Friday

Today, our team had the morning off, and we went ziplining! It was great fun and we saw more of God's beautiful creation in Costa Rica. After lunch, we held a half-day clinic at the Score complex (our living quarters) for missionaries and pastors. The construction team finished up on some of their work and cleaned up the worksite. No team is scheduled any time soon to complete the work.

I have been amazed by the work this team has done as they have relied on God for their work here in Costa Rica. Many lives have been changed as a result of the work here. Many seeds have been planted that our partner churches will continue to water. Our construction team is helping out in the beginning of a big vision for the property in the Coronado area of San Jose. This team has represented God well in all they have done.

I have been especially impressed with our young missionary interns that were a part of our group. They have worked really hard and have served God with such joy in all their interactions with people. I truly saw Jesus in each one of them, and am so excited about God's calling on their lives as they have committed their lives to missionary service.

Tonight, we hear from two of our teens and from Dr. Kit, our church member who represents us in Cambodia, who was able to accompany us on this trip.

To God be the glory for all the great things He has done. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Our team begins its trek back to North Carolina tomorrow morning. We look forward to seeing many of you Sunday morning at Front Street.


Remy Mottinger

This week has been amazing and unforgettable. I feel that God has called me to work as a medical missionary, and this trip has made His calling for me even more clear in my heart. This week has been free of everyday distractions and it has helped me to learn to just sit still and listen to God and to listen to what he has to say to you from the others that surround you every day. The people that we have come into contact with in the clinics made me realize how fortunate we are and how selfish we can become. We gave away simple things such as cough medicine and Tylenol to many of the people that we saw, and they were so grateful for it, but to us are things that we take on a daily basis. They could have asked for more medicine or made up problems just to get more, but they didn't. This week I met one little boy that really touched my heart. His name was Jorge and he had come into the clinic with his grandmother. As Jackie was examining him his grandmother told her that he had AIDS. He had gotten it from his mother during childbirth, and then his mother died when he was three. My stomach dropped because there sat this sweet, innocent, little boy whose illness will most likely kill him, and there was nothing that we could do for him except pray. Even through his illness he was so happy and loving. And even though we couldn't give him medicine that would cure him, we were able to tell him that there was a God who loved him and that He was taking care of him. There were many other stories like this and I couldn't even begin to tell them all, but I do know that God has done great things in Costa Rica this week and that many lives were touched through Him and Him alone.

Alyssa Hall

"Wow!" That doesn't even start to explain the week I have had here in Costa Rica. At first I was very nervous, but I knew God wanted me to do this and I have been called. So when the Lord calls, you respond. Being 15 and half-way around the world is crazy for me to even think about. But this trip has been life changing in many ways. I have grown stronger in my relationship with Christ this week. I got to know some of the greatest people that love the Lord. This trip has brought joy to my life and showed me to be more greatful of what I have. And on top of being able to do what I love to do (medical work), I was also able to share the Lord. Its amazing to see what the Lord can do if you just follow where he leads. I have met some wonderful teenagers in a program called GAP. Im very interested in it and would love to do it. But enough about me. Though I miss my family terribly, I dont want to leave. The people down here that we met don't have much, and the little things we did blessed them and their neighborhoods. At one church we went to, the pastor was so thankful; he gave a speech and made me cry from seeing how touched he was by us coming and doing what we had done. I can't wait to come back!

Kit

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:10 (NKJV)

What made this past week a special week is the opportunity to serve alongside Costa Rican believers who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and who are living their lives by faith for His glory. God also encouraged our hearts as we worked with His choice servants here who came from other countries such as Canada, Chili, Germany, and Argentina. The first couple of days – my main translator was a single missionary from Canada. Interestingly her dad was a pastor to Cambodian refugee in 1980’s. It was a neat experience to meet by His divine appointment and work together in Costa Rica. Several of our translators are students of the Gap Program of Score International. Talking and getting to know some of them – my heart was also leaping with joy to meet numbers of young folks who are willing to live their life as an offering to Him and serve Him wherever He leads.

People of Costa Rica are friendly and appreciate our medical help. They called them self “Tico (for men) and Tica (for women)”. Despite the existing quality medical care, there are many Ticos that could not afford the government insurance and refugees from Nicaragua who are not eligible for the universal medical care. Apart from providing medical care, we also had numbers of opportunity to share the gospel, encourage some who are not walking with Christ, pray for many for His physical healing and spiritual healing. Many parents were filled with tears as they shared their struggle in life and the difficulties that their children are in. Two men were excited and wanted to receive spiritual help and a Bible as they learned and encouraged to live their lives as examples for their children.

