Women's Retreat & so much more

Wow, it's almost been a month since my last post about service project! The past month has been full of spending time with students at club, campaigners, the mall and their homes, hangin' with my wonderful host family and making plans for this summer when I return to Texas! The past month has personally been a huge time of growth for me here in my relationship with God. Each day I'm learning more what it means to trust Him fully and to open my eyes wide for the gifts of each day He gives! Needless to say, my record of gifts is growing right along and I recently started my second journal for recording my Eucharisteos :)

Some pics from the last month of happenings...

The following 3 pics are from our YL Iron Chef Club. It was awesome! The secret ingredient was avocado. The dessert was even made with avocado icing!

My girls, Lau and Dania, and I with our "Katniss braids" :)
(I was the "host" of Iron Chef YL)

The winners... Team 1, the expert chefs!

Team 2 working hard...their food was delish!

Dinner with Dina, my mentor. Asian style!

Sydney and I playing a game at our Minute to Win It Club!

Migz and Jonathan concentrating hard to win it in a minute..

Group of friends out dancing to celebrate our Vida Joven friend's, Pan, 21st bday!

MaryPaz, Ilana, Lau and I at the Blue Valley School Family Day...love these chicas!

Making patacones with my host madre, Rossy!

Enjoying the patacones with my housemates/great amigas, Rossy, Sonia and Saray as we watch a movie on our traditional Sunday night movie night!

My host parents celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary April 20th! I couldn't ask for better host parents! We got them an Inka Grill gift card. So THANKFUL for them.

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to go to the Women's Retreat with my church, International Baptist Church, along with women from other parts of Costa Rica and the U.S. There were about 180 women gathered at the hotel/resort, Los Lagos that overlooked the beautiful Volcano Arenal for an incredible weekend of fun and fellowship. The resort had natural hot and cold spring pools, a butterfly garden, ant farm, crocodile and frog exhibits and a trail to view the volcano from an observatory deck. Not to mention awesome food and a weekend with amazing weather! The speaker for the weekend was Debbie Bryson from California. It wasn't just a fun and adventurous weekend in a beautiful place, but full of learning  and growth in God. I have no doubt everyone that came was impacted by God's presence in huge ways.

 The view from outside my hotel room of Volcano Arenal...stunning!

Group of us at the observatory deck (it's hard to see bc of the lighting, but the volcano is behind us!)

 These nests are homes to the Oro Medallion bird. They were so loud and colorful!

 Maybe my favorite part of the resort, the butterfly garden!

Ant Farm! These guys are strong and so fascinating.

 Odd shaped flower plants...God got so creative in CR!

One of the hot spring pools at the resort. It was an odd feeling flying off the slide into a pool of hot water!

This was the view of moon where I was the night of the Super Moon. There were lots of clouds but there was this huge ring around the moon...so neat!

Breakfast with my girls, Lindsey and Ali :)

 This guy decided to join us for breakfast that morning!

Ali and I in the hot spring pool on the last day! So relaxing!

SO MANY GIFTS from this weekend, but I'd have to say the biggest gift to me was what God revealed to me thru the teaching and my alone time in the Word. I thought I'd share it with you in hopes it will also encourage your heart, where ever you may be!

Both passages the speaker spoke about were passages I have looked at lots during my time here in CR. Even though I've read them thoroughly already, I gleaned some new, profound understandings within them this weekend. God is just way deeper than we can ever imagine!

