To all Kids Club Kids:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE AND THE LETTERS! I was extremely happy, no... overjoyed, to get them :). Each and every one of your notes and drawings is so special to me. It really made me miss you all! You are all so special. It is super fun for me to get things in the mail while I am so far from home. I will be back in June and I can hardly wait until then to see you again. I have been praying for you guys every time I see kids because I am always reminded of you. Also, the candy and tea are so delicious ;). Thanks so much again. Keep learnign more about God and how much he loves you!
Your Friend in Costa Rica,
Anna
Monday, March 31, 2008
God Always Provides!
Wow! God truly is good and truly is so so powerful! You knwo how in the blog I wrote yesterday I said that we still needed $3,000 dollars for outreach? Well now we need $0!!!!!!! That's right... He brought in all the money for us! After doign all our selling Sunday, doing everything we possible could to raise this money, and still not coming up with it, many of us check our emails to see if anyone was going to send some money. Guess what! Many of us got replies from people back home and it all added up to more that the $3,000 we needed! It is amazing how it worked out that most people had send out emails long before this, but it wasn't untill we had done everything we possibly could that God made the impossible happen in a way that we could have not done ourselves. He is so amazing! I think all of us had some forgiveness to ask for for all the doubt we has in our hearts. It is so exciting to see how got used this the bring us together and really work as a team. He taught up about sacrifcing for eachother and laying down our own rights. He helps us to break thought barriers that many people had between one annother. I learned even more through this that it is not about what I can do for God, but it is about where my heart is at and that is where he meets me.
So last night way full of singing and dancing... hugging and shouting.... praying and praising. Because God gave us money?... NO! Because he is alway faithful, always good, and always loving! He never changes... that we can count on!
So last night way full of singing and dancing... hugging and shouting.... praying and praising. Because God gave us money?... NO! Because he is alway faithful, always good, and always loving! He never changes... that we can count on!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Please Pray...
There are a couple things that are on my mind and have really been on my heart these past few weeks and they are 1) OUTREACH and 2) My teams need for OUTREACH FUNDS$$$.
1) I leave this Saterday, April 5, for my Costa Rica Outreach! So soon! This is very exciting, but there is still so much that needs to happen before then that need to be covered in prayer. You can pray that we can perfect (or even finish learning) our dramas this week before we go. What this will take is Gos meraculously providing more time in the day. Also, PLEASE pray for the first week (April 6-10th) which is the NIKO Camp, which I hear really rips you apart, so I need so much prayer that God will use that time to do some awesome things in me and in my team (and that we all come out in one piece!). After that the actually outreach phase begins in Talemaca, which is the same place where the NIKO camp is. We will be there for at least 2 weeks then we are not sure yet about where we will be for that last week of April (please pray for God's guidance and provision in that). Mostly, pray that God would be bringing my team together AS A FAMILY. That we would learn to really love eachother and be closrer than brothers because this is what will made or break our outreach... "You will be known by your love for eachother". Pray that I CAN DIE TO MYSELF.
2) For many people on both the Guatemala and the Venzuela team, Outreach is just a hope untill we get enough money for them to be able to go. I praise God for his provition and how far he has already brought us! At the start of last week we still needed $6, 000 total in order for everyone to be able to go, but after those of us who had some extra money responded to God's call to give to our teammates our needs were cut in half and we only needed $3,000! Everyone spent all of last week prefaring a fundraiser that was held last Saturday. We all made different kinds of foods and help a "food fair" and the community center in our nieghborhood. To our disappointment, we did not get a very good turnout and we ended up with alot of extra food and not much prophit at all. Today (Sunday) we are all going out on the street to sell what we have left and are praying that there is still some funds that can come in through this. Please pray that as we do what is possible to get our outreach money, that God will do the impossible in this seemingly impossible timing (we are supposed to leave in less that a week!). Pray that God can change our spirits of discouragement to spirits of joy! My faith is deffinately being strengthened throught this, but I feel that many of my classmates are just tired and frusterated. Please cover us in your prayer. If you feel that God is calling you to give, please just let me know (mariposagrace@hotmail.com) and we work it out. It would be greatly appreciated :).