As we are sharing Christ’s love through medicine, God also used it as the opportunity to work in our hearts. Testimonies one after another from our team members spoke very loudly that God has rekindled their hearts to live our lives for His glory and focus on what He has for us. As we are returning to USA tomorrow, I prayed that the imprint in our hearts will transformed our lives that we will become His true disciples who live for Him and represent Him wherever we go and do.

Thursday

Today, our medical team saw 125 people in Grecia. It was another great ministry experience. Our construction team was rained out after several hours of work this morning. Tomorrow will give us a free morning and a half day of work in the afternoon, then we will begin preparing for our jouney home on Saturday. Thanks for your continuing prayers. Tonight, Linda Meadors will be sharing her thoughts with us.

Linda Meadors

Monday began a series of new days, when we moved out of our secure, sheltered world, and into a poor area of Guido, where we had to close the windows of our bus to prevent desperate people from intruding. We found a sweet, small church, clean, neat, and a minister's family, called by God, to touch the lives of lost people in a dangerous area. They even have a place called "the hole" where refugees live in squalor. It floods and they die. Disease and parasites come and they die. Homes are patched together with whatever materials they can find. They come expecting better and have no way to leave when they find something entirely different. But a small group of Bible students with SCORE International go, along with this small church family, in Christ's name, to help and to share the gospel. We also travel, minister, give, hope, and pray that an eternal difference has been made.

God knows our hearts and theirs. Only He can change us for all time. We thank God for His blessings and mercies as we travel to a different area of Costa Rica every day, and to different situations, always finding yearning hearts and longing souls for what Christ can give. Most of the people we came to help, left with blessings for us on their lips.

These people can't expect true hope from the nationalized health service here. Often they are told there is no room, no opening, and that someone will call, maybe. That makes it even more vitally important that we bring them the one true answer for hope--Jesus Christ. Their spiritual need is greater than the physical, and that is the main reason we were sent here--to share with them the one true eternal hope. So God pulled our team together as only He can. We've grown individually, grown together, and grown closer to God. May God be praised! Isn't He wonderful?!

One final thought--the most influential, and important, world wide web in the world is not the one that immediately comes to mind. The most important, in God's eyes, the one ordained by God, is the world wide web of Christian brothers and sisters, striving to follow the command of the Great Commission--the ones seeking to follow God's command to love one another, to share the Good News. "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister. . .". Wednesday, in Guacimo, the minister, who is himself sick with cancer, came out to pray with us as we left. He said that he was honored to be our siblings, that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and he thanked us for coming so far to help his community. Truly humbling!

We are in this together, my family. We have met Costa Rican family, Argentinean family, Nicarauguan family, American family, Cambodian family, and others. We were sent this way through the sacrifices, blessings, gifts, and prayers of our family back home. Our Christian family is the world wide net that God loves and Jesus saves for eternity. May we always be willing to be an active part of that family, to thank God for the blessing of the opportunity to share our faith, and to bring others into the family of God. "As servants of God,. . .Honor everyone. Love the family of believers." I Peter 2:17.

Wednesday

Our med team drove over two hours through the mountains and rain forest to get to our ministry site for today in Guacimo. We encountered around 185 patients today. Our men spent the day hauling buckets of concrete to pour in the header forms at the top of the building. Tonight, we have two more of our team to contribute to the blog.

Scott Stewart

My first mission trip out of the country, what I expected, what has been the reality, and what God has showed me.

What I expected:
A construction mission trip to Costa Rica would be an awesome trip, I would get a chance to do something I enjoy and have been around for 20 years, build. I would get an opportunity to tell people that do not know my Savior what he has done for me and share the good news to people who may actually care that there is a Savior who died for them and who desires a personal relationship with them. In America I know there are people who care but the Gospel is preached on every corner every Sunday morning and people seem to have more important things to do and don't realize the need they really have. I thought that the food would be at best OK and that the housing would be rough but that this is just part of going on a trip out of the country and working for God. I expected great growth in the Lord and I expected to get to know the people I go to church with on a deeper level.