Mark 4:35-41 This is the story where Jesus takes His disciples on a boat to cross the sea of Galilee and a huge storm comes and Jesus is sleeping, meanwhile the disciples are freaking out. We were comparing this story to having "storms" in our lives.
v. 35-- Jesus says "Let us go over to the other side." --a promise...Jesus knows they will make it thru the coming storm.
v.36-- They left the multitude, obeyed Jesus in going and other boats followed...obeying Jesus will lead to storms...and there are always others in and around your storm seeing how you react to it.
v. 37-38-- storm happens and Jesus is sleeping (he was tired!) yet He was WITH them; they woke Him (they had to seek HIM in the storm!) and asked "Do You not care that we are perishing?"...ouch... this questioning of Jesus reveals their lack of TRUST in their Lord and FEAR of dying.
v. 39-- Jesus calms the storm and declares stillness... it's the storms within us that need calming more than anything, right? Jesus only can grant that perfect peace regardless of circumstance.
v. 40-- Jesus asks, "why are you so FEARFUL, do you still have no faith?"...Jesus calls them out....they have no reason to fear...Jesus is there and in control!
v. 41-- they feared more and questioned who Jesus was... are we looking for Jesus to show up in our storms? and to calm them?
As I pondered the "storms" of my life, I realized coming to CR has been one of the biggest "storms" I've gone through. Leaving all you know and love to a foreign place with foreign people, food and places is NOT easy. He took me away from the multitude in Houston of my big community and ministry, and He came with me. Storms hit. He spoke and calmed me, calmed them. Met with me. Revealed my mistrust and proved His faithfulness. He is taking me to the other side. He is perfecting my character in the storms and forcing me to persevere and to learn what trusting Him really means.
We have NO reason to fear in (or out) of the storms in our lives, if we truly TRUST our faithful God.
I share this with you to encourage you to look to Christ, not your circumstances. He offers peace when everything else seems chaotic. Even if your situation seems hopeless, remember God is ALWAYS faithful and there is no fear in His Love.

John 15:1-5 we, the branches, abiding in the vine, Jesus. This chapter of John has become one of those "life chapters" for me and was really on my heart before I came to CR. I have learned lots thru scripture and experience what is means to abide in Christ the past several months. Of course God would use this passage to make sense of my time here as I reflected more on it at the retreat!

v. 1-- Jesus is the VINE..all nutrients flow thru it to the branches (us). The Father is the Vinedresser...His role is to take care of the plant.

v. 2-- branches that bear fruit HE (the Vinedresser) PRUNES. To prune is to cut off or remove. It says that this is" so that we will bear more fruit"! It's NOT punishment. God the Father holds the scissors. If we don't trust Him, we could be fooled in thinking He uses those sharp scissors for harm. But he is a GOOD Vinedresser that loves His little plants and wants to see them prosper!
 v. 4--we cannot bear fruit of ourselves, only by abiding in the vine, Jesus....our job is just to abide and the fruit making is Jesus's job!
v. 5-- apart from the Vine, we can do nothing... when we try to make fruit ourselves, apart from the vine, all we can come up with is artificial fruit. It's tasteless, fake and does nothing for you.
God revealed to me that coming to Costa Rica was in fact Him PRUNING me!  No wonder it hurt ;) He quite literally removed me from Houston in the midst of a fruitful time with lots of enjoyable community and ministry--He knew it was time for me to grow--I needed the excess in my life to be cut off. He is now bearing more fruit on my branch... more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22 the fruit of the spirit).
The verse following the fruits of the spirit in Galatians reads, "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (v.23) I thought I was coming to Latin America because it was a passion and desire of mine for some time and God was just fulfilling that. God has something much deeper than that to do in me. Praise Him for crucifying my flesh and bringing about something much richer!
The fruit He produces is for no other reason than to allow others to TASTE AND SEE the goodness and sweetness of who HE is--who makes up the Vine. I AM JUST THE VESSEL. I don't make the fruit, I am just to abide and hope fruit will be produced. Producing fruit is a PROCESS and goes in stages. It comes from life, it takes time.

This season in CR was just one season of production, but a BIG one, a special one, for this branch... and I have almost made it through!  

Thank you Lord for uprooting me and pruning me in Costa Rica!

 Life isn't about the happiness or comforts, it's about abiding in the Source of life. Now that's abundant and joy-filled life--when He is using your vessel to make Himself known...there is nothing like it!

~N