Blessings!!! :)

For one of my last Bible projects I had to write a paper on the life and ministry of Elijah or Elisha. I decided upon Elijah because I have heard stories but never really done a study on him and thought it would be interesting because one of my brothers names is Elijah. It starts in 1 Kings 17 and goes through 2 Kings 2. As I was reading about his life one thing that stood out to me was how faithful he was to the Lord. Time after time Elijah waited to move to the next place the Lord led him, never knowing where that would be, where he would stay or even what he would eat (there was a drought in the land). As Elijah waited it is amazing to see how many times God provided for his every need. It really spoke to me because so many times we do not want to go anywhere because we like to know where we are going to be staying, what the food is like, are we going to be comfortable, and a big one is are we “prepared” financially. Elijah knew non of these things but he followed and God blessed him every time. In my application I stated I needed to be more like Elijah in my walk with the Lord. The very same day I wrote the paper I was told I had a package waiting for me at the post office. Not expecting one I was a little caught off guard and assumed my boyfriend sent one down without telling me. I had mentioned to him a few weeks ago that there was going to be a few things I was going to eventually have to buy but told him not to worry about sending anything. I never asked him if it was from him and went to get my surprise package!! I quickly realized that it was sent from a class from my church and help EVERYTHING I was eventually going to need INCLUDING somethings I told myself I really did not “need” but would liked to have had!! WOW - God immediately reminded me of Elijah. Here I am in Costa Rica, and although I am not an Elijah, I have had to make the decision over and over again whether or not to come back to CR due to financial and family situations, but because I did return the Lord was letting me know He had everything down to the smallest items taken care of for me. What an encouragement to me!! That box of blessings did more for my faith than just about anything. It let me know that God is in control of the whole amount I owe to the program and I know if He provided for me in the simple things, that He is going to work the big needs out!! Thank you to the women who put everything together and spent that money to send it! You will never know how much it means to me!! God’s box of blessings!

P.s. It could not have come on a better day either, was one of the hardest days here but turned out to be one of the best

Hair ministry update #2 and prayer requests

We had about 13 women on Saterday show up!! I demonstrated a one length hair cut and taught them how to properly shampoo hair! We will begin group cutting this coming Saterday and they all seem excited about that. We will be using women of the group for models and they will practice on each other! It will get more exciting the more we get into cutting but as always we have to start with the basics!! I would like to thank those of you who have sent shears and other supplies down to handout to the women and also for Ms. Joyce laying out a program for me to follow!! We are still in need of more shears so pray that the Lord will provide the shears or the money to purchase more of what we need. I am excited to be a part of this program myself and it has only been the Lord who has gotten us through it without any problems the past two weeks!! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!!

Also, as I have mentioned before, I owe a tremendous amount of money for this program. I have spoken at my church, sent out support letters to just about everyone I know and had a few fundraisers before I came here but have not been able to pay off what was needed, even from the beginning of this program in September. On top of what was needed for the program alone ($6500) I have had to have money to live off of and plane tickets. At this point in the program I owe $4065 and a ticket back home. This is very confusing to me and has been a struggle and burden the whole progam, I had even considered MANY times not returning to the program or leaving early due to lack of money. But I came back trusting the Lord to provide someway. It is coming to the end of the program and although I am not as stressed about it as I was I am having a hard time with it. God seems to have wanted me here for the haircutting ministry and it is a dream of mine to have lived in CR, but in order for me to live here and do His work I need the money. So it is confusing for me and a struggle to keep telling myself God is going to provide. And I know He will it is just hard to see since I came back time after time saying "ok God, again I am going back and having faith in you to provid the money". Please be in prayer for me in this area. I cannot afford it and neither can my family so God is going to have to do a miracle! Guess it is nice to vent sometimes though and be reminded He is in control and has it in His hands. Thank you to EVERYONE who has supported me back home!! Spiritually through prayer and financially!! Every prayer helps and every little bit of support helps - you have helped me continue in this program and been the hands of God in my life. You will be blessed!!