What was the reality:
Construction in Costa Rica is nothing like construction in America and 20 years experience in the business in the US doesn't transfer to 20 years experience in Costa Rica. I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with a man at a store (like Walmart) on the coffee aisle (he helped me find a good coffee to bring back, and I shared with him about our Savior, we shared email addresses and I will be able to continually stay in touch with him). After this experience on Sunday afternoon the construction team has been locked up (behind a fence with barb wire) and have not left the campus. The only contact we have had is with our team and the squirrel/monkey animal we saw climbing in the tree and the dogs. Sharing Christ in this situation is a little difficult. As far as the food and housing goes, the food has been awesome and the housing has been comfortable (God does provide). My growth in the Lord was not what I expected. It has been better and my relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ has grown and exceeded my expectations. I have met many new brothers and sisters other than the ones from my church that I know will be part of my Christian walk through mission trips and prayer for the rest of my life here on earth.

What God has showed me:
God has showed me that any time you get an opportunity to share the good news, that you should be prepared and be willing because you may not have another chance. God has used construction in Costa Rica to teach me patience. Unlike the US, material is scarce and if you aren't patient you could get very discouraged. As we worked on the home it was hard to see progress. Even though a lot of work has been put in to the home, the progress is hard to see from the outside. I learned a very valuable spiritual lesson from this. God starts on the inside in the heart and a lot of times it is hard to see progress, but he is at work and the finished product will always be amazing. Another truth that God reaffirmed in my life this week is that we are here to glorify Him. Even if you are locked up and the only contact you have is with squirrel/monkeys and dogs, God is watching and it is the heart He is looking at. As we worked, we worked to bring glory to God. In a situation like we have been working in this week, it will really make you search your heart and your motivation. Finally, the men I have worked with this week and the devotionals that have been shared, have motivated me to pour more of myself out for God. I have seen men who physically had no business doing the work they have been doing here, give everything they had, even when no one could see, to bring glory to our Savior. I have seen families sacrifice husbands, wives, parents and children for a week so they could go and bring glory to our Savior. As I move forward I will attempt to live my life as a living sacrifice for a God who sent his Son to die for my sins and that provided my salvation.

Audra Harris Have you ever had the frustration of taking a shower when the water changes intermittently from hot to cold repeatedly? Have you ever wondered if God views us with that same frustration?

While serving God in Costa Rica, it has been easy to “run hot.” The poverty, helplessness, and hopelessness of the people has been evident every day. For instance, eight year old Braden in Los Guidos continually came to the evangelism team with his Spanish tract about receiving Christ. His eyes and questions showed his need to be touched and filled with more than the medication. Or, the single mother whose eyes filled with tears as she explained to me the pain she feels for her son whose father has not seen him since birth. How am I to respond to these loving people who are without the basics of life and care? How do I assist those with no medical care for back injuries, cataracts, urinary tract infections or strep throat? It’s a void that I cannot fill. It’s a void that medication cannot fill. Only the love of Christ can fill the void. It has been my deepest desire this week to pass the seeds of this hope to the hopeless this week.

The mission trip to Costa Rica only lasts for one week. The real question for me is how will I respond to God’s calling at the conclusion of the trip. How do I respond to the helpless and hopeless in my own community? Will the hopelessness and voids of my neighbors, coworkers, and family cause the same brokenness of heart? As work and home life take over and distract me, what will happen to this burning desire? Will I “run cold” once the experience fades? I can only pray that Christ will imprint this experience on my heart and keep me “”running hot.

Tuesday

God is at work in Costa Rica, and our group has seen Him in our encounters. I have asked a couple of team members to blog tonight. It touched our hearts today to hear one of the patients in our medical clinic to come back to one of our nurses and say, "I see Jesus in your faces. You left your homes, and you didn't have to come here. I want you to know how grateful we are." Our greatest desire is that people we encounter this week will truly see Jesus in each one of us, and what we say and what we do will lead many to Christ.

_________________________

Michelle Lourcey

God was at work today as we served Him in the Aserri area of San Jose and as the construction team continued work on the missionary home here at the compound. In Aserri, God provided us with the honor of seeing 170 patients; our doctors and nurses were able to care for their physical needs but our prayer is that we were able to plant seeds for their spiritual need of Jesus Christ. Two Catholic patients were being seen by one of our doctors when they told him that as soon as they walked into our clinic, they felt something different -- something they had not felt before. Another patient told one of our nurses that he saw Jesus in her face. This is what it is all about....

