Some Vid's

Buka's Birthday Dance:

White water rafting:

Our last dance on Outreach:

Outreach in Costa Rica: Accomplished!

OH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
How do you sum up 2 months of Outreach?! Like really though..There is no words, no thoughts, no actions that can even begin to describe what went on in Costa Rica on the inside, around me and through me. But I am going to try and sum it up in the best way I can without leaving out the most important details..SO here we gooooo!

As you know we went to all 7 provinces of Costa Rica, on average; moving every 4/5 days in a 14 passenger van that accommodated 16 of us, my heart went out to the squished 4 seaters' in the front and in the back, that must of been brutal...Not to mention that I dont think Costa Rica believes in smooth roads in 90% of the country, so you can imagine. Anyways, Here are all the places that we went (to the best of my ability): Cartago, Heredia, San Jose, Puerto Viejo, Jaco, Cobano, Monte Zuma, Nicoya, Nambi, Monte Verde, Las Palmeras, Ciudad Quesada, Sarchi and a few beaches in between, but I forgot their names. Most of the ministries that we did were geared towards the youth, and that was because our focus was to call the youth of Costa Rica into the mission field. Along with youth ministries we did, homeless ministries, rehabilitation ministries, prayer/intercession walks, kids ministry, church events, local events, physical labor, and bible distribution. As much as we were there to serve others on Outreach, I feel that we were also served as well. The people that we were involved with were some of the nicest people I had ever met in my life. Their passion for God and to live a life fully devoted to Him was a beautiful thing to see. That they could have had nothing, but the joy that the received from the Lord was the only thing that shined.

Outreach taught me a number of things, but one of them was 'walking in humility'. When we were distributing bibles, on the four hottest days ever, walking door to door from about 9:00am- 2:00am; after we were finished the Pastor always had water and fresh fruit for us (and there was bout 60+ of us) everyday. On the final day we all got called up and the children of the church gave us these little Dora boxes as a gift of their appreciation of helping them out. A gift for us (?!) not only were we the ones that were supposed to be giving, but they gave their own personal time, money, and effort to complete the mission of 'A Bible in every home in Costa Rica'. Not only that, we didnt know at the time, but the Pastor had no money or food to even feed his family and here he was buying food for us. Long story short, Nela and Jose (our leaders) felt that the extra money we had saved by not going to Tamarindo, was to go to the DTS at the Nicoya base and to buy the Pastor and his family groceries. Now, we had no idea that the Pastor wasnt able to provide for his own family, they just felt that God was telling them to give the money to them. So that night they went over and dropped off the groceries and the Pastor and his family were in awe because they had been praying for God to provide them with food. The Pastors wife, who was pregnant, has a 3 year old couldn't even afford to buy milk and showed them the cub-bard to prove it. WOW. Talk about possessing the desire to serve others even before your own family for the name of Jesus.

That also happened at Monte Verde. It was about mid-way through outreach and we needed a pick-me-up after the long week of bible distribution. Not only was the Pastor beyond the definition of hospitable, he arranged for us to go to a snake/butterfly/humming bird/ rain forest perserve all for free. And on top of that, after we did a youth event at his church, the church did an offering for US. At the end they divided up the amount and individually gave us an envelope. Now let me tell you, this church was by no means wealthy, big, or even stable with their finances; but here they were taking up an offering for us. When the pastor handed me the envelope I began to cry. The amount could of been a million dollars or a 25 cents; it didn't matter. I just was overwhelmed with the feeling of gratitude, but also the feeling of unworthiness. I felt that God had been so faithful to us and experienced another kind of love that I never felt before. The feeling was overwhelming and I truly felt that they were living out the commandment: Love your neighbor like yourself.

Spiritual Discipline was another corner stone that was really amplified on Outreach. Im not going to tell you that Outreach was all bliss, butterflies and rainbow, because it definitely wasn't. Dont get me wrong, undoubtedly YES a hundred times it was that and more, but undoubtedly YES a hundred times it was also  the most vigorous, toughest, journeys of my life. I literally was breaking down the FIRST week of Outreach! Come on Montana, the FIRST week?!?! YUP. We were in Puerto Viejo and from the second we got off the bus, I knew it was going to be tough. I took one step off that bus and immediately I was dripping in sweat. Have you guys ever been to Texas in the dead of summer? Well, times that by 3 and that was the environment I was in. And lets be honest here, those of you that really know me, know that I do not do well in the heat when there is humidity involved; I sweat, I complain and I am only happy if I am by a pool in that weather, not doing physical labor. SO. We arrive at our little house next to the church we were serving, but it was more like a place where they stored stuff, but with a shower. There were bugs on the floor, no breeze and one shower. Thank the Heavens that there was fold up tables and we got to sleep on them..I think I would of about died if there wasnt. SO anyways, that week I literally was covered in bug bites; all on my legs, my back , my stomach had a rash on it and all I could think about was; "I can't believe I paid to do this. I am going to scar my body for life with these bites. I am working from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm everyday, while everyone else back home gets to enjoy their summer doing the things they want to do. and here I am: STUCK in this place. Not to mention, I am sick of eating food that I dont want to eat. I just want to book my flight home...NOW." 

