29 kids and leaders, one island, and lots of memories!

Friends, I write this from my friend (and future supervisor's) living room with a gentle breeze blowing through the trees outside the window and bright sunshine streaming in.  It's an almost perfect morning following an awesome week doing service work with kids.  All 29 of us leaders and kids boarded a bus last Saturday and headed off to a small beach town called Quepos where we stayed for 8 days working every day on a small island called Isla Cocal.  We worked every day for 6-7 hours building homes, constructing walls in existing homes, painting houses and a school and playing with the kids on the island.  The last day we spent at the beach, relaxing and soaking up the sun and reflecting on the week.  (And maybe getting a little sunburnt :)

It was a very long, but very rewarding week!  The families on the island had next to nothing...some with only black plastic for a roof and walls, others with scraps of tin.  They ate a diet consisting mostly of fruits grown in their yard (coconuts, mangos, water apples, etc.) and rice, beans, and fish caught in the ocean.  And the stories, oh the stories, of struggle, hardship, lack of housing and food, and pain/heartache.  But they were so thankful, and they thanked God for sending us!  It was so awesome to watch a kid listen to these stories and their gratitude and watch it pierce their heart.

Each night we had Club after dinner--playing games, singing songs, and listening to Tank (our speaker from the US) share about us, God and life with God.  It was for sure different than camp in the US.  We had no sophisticated sound and light system, not a beautiful room to host us, but rather a tent with mosquitos.  We didn't have a professional musician, but two kids who played guitar unplugged.  It wasn't dramatic, but God was there.  He filled Tank's talks with truth and beauty and wonder, and the kids responded with questions and thoughts and amazing insights from their lives.

As I sit here reflecting on this past week, I'm amazed at how God provided and showed up in really different ways than I've experienced before.  I'm amazed at these kids who both at once are just like any other kid in the US (struggling with friendships, family issues, and school) and yet are also dealing with these things in a completely different social and cultural context that seems so foreign to me.  And I'm more certain than ever that Young Life's vision of reaching every kid, everywhere for eternity is being realized here in Costa Rica among international school kids in both big and small ways.

I leave Wednesday to return to Indiana where I continue the marathon of fundraising reaching the last leg where I'm both tired, weary and yet hopeful as I catch a glimpse of the finish line.  I've been accepted to langauage school here in Costa Rica that begins the first week in May and I'd love to be here to start then!  But it will take an additional $1,200 in monthly commitments to get me here.  I'm trusting God to provide, trusting His timing and His plan.  Thanks for walking this long road with me...thanks for your prayers and encouragement...I wouldn't have made it this far without you!

It's Camp Time...er, Service Project Time

As we in Westfield are gearing up for the busy season leading up to Young Life camp in June, the Costa Rica staff is preparing to take high school kids on the equivalent of camp there--the Service Project.  Here in Westfield we are promoting camp as "the best week of your life" (which it is!), signing kids up, getting them started on fundraising and hoping to pack out TWO buses this year.  In Costa Rica, the scene isn't that different, but there the team is asking kids to forfeit Semana Santa at the beach (equivalent of Spring Break) to travel to a remote island in Costa Rica to serve getting their hands dirty doing the work of Christ who calls us to serve the least of these.

And why would kids in Costa Rica pass up a holiday with friends and family to volunteer you might ask?  Well, because they get to do it with all their friends from school and Young Life, with the leaders who have poured countless hours into their lives this school year, and because they're promised a life changing experience--and that's certainly what it is.

Will you read the following email from one of my soon-to-be teammates in Costa Rica?  I would love you to partner with me and them in prayer this month!

"This is the first day of the rest of my life and I'll never be the same."  That is what we are longing to hear from high school students' lips after they have experienced the love of Christ during the Service Project (March 27 - April 3).  Would you join me this month, in praying each day for God to strengthen me and the rest of the Young Life team?  If we are filled with God's love, aware of who we are in Him, and confident in His love - we will watch kids respond to God's love.  Thanks for being our prayer warriors! 

"We pray that out of Jesus' glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints [all Jesus followers], to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations [in my neighborhood, in my city, and everywhere in the world], for ever and ever! Amen."

- Ephesians 3:16-21

Jessie and the Young Life team in Costa Rica

70% and counting!

Hi friends!  Just wanted to share with you that I am at 70% and counting!  The goal is Costa Rica by May and I need to be at 100%. Praise God for helping me get to 70%!!!

Wanna help me reach 100% by May?

(1)  PRAY!
(2)  Tell your friends who might be interested in joining my support team and being a partner in Young Life Costa Rica and put me in contact with them.
(3)  Host an evening or weekend dessert meeting.  You provide the place and invite your friends, I bring everything else!
(4)  Ask your church, youth group, business or club if they would be interested in coming together to partner with me and Young Life Costa Rica.

How might God want to use YOU to impact kids in Costa Rica for eternity?

Something borrowed

This blog may not always be on point.  Like now.  It occurs to me that I know some pretty amazing people and I'd like to borrow some amazing-ness from them now.

From Lisa, a YL intern in Costa Rica this year, I borrow her blog punctuation style.  Today.was.HARD.  Sometimes I think it will be easier in Costa Rica, that all the hard parts are coming before not after.  And then I get really scared.  What if it's harder?

From my beautiful, eccentric, eclectic, wise friend Eileen, her wisdom shared from South Korea and a character named the Dane.

