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!

Exciting news!

I want to share with you all some very exciting news from last week. Well, actually two pieces of exciting news :)

(1) I finally booked my flight for my Young Life staff training in January. I will be in January for three weeks doing two different types of training: 1-Cross Cultural Orientation (CCO)...this is when we learn how hard it is going to be to live in another culture for three years and how to deal with it :) and, 2-New Staff Training...this is for all new Young Life staff and helps us learn how to do our jobs! I have already been in contact with some new friends who will be going to training and I can't wait to meet them and learn more about how to effectively be a Young Life staff person!

(2) I spoke with Jamie, the Field Development Director for International Young Life, otherwise knows as "my fundraising guy," on Thursday and he told me that after conversations with some Costa Rica YL peeps they have reduced my budget by $2,500 annually! This may not sound like a lot, but it is HUGE to me! I'm so excited! This moves me from 56% of my budget raised to 61%!! (See the thermometer to the right going up, up, up....) Jamie tells me the time from 50%-75% are the hardest days, weeks, months and once I hit 75% it's all downhill from there. I CAN'T WAIT!

Thanks so much for all of you who are out there praying for me, praying for Young Life in Costa Rica, and praying for kids. And thanks to those who are giving sacrificially to impact kids. I appreciate you more than you know!!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Have you ever felt like this fish from Finding Nemo? I certainly have! I'm at 54% of my budget and praying that I will be fully funded by December so that I can leave in January for Costa Rica. I was recently reading the blog of another girl fundraising to go on staff with Young Life in Portugal. I'm inspired by her passion for this ministry and hope for being fully funded in January as well. She has a lot farther to go than me and I'm thankful that I'm already half-way there!

Would you please continue to pray for me and for her and for all of the other Young Life staff fundraising right now? This is an integral part of the ministry and I feel so blessed to be seeing God at work in preparing the hearts and pocketbooks of those who feel called to help kids around the world hear the Good News that they have a Creator who loves them and has a big plan for their lives.

Thanks once again for all of your support! I so appreciate it! Want to help me get even closer to my goal?

-Consider making your one-time gift an annual gift! If everyone who has made a one-time gift can make an annual pledge in the same amount, I could go from 54% to 65%!

-Consider hosting a get-together with some of your friends, relatives, co-workers and introduce them to me and Young Life in Costa Rica. All you have to do is invite people--I take care of the rest!

-Consider talking to your Pastor or missions committee to see if they might be interested in supporting me and Young Life in Costa Rica. I have lots of materials I can give you to help them become more familiar with the ministry and my financial needs.

Be assured that your gifts, prayers, etc. are having an impact on kids in Costa Rica!