Project Jesus for Children

Alright, now that I have caught up updating you all on the wedding and such, I would like to catch up updating and telling you about what has been going on in ministry in the last months.

Shortly before my wedding, I had been praying for quite a while about ministry and praying that God would open up some doors, when I met another Canadian missionary at my friend's bridal shower. Ministry came up in conversation and I mentioned that I was looking for more ministry. Something stable/ a little more structured than my past ministries. Well, after a couple minutes, Holly, a fellow missionary, spoke up and said that her family's ministry was looking for more people to help out. I was a bit reluctant seeing as so many "open doors" had fallen through in the past, but of course I was interested. So I spent a few weeks before my wedding, checking out and job shadowing the ministry. The more I learned about this ministry, the more I realized that I had a heart for it and that so many children from so many different backgrounds were being reached by this curriculum. So I made a decision shortly after my wedding that this was the ministry I would be working with.

The ministry is called Project Jesus for Children and it's vision is to keep Jesus in the school's here and teach about values. They have created a curriculum approved by the education board called "Vital Values with Jesus". The program works with the Jesus Film for kids and teaches about the life of Jesus/values through different scriptures and movie clips. It has been well recieved and is working on a national level all across Costa Rica, as well as Nicaragua and Honduras. The family who started this organization is origionally from Cochrane, Alberta, so it is really neat to meet/work with some fellow Canadians who are also from Alberta! This ministry doesn't support any specifec denomination as the ministry focuses on what we all have in common like having a relationship with Jesus, believing in the Word of God and that we can only recieve salvation through Jesus.

One of the many blessings of this ministry, is that they actually do all of the fundraising and pay an average salary to those working in the Organization. They have expanded so much that they are constantly looking for more people to keep up! God has really blessed this ministry and there are so many fruits coming out of it. After praying about it, I have decided to leave CTEN, my awesome mission's organization, and join Project Jesus for Children. This will be my last month recieving donations through CTEN. Next month will be my first month being paid by Project Jesus for Children.

However, with that being said....I would really like to mention that although I will be recieving a salary, that the Project always has needs continue this work and to keep expanding the work. I am going to put the information to donate to them on this blog for those interested in supporting the Project as a whole.

Also, I would really like to say thank you to all those who have personally supported me in these last years. Part of my reasoning of switching organizations, is that it has been increasingly harder to fundraise (its not my strongpoint) and now that I'm married, I'm not sure when I will be able to share in Calgary again. I also like the idea/ find it easier to find supporters for a project overall rather than for myself. 

This is a humble organization that is non profit. Donations go towards the expenses it takes to donate books to schools in need, do teacher training sessions, visiting all the different schools and being a support to teachers and expanding the work to new schools. Below is a link to see a short video on the ministry;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kx4K-vyuK4#t=59

For Information on/ and to Donate to Project Jesus for Children, Click the link below.

http://www.projectjesusforchildren.com/index.php

Thank you/Wedding update!

Well, it has been quite an eventful few months with planning my wedding, having my family visit, getting married, and going through some ministry changes! I will share about what is going on in ministry on my next blog post (within the next week). But first of all I wanted to thank everyone for all your support especially while I was in Calgary visiting. I was so blessed to have a bridal shower at church and just be able to visit with so many people. I was surprised by how much encouragement/generosity was shown there.

I know I haven't had a chance to personally thank each one of you and with being in Costa Rica, it is a bit more complicated to do so. So with that said, I have not forgotten and I truly am grateful for each of you that were there and shared in that special day with me. For those that weren't there, I am so grateful for each one of you as well and the love and support that you have shown me. God knows how many times your encouragement and support helped me get through some tough situations here on the mission's field. With that said, I'm sure some of you are wondering how the wedding went!

The wedding went well, it came and went by so fast, but it was truly a special day and in my mind couldn't have been better. The day was perfect for me and Jorge's outdoor ceremony and everything was decorated beyond what I could have imagined, thanks to Jorge's sister in law Irene. She did a fantastic job! I wouldn't have had such a beautiful wedding if it wasn't for her. Most of you know me well enough to know that I am a "no fuss" kind of girl….formality isn't my cup of tea, just being down to earth and spending time with people and keeping things simple is what I prefer. Because of this,I didn't want to be stressed out planning a wedding and lose focus on the real importance of the day, so I showed Irene what I liked and she pretty much planned my whole wedding! This was such a blessing, and I think God knew that I needed the help!! You see, after living on the field for 4 years and having to live month to month on mostly a rigid budget…..I couldn't even imagine deciding on the most basic things for my wedding….all I could think about was the money and how much it would cost. I really couldn't have pulled off such a beautiful wedding without the support of my in-laws, parents and Irene. I am so blessed.

I am so happy that my family/best friends were able to come to my wedding!

Just as I wanted, my wedding day wasn't stressful in the least, I felt so much peace and just relaxed, enjoyed my last night as a single with my friends and just spent time with them that morning as I got ready for the day. It was so surreal that it was my wedding day…..I literally felt so relaxed like any other day, that I felt weird….I thought to myself…..shouldn't I be nervous or something? :) I guess it is only God that gives that peace. I knew that it was Him that brought such a godly man into my life and I had no doubts that he was the one God had in mind for me.

Anyways, that's a bit about how the wedding went and let's face it…..most of you would just like to see the pictures….so here are a few more! Thanks for your patience with this update, time just flew by!

This month has been a great month with lots of opportunities to translate for short term teams. I got back a week ago from translating in the small town of Cot,Cartago for a couple visiting from the States. I was with them there for a week as they shared their testimonies and ministered to the people in the local high school and community.

It was a neat experience translating for Donald Nalley as he shared about his life and how God helped him leave drug trafficking and drug addiction after 34 years of being involved. What a testimony he has! The purpose of this trip was to do different sessions and conferences in the local high school reaching both students and teachers. He would share his story, give information about drugs and how it really was trafficking drugs, and share with the teachers some ways they could prevent drug issues in their school. Of course he shared about how God helped him out of his past life as well.

One of the many student sessions we did!

When we weren't at the High School, we were visiting homes, praying over people, and preaching and sharing about God. It was an intense and tiring schedule but I felt so blessed to be able to see how God uses people's worst life experiences to reach and identify with others.

Although the week went well, there were some struggles along the way where I was forced to pray and ask God for guidance. It was nothing serious but more of a question of what my responsibility is as a translator. Sometimes its hard to translate, especially when you don't particularly agree with what you are translating. What I realized is that even though I am translating for Christian teams, at any point I can run into translating for Christians that share different ideas than I do.

I started praying about it and God brought these thoughts to mind. We are all a part of the body of Christ....Christ is about unity not about division. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter what our views are on speaking in tongues, healings, etc. The most important aspect we share is believing in Christ as Lord and Savior. As Christians we need to focus on what we do share and focus on bringing glory to God. So I gave over my translating to the Lord and trusted Him with it. It's not about my opinion, it's not about what I think....as long as I am not translating heresies, the responsiblility is not mine but the Lord's. My part in spreading the gospel many times is being the voice for those who come to share Christ and what He has done in their lives so that others may come to know God. I trust that His truth will stand and that His Spirit will speak and that he uses all different churches/denominations for His glory. I will stand for unity.

This next week I will be translating for another team who are going to serve in both the slum where I worked before and this same community of Cot Cartago. Please pray that God would give me the words to translate and encourage both the team and the locals. This team is going to be a team of 30 high school students, so I imagine it will make for an interesting week!

Also, tomorrow morning I will be saying Goodbye to my friend Stephanie :( Stephanie has been living with me and shadowing me in ministry for the last 9 months. She has been such a blessing and I will miss her! She really has a heart for God and reminds me so much of me when I came to Costa Rica the first time 8 years ago. She is praying about returning as a long term missionary one day. Please pray for her if you remember that God would be with her in these next steps, in readjusting to Canada, and in her plans to come back in the future.

I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate your prayers and your support. More than anything I thank God for your friendships. I pray that God blesses you all as you finish up this week and that God would use you to reach in your homes and work places. Please let me know if there is anything I can pray for on that end!

Happily Serving.....Happily Engaged! :)

Hey Everyone!

Things have been going well on this end to say the least! I have so much to update you on from the last couple months. There have been so many exciting things going on down here with ministry and also in my personal life. Since the title of this post already says it, I will start with the personal news!

For the last 10 months, I have been in a relationship with a wonderful godly man. I cannot even tell you how much he has been a blessing and encouragement in my life. I had waited for so many years and just never felt at peace going into a relationship with anyone until I met Jorge. His passion, commitment to God, and the way he interacted with people attracted me to him. I am so grateful to God how he brought Jorge into my life and how he brought me to someone with whom I feel so natural and at ease with. I am truly blessed.

Jorge proposed to me on February 15th and of course I accepted! I don't have a doubt that he is the one God has for me. We are excited to start our life together soon and plan to get married the end of June!

Ministry has been going well even through the unforseen twists and turns. This last month, I had the privelage of translating for a small team for a week in the small town of Cot, Cartago, Costa Rica. It was a mother and daughter who came to do activities and outreaches with the ladies of the community. We did crafts, devotionals, messages, and went to different houses in the community to pray over the families. It was so amazing to see God moving both through the Christians serving the community as well as the activities we offered. We also had the chance to go to a local high school to do some sharing.

One of our house prayer visits....this house had A LOT of people!

In my last post, I talked about how God was opening doors to disciple 4 ladies.....well, with all the twists and turns, the pastor hasn't gotten back to me about that. On the bright side; God seems to be opening doors to work with a Christian camp here as the chaplain's assistant. This would include working on devotionals, translating, encouraging camp staff and volunteers, and doing Bible lessons at the children's home also on site. I am excited for this opportunity and am hoping to start there soon. Meanwhile, I have been doing a lot of translating and doing some wedding planning! I am also translating at least a week out of every month for mission's teams. Please pray for me as I plan my wedding and as I possibly start at this new ministry. Pray that I would trust God in these next steps. It's hard when your in a place where plans seem to fall through frequently. My heart is to serve, encourage, and to answer questions people have about God. I hope to be up and running soon in ministry. For the meantime, I trust that God will use me in my daily interactions and that he is using me in informal ways with the people in my daily life.

Craft time with the ladies!

I feel so blessed that God has allowed me to serve Him here. Thanks to all of you who have lifted me in prayer and have supported me for so long even through the ups and downs and all the transition. You all are a blessing to me and I pray that God will bless all of you and your families.