So it wasn't until I was venting all of these things to my best friend down there, Cherise, while we were both putting our feet in the beautiful ocean, downloading things to one another that we were going through, when she asked me, "Why do you think you are freaking out about all these physical things? your bug bites, the food your eating, the not being able to work out...is that where you find your happiness? Or do you truly find your happiness in God like you say you do?" ...... BAM. That is what we call a Montana Revelation, in other words: this world isnt allllllllll about YOU. Everything that I took pleasure in, that gave me happiness, eating healthy, working out, the physical aspects of my life, had to be taken away, to isolate me, so that I was pushed to a place where I solely needed God to bring me happiness, to find joy only through him, because I could not possibly get it from anything else. That going to God for everything, whether that be by reading the bible, praying constantly throughout the day, encouraging/giving advice to my DTS family, was forming the spiritual discipline that I had been lacking all these years. By nature I've always been a disciplined person, whether it be in my studies, at my job, working out, eating right, etc...But when it came to reading my bible, putting God first--it was there, but it wasnt a first priority. And having that realization that I needed to have God be the center of my life everyday to literally help me get through this stage of my life (and for the rest of my life) this was a necessity that needed to be learned early on. That if I am spiritually disciplined; then everything else will be added onto me--If I find my joy in the Lord first, it is then that I can enjoy the other things in life as a bonus.

"..But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

- Luke 12:31

Never in my life have I been so happy, living so simplistically. By not having a t.v., cell phone,  laptop and minimal internet on my phone every so often, really made me realize that I am so much happier when living in a world with less clutter. I made it a point to not go on any site that talked about celebrity gossip and not knowing what was going on in that world was such a blessing. To live in the here and now, day by day, living for God and doing His work was the happiest I have ever been. To be surrounded by people who didnt care what I looked liked, what I did for a living, my status, my faults, my insecurities, but cared about the person that I was on the inside really grew me. Even before we ever went on Outreach we were a little family, but by the end, it was just ridiculous how we literally knew each other from the inside out; and yet we loved one another just the same. To have 15 other people there to pray for you, to carry you, to love on you and to support you in all aspects of your life was an amazing gift that God gave us. I know DTS schools are all different, but I have created bonds and friendships that will last a lifetime. 

Here are some other things that were really important to me on Outreach, but if I went into detail no one would read this looooooooooooooong blog:

• I LOVED homeless ministry! Down town Heredia, had a full blown conversation with a local man, 100% in Spanish and lets be honest here, I was the worst spanish speaker in my DTS but God totally equipped me with the Holy Spirit that night and I was speaking it like it was my first language!
• During Bible distribution, I got to pray over a teenage girl that was pregnant, who never had a bible before, who didn't have a relationship with God and after we left her house, she saw us again an hour later and came running out asking what verse I prayed over her, it was so exciting to see that God had used me to touch her heart with that verse..Praise Jesus!
• Prayer/intercession walks were a definite fav...we got to go to waterfalls, parks and did some pretty cool candle light prayer walks.
• Praying out loud for the prostitutes in Jaco was an awesome experience.
• Going to a youth event in Limon where they broke out with strobe lights and a dance to do worship...I was in total heaven!
• The diversity in worship that we got to see all over Costa Rica was incredible! Dancing, singing, praising...it was all so unique and so powerful.
• In Los Chiles, the couple that we helped lay the foundation for the school that they are building really impacted my life. I have never met people so happy to be living for God, Ive never witnessed pure joy every morning because God had blessed them with another day, they truly would be smiling and jumping up and down at 5:45 am, happy to be doing Gods work..simply amazing!

But the biggest part of Outreach was the transformation that God did within myself. Coming to Costa Rica I really thought I would just solely be working in the mission field, loving and serving the people of Costa Rica, and boy did God have other plans for me during that time. Not only did I reconcile people's relationships with God, I reconciled my own relationship. It wasn't until the very last day of Outreach, on the very last ministry we did that everything came full circle for me (God likes to do things in the eleventh hour with me).