I was able to lead our devotion tonight and we talked about the WHY of why we are here. It is not about us but about GOD. It is about what God is doing through me and in me, and more importantly, it is about what we will do once we return home. Will we compartmentalize our service and not make it a part of our daily lives, our daily walk? This work this week is not about DOING the mission trip -- if it is, then we are missing the true purpose, the long term purpose, of why we are here. It is like this -- why did Jesus need to go to the cross if we just needed to be good? He didn't, and we don't need to just go on mission trips or just do ministry. We must develop that intimate, personal relationship with the Father -- that sold out, total commitment - because we are called to serve - this is not an optional calling. As Christians, we don't have the option of whether or not we will do ministry. We are called to serve, including our service at home.....as one pastor told us here, the true mission trip begins when we are return home.

In Matthew 25:35-40, the Father says, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat..." Then the "righteous" answer him with "'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you.....?'" In verse 40, the Father repiles, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers, you did for me." So why do we minister? Why do we travel to a foreign land or do ministry in our own backyard for the "least of these?" It's a simple answer -- because HE is worthy.

The Father is worthy of our love, our service, our devotion, or worship and our ministry. He is worthy of all we are, all we have, all we have to give. As one writer writes, "When He willingly stretched out His arms on an old Judean beam and bore the anger, sin, rebellion, pride, and idolatry of us all, HE was worthy."

In the hot sun today, sat with my arm around a precious child and looked her in the eyes today; she was nine years old, her mother a drug addict, her father's whereabouts unknown. Her grandmother had stepped in to rear her, a grandmother whose childrearing years were well behind her. Shannon and I watched her as she read to us a book we had with us about Jesus and how he loved all children. I looked at her and said in my feeble Spanish, "Do you know Jesus?" Her eyes brightened, her voice filled with joy and she said in her beautiful language with a hand tapping her chest, "Yes! Jesus in my heart!" How often do we show those around us that joyful response that Jesus is in our hearts? HE is worthy of every ounce of our beings and our breath of we who are. We serve him because He is worthy of all we do.

______________________________

John Blakely

As the second oldest person on the mission trip, I had no concerns about the trip but did wonder what I could do in construction. Fortunately, the 10 men on the trip who are not doctors have worked together extremely well. Cory Yost, from Mocksville, has been on other mission construction trips and in Keith Miller’s absence, has become the “go-to” guy to lead our work. Our work is building an apartment that will be used by a SCORE missionary who is a Costa Rican citizen. Our Costa Rican foreman does not speak English. However he is very good at demonstrating to us “Gringos” what should be done. John Wright and I are primarily mixing the concrete and today I spent much of my time “sifting” sand for doing the finish coat of stucco. Our people have been laying blocks, applying concrete for the first coat of stucco, building forms for pouring beams, etc. Our bodies are extremely tired at the end of the day. The sun is much warmer here that I was expecting. We were told today that sunscreen with SPF rating of 30 will protect you for 30 minutes only. I am not the only one who will be red when we get back.

The construction team has not been off-campus since Sunday. And unless something bad happens, we won’t be off-campus until maybe Thursday night. We have not had the opportunity to see anyone other than SCORE personnel on site. It is very interesting to hear Walter, the Costa Rican foreman, singing a familiar hymn but in Spanish. All the people we have met here have been most welcoming. Bismark, a Costa Rican who primarily works with the rebar to put into forms for putting concrete around, called me amigo immediately. Our mission field is just doing work that allows someone else to share Christ with people in need.

Monday

Today was a great day of ministry. After a good night's sleep, our teams headed to their ministry areas. The construction team met with the architect of the building project and began their work. They soon discovered that the Costa Rica method of doing stucco was not for them after they got more stucco on their faces and hair that on the wall. They then reverted back to the US way of doing the task. They had wonderful weather (thanks for the prayers) all day and accomplished a great deal. They will resume early in the morning. They all worked hard today and all look pretty tired. We were reminded again tonight of the awesome ministry that our construction team is helping as the missions training center continues its building projects.

