End of Summer and Beginning of GAP Year Update

This past summer was full of groups in and out of the villa, moving bunk beds back and forth between rooms, grocery shopping for up to 4 teams at a time each week, and watching the lives of people  being changed week by week. The months of May through August, I had the privilege of helping to lead short term missions teams from the states through different towns and events here in Costa Rica. We had some great groups come down here and help to lead different kids clubs, youth groups, sporting events and more. It was awesome to be able to see the lives of the people visiting being impacted and changed as they served here, as well as the impact that they had on the lives of the people here. While it was lots of work and sometimes very tiring, I was honored to be able to translate for and guide the numerous groups around Costa Rica.

Some of my favorite groups to work with this past summer were Mountaintop Church from Hoover, Alabama, Calvary Monument from PA and Christ Community from North Carolina. They did a great job of coming down here really prepared. It was neat seeing how not only the people that the groups were ministering to were impacted, but the groups themselves left impacted big time by the people they met and the experiences they had.

August ended with our new group of GAP students arriving on the 25th. It has been great getting to know the students as they begin classes and get settled into living here for the year. We have 9 male and 16 female students from all over the United States this year. I am looking forward to seeing God work not only in the students lives but our lives as staff as well.

 I am so thankful for the opportunity I had this Summer to stay here and invest so much more into our ministry in Tirrases. It is great to see the growth happening there day by day as we continue in our kids club, youth group, Sunday morning and Thursday evening services, and all the other events we have throughout the week. God has answered prayers in that He has provided a great team in Tirrases with people serving that are actually from the town of Tirrases. We are working with different student leaders trying to teach them leadership qualities by giving them classes and letting them get some hands on experience.

On August 20th our church in Tirrases had our first Baptismal Service and 10 from our church got baptized!

Thank you all so much for the prayers and support sent my way over these summer months! If there is anyone that would like to join my support team you can click here. Score International Webpage.

End of GAP Year and Beginning of Summer Update

I’m going to have to say one of the best things about my job is seeing God work in the lives of the students. I get a front row seat in getting to know the GAP students as soon as they get off the plane landing from the United States till they walk across the stage at graduation 9 months later. A lot of the students come down with the idea of them knowing everything there is to know about the Bible only to have their world flipped upside down throughout the year.   It’s hard to believe I was in their shoes just over 5 years ago.

There have been numerous students over the years that have left the program completely different people. There’s something about having constant Bible classes and living in an unfamiliar environment that creates an atmosphere that God uses to make some big changes in you. I often think about where I would be if it weren’t for coming to this program. God has blessed me with awesome people to work with both with SCORE and in the town of Tirrases.

GAP Class of 2016

 The students in the GAP program graduated on April 29^th, but there is plenty to do between now and when the next group of students arrive.  I’ve had much more time to devote to the ministry in Tirrases, which has been great.  The church plant in this town I’ve come to love, is thriving.  We host various short term missions over the summer months here as well.  We had a group from Calvary Monument Bible Church come down the third week of May. I had a great time being their interpreter for the week! One of the many things we did with the group was a prayer walk in Tirrases. Basically what that looks like is we walked to the houses of 15 different families from our church in order to bless them with a visit and a weeks’ worth of food.  During our time together we would get to know the families, hear their stories and prayer requests as well. This walk is intended to bless the Costa Rican families, but always ends up blessing the short term teams more.  It was evident their time spent with these families left a huge impact on their hearts.

During the three summer months that the GAP program is not going on, our facilities down here are filled with short-term missions’ teams from all over the States, just like the one from Calvary Monument.  This is a blessing to help carry on the community outreach efforts of the former students and to give people a first-hand perspective as to what God is doing here. For the past 4 summers I would go home during this time, and now since being called into full-time ministry here, I get to be a part of these summer adventures.  My ever expanding role will include leading and translating for these teams, arranging outreach programs, helping with getting menus together, shopping for the food needed and arranging transportation when there could be as many as 4 teams arriving at one time. This is in addition to handling administrative and financial responsibilities, and serving in the church in the town of Tirasses and all the various ministries that have sprouted from that. 

Interpreting for the Calvary Monument team we had in Tirrases

 I will be home for 2 weeks, however, from June 22-July 8 so I’m looking forward to catching up with family and friends over that period.

A Huge thank you goes out to my monthly supporters! I can’t tell you how good it feels to know I have friends and family and even people I haven’t even met, back home supporting me and the ministry here. I would appreciate prayer for stamina and energy as I work with the various teams over the summer, and continued prayer for the Tico friends I have made that they would continue to grow in their walk with the Lord, that the church in Tirasses would continue to thrive and more and more people will be impacted because of their love and outreach to the community. If there is anyone that would like to join my support team, please click here to be a part of the life change in Costa Rica.  Thank you again!

A few of our Tirrases kids from our Kid's Club

April Update (A Normal Saturday in Tirrases)

The process leading up to our new church plant in the town of Tirrases has been quite the journey! Jairo, our pastor at the church, had a rough past growing up. He was the town drug dealer/gangster, but God saved him from that mess. Later on, he went to a Bible Institute where his love for the Lord and the Bible continued to grow. One day he was back visiting family in Tirrases and got on the bus ready to leave, but just before sitting down he felt the Holy Spirit telling him to share the gospel with 5 kids on a basketball court who were playing soccer (anywhere that’s flat you’ll see people gathered playing soccer down here).