Ok so this last week has been really rough, I have been struggling alot with loneliness, worry and trust in God but yesterday as cheesy at it sounds me and a few other girls from the villa went to get our nails done!!! (one of my favorite things to do) Before that our Bible class was on missions and one of the big things that stood out to me was are we "sold out" with telling wish sharing our faith with others? I was convicted and thought to myself I would like to share Christ with someone at the nail/ hairsalon and let the thought go due to the lack of spanish I know. Well, God had different plans! Turns out that one male hairdresser spoke perfect english and we carried on a conversation from hairdressing and nails to God and our lives. I stood and talked to this guy for an hour or more!! He did not except Christ but seeds were planted and I told him my testimony, my boyfriends testimony because the guy calls himself buddhist and so did Sam(just didnt practice it) and everything tied in together!! I even told him of my previous thought before coming and it actually happening!! God is awsome!! After leaving there I felt so much closer to Christ and filled with so much joy wich prepared me for today - the haircutting ministry!! It went GREAT!! God gave me such peace today and I did not stress and gave Him complete control!! We had 11 ladies and girls and although we still do not have enough haircutting shears and things like that I was able to teach them some today!! God is so good and I am so grateful for His lifting me up and showing me who was in control starting with the guy at the salon last night!! Please be in prayer for me as I continue to try and minister to him and teach the women. Also that the Lord will provide more shears

Update: prayer requests and misc.

My mom recommended I give more specific prayer requests about thing going on here. Since the GAP group has been here there have been many obstacles and trails we have had to face. For girls especially we have dealt with our image(not comparing ourselves to others) and even as far as eating disorders. We have dealt with spiritual warfare such as nightmares (some girls had nightmares of being taken here and sold into sex slavery- my understanding is more than one girl had this dream others satanic dreams) and we deal with sexual polution EVERYWHERE we go. Yesterday a friend and I were walking back from a grocery store and had a very scary, disturbing situation take place. God is protecting us from who knows what here. It was just a wake up call to be even more aware and pray for God's protection more and more. We need prayer for our safety, that we would be prepared for the spiritual warfare and the struggles that we face alone and behind closed doors whether that be eating disorders, feelings of loneliness even in the midst of 36 people here, and many, many other things that bring us down, scare us and take our eyes off of Christ. One problem for me is worry - I struggle with it alot and have since I was young. Worry is not faith and I am working on turning my worry into faith. I worry about what to do after this, my relationship with Christ, spanish, my relationship,friends and many other things and I need prayer. That I can learn more and more to lay things in God's hands and leave them there. He is in control! I also struggle with trusting God finincially. As I have shared I still need $4000 dollars in my account by June or I have to pay it off when I leave. Just tonight I was pricing a one-way ticket to come home and they are so expensive - I need to get that soon! God is teaching me to trust Him in EVERYTHING. It is a learning process. Another prayer need is that I start teaching the women how to cut hair this Saterday. That is going to be a trust act also so please keep me and the women in your prayers! I hope is goes smoothly! Well that is just a few things I had in mind!! Hope you enjoy and thank you for taking the time to read this! God Bless!

Update from Costa Rica

Well it is about time I update my life here in CR. For those of you who may not have known I was out of the program for a month due to a family situation and returned to CR on Febuary 1! Since then time has been flying by and we have been busier than ever! The day after I returned we left for Panama (the country) for about a week to have a break and work at a Word of Life camp. It turned out to be a very long bus ride but a very relaxing week for all of us! Panama is a beautiful country and I enjoyed being there alot!! The weather was great and the everything was so much cheaper than the states! It was great! We toured one day and went to see the Panama Canal. It has been difficult and alittle discouraging trying to get back into the groove of spanish considering I missed 60 something hours while I was gone but I am doing better!! I have to have patience and I have amazing very supportive teachers! I may not come away from this program fluent but I will have learned alot and it has been a life changing expirience! I have not started the hair cutting program yet but plan to within the next week or two. I am excited about that. A praise update is that the families that lived in "the whole" have been moved out into government built housing or property given to them by the government! The government homes are much nicer but some of the families have to rebuild their tin house's on property. We helped move some of the families out last Saterday! This move is great because they are out of the "whole" and onto better land Lord willing! It is a good start for their families. My boyfriend Sam came down to spend 5 days with me last week, he left Tuesday and I miss him. We had a really good time though! Below are some new pictures up of Panama, my time with Sam and misc. I will try and get some new pictures of the "whole" and the new housing!! Thank you for your prayers and support and I will try and begin updating this regularly! I do have a prayer request and that is I still need $4000 dollars in my account for this program. The program ends in June! So keep that in your prayers please! God bless :-)