Another Baptism

Last week I had the privilege of baptizing two of my friends from house church. Peace, who became a Christian about three months ago, and Dexter, who chose to follow Christ about a year ago, were baptized in the Caribbean Sea that they love so much. It was a really cool evening. After the baptism, we celebrated with a big dinner and then built a huge bonfire on the beach in front of our house and worshipped God together. I love seeing the changes that are taking place in their lives as they follow Jesus, step by step.

Busy Times

Wow! is all I can say. We have been so busy for the past few weeks that I haven't had time to get online other than to respond to necessary emails. Some big things have happened over the past few weeks and although it will be hard to put it all down here, I'll give it a go. Right after Calvary Jupiter left town, we took 15 of the youth and young adults on a retreat up to the mountains outside of San Jose. Nothing like that has ever been done before and we didn't know what to expect. It turned out better than I had imagined it could. We met up with a combined mission team from two churches in the states (Thomasville Road Baptist Church from Tallahassee, FL and 1027 Church from Atlanta, GA). The retreat was held at a friend's goat farm on the side of a volcano named Barva.

Our focus was Christian living and service to others. It was an incredible opportunity to take the youth out of their normal surroundings so that they could focus on their relationship with God and with each other. Over the course of four days, we taught four separate bible study lessons. On the second day, we took the group on a missions trip to San Jose to a really dangerous section of town called Little Hell (one of the biggest crack distribution centers in CR). A local pastor provides several opportunities for the children that live in this area to hear about God and his love for them. We spent several hours with the group of around 50 children. I was so impressed to see how the group from Puerto Viejo reached out to them, sang songs, played games and just spent time with the children. One of our friends even gave his testimony, which is a huge step for him. Here are a few photos (to be added shortly) from the trip. The end result was that the group became much closer in their relationships with God and with each other. It was great!

Plans

Although we have a team arriving this coming Saturday, we are already in the process of planning for the next team which will arrive in early August. If everything runs smoothly, we will begin constructing a 3-sided deck and stadium seating around the metal container that houses all of our skate equipment. Once this project is completed, we will have the perfect venue for parents to watch their children and get to know each other. We will also have a great place for viewing our next annual skate competition which should take place next New Years Eve. Please pray that our permits come through and that everything goes smoothly. We have a lot of pre-work to set up so that it's possible for the August team to complete their portion of the project.

Crazy

Wow, things have gotten busy and crazy. I took the Calvary Jupiter team back to San Jose on Monday of last week but it seems like it was yesterday. There has been so much to do to get ready for the next team that I feel like I haven't had time to turn around. One of our friends on the CalJup team helped us immensly with some of the computer problems we have been having. I had to completely reformat the hard-drive of my laptop and it has taken me the better part of a week to get back online with emails, etc... Now, things seem to be working smoothly and I am able to send and receive emails as well as get online to post new blogs...

This coming Saturday morning we are leaving Puerto Viejo with a group of youth for a 4 day retreat. We'll be meeting a combined team from Thomasville Road Baptist Church (Tallahassee, FL) and 1027 Church (Atlanta, GA) up in the mountains above San Jose. It is going to be an interesting experience to say the least and I am really excited about it. The visiting mission team has been planning all of the bible studies and activities for our time together. We will be focusing on the topic of Christian living...basically what it means to live life for God. We will be hosting four separate sessions as well as games and activities with the group from Puerto.

On the third day, we are going to take the PV youth group into one of the poor neighborhoods in San Jose so that they can experience a mission trip of their own. It will give them a chance to serve others as well as experience the other side of missions first-hand.

Our last day will be spent rafting down the Pacuare river, half-way between San Jose and Puerto. I am really excited about this trip and the opportunity to get these guys out of the day-to-day and let them see what it is really like to focus on your relationship with God without all of the normal distractions. It should be an incredible experience for all of us.