Fast forward 3 ½ years, now God has lead us to having our first church service and things are going great! Seeing where God has taken our ministry from those 5 kids playing soccer, to now having 40 kids in the morning, 25 soccer boys, and around 25 teenagers coming out each week has been incredible.

For me, a normal week in Tirrases looks like this: I leave my house at 8:00 in the morning, and it takes about a half hour to get there. Once we arrive there, we walk to different houses to pick up the kids and take them to the church building where we hold the kids club. When we get to the building, we have different games, crafts, snacks, which all related to the Bible lesson for the day. After we drop the kids back off at their houses around 11:00, we take a small lunch break and some of the kids that live close to the church hang around with us. At 2:00 in the afternoon is when our youth group starts (jovenes). Since returning from camp, it has been awesome to see the consistency of the jovenes group, and the number of teenagers that have been attending. For me, it is been really great having that time to deepen my friendship with some of them. Our new church plant has brought a lot more work our way, but it has been great seeing how all of the pieces have come together. I never thought that I would ever be a deacon in a Spanish church in Costa Rica. It was not even close to being on my radar, but that goes to show that our plans don’t always work out the way that we have planned.

Prayer requests:

• ·      Our new church, Iglesia Emanuel Tirrases.
• ·      For this summer with it being my first full summer leading teams of gringos, translating, and being the mediator between the two different cultures.
• ·      Pray for our GAP students as their time is winding down here in Costa Rica, and that God will continue to use them in the USA.

Thanks to all that have come along side and been a financial and prayer supporter of mine! If you would like to join my support team click here. Score International Webpage

 The street where the majority of our kids live

 A look down on the city of Tirrases

 Some of the kids that come out to our ministry

 Our first church service at Iglesia Emanuel in Tirrases

January Tirrases Camps

Over Christmas Break I had a great time catching up with friends and family. When I returned to Costa Rica a little over a month ago, it was time to get ready for our Tirrases' camps, both the jovenes (or teenagers) and the niños (kids). The purpose of the camps is to remove them from their rough homes and living conditions for a week filled with games, competitions, three meals a day, pool time, a bonfire, and the Gospel.

The first week of camp was a kid's camp. There were about fifty kids from the ages of six to eleven. As soon as the kids arrived at the camp by bus, they were divided into two different teams (my team, which i was the captain of, was called "Pirratas de Tirrases"). Throughout the week I played: alarm clock, doctor, lifeguard, team captain, and a little bit of everything else fro my cabin of fifteen boys. Kid's camp was crazy because of all the yelling, screaming, and ridiculous team chants and games.

The second week, jovenes camp, with the teenagers was a lot more relaxed. I was a team captain again and my team's name was Sapricampa. There was still a lot of screaming and yelling, but, it was easier to connect with the teenager because there were only twenty-five of them and they were more relational than the little kids. It was an awesome week. For the teenage week, it was more of a youth conference and the teenagers were able to have more free time than the kid's week because they don't have to be watched 24/7. I was a counsellor of nine guys and I was able to connect with them and show them the love of Christ.

One of the guys I was really able to get to know throughout the teenage camp was Andre. Andre was one of the older guys at the camp at seventeen. He's close to graduating high school and is nervous about what to do next. He did and internship at a  bank this summer and really enjoyed it. My prayer for him is that he doesn't fall into all of the different temptations and problems in Tirrases like so many of his peers. I pray that God will continue to change him, giving hime a desire to change. Before camp, Andre wasn't attending our Saturday ministry and was actually invited to camp an hour before the bus left. However, he was willing to go, and at the end of camp, he talked about how God taught him so much throughout the week. It was cool to see how God worked things out for Andre to be able to attend camp and that he was able to learn more about God and His Word.

Since camp, we have retained a lot of the kids and teenagers during our Saturday ministry. A lot of them are still eager to learn more and hang out with us, so we are trying to continue their interest in our ministry by coming up with new, fun activities that they can participate in and enjoy.


Please pray for all of us in the Tirrases ministry and that we would use this great opportunity God has given us to continue to grow the church, our children's club, youth group, and our connections with all of the kids and teenagers as they come off their "camp high" and go back to school again.
Pray for Andre and the rest of the kids and teens as they go back to school and face all kinds of temptations.
Pray that God may continue to work in their lives and call them to Him and His son, Jesus.
Pray also for God to guide all of the GAP students this year as many of them are still trying to figure out what their next step is.

Thanks again to everyone that has been supporting me down here both in prayer and financially. If you feel led to financially partner with me you can click here.
Score International Webpage

 Losing my voice cheering on our team Sapricampa

 Group of teenagers that were in my cabin

 My kids for the week of craziness

 Andre sharing about his experience throughout the week of camp

 Jafet and I sharing testimonies 

Celebrating after winning one of the competitions 

January 2016 Update

Here's the most recent update that I made about my time down here in Costa Rica! Camps start tomorrow! If you guys could keep both the kids and us as staff in your prayers these next two weeks it would be greatly appreciated!