The medical team saw over 165 people today. We were housed in a very small building in Los Guido.Los Guido, Costa Rica, has a population of approximately 38,000 people, 85% of whom are Nicaraguan refugees whose parents fled to Costa Rica during the Santanista Wars. Most live in dirt poverty as they are here illegally and, because of that, have a hard time with steady employment. The Costa Rican government does allow them to go to the public schools as long as they can pay for their own uniforms, supplies and books. In general, there is no welfare system here to help them with food or medical. The Costa Rican government does, however, supply emergency medical treatment when necessary. We were partnered with Lighthouse Baptist Church. The pastor had an awesome testimony, God has given him a great vision for a part of Costa Rica that is so often ignored. It was such a blessing coming alongside these people and helping them to declare the glory of God in that neighborhood. I was once again amazed by the flexibility of the team and the love of God that pervaded their every action. To God be the glory.

Our evangelism team hit the streets at the beginning--some visiting a nearby school. They spent much time sharing the good news of Christ with the people coming through the clinic.

Lots of photos have been added to the blog. Tomorrow the med and evangelism teams work in Aserri. Please pray for all of our teams that God will be glorified in our work and people would be drawn to Him.

Photo Album

Here is the new link for the photo album: http://bit.ly/d6cVtU

Sunday - a day of rest and preparation

This morning we awoke early, ate breakfast, had personal devotions and fellowship, then headed for church at 10:00. We enjoyed worshiping in a sister church. All of the service was in Spanish until the sermon, and they had an excellent teenage interpreter help us understand the message. It was a great morning with our Costa Rican brothers and sisters.

We were treated to Brazilian pizza after church. It was delicious, and our group had some great fellowship. We enjoyed the afternoon off in town, then returned to dinner.

The evening was fantastic. Our team looked like elves on Christmas eve. There was much to do in preparing the medications for the first day of clinic--pouring up elixirs, labeling bottles, repacking all the medicines, etc. Take a look at the photo album to see the group in action.

The construction people are ready to start work at 7:00 in the morning. They have carefully surveyed their project (see photos of the work done so far on the missionary apartment). The leader of Score International Costa Rica shared with us the awesome things God has done in the last nine years in Score's ministry in Costa Rica. It made us feel a part of some incredible things.

The medical and evangelism teams leave at 7:30 for their destination. The clinic will be located in a highly populated area that is made up of 80% Nicaraguan refugees. Please pray that God will use our team in a tremendous way. We hope to meet a lot of physical needs, but our "primary directive" is to meet spiritual needs--to give them the cure that lasts for eternity. We are teamed up with local churches and SCORE International missionaries to insure that the gospel is clearly proclaimed to these wonderful people. Please PRAY that God will do mighty things this week.

Scott Mitcham and Walt Meadors led our group devotions in the last two nights. God is certainly leading our devotional leaders in selecting what we need to hear. I am thankful for those that are leading our devotions this week.

We are praying that God will not only do wonderful things in the lives of the people we meet, but that He will also do great things in the lives of our team members. I look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow.

Arrived Safely

Our team converged on San Jose from three different flights to meet at the airport today. We then took a 50 minute drive to the SCORE complex, unloaded our 24 trunks of medicines and tools and sat down to a DELICIOUS dinner. We were all so tired and hungry. We had a time of orientation, and then settled in to our new home for the week. Later tonight, we will come together for devotions and begin to focus our thoughts more on the awesome days of ministry ahead.

Our medical & evangelism teams may encounter well over 1000 people, helping them in their physical being, but more importantly, sharing Jesus with each one of them. Our construction team will continue work on a missionary apartment that has been started by teams before us. Most of the masonry is complete and roof trusses may be attached this week as well as stucco to the masonry walls. We will know more on Monday.

Tomorrow will be a day of worship and leisure as well as a day to prepare for the next days of ministry. There is much to do to prepare the enormous quantities of medicines for a single day's clinic. There are liquid medications to pour out into small bottles as well.

All this preparation is done as we pray for and think of the hundreds of people we will contact. Please join us in lifting these dear souls to our Father.

God is already at work! Not only were all the flights very successful, but our getting through customs was miraculous. All people ahead of us were having bags x-rayed and being questioned. When I (Kenny) pulled my cart up with 25 people behind me with red t-shirts and huge trunks going a great distance through the customs hall, the agent stopped me and asked if I could speak Spanish? (I knew he needed more than me being able to ask him where the bathroom is or how he is doing). I called our resident interpreter, Linda Blakely to help me talk with them. We told them what we were doing and after awhile he just motioned for all of us to go by--no x-rays, no documents, no nothing! What a blessing. He could have made lots of trouble for us. We had many praying for this--thank you.

We hope you all have a wonderful time in worship tomorrow (Sunday) morning. I hope to add some photos to this posting later tonight.