The Bible school in full swing!

In the midst of car engines exploding and our search for a new home the Bible school has continued moving forward. This current group of students is the largest yet; 14 students from Canada, the US, Norway, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Up until now i have only had one young lady who has been helping me to run the school and this time we have been blessed to have five young ladies. Karen and I have had many good laughs about all my girls. They have been a constant blessing and encouragement in so many ways, everything from stepping in to help coach the students through their assignments to running to the store for extra coffee.

These are 4 of my 5 wonderful staff members: Top left to right: Debora,
Karin, Leigh and Jody on the bottom. The only one not here is Crystal. 

Class started with a bang on the 7th of April with the students reading the book of Acts. I love starting with this book since it gives such a wonderful foundation for the rest of the New Testament. I taught the whole next week of class using Acts as a basis for teaching the Inductive Bible Study Method which is the core of what we do in the Bible school. I taught the next week on the book of Philemon which is quite different from Acts and gave the students a very different challenge moving from the narrative of Acts to the personal letter that is Philemon. It is such a packed book, addressing all kinds of issues such as servant leadership and the social equality of human beings. 

This week we studied first Peter, taught by Pati, my former student and school staff member. It has been incredible to see her grow in her understanding of scripture and teaching ability. We combined 1 Peter with the book of Leviticus that I was able to teach. I have spent a lot of time in the Old Testament and I absolutely love this book. It gives us one of the clearest images of what Jesus did for us on the cross and how much God really wants to have relationship with us. It is easy to focus on all the various laws but at the heart of it all is God wanting to be with his people. So good!

One of the goals of the school is to give the students practical experience reading and studying all the various types of books found in the Bible and to help them to make the connections between the Old and New Testaments. So after Leviticus, next week, we will dive into Romans looking at what exactly Jesus has done for us removing our sins and making relationship with God possible. I am very excited and ready for this next challenge. The teacher is a good friend of mine, a Costa Rican fellow that I have been teaching with since we came here in 2007. 

While the first three weeks have been super busy and complicated especially with the loss of our van, we are doing well and enjoying what God is doing through us in the lives of the students and staff. We look forward to seeing the changes that God will work in their lives as they immerse themselves in his word and look forward to sharing those stories with you. 

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We couldn't be here with out all of you. 

Blessings, 

 Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

House / Car update

Hello friends and family,
We wanted to send you a quick update to let you all know about a few things that are happening with us.  First of all we wanted to give you an update about the house that we had put an offer on.  As most of you know we put down an $800.00 dollar non refundable deposit to hold the house for a month so we could look into borrowing money to make a down payment.  The month has ended and we were not able to come up with the money needed. Unfortunately this means we have lost the $800 and most likely the house.  We talked with the agent and she has informed us that there is another couple now interested in the house.  We will not lie and say that we have not had our moments of disappointment but we do believe that God is in control and that he has a plan that we do not yet understand.    

The more urgent matter at this time though is our van.  I believe that we had communicated our need for a different vehicle, ours has been having problems for a while and at this point to fix all the issues would cost more than its value. This was already true but as of a day before yesterday we are officially without a working car. We were on our way home when the van started to sound like a diesel truck, it died and by some miracle we got it restarted and limped the rest of the way home but we are pretty sure there is no repairing it at this point.  

Despite the difficult circumstances God has been encouraging us through this whole process. First, by us receiving an e-mail the moment we got in the door after barely getting home saying that a check is in the mail from one of our supporting churches to help with repairing our car or buying a different one. The very next day during a time of prayer that Douglas' school was having that he had to miss do to our car situation the students and staff took up an offering for us and raised $800.00 !!!! What an amazing encouragement and blessing that was.  

So, we are fervently praying for direction and provision.  There is a family that we work with that is trying to sell there minivan and they are willing to sell it to us for a very reasonable price.  The  issue we have is that it is the same exact van we have now the only difference is it is newer than ours.  Neither Douglas or I feel a real peace about purchasing this van but it is the cheapest thing that we have seen since we started looking. We have about $3,000.00 between money we have saved, the money from our church and the offering from the school. That does not include whatever money we might be able to get for our dead car. But that is not even half of what we need for a new van due to the fact that here in Costa Rica cars cost at least double what they do in the states due to the high import tax. We have our eye on a van that would be great for ministry. It is large enough for 12 but it costs much more than just a minivan would. We want to be wise and patient so that we honor God through our decision.    

Please join us in prayer for direction and provision. If you would like to help us with the purchase of another van or you have ?'s please contact us.  

Much Love,
Douglas, Karen and the boys too.

Serving with YWAM

San Jose, Costa Rica

www.dkgjohnston.blogspot.com

www.ywamsj.org