I was asked to share my testimony with the youth at the church for our last event, and I was really stoked because the youth have always had a special place in my heart, and wanted to share about where I came from, who I was and how God had changed me--and all of this had to be summed up in 5 minutes--5 minutes?!? I wouldn't of even gotten past high school in 5 minutes! Soooo I stretched it to 20 min, give or take :)....So as I was preparing what to say, what not to say, what details to share, not to say, I just felt that God was telling me, "Don't prepare, I'll give you the words to say." So I didnt prepare anything. and that right there is a testimony of Gods work because if you know me, I love to plan and love to prepare--especially if I am doing public speaking, but totally left it up to God of how he wanted things to flow. and was I ever so thankful that I did.

Not only did I love getting up at the pulpit, but God made all the pieces fit. I have come to realize during lecture phase that I am a verbal processor (go figure, Montana needs to talk to understand things?!) Yes, Yes I do..So as I was sharing my testimony God was showing me what he had done during this time and I didnt even realize it until that moment. I came to Costa Rica to do God's work and to serve others. By focusing on others, I stopped focusing on myself; this is where God was able to work on me. By taking the attention off of me in my life, and putting it on others and my relationship with God, God did a transformation from the inside out, a transformation that I had no idea I was going to receive down there.

 I found my identity in HIM and not of things in my life; a girlfriend, a cheerleader; a feeding tech; status etc...but to know that I was created in the image of God and that he formed me in my mothers womb for HIS plan and purpose was life changing. That I am a child of God who loves to pray for people, to intercede, and to disciple others is my true identity. That finally I have loved the person I am because I love the Jesus that lives in me, the same Jesus that lives in you. I just couldn't see it because of all the things I had that was claiming who I was. That no matter what happens in my environment, my surroundings and even my career, I know who I am for Jesus and nothing can take that away. My identity is found in my creator.

Forgiveness was another underlying theme of my transformation, but it wasn't a forgiveness of others, it was a forgiveness of myself. In the past I have done many things that I am not proud of and God really used reconciliation with a few people to break the chains of oppression that I didnt know I still had. I had felt the pain that I caused people, the hurt that my lies created, and the shame of who I was. To add on to that,

I had all this pressure on myself. Pressure from my family, pressure from my academics, pressure to excel in life, pressure to uphold things to make the closest people around me proud. It was literally exhausting to try to be this perfect person, when perfection does not exist. and the whole process of forgiving was to surrender all those burdens to Jesus, to lay them down at the cross and to take up his yoke which is 'easy and light' was pure freedom. I had reconciled relationships, I sought and received forgiveness and God totally washed me clean of all of it.

Lastly, God gave me my purity back. Now, I know what your thinking, purity Montana? ....Really? 

"..You took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires;

you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new man, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth."  - Ephesians 4:22-24

Finally, I feel the freedom and the joy found in Christ. God has literally taken my past and has turned it around for his good and perfect will. That everything I have went through, good and bad, has shaped and formed me into the person that God has called me to be. My sins have been forgiven, but it is more than that. God has given me my innocence back; he has truly made me a child of God. I dont hold onto the things I used to do, or the person that I once was. I have been transformed like it is written, with the renewing of my mind. I see things differently now, I have a new perspective on life and that is in alignment with God's perspective on life. 

Now by no means am I putting myself up on a pedestal, giving myself glory or even trying to come off righteous and holy, to be completely real-- it is the exact opposite. I have just come to realize that I am so broken, lost, and weak that I NEED God in my life.  In the beginning, we were created to live with God, to walk with God and to not live apart from him. But as sinners, we fall away from him and keep falling, and keep falling.... and now, we have fallen so far away that people don't even realize why we were created in the first place---and why people (including myself) are constantly searching for things to fill the voids in our lives, with people, places and things--but will never be truly happy because that longing in our heart, that emptiness we feel, that gadgets or people cant fill, can only be filled by the one that is supposed to fill it and that is God.

God didn't send Jesus into the world to condemn it, he sent him to save us; to save us from ourselves. What God did was open that communication back up so that we can have a relationship with him, if we choose to by Jesus Christ. And for the rest of my life I choose to follow him. I know and experienced what it is to live a life without God and I know how it is to have God at the center of it, and let me tell you, I went through a lot of unnecessary hurt when God was not the center. God is our Father, he looks out for us, he loves us, he sent his own son to die for us---and now I cant do anything but live a life for Him...