Thank you so much for all your prayer and support!
Learning to Trust God in All things,
Anna
1) I leave this Saterday, April 5, for my Costa Rica Outreach! So soon! This is very exciting, but there is still so much that needs to happen before then that need to be covered in prayer. You can pray that we can perfect (or even finish learning) our dramas this week before we go. What this will take is Gos meraculously providing more time in the day. Also, PLEASE pray for the first week (April 6-10th) which is the NIKO Camp, which I hear really rips you apart, so I need so much prayer that God will use that time to do some awesome things in me and in my team (and that we all come out in one piece!). After that the actually outreach phase begins in Talemaca, which is the same place where the NIKO camp is. We will be there for at least 2 weeks then we are not sure yet about where we will be for that last week of April (please pray for God's guidance and provision in that). Mostly, pray that God would be bringing my team together AS A FAMILY. That we would learn to really love eachother and be closrer than brothers because this is what will made or break our outreach... "You will be known by your love for eachother". Pray that I CAN DIE TO MYSELF.
2) For many people on both the Guatemala and the Venzuela team, Outreach is just a hope untill we get enough money for them to be able to go. I praise God for his provition and how far he has already brought us! At the start of last week we still needed $6, 000 total in order for everyone to be able to go, but after those of us who had some extra money responded to God's call to give to our teammates our needs were cut in half and we only needed $3,000! Everyone spent all of last week prefaring a fundraiser that was held last Saturday. We all made different kinds of foods and help a "food fair" and the community center in our nieghborhood. To our disappointment, we did not get a very good turnout and we ended up with alot of extra food and not much prophit at all. Today (Sunday) we are all going out on the street to sell what we have left and are praying that there is still some funds that can come in through this. Please pray that as we do what is possible to get our outreach money, that God will do the impossible in this seemingly impossible timing (we are supposed to leave in less that a week!). Pray that God can change our spirits of discouragement to spirits of joy! My faith is deffinately being strengthened throught this, but I feel that many of my classmates are just tired and frusterated. Please cover us in your prayer. If you feel that God is calling you to give, please just let me know (mariposagrace@hotmail.com) and we work it out. It would be greatly appreciated :).
Thank you so much for all your prayer and support!
Learning to Trust God in All things,
Anna
He is Strong in my Weakness
Hey Friends!
Sorry that this has turned into a choppy and drawn out story, but I will finally finsh telling about Nicaragua. Theen I will tell you a bit about what I have been up to lately!
At the hospital, the whole group went to the children's wing together and visited with the kids and thier parents. It was so hard to see kids that are so little being so sick and then not know if thier parents will continue to have the money for their child's needs to be met. We spent alot of time with them talking, praying, and playing with the kids and they seems very encouraged that were were there. I love being with the kids because they are so easy to communicate with. I just have to smile at them or hold them or maybe play a little game amd all the sudden we are friends. We dedcided to do that same drama we had done for the school earlier that morning for the kids in the hospital and their parents. Everyone laughed and the mood in the room was totally transformed for what it was when we first walked in. What I came to realize through my experience at the hospital is that even if I don't have the words to bring some grand message to the people, when I am loving them by just being there for them and serving them in the little ways that I can, I am really blessing them and giving them hope. That is the truly message I have to give: I am here because Jesus has given me a new hope and you can have that hope too.
