by Diana Durrill
We are finally enjoying the last few minutes of our first full day in Costa Rica. We landed early this morning around 5:55 am and while many of us slept on the flight, many did not and they are very tired! We were greeted by a thick blanket of humidity (which I happen to love), lush green vegetation and flowering plants. Costa Rica really is breathtakingly beautiful.
A 45 minute bus drive brought us to the mission station that Pura Vida calls home and the first order of business was to devour a hot breakfast before settling into our rooms and taking naps. (Well, the sponsors all crashed anyway. The girls lost no time in getting their winter white skin exposed to the sun and the boys started card games and messed around either with the guitars or basketballs. The sponsors were wise and slept off a couple hours of our exhaustion.)
After lunch we went through orientation and then took the buses out to the neighborhoods where we are running VBS and canvased with invitations. The mission calls this time a "prayer walk". We are to pray individually and as a group as we walk, praying that God would open hearts and homes to the message of the gospel. It was fun to be walking in these communities and to be greeted with big smiles and waving hands. I wish I could speak a little Spanish...the language barrier is quite intimidating to me but as in all cultures a smile transcends any and all barriers! The children were excited to be invited so we'll see how many of them show up tomorrow.
After dinner tonight we had a worship service and the Spirit of God was present and working as evidenced by the large response to the invitation. Many of our students came forward and spent significant time deep in prayer, lingering long after the service was over and others had exited the chapel. It was obvious that the message struck a chord. John 1:16 kept coming to mind as I watched teens rise with tears streaming down their faces. Oh, how I long for them to grasp the truth that out of Christ's fullness we have all been given grace upon grace already given. God's grace is more than all-sufficient...it's empowering! My specific prayer after tonights service is that each teen knows that God is pouring more and more of His grace out upon each of them and that the knowledge of that empowers them to live lives that glorify and honor Him.
I will try and update tomorrow and might even get some pictures added. But for now, since I'm all tuckered out from very little sleep in the last 2 days...Goodnight!
We are finally enjoying the last few minutes of our first full day in Costa Rica. We landed early this morning around 5:55 am and while many of us slept on the flight, many did not and they are very tired! We were greeted by a thick blanket of humidity (which I happen to love), lush green vegetation and flowering plants. Costa Rica really is breathtakingly beautiful.
A 45 minute bus drive brought us to the mission station that Pura Vida calls home and the first order of business was to devour a hot breakfast before settling into our rooms and taking naps. (Well, the sponsors all crashed anyway. The girls lost no time in getting their winter white skin exposed to the sun and the boys started card games and messed around either with the guitars or basketballs. The sponsors were wise and slept off a couple hours of our exhaustion.)
After lunch we went through orientation and then took the buses out to the neighborhoods where we are running VBS and canvased with invitations. The mission calls this time a "prayer walk". We are to pray individually and as a group as we walk, praying that God would open hearts and homes to the message of the gospel. It was fun to be walking in these communities and to be greeted with big smiles and waving hands. I wish I could speak a little Spanish...the language barrier is quite intimidating to me but as in all cultures a smile transcends any and all barriers! The children were excited to be invited so we'll see how many of them show up tomorrow.
After dinner tonight we had a worship service and the Spirit of God was present and working as evidenced by the large response to the invitation. Many of our students came forward and spent significant time deep in prayer, lingering long after the service was over and others had exited the chapel. It was obvious that the message struck a chord. John 1:16 kept coming to mind as I watched teens rise with tears streaming down their faces. Oh, how I long for them to grasp the truth that out of Christ's fullness we have all been given grace upon grace already given. God's grace is more than all-sufficient...it's empowering! My specific prayer after tonights service is that each teen knows that God is pouring more and more of His grace out upon each of them and that the knowledge of that empowers them to live lives that glorify and honor Him.
I will try and update tomorrow and might even get some pictures added. But for now, since I'm all tuckered out from very little sleep in the last 2 days...Goodnight!
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