So in conclusion, Costa Rica will forever mean so much more than a beautiful country. It is a place of growth, friendship, renewing, transforming and rejuvenation. I cant thank God enough for all he has shown me, given me and continues to teach me day by day on this journey with him. I can only hope that my walk grows stronger and stronger with each passing day and that more and more people come to know Christ whether it be from my testimony or just by pure love that people show one another. Either way..God has given me this beautiful gift of life; living with him, through him, serving him, and loving him. This is the life I was meant to live..... 

This is the overflowing grace of God. :)

...And yes those are my fly Costa Rican TOMs. 

A BIG BIG BIG-- THANK YOU--to everyone that supported me down there; whether it be through finances, prayer or even emails, I could not have done it without my friends and family back home. You guys are truly blessings in my life and I cant thank you enough for everything you did for me and continue to do, just by being apart of my life!

Outreach has finally begun!

So outreach is finally here. Lecture phase is over and done; and we conquered NIKO camp. That’s right—Kicked butt for 5 days in Cartago—I would love to go into detail the things and situations we experienced, but for the sake of future DTS students, we are sworn to secrecy so that God can work in them just like he worked in us. But let me tell you, NIKO was nothing short of a learning and bonding experience not only with our team, but with God as well. One thing that I can share is that God protects and I am a living witness to that..

We were hiking up the mountain; I was leading and then we stopped to catch a breather. Pedro, one of the guys I was with took the front after our short breather and took maybe 3 steps and stopped. “I feel that we need to pray for protection right now”. So of course we willingly stopped and prayed. It couldn’t of been 5 steps and there was a huge snake just waiting in our path up the hill. Pedro immediately was backing up and putting his arms out so we wouldn’t take a step further; but simultaneously Pedro’s first language is Spanish so as he was yelling things, I had no idea what was going on because my Spanish is not that good—so on top of the commotion I had no idea what was going on—Thank the heavens that God has given people the gift of being bilingual!

But for reals--This snake was so camouflaged that I was staring at it for 20 seconds and didn’t even realize that it was there. So being with Giovanni (NIKO staff) he whipped out his machete and went to the front—the snake got away, but it wasn’t long until it appeared again. We didn’t want to kill, just wanted it to be far from us but it was too close to the path and not worth it to just “pass it” so ultimately the machete did its job. And let me add that this is one of the most poisonous snakes found in the country of Costa Rica and it was about 5 ft long. If it wasn’t for Pedro listening to God’s voice to stop and pray for protection, taking the lead and seeing the snake, I know I would of for sure 1. Stepped on it or 2. Would have gotten bit.  We were all so thankful for God’s protection after that; it was such an experience that could have been so much worse. We were so far into the jungle that it would have been a really scary situation if something really did happen to us. Thank you Jesus for protecting us!

NIKO was such a great time to learn how we work together as a team, through rain, tiredness, sleeplessness, little food and just being around each other 24/7. Not only did I learn vital communication skills, but I learned a lot about myself. My strengths, my weakness’s, what I need to work on, and how I can lead if need be. I have always been thankful for the things that I have, but after NIKO, you learn to be grateful for the things that we have in luxury. Everyday we take for granted the simple necessities in life—well the ‘simple’ necessities in America. Running water, toilets, showers, technology, unlimited excess of food. I thought living in community was a humbling experience, but NIKO really opened my eyes and my heart to real life realities of the world today. People sleep on dirt floors, walk miles for water that probably isn’t even drinkable, and survive on very little. I can only pray that when I get back to the states (and for the rest of my life) I don’t take things for granted and I don’t spend in excess the things that I don’t need. It really just puts things into perspective of even having a computer, an ipod—even a cell phone.. Just some things to think about when leaving back to the states; how to apply what I learned in my time in Costa Rica back to my real life in the states.

SO. NIKO has been conquered, lecture phase is over and now it is time for Outreach. WHAT?!?! We are already on the second half of the DTS?!?! I seriously cant believe it. I cant even believe its almost October! Now it is time to put into practice what we have learned the past 3 months. We are going to hit every province of Costa Rica—All 7 of them-whoop! I am so excited—but unfortunately I know it is going to go by so fast since we are moving like every 6 days. We received the schedule for this week and Melissa and I are in charge of prayer ministry on top of a volcano in Cartago—and it went sooo good! I absolutely love praying with my peeps!