Well lets fast forward a few weeks to where I am, here and now. As you read in my previous blogs, in the first half or my Discipleship Training School I was just completely falling head-over-heals in love with God! And do you know what?... I still am! The difference now is that he has been teaching me about commitment to him; that feelings won't be there all the time, but I still need to put him first no matter what and be committed to him in everything because we have made a covanant togehter. It is so good that he is teching me this now because right as he began telling me that, times got to be much more difficult. My feet hit the ground and circumstance after circumstance kept running in to me, trying to knock me down. This I how I learning to cling to my Rock who can never be shaken. There were definately times when I was so angry and tired that I just wanted to forget it all, but this his how God has been able to show me how he has been transforming my heart: instead of just keeping all these things inside, trying to handle them on my own strength I just ran to him and gave it all over. At times I just has to screem at him asking "why?", at times I just had to cry at his feet, and every time I just had to surrender every situation and everything inside of me over to him. He has been faithful to show me more and more of who he is and what he is like in these times and that is how I am able to say, "Not on my own strength, but in yours. In my weekness your power is made perfect. Your love never fails!" In learing to be open with God, who is my very best friend, I have also been learing to be more open with others. I really did take fist coming to him, laying down my pride, and knowing his faithfulness that I have been able to even learn what it means to be open in order to open up to others more. I have been able to come to my friends in humility and say "Hey, I'm having a really hard time. This is what's goign on, and this is how I feel". God is so good! I have been covered in prayer and encouragement and have just been overwhelmed by the love that others have shown me!
Sorry that this has turned into a choppy and drawn out story, but I will finally finsh telling about Nicaragua. Theen I will tell you a bit about what I have been up to lately!
At the hospital, the whole group went to the children's wing together and visited with the kids and thier parents. It was so hard to see kids that are so little being so sick and then not know if thier parents will continue to have the money for their child's needs to be met. We spent alot of time with them talking, praying, and playing with the kids and they seems very encouraged that were were there. I love being with the kids because they are so easy to communicate with. I just have to smile at them or hold them or maybe play a little game amd all the sudden we are friends. We dedcided to do that same drama we had done for the school earlier that morning for the kids in the hospital and their parents. Everyone laughed and the mood in the room was totally transformed for what it was when we first walked in. What I came to realize through my experience at the hospital is that even if I don't have the words to bring some grand message to the people, when I am loving them by just being there for them and serving them in the little ways that I can, I am really blessing them and giving them hope. That is the truly message I have to give: I am here because Jesus has given me a new hope and you can have that hope too.
Well lets fast forward a few weeks to where I am, here and now. As you read in my previous blogs, in the first half or my Discipleship Training School I was just completely falling head-over-heals in love with God! And do you know what?... I still am! The difference now is that he has been teaching me about commitment to him; that feelings won't be there all the time, but I still need to put him first no matter what and be committed to him in everything because we have made a covanant togehter. It is so good that he is teching me this now because right as he began telling me that, times got to be much more difficult. My feet hit the ground and circumstance after circumstance kept running in to me, trying to knock me down. This I how I learning to cling to my Rock who can never be shaken. There were definately times when I was so angry and tired that I just wanted to forget it all, but this his how God has been able to show me how he has been transforming my heart: instead of just keeping all these things inside, trying to handle them on my own strength I just ran to him and gave it all over. At times I just has to screem at him asking "why?", at times I just had to cry at his feet, and every time I just had to surrender every situation and everything inside of me over to him. He has been faithful to show me more and more of who he is and what he is like in these times and that is how I am able to say, "Not on my own strength, but in yours. In my weekness your power is made perfect. Your love never fails!" In learing to be open with God, who is my very best friend, I have also been learing to be more open with others. I really did take fist coming to him, laying down my pride, and knowing his faithfulness that I have been able to even learn what it means to be open in order to open up to others more. I have been able to come to my friends in humility and say "Hey, I'm having a really hard time. This is what's goign on, and this is how I feel". God is so good! I have been covered in prayer and encouragement and have just been overwhelmed by the love that others have shown me!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Address
Hey Here Is my mailing address as requested:
Anna Jacobs- YWAM
Apartado 252-2070
Sbailla Montes De Oca
San Jose, Costa Rica
I Will be able to receive mail and small packages here until April 12th when I go on outreach. Thanks!
