Not sure if I can adequately put into words the experiences of this past week! But I will try. 🙂
A team of 14 arrived from Glenwood Baptist in Easley, SC this past Tuesday. They immediately set to work with a visit to Victor and Melba’s (the orphanage we work with) and we all met up to firm up plans for the week. Through out their week, they did prayer walking in different villages, led Bible studies with families we currently already have studies with, visited with new families, played with the children near the Bible studies, worked in our house with different projects and worked on our car. We also planned a time for all of the people that Jacob does Bible studies with each week to get together for the first time to meet eachother and worship together for the first time. We have had this on our hearts for some time, but for one reason or another, have not been able to do it. I wrote up invitations and as Jacob and the team went out, they passed out the invitations to those he has been working with…… Dale McCoig (pastor of Glenwood Baptist and this team’s leader) wrote about the days events. I am going to paste it here….
God’s work IN us today has been – according to everyone on the team – INDESCRIBABLE!!!
So because of that here are just a few details from our day.
Today we sought to be a blessing to the Guzman children by providing Happy Meals and a fun time at “the ranch.” But, since there were twenty-six very precious children and Mrs. Melba, we were outnumbered and were the ones who were truly blessed!:)!
This evening we had an amazing worship experience! Jacob and Courtenay were not the only ones shedding tears of joy and praise as more than fifty Tico’s from different home Bible study groups worshipped together for the very first time. Included in the experience were Marco, who became a disciple of Christ on Tuesday, and Luis, who became a disciple of Christ yesterday! It is impossible for most of us to do. But just try to imagine becoming a new follower of Jesus – leaving behind your sin, your family’s beliefs, and a lifetime of tradition – and having no church family to love you, encourage you and help you grow in your faith. This is the reality of the new believers who come to Christ here on Irazu. This desperate reality is what caused Jacob and Courtenay to be given the vision by our Lord of tonight’s worship celebration. We are praying that the connections made tonight will be used by God to birth a church for His newly adopted children in this area.
PLEASE PRAY…because “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”!
This night was the culmination of many people’s work and years of it. It has been on the hearts of many that a church will one day be created here on Irazu. There are so many people that I wish could have shared this night with us. But I know that you were with us in spirit and prayer. I hope I never forget this night. Thank you to all of you that support us prayerfully and financially so that these people can continue to grow in the Lord and one day develop a church. Our prayer is that this is just the beginning.
Psalm 67
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Please watch our newest video!
Many of you know that we work with very special orphanage in Costa
Rica run by Victor and Melba Guzman. Well, this past September Scot
Farris and I discussed how we could bless the orphanage for Christmas!
And boy did many of you guys answer our call for them!! I have made
a video of our Christmas at the orphanage!! We were able to not only
buy each child their very own toy, but also purchase them new blankets
and pillows and treat them to KFC (a big treat because there are 38
people in the family, not to mention the volunteers!), and we got them
a new set of bunks for one of the boys room!! It was one of the
funnest things we have been a part of and you guys made it possible!!
Thank you to all of you that participated and for all of you that
support us so that we can be there and help facilitate ministries and
blessings like this!! God is so good!!
Here is a link to watch this video!! This is my first attempt at
putting videos on YouTube!!
Isaiah 9:6 (New International Version, ©2010)
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 3 fully loaded ships.
In 2010, there were 41 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 119 posts. There were 55 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 105mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was January 29th with 506 views. The most popular post that day was My lovely right leg!.
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.live.com, globaloutreach.org, and android-vs-ipad.co.cc.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for folk family missions, gallo pinto history, history of gallo pinto, folk family, and kids beach.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
The history of Gallo Pinto September 2008
1 comment
Videos September 2010
6 comments
Adventures in Panama Part 2 November 2008
3 comments
Photos from Before and After the Costa Rican Earthquake January 2009
1 comment
Folk Family Mission: Grace 