teams. She showed me some of the main duties as a leader while serving with the ministry. I was honored to work aside these 15 Oregonites. We had the opportunity to work with children on 4 different locations performing dramas, making crafts, and playing children's games. Que rajado (very cool!). The team from Oregon was a blessing to me and my life.

The most impacting day from our service together was on a perfectly sunny day at a small Christian school. Here, we were privileged to meet a little girl named Noelyia. This precious elementary student was a sponsor child of Tricia and Kenny Snyder, a couple from Oregon. As we drove up to the school in our 2 big white YWAM vans, we could see a mother and young girl sitting on a bench waiting patiently for our arrival. As the van stopped, Tricia quickly ran over to the mother and daughter and shared a big smile and embrace them since she didn't speak the language. Tears began to fill our eyes as we saw the power of God between the two mothers and their gratitude towards each other. Through our short time chatting with this family, we learned that they had been praying for this American family. The love was mutual between the two families. Throughout the 3 hours together, the two mothers never left each others side. They were unable to speak the same language, however, they were both able to speak the language of the Love of Christ. This American family had been a great blessing to Noelyia and her mother and Noelyia and her mother were also a great blessing for Tricia and Kenny.

Although borders, cultural differences, and language can separate people, the love of Christ binds us together. I was privileged to be a part of this experience.

Where's my passport?

"Awww." I thought, sitting on the airplane as I was about to embark on a 3 month adventure to the land of Costa Rica. My mind relaxed as the airplane began to take off into the blue sky of Orlando, Florida. I was blessed the night before to stay at some old friends' apartment. All of my bags were packed and my heart settled with peace about the time I would be spending with an organization called "Youth With A Mission." I sat thanking God for the morning, and than decided that I needed to listen to some beats on my ipod. I searched for about 2 minutes without any luck of finding it. Where was it? I remembered that it had been positioned perfectly into my gray plastic travel wallet. Hm... I could wait and look later. Ten minutes into the plane ride a nervous heart beat began to beat in my stomach. That same plastic travel wallet with my ipod had my passport in it!! Where was my passport!? I then began to search a bit more vigorously with no luck of find the gray plastic travel wallet. I urgently woke up my new surfer friend Christian and asked him to check his bag to see if he "accidentally" put it in his bag. He looked helpfully, but there was no sign of the wallet. I than told the flight attendant, who hastily made an announcement over the speakers to the relaxed passengers. She told me that if I was unable to find this precious identification, that I would need to fly back to Florida on the next airplane! People, than began to search. I began to pray. No more than 30 seconds later a man held the wallet up in the air joyfully and exclaimed that he had found my passage to Costa Rica! Everyone began to applaud with joy and laughs. I thanked the man and my surfer dude friend exclaimed, "Oh man, I was so nervous for you." The rest of the trip went smoothly and I made it to Tiquicia aka (Costa Rica).