revelation in a kids movie

Okay so I know this is lame, I'm fully aware. BUT as some of you may know I did not grow up in church, that being said I fully choose to believe what I do. By fully I mean my family would most likely prefer that I not be Christian, I make life (especially holidays) awkward, just by being me. So when I'm at church and an old hymn starts and everyone (but a few other "first generation christians") knows it, I'm left feeling a little less than smart. Same goes for old testament Bible stories that "everybody" knows, I've been known to nod and smile and google it when I get home.

So when I was away and one of our speakers was going to play a veggie tales movie, I didn't know what to think, the only veggie tales I had ever known was from babysitting, and teaching sunday school. But I kid you not when I say this movie for children helped change my perspective. If you have the time (about 13 mins) please watch part 1 & part 2. Its all about your identity in God. And it warms my heart.

I hope this means something to somebody :)

-Julie

look ma i made it

So I made it. To Costa Rica and back with very little damage done and a LOT of progress made. It was and generally still is very weird to be home. But before I get into that, lets just got over my last week in CR. I had an oh so sweet "team day" with the Haiti Outreach 10 plus a few very lucky friends who came along to Volcan Poas! It was a much needed after a difficult and challenging outreach to Saint Marc and Port Au Prince Haiti. Costa Rica is beyond beautiful and we had amazing weather, food and company.

After our lovely Sunday at the volcano we had a crazy week ahead of us. The other outreach teams were on their way back to the base (aka the place formerly known as home), and I was excited to catch up with people and hear all about their crazy adventures in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico City. We only had a few days until graduation and everyone heading home so we all went about making the most of that last week. We all got a chance to present about our different locations on family night and it was really cool to see peoples pictures and hear their testimonies of their time away. Grad seemed to come to quickly on Thursday night, but everyone looked amazing and we had a great meal together with "awards" lots of hugs and picture taking. I couldn't believe that my DTS was over.

I feel like in a lot of ways I'm still processing; the lectures, Haiti and the culture shock of being home. But I do know for sure that it was exactly where I was supposed to be for those 5 months of my life. I met so many amazing people, and learned so much. I can't wait for this upcoming year of school and change. Again I feel like I'm standing on the edge of something huge and I'm about to dive into it. But its a very good thing. Thats all for now...

-Julie

So I’m back!

my DTS and staff at the YWAM (JUCUM) Base in Nicaragua

In San Jose that is; we are now officially in our second last week of classes. The week of outreach in Diriamba Nicaragua was amazing! We had a long day of travel on Saturday leaving around 5am, and arriving in Diriamba very sweaty, tired, and excited for the week (after getting pizza for dinner, such a treat) we settled in, the girls at the library and the boys at the Church. The next morning we got right into it by putting on a childrens program at the church, lunch at the JUCUM base, a little time to rest and get changed and our group put on the church service in the evening, which went super well. We did a lot of ministry with kids this week, the kids in the neighbourhood (Barrio Berlin) are absolutely amazing, and I think we all fell in love pretty instantly.

The other really exciting ministry opportunity this week was doing a mural for the library. The library is a fairly new project and it was great to be able to do something to raise awareness about the library.

There were a lot of kids there in the afternoon, to read, play, hang out with us while we painted and some attended and English class there as well. It was overall an amazing week!

the library in Diriamba

killing time at the boarder back into Costa Rica (classic stefan with his eyes closed)

on the bus to Nicaragua

update from the pool on our free day in Nica

Nicaragua Round 2...

So it has been a great week so far here! We are learning about the father heart of God, tonight our speaker Jack Kody took us all out for pizza and ice cream (and when I say “us all” that means our entire class, all the staff, and the dts from the Heredia base! Felt like one big crazy family). We went to a park and just took pictures and acted like lame tourists for a while. So I wanted to update everyone before I leave for Nicaragua for 8 days…

my room mid-packing eeek

We are all leaving for Nicaragua on Saturday morning bright and early! We will be travelling by bus, so it will probably be pretty cramped (we are only bringing our backpacks). While we are in Nicaragua the base here in San Jose will be hosting teams from the states, which will be around 45 extra people so we have to pack up our room and store everything while we are in Nicaragua so people can stay here. It’s a bit of a sad thing to see everyone packing up and we are all realizing these aren’t really “our beds” or “our room”. But we are all really excited to do outreach in Nicaragua for a week! It is also making me realize how thankful I am for my amazing roommates! Who I have had the pleasure of sharing a room with for the past 9 ish weeks. Reggie (Switzerland), Lauryn (Colorado), Melanie (Minnesota), Ingrid (Norway), Tawneke (Minnesota), Jenelle (the other Canadian!), Bailey (Virginia) and Rachel (Engalnd) I am absolutely blown away by these girls, how much they’ve all grown and how each one of them contributes so much to the experience of being here! When one person is away they are missed!!! I cannot say that enough! Haha maybe were all just a bit clingy, but we have grown so close over the past few months and I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s all for now, I should get packing and making lists of the stuff I need to get/ do tomorrow! Lots of love from Costa Rica!

This past week...

So life in Costa Rica is going awesome. I am just winding down after a busy week here at the base in San Jose. Our speaker this week was awesome, he talked a lot about leadership, living in community and how we should react towards one another. I've been O.D.ing on ice cream, as it has been really hot out for most of the week. For our local outreach this week we put on a children's program at a church nearby with music and games. It was a lot of fun and some of the little kids were on there way home from school and had their adorable uniforms on. The kids had fun, we had fun, it was a good day for everyone.

This Saturday I went to downtown San Jose with some friends and we just did touristy things, walked around, went to markets, took pictures... it was a nice relaxed day. We found a Canadian cafe, which was a nice taste of home (coffee and donuts). It was a great day with really fun people and to top it off we had burritos for dinner!

This week we also had our first official meeting with our outreach teams and it was great to see us all together, praying about what we can do while on our outreach. My team is made up of people from the states, canada, switzerland, el salvador, norway and costa rica! Its a really sweet diverse group, all of us with a huge heart for Haiti :)

Thank you guys at home for all of your support and prayers, I miss you all!

Anyways thats all for now from Costa Rica, lots of love!