So when I started writing this post it was a couple of days ago before outreach and now we are 5 days into it and I could not be more content with my life and where it is going as of right now. The first week of ministries has been such a blessing not only to the people of Cartago, Heredia and San Jose, but for me personally. Going out and stepping out of my comfort zone has been a challenge that I have graciously accepted from God. To solely rely on him for confidence, strength and supernatural understanding of Spanish has been a wonderful experience. I finally feel that I am doing what I was created to do and that is to build relationships with people, specifically (well for this week) the lost. Our first ministry was homeless ministry and I enjoyed every minute of it. There is just something about talking to someone one, a stranger, and finding that common ground between the two that just changes you. You learn that loneliness, heartache, joy, fears; every human emotion—is the same no matter who you are or where you go. That everyone feels the same emotions one way or another despite all the differences that may be. It was such an experience to just go out there and take a leap of faith that God will direct you on what words to say and who to talk to—not to mention that I had a one on one with a man named Kelly Anthony Leo Garcia in 100% spanish---Talk about God providing supernatural spanish speaking abilities! YES!

The next day we did a Rehabilitation ministry with men whose ages ranged from 18-60. It was humbling to hear everything that these men struggled with, where they are now with their addictions and how God has been playing a role in their lives. While they were each talking we were interceding for them with words of encouragement and verses to help them get through this process. After, we split up and did some one on ones. As I was looking around the room at everyone I just had that feeling of a proud parent. To see my DTS loving on people and just simply listening to these men was such a sight to see. We have all come so far together and to see us applying what God has given us and taught us into real life was truly amazing.

Last night we did another homeless ministry at Salvation Army and let me tell you it was a little intimidating at first. The facility was set up like a dormitory with a common area. The people that were staying there over night had to wear blue jumpers, so it looked similar to a jail or prison suit. The majority of the people were men so I’m not gonna lie, there was a little fear in me when I first got there, but that quickly went away after we started helping out. We served them food, washed the dishes, Brayan shared his testimony and then after we got to spend some time with them. Kristen and I went up to three ladies and luckily 2 of them spoke English so it was easier to engage in conversation. I love hearing stories of their lives and getting to know them more on a personal level.  This one woman group up in Costa Rica, has 3 kids and has been living on the streets for years, yet she was so strong in her faith. She kept referring to “My God loves me and I love my God.” Here we are going there to show Jesus’s love to his people and his people are showing his love back to us. This woman was so strong in believing that she hears God’s voice that she increased my faith.

Beautiful isn’t it?

Ps. We cant bring our laptops on Outreach for security issues and that we need to focus on God and the computer can be a huge distraction—SO with that being said, I may or may not be blogging for awhile...but please keep me and my DTS in your prayers! Pray that God has prepared a way and is continuing to prepare the hearts of the people that we are going to be meeting in our ministries—that we would be so transparent, that when the people see us, they cant help but see Jesus and his love for his people! Thank you so much for all the support, it is greatly appreciated in this time J

Continuing on this ongoing roller coaster.

It seems like week after week I am stretched further and further. Just when I think that God is done digging, he finds something deeper to bring to the surface. A couple of days ago I was just in a really bad mood. I felt lost, I was questioning what in the world am I was doing here; I was frustrated that I looked like a bum all the time, was wondering why I couldn’t be living a ‘normal’ life back in the states; being on my own, doing my own thang on the weekends—enjoying life how I wanted to enjoy it. But then I get convicted of why I even came here in the first place. I came here because I felt that I wanted more out a life, a calling to live in a different country, a missions trip and now that my prayers have been answered, here I am complaining about the experience that I am having...so ungrateful Montana!

But what I was going through was more common with some of my DTS than not, so that was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one and then Sunday morning service came around. We had to have things prepared for a local church; a drama, dance, rap and a testimony. I was in the drama and dance for the service, so of course on Sunday morning every little thing that could of went wrong with the dance was. The music couldn’t get cut, the internet was down at the base, I had no clean black pants AND when I was trying to put my hair in a pony tail my rubber band snapped...and so did I. I know that sounds so dumb, but I literally started tearing up. Tearing up that I was tired of 5 day a week class, tired of work duties, tired of living in community, tired of eating stuff that I didn’t want to—tired of everything!

But I have learned that I can vent, vent and vent--but what I do at the end of my hissy fit is what’s most important and the way I respond to these trials is what is going to grow my faith, my character and most importantly how I overcome any and all the struggles that are going to happen in my life. So in response to ‘my snapping’ physically and emotionally—I had my little rant but then ended with truths about God. That he is faithful, he is my deliver, he is putting me through this for a bigger purpose that I can’t see right now, but I trust in him and is going to stay obedient to what he has asked me to do for the time being, things like that, etc...

So after I got over myself and my feelings, my emotions, my whining, my brattiness, I started to look at the bigger picture of why I was doing the dance in the first place. The purpose of the dance was to show the reconciliation that God had given me. Reconciliation from self image, finding my identity of things of this world, and heartaches I had gone through. It was to show how God picked up the broken pieces, restored my distorted self image of myself, and has given me a purpose for my life and that’s what doing this dance was about. I have learned that the DTS is a decision, not a feeling; following God is a decision; not a feeling and doing things when I don’t want to is just part of my decision for being here.