Anna Jacobs- YWAM
Apartado 252-2070
Sbailla Montes De Oca
San Jose, Costa Rica
I Will be able to receive mail and small packages here until April 12th when I go on outreach. Thanks!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Nicaragua pt.2
After playing with the kids on the base, I worked in the gardens in the yard and pick up trash around the bumpster (yummy:)). That afternoon I went with a small group to the hospital that was nearby to visit with the patients. As you can immagine, the hospital was very run down. It was made up of three small sections: one for men, one for women, and one for children. I went with two of the guys on my team to the men's section. There were four men there and we prayed for each of them. I was hard for me because it's hard to know what to say to people in that situation, especially not knowing any specifics. Even if I did, it is so hard to communicate with my limited spanish. When we first waled into the room I think my teammates kind of expected me to know what to do and I really felt just as lost as they did. So I figured that you can never go wrong with praying for people so I asked the first man if we could pray a blessing over him and if there was anything specific he wanted prayer for. So that is what we did, took turns praying for each of the men and the one boy in my group that spoke spanish translated. They all expressed that they were so happy for us to be there either with thier words or their faces. One man just broke down in tears when we started to pray for him. One very old man really touch my heart. His spirit was so strong even though his body was so weak. We started talking to him about God, but he had so much more to say about God than we did! He had such a strong faith and was truly so filled with the joy of Christ in the midst of his suffering. He said, "The Devil can take my body, but he can never touch my spirit." His daughter was there with him and she said that they were waiting for some test results, but he always waits in expectation to hear good things and he hopes and expects the positive every time he waits for these tests. After we prayed for him, I also prayed for his daughter and their family.
More to come...
More to come...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Nicaragua
Hi Friends and Family!
Thanks for being so patient whilewaiting for a new blog. Keeping on top of this is not my strong spot. Well I know many of you want to hear about my trip to Nicaragua so even though that seems so long ago to me, I will start there. It was very short. Two whole days were spent driving and we spent one day at the beach and one day doing outreach. Nicaragua is really different from anywhere that I have ever been. It is hard to describe,but it´s like a different world. One interesting thing that I saw alot were people riding down the streets in carts with horses! Even though I have seen impovrished areas in Costa Rica, there is such a visible difference in Nicaragua with the effects of poverty around every corner. In spite of this, the beach was beautiful. I had such a fun day there catching the waves and laying out with my friends. My favorite part of the whole day was taking a walk with God along the shore, watching the waves and picking up seashells. Later that night I read in a psalm about how his love goes over us like a wave(I´llfind which one it is). The next day for outreach,we did a short presentation for the elementary school that is on the YWAM base. It went really well and it was so fun to spend some time with the kids. Some of the boys had alot of fun chasing me around while holding hairy spiders in thier hands (you know how much I love that;). What was a slightly more fun for me was hanging out with some 4th and 5th grade girls; they liked me alot. When I was walking through the neighborhod later they ran up to me yelling my name and gave me hugs.
To be continued...
Thanks for being so patient whilewaiting for a new blog. Keeping on top of this is not my strong spot. Well I know many of you want to hear about my trip to Nicaragua so even though that seems so long ago to me, I will start there. It was very short. Two whole days were spent driving and we spent one day at the beach and one day doing outreach. Nicaragua is really different from anywhere that I have ever been. It is hard to describe,but it´s like a different world. One interesting thing that I saw alot were people riding down the streets in carts with horses! Even though I have seen impovrished areas in Costa Rica, there is such a visible difference in Nicaragua with the effects of poverty around every corner. In spite of this, the beach was beautiful. I had such a fun day there catching the waves and laying out with my friends. My favorite part of the whole day was taking a walk with God along the shore, watching the waves and picking up seashells. Later that night I read in a psalm about how his love goes over us like a wave(I´llfind which one it is). The next day for outreach,we did a short presentation for the elementary school that is on the YWAM base. It went really well and it was so fun to spend some time with the kids. Some of the boys had alot of fun chasing me around while holding hairy spiders in thier hands (you know how much I love that;). What was a slightly more fun for me was hanging out with some 4th and 5th grade girls; they liked me alot. When I was walking through the neighborhod later they ran up to me yelling my name and gave me hugs.
To be continued...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)