Wednesday, February 8, 2012

times of ministry and celebration

I sure have a lot to be thankful for in all the hustle and bustle of this past week!

Our first YL club, Young Life Thug Life, Sydney and I reappeared as the bilingual rappers, Penny and Dyme! I think I had more fun with it than the kids did :) This semester we are incorporating pop culture in our talks, like music, movies, art and sports as we share about the person of Jesus Christ and how we can be in relationship with Him. I'm thankful God is challenging our team with YL ministry and humbling us to realize we cannot do this ministry without Him. (pics and possible video of Penny and Dyme coming soon...)

Our first WL club was yet another controlled chaos, with a "Wet n Wyld" theme. We had a blast and were all soaked by the end of it. Thankful for the many conversations about life I had with middle school students.
 Water game where leaders are human tables holding cups of water on our backs...and heads!

Group of the most hilarious middle school boys I know. Never a dull moment!


After our WL club all the high school students leaders and Young Life staff piled up in a van and headed over to a student's house for our leader retreat sleepover. I'm so grateful to have had a whole day and night with these studs! We had a fun time just hangin' and laughin' and eatin', we discussed about what it means to be a servant leader in light of Jesus Christ's servitude, we went BOWLING at the ONLY public bowling ally in Costa Rica (as you can imagine they have not been bowling much so it was a treat!) and we had a planning party to plan all the remaining clubs for the semester. Any time spent with these 7 student leaders is always a highlight to my time here in CR! They each have a huge heart for their peers and middle school students to know Christ as their friend and Savoir. They love well and are SO much fun!
 my team! Ali came in 1st with over 100 points!

 good lookin bunch :) we are missing Luke here...

love me some Lau Prada!



Sunday we celebrated!...
We celebrated Jessie's 28th birthday by hiking to a nearby waterfall. It was a beautiful day and the waterfall blew me away! It blew me away because the moment I saw it, I recognized it was shaped as a heart! Could not believe it! I just had to jump in it and play around, couldn't help myself! I'm so grateful for my "boss" and friend, Jessie who is SUCH a servant to me and our team. She loves well, period!
 me and the birthday girl were the only brave souls to get in the cold water!

 lovin' it!

Sydney, Alex and I and the <3 fall!


We also celebrated American football at a Super Bowl party at Mariana's (my Venezuelan/Southern states amiga) :) It was one of the funnest nights I have had it Costa Rica thus far, hands down! We ate good meat, watched a good football game and karaoked to some epic songs (after the game of course..!) Thankful for this fun time with my friends after a long week of work together.
Alex, Sydney, Mariana and Ali- gringas excited to celebrate American this "holiday"!

 singin/rapping our hearts out!


Gifts from the week:
1064. I break down, You take the burden
1067. New, fresh mornings
1070. Laughing til your eyes water
1072. "wrestling with God brings rest in God" (from Ann Voskamp's blog)
1074. <3 waterfalls-joy and fun!
1077. pink sunset over mountain tops on the drive home
1080. texts asking for prayer on first day back at school

God has been teaching and revealing so much to me recently. 
He alone is worth living for, and He alone can make me fully satisfied!

Psalm 42
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While
they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
 5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And
why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
 9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?  
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God

~N

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