Dancing and performing has always been so passionate to me and I never had the opportunity to dance solely for God—and I had forgotten that this was a direct answer of prayer...Before coming here I prayed that I would have more opportunities to dance and here God was giving it me on a silver planner and I was just being ridiculous and listening to all the negativity that was surrounding me—and now I know why.. Something changed in me that day. Something was released inside me that I never felt before. I felt totally and utterly consumed in God’s love and glory when I was dancing for him; that I never felt so filled with his presence then I did when I was dancing. Everyone else just disappeared and just God and I remained. It was the best feeling I had ever felt in my life. I was using the gift that he had given me, to worship him. Ahhhhhhh it was just simply amazing!

The car ride home I was just staring out the window thanking him for his love. I was just so twitterpated with God that nothing else in the world even mattered.

Relationships.

So this week our topic is: Evangelism. I'm not gonna lie, that word has been really intimidating for me. I've never been good at expressing my faith to people and this was one of the main reasons why I came to Costa Rica; I wanted to express my faith and relationship with God in a natural way. When I used to think of Evangelism, I used to think that I could neverrrrr do that...that was only for the really good Christ followers and I didn't have enough knowledge of the bible to do that. Well, that is true to some extent, I will never know the entire bible and its entirety, but I do have other things that can be used to evangelize.

Evangelism is not just walking up to someone and preaching the word; it is telling people about the joy and happiness that you have found through Jesus. Evangelism can be creative, it can be loud, it can be one and one, but most importantly it is all about building a relationship with someone. This is the key that I had been missing when thinking about spreading the good news. When you want to express something that is so important to you to your friend, a family member and even a stranger; you have to be relational--what a concept right?!

Yesterday, we went out to a neighborhood in a not so good part of town and did bible distribution. I was really pumped because I had never done it before. So before we went out we had like an hour of just straight prayer time--this is key before going into a community and presenting Jesus to people. We prayed for God to go before us, to prepare the peoples hearts, to have the Holy Spirit help us when we go and to protect us. Each person went in the middle of the circle, layed hands on them, and prayed. This was probably the coolest thing we've done so far for me because during that prayer time I was asking God to give me a heart for these people. I started tearing up because I really feel that God was breaking my heart for what breaks his. The prayers were so powerful that morning, I just love when that happens!

So we divided up into groups of 3-4 and went out amongst the neighborhood. I really enjoyed my group because we all were so at ease that morning, but it helped that the two houses we went to were totally awesome! We only had time to go to two houses because we were with them so long so I'm only going to talk about the first house we went to..The first house was this sweet old couple that openly opened their house to us. We sat with them for a good half hour, maybe longer and just talked. Morgan (my leader and translator) was explaining to them that we were 'new' missionaries at a bible school and needed practice telling our testimony and what not so we literally just talked about what God has been doing in our lives and it was great! They too believed in God so it was just so special to be sitting with this couple just talking about our walk with God. They were so loving that they said "Our house is your house, you are always welcomed here"--you definitely dont get that in the states! Here we are, complete strangers, and they just openly let us in their home--this definitely was a culture shock to me.

But something that I did learn that is vital for evangelizing is that it is sooo about building that relation with people. Yes, it is important to tell people about Jesus, but sometimes it can be the simple act of listening to a sweet old couple talk, baking goods for the homeless, giving free water bottles down town, serving others, etc...I say this because it was so evident that the old couple we visited just really enjoyed our company. I bet if we had more time, we could of been there for hours, just talking with them.

Another thing that I learned from this experience is that when I do have a home, I want it to be an open place, where people can come and go-a warm and welcoming home for all. Since I have been in Costa Rica I have been surrounded by nothing but loving latinos who are overly kind in almost all aspects of their lives. It has truly taught me so much about loving people and loving our differences.

Tonight we made 40 bucks on our bake sale and 37 bucks on our garage sale--all proceeds are going straight to our outreach because some of us don't have the funds to pay, but thats quite all right because we are raising the money all together as a family and trusting in God that he is going to provide it--whoohoooo!

Tomorrow night we are going to salvation army, dont know exactly what we will be doing, but we are bringing the left over cookies to the homeless--so Im pretty pumped! ill write more this weekend- gotta soak in all the free internet time I can get right now-Ciao!

My Oh My. I haven’t blogged in the last two weeks and I’ve been putting it off because I feel that there has been so much going on that I can’t put everything down on paper...So last week was probably one of the most difficult weeks here, thus far. Everyone was feeling tired, restless and most of all home sick. The problem is that coming here we have all gotten so much inner healing, that God has taught us so much about our personal lives and what are passions are and we are just excited about starting our life post DTS that we were all impatient about the process that God is still doing in our lives. Its like we barely just learned to walk, still taking our first steps and we want to run already. So luckily I wasn’t the only one feeling the strains of always being surrounded by people, following a tight schedule and wanting to know the outcome instead of living for the journey.

One thing that God has been teaching me for the last two weeks is obedience. That taking theses small steps of obedience will not only prepare me for what is to come, but to enjoy the little things that God wants to show me each day. That I aspire to be like Joseph in the bible, Joseph was content and trusted God in every situation he had put him in and in every situation Joseph was steadfast and solely living for the Lord. That through his trials and tribulations, he endured with a pure heart for the Lord, and situation after situation got better because he was content doing God’s work in the hardest of places. That through work duties, going to class when Im tired, waking up at 5:30am is all spiritual acts of worship for the Lord.

“For it is god who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure.” –Philippians 2:13-14

Last weeks topic was ‘Studying the Bible’ and it was seriously amazing! The first day we went downtown San Jose and split up into groups and just read certain passages in the bible for 2 ½ hours. I really enjoyed this activity because we had a great conversation and we were discussed the significances of the specific verses we were assigned. Later in the week we ripped apart the book of Philemon and was shocked in how much information was embedded in the 25 verses of that book! The underlying theme, why they were writing it, to whom, from whom, the history during that time, where Paul was, etc...I mean the details of it all were just incredible. It just goes to show you that you can’t just open the bible and start reading and expect it to be applicable to  your life, (I mean sometimes it does), but you need to be weary and know the context, the history, the audience, who wrote it, etc...It was so very interesting to learn about and to apply it. It has everything we need for this life- it counsels, it creates, it perfects, it overflows with God’s love and his word for the purpose of our lives.

God has totally changed my view on how I look at the Bible. Before the bible was some big daunting book that was filled with knowledge that is sometimes incomprehensible. But now looking at it, it is like a familiar best friend that you see every day. That I have come to love this heavy book of God’s word. The bible brings such life to every situation I am going through and I really do not know what I did without it. It has been my stronghold while going through all of this. I guess you can say I am in a great relationship with a book.

So this week was a phenom week to say the least. ‘Biblical Worldview’ was the topic and it was lead by the base director and what a passionate and powerful speaker he was. You can just feel his heart for God and it radiated throughout the classroom. I was soaking up all his teachings like a sponge because he literally broke down how people view God and God’s place in this world. And one of the main ideas he was trying to teach us was what kind of reality we live in. He was asking us questions that were very valid and very important questions of our faith that needed to be asked and answered. One of the things he said that will help when we go on our outreach is that when we come into a community carrying the word of God, we need to relate and understand what their worldview is first in order to relate with them on a level that they will understand. There is so much more that we learned, but sadly it is really detailed and too long to fit it all here, but if anyone ever wants to find out more about this topic, for sure hit me up for a cup of joe, maybe a phone date -- I would Love to discuss it!

So yesterday we had another giving day---Oh how I love giving days! I received something that was so special to me; soy milk. I know what you’re thinking, soy milk?! 

But honestly it was the thoughtfulness and  the heart behind it that made me so happy. Soy milk here is like Montana’s treasure; you can only get it at Wal-Mart and it is so pricey and I have not had it in 2 months! And so it’s been really, really difficult here being a vegan and it’s a constant struggle on a daily basis because what I had to eat in the states is not here...it’s just hard. Money is limited and I don’t want to waste it on food. They provide 3 meals a day and even though sometimes I really don’t want to eat it, its just another thing that makes me appreciate when I do get to eat what I want. Ohhhh just another life lessons from Jesus!J

SO; for my dear friend Kristen to not only buy me that (and some great green tea) it really meant so much more. It just confirmed that these people truly do: 1. Know me 2. Care about me and 3.Would spend their limited money on a small carton of milk, because they know how happy it would make me.

I am just so thankful for these people in my life right now, because we are all going through ‘the dying of ourselves’ together, we are persevering through the difficult times together, we are growing and learning together, and we will get through all of it—TOGETHER. God is such a good God for giving me such strongholds in my life at this time of internal transformation..whoop!

Here is where I went running on Saturday morning--Such a beautiful neighborhood about 10 minutes from the base...

Photos Ive been feelin'

 [My Hammock Cocoon at Homes of Hope]

 [No fussing. No whining. No bad attitudes.]

 [Capturing the feeling of my life as of right now]

[--This ones for mah' spanish peeps. Represent.]

TOP 5 things I will never take for granted.

1. Throwing the toilet paper away in the toilet. Today this is second nature to me, but when I first got here it really took me some time getting used to/ was really grossed out by it. All the unnecessary unsanitary germs that are lingering in the bathrooms are the norm. But I must admit, having 4 stalls for the whole base is prettyyyyyy...well lets not think about that....In seriousness, all the praise to the plumbing system in the states, I don’t know what it is, if the pipes are bigger or what, but thank you US for disposing of toiletries down the drain. Mad Props.

2. Having hot showers on a daily basis. 4 out of the 5 showers that I take a week are in titanic ice cold water, and I am not exaggerating. If you don’t get the first shower on the left (there are 4) be prepared to do back bends in the shower because it is so cold from your hair dripping down to the rest of you. So basically I rinse really fast, turn it off to shampoo, rinse really fast, turn it off to condition and soap up the body then turn it on really fast to rinse. Thus resulting in me shaving only once a week (good thing Im here for God and not trying to impress any boys, ya know what im sayin') when I do get the so called ‘hot’ shower which is merely luke warm and is only warm when you baaaaaarely turn it on, resulting in very little pressure. BUT I must say that when I do have that hot shower once a week I am praising Jesus for it. Never again will I take for granted the warmth of shower water AND the comforts of a nice hot bath!

3. This probably should be #1, but its hard to put a number on these things, but really this should be first priority: Grocery shopping and cooking what you want to eat. Oh My Gosh. I have never had such a hard time eating the things I eat down here. For most of you know that I LOVE to eat healthy and I am very specific on what I eat because of my stomach. WELP that has had to take a back seat while being down here, which is hard. When you are surrounded by cookies, cakes and bread everywhere, it is so hard to get the nutrients your body needs! I will never take for granted my leafy greens, my smoothies, my vegetables, im getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it! Seriously though, it is really hard to eat right because 1. You get whatever they make and if you don’t like it, well tough luck! 2. Buying your own food can get real pricey, especially if you are living your life as a missionary and do not have an income right now........I will never ever, ever, ever take for granted going to a farmers market ever again!!!!!

4. Alone time/silence. Being by yourself on a base filled with people coming and going is quite impossible. Not to mention that there is only limited spaces on the four couches that we have, so comfy places are slim to none. By chance, you might be able to snag a hammock, but usually those are taken most often then not. Sharing a room with 6 other girls—it is hard to be alone as well. But one of the hardest things is that they don’t advise you to go off the base alone (rightly so, we are in a foreign country and they just are protecting us) but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss going to the store by myself, or going to Mccafe to just “get away”, or even going to a mall and just window shopping. I do miss those weekends were I could just jet over to marshalls, grab a starbucks and just shop. Having the luxury of doing your own thing when you want and where you want is a privilege and I didn’t even know it.

5. Sleeping in. Every morning I wake up at 5:30 and go non stop until about 7:30, some days even later. We have a full and packed schedule 5-6 days a week. I am lucky if I sleep till 8 on the weekends. Oh to have my nice warm bed on Sunday mornings, watching my law and order SVU all day long would be really nice once in a while. To have the luxury of just laying around in bed all day, wearing your pajamas and just enjoying the comforts of a clean, carpeted, house is what I think about often, but I am thankful for my bunk bed.

So even though these are the top 5 things that I will never take for granted when I get back to the states; being here--living in community, in a beautiful foreign country, learning more about myself in the past 7 weeks than I have in my entire life, building an intimate relationship with our Lord-—that in itself is something I will never take for granted when I get back to the states.

Yes, the non stop schedule sometimes makes me want to scream, Yes, seeing the same 12 people everyday sometimes makes me want to just be alone in a room by myself, Yes, the teachings can be overwhelming and down right draining-emotionally, physically and spiritually, but I am BEYOND grateful for my life at this very moment. I have never been so happy living in this oversized tree house with all the people that are here. Its really tough sometimes to be thankful for the experiences I am going through, but I know that this is all a part of his plan for me. That these life situations/experiences are preparing me to what is to come in the future, a way of getting me ‘trained’ for the calling in my life which I am so excited to see what that is!!! But until then, I will keep a positive attitude, keep my eyes on Jesus and thank him in my ‘sufferings’ for they are forming and molding my character. And believe you me—mah’ character should be pretty much be formed by now, can I get an AMEN! Haha—I kid. :)