"When all was manic mayhem and I wanted to give up and go home, I saw two fingers fly up. It was the Dane’s. 

“You see these two fingers?” 

“No,” I grumble. (Silence, while he waits patiently.) “YES, I see them.” 

“They were soft once. Feel it.” It felt like rock sandpaper. 

“Yech.” 

“To play the bass, they need to be hard. For them to become hard, they need to be disciplined. To get them disciplined, they first need to bleed. It bleeds, because you’re playing on them over, and over, and over again. So it’s simple. You’re going through the bleeding process, in order to play your life well.” 

“And those that forgo the bleeding process?” 

“...will never know what it’s like to play life in beautiful harmony. They will always be the spectator of those that were willing to bleed.” 

“That’s deep.” 

“Yeah.” 

When I think about it being harder than today because Today.was.HARD, I will remember this.  If I want to play my life well, I'll have to bleed.  And something else from her:   

"I am not who I thought I was. Charisma, warmth, dressing up... meaningless, meaningless utterly meaningless. It seems that my eyes have been opened and I suddenly feel the urgency of eternity. I feel the brevity of our existence and I am humbled that I am now gravely aware of my narrow-mindedness and self-centeredness."

Gravely aware.  Preach it sister!

And finally, I'll return, as I frequently do, to the wise words of Oswald Chambers.  If you haven't read him, go out now and pick up My Utmost for His Highest.  It will change your life.  

"Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us into "the shadow of His hand" until we learn to hear Him."

Teach me, God, to be thankful for the darkness, patient in its uncertainty until I hear You.  

Today.was.HARD.  I'm bleeding in the darkness.  May I stay here until I hear Him because if I don't I might miss the beautiful symphony that waits ahead.   (Hebrews 12:2-3)

Pictures from CCO/NST (YL Training in Colorado)

The whole international Young Life crew at our commissioning service at the end of Cross-Cultural Orientation in Colorado Springs.  We are heading to Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America--all over the world.

This is the main lodge at Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado where we were for the second 2 weeks of training--New Staff Training with a total of about 175 new staff from the U.S. and internationally.

The beautiful mountain view from Crooked Creek.  I got to look at this during breaks--it kept me going with 10-12 hours of class and lectures every day!

And when I was feeling REALLY tired in the mornings--sunrises like this got me up and reminded me of the beauty of creation all around me!  

It wasn't ALL work :)  Here is a group of my new international friends (and Devin, who does YL in Florida)--from the left:  Meagan (going to Germany), Bonnie (Belgium), Sarah (England), Emily (Dominican Republic), Sarah (Tanzania), me, Devin, Denae (Singapore), and Ariel (Portugal).  At every Young Life camp they hold a carnival for this kids--this was my first time experiencing the carnival as a "camper."  We had fair food (cotton candy, popcorn, corn dogs, funnel cakes!), games, and lots of laughter!

I just wanted you to get a quick snapshot of my few weeks in Colorado!

Three weeks of training in snowy Colorado

Hi friends!  I hope you have had a lovely January.  I just returned from three weeks of training in snowy Colorado!  Colorado in the winter is absolutely breathtaking--the mountains, the snow, the wide open spaces.  It was the perfect backdrop to three weeks of intense cross-cultural and new staff training.  During the first week in Colorado Springs, I had the chance to meet about 20 other amazing people who will be doing Young Life all over the world (Africa, Singapore, Europe, Latin America, etc.)  I was inspired by each person's story--how they got involved with Young Life and their passion to serve kids who desperately need love and guidance.  We met at the Young Life Service Center (YL headquarters) every day for sessions on culture shock/cultural integration, adapting the Young Life model in an international context, and hearing from the experiences of several long-term international staff.  It was a challenging, hard, encouraging and uplifting week!

The next two weeks we joined about 160 more U.S. Young Life staff who are all in their first year on staff.  While the first week was emotionally challenging, these next two weeks were physically and mentally challenging.  We met every day for 10-12 hours of intense training, including taking two seminary classes on adolescent culture and development and the Gospels.  We learned a lot about the history of Young Life, the principles behind the Young Life model and how to effectively run Young Life programming in our areas.  The highlight of the week was hearing from Bob Mitchell, who was one of the first kids to become involved in Young Life.  He shared so many stories about the early days of Young Life and Jim Rayburn, YL's founder.  It was such a treat to hear from this man who has been involved with Young Life since the 1940s and to know I am going to be part of an organization that has been impacting the lives of kids for 50 years!

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support that helped me to receive this awesome training.  I feel more equipped than ever to join the Young Life work in Costa Rica....which I hope to be doing in the next few months!  Stay tuned for more updates...

Pura Vida Newsletter: December 2009

Hi friends!  It's that time again--newsletter time!  Please see my December newsletter below where I'm happy to announce that I've reached 65% of my budget.  I'm currently at the first week of Young Life training (Cross Cultural Orientation) in Colorado Springs, CO (which explains the delay in this post.)  I'm thoroughly enjoying this opportunity to meet and build relationships with other future Young Life international staff, learn how to deal with the transition to another culture and spend some much needed time reflecting on the exciting journey that lays before me in Costa Rica.

Would you please pray that I would be able to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as possible over the next two weeks, that I would form friendships that will help keep me going when the going gets tough overseas, and for good health (I've been dealing with some stomach issues :( ?  Thanks for your prayers!

Enjoy the newsletter!