Trip to Portland

Dear friends and family, we just wanted to send you a quick update.

We are hoping to come to Portland in just a few short weeks. Our main hurdle right now is financial as we still have not been able to purchase our tickets. Karen and the boys are planning on flying out on the 14th of June and I would follow about two weeks later. We know this is short notice but as we were looking at this next year we realized this would be our last opportunity to see you all until the end of the year 2015. We feel that it is really important for us to come and visit and share in person with all of you about our plans for 2015.

We would love to see as many of you as possible so please feel free to contact us via email or facebook so we can hang out. We are hoping to have a couple of open houses as well. We will let you know dates and locations ASAP.

If you would like to help us purchase our tickets you can send a check or cash to:

Aletheia Christian Fellowship
13076 SE Terra Cascade Loop
Clackamas, OR 97086

Please write "Costa Rica Mission" in the memo space to ensure it come to us.

Or if you would like to make a credit card donation you can donate online through Mission Enablers International at:  www.meigiving.com/ywamsanjose.php

Click on the "Giving type" drop down menu and selected "Special gift for a person" You will be asked to enter a missionary ID number so that the funds go to us. Our missionary ID # is A9010.

Many of you recently gave towards our trip through Central America. God provided in amazing ways for that trip and we are trusting for his provision for this trip as well. A huge thanks to those of you who made that trip possible.

Blessings, Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

OUR TRIP! HONDURAS, EL SALVADOR and GUATEMALA

Well once again I am convinced the best way to let you know of the great trip we had is through photos.

                                                    On our way, first stop Honduras!



  We were super excited when we received an invitation to teach at the YWAM base in Siguatepeque Honduras and that is were we started our trip. Douglas taught inductive bible study and I taught on giftings and passions. It was great to be at the base again and hang out with our friends there.

 The boys had a great week making new friends.




 They spent a lot of there time with there fuzzy friends as the base had two litters of puppies.

 We also managed to do some home school that first week in Honduras. We do confess we did not get much done the other two weeks.

Before leaving Honduras we were blessed to spend a few days in the capital Tegucigalpa with friends that we met our first year in Costa Rica at Language school. It was such a blessing to be with them after not seeing them for more than five years.

After spending more than a week in Honduras It was off to EL Salvador!

I have no pictures of the bus ride do to the fact that we were all trying not to be sick on the very curvy road. All but Gabriel managed to keep breakfast down thanks to Dramamine. By the time we reached El Salvador every one was feeling much better.

 

As neither Douglas or I had ever been to the base in El Salvador it was a real pleasure to get to know the leaders of the base and the rest of the staff. A few of there staff were recently part of YWAM San Jose and it was great to see familiar faces.

 

We went and participated in a kids ministries they do in a very poor neighborhood where most live in houses made of scrap tin and dirt floors. The boys had a great time joining in the fun. The base also is working in this same neighborhood building simple houses for some of the families.  Gabriel jumped in helping around the base shinning the tires on the base truck. 

 

 As some might remember last year I visited El Salvador with some young people at our base in Costa Rica. During that trip I made some connections with a church and had the privilege of meeting the father of the young man traveling with us. So it was great to visit this same church on Sunday morning and have a wonderful evening out with Pablo's dad and step mom.

On to Guatemala!

The bus ride to Guatemala was much more pleasant then the one to El Salvador although it was suppose to last about 5 hours and lasted close to 7! 

We spent the first few days at the YWAM base in Guatemala city where we took an afternoon to have

  some family fun!

As always it was fun to be in Guatemala City and hear all of what is happening at the base there. 

Next we moved on to San Miguel Chicaj which is a small indigenous town about three hours from the city. The exciting thing for us was that we visited this town on an outreach more than 8 years ago. At that time there was no YWAM base there but we went with a lady who has since started a full time base in the community. 

As we were there on good Friday we got to see how they remember this very important holiday for the Catholic Church in Central America. It is very sad to see the emphasis they put on the death of our Savior and then Sunday there is almost no celebration to remember his resurrection. I will never fully understand this part of Latin American culture.

  The picture on the left is of what they call Alfombras or Carpets in English they make them out of flowers, pine needles, colored sawdust and other things. Behind is the procession leading Christ to the cross. On the left is the church in the town and in front you can see a stuffed Judas hanging from the gallows.

Below on the right the typical dress of the women in the community and on the left me and the boys with the staff of the base standing in-front of another Alfombra.

 
After a great few days it was time to move on to our last location, Antigua!

We arrived in Antigua the afternoon before Easter and it was fun to color Eggs with the staff there.

 On Sunday we attended a bilingual Church to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior and then spent a few hours walking around Antigua seeing the Alfombras that Antigua is famous for. Again there were very few do to the fact that it was the day of the Resurrection and not the day of the Crucifixion. There was a very small procession of about 100 people where on Friday they say you can not move do to the crowds. We headed back to the base where we had a wonderful meal and then a sweet time of worship celebrating The Resurrection of our Savior.

The Base in Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes and they have the most amazing views from the roof.

After a sweet trip it was time to head home.

 Our main purpose and the reason we spend so many hours on buses was to share our heart for unreached peoples with some of the other bases in our region, get to know the base leaders personally and to hear about their ministries and schools so that we can begin to work together more as a whole here in YWAM Central America. We were able to make some great connections with all the base leaders and others who share our same passion.

A huge thanks to all of you who gave so this trip could be possible and to all of you who supported us in prayer. This was a totally new phase in our ministry here in Central American and we could not have done it with out you all.

Just a reminder, we are planning to be back in Oregon in mid June through the end of July and we would love to see as many of you as possible. We will write more soon updating everyone with details.

Many blessings, 

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah.