A Spectacular Start...

It’s been an amazing first week. The topic of lecture this week was Intimacy With God and Hearing God’s voice. Some very important foundations were discussed, such as the simple fact that God LOVES us. Not in a conditional way, as we often experience with people…but in an unconditional way, a way we sometimes can’t comprehend. God sees to the depths of our hearts- the good, the unnoticed, the darkness- all of it. He encourages our gifts, the good parts, and still loves us in spite of our pasts and failures. This is so important to grasp in the first week, because it shapes our faith, our relationship with God and also with those around us. Many students experienced life changing moments this week…lots of realizations, tears, and lots of hugs. God really touched each person in our team…students and staff.

Vanessa teaching

On Thursday we had our first local outreach. We split up into three groups and headed out in different directions around our neighborhood. Armed with gloves and garbage bags, we picked up trash all along the roads and sidewalks. I remember doing this in my DTS and at first wondering why this was something to put so much effort into. But as you begin doing it you realize how EVERY single person driving by or out in their front yard watches closely…and are probably thinking “Why on earth are these Gringos picking up trash?” Precisely. We want the community to know YWAM is here, we care about being good stewards of the property around our base, we want to help our neighbors, and show them the love of Christ in even this small, practical way. During our trash pickup, we were individually praying and asking God to bless the people in the neighborhood, asking God to show us how else we can help, how YWAM can be involved in serving these people. It was a great start to getting connected with our community and for the students to experience serving in this way.

After such a powerful start to this school, it was a perfect weekend to head to the beach. There were 30 people from our DTS/base that came along. The weather was incredible- probably 85 degrees and very humid…and the water had to be at least 80 degrees. (Waaay warmer than our showers at the base, many of us agreed!) It was a great day of relaxing, exploring Jaco, and soaking up the beautiful beach.





Thanks for supporting me by reading what we've been up to. Prayers and finances are greatly appreciated, as always. And if you want to see some more pics, you can look on my Facebook page.