Blogging in the Dark

So, today I'm sitting typing out this post in the dark using my cell phone for internet access. Our electricity here at home has been pretty unreliable over the last year and the power company decided it was time for a fresh start. So the power is off all day while they do repairs and upgrades. It's a pain but we hope totally worth it. I can use the BBQ to heat water for coffee and  instant soup so all's good!

Some of you may remember from our last post that we promised you an exciting 2018 financial update, well we are still working on that but it should be coming your way very soon. For now Karen wanted to share a little about her time in the States where she attended the Member Care or Missionary Care training that I mentioned in our last post.

Well, I have to start by saying thanks to those of you who sent us extra last month to help cover the cost of my training. I had such an amazing month that started with a visit to some very dear YWAM friends in Boston. It was so fun to visit with them and meet the newest member of their family.

From there I headed to Richmond, Virginia where I met my four wonderful roommates. We shared a big old house for three weeks and I have to say these amazing ladies were a highlight of my trip. The training itself was incredibly packed with information. We started every day at 8am and finish an hour before dinner which gave us a little time to start on homework which we continued to work on in the evenings. Every day we covered at least three different topics related to Member Care, some times even four. The topics were things like practicing personal closure, biblical peacemaking, helping others resolve conflict, trauma debriefing  and so many others.  I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from some amazing people who have been doing Member Care for years all over the globe.

After the three week training ended in Virginia I headed off to Florida to attend the International Member Care Consultation where we received more teaching but mostly heard from YWAM Member Care people from all over the world. It was a great time of sharing vision and talking about the need for Member Care in YWAM.   I was also very pleased that the week after I returned to Costa Rica God allowed me to use so much of my training through a very difficult situation on our base. God knows what we are going to need long before we do. 

Lunch with some friends from home

Here in Costa Rica, the last two months have been packed and we want to share just a couple of the most exciting developments with you. The first one is that our January Discipleship Training School (DTS) is preparing to go in to 4 different locations in Africa and  Asia to serve unreached peoples. This has been very exciting for Karen and I to watch. The DTS is being lead by a number of our Frontier Missions staff, all most all of whom have gone through our bible school and seminar. Our role is as support staff, helping to make connections in various nations, looking over budgets, helping with pastoral issues, etc. It is incredible to see the vision that God gave us over a decade ago bearing fruit that will go way beyond our reach. Several of the young men and woman are praying about long term service with a particular unreached people group and are in the beginning stages of forming a team. We will continue to give updates as this new vision takes shape.

We also want to share about Douglas' upcoming trip to the international frontier mission gathering in South Asia. This is an annual event where YWAM Frontier Missions leaders from around the globe gather to fellowship and share contacts and ideas. He attended last year in Colombia and it opened many doors for us.  This year he will be attending as the representative for Central America and the Caribbean. Obviously the cost of getting to the other side of the planet is pretty major and we was not thinking that we would make it this year especially with Karen's recent travels but as Douglas was talking with our base director about it he mentioned that the base might have miles that they could use to buy his ticket from the US to South Asia. Once he confirmed that was the case then we was able to use our own miles to get from CR to the states. So with the airfare covered it seemed that God was opening the doors for Douglas to attend. There are still some travel expenses and the conference itself but the majority of the trip is paid for. The total that is left is right around $500 and we are praying that it will be completely covered before He leave on the 12th of March.

Well, that its for now. We will keep you posted about the South Asia trip and our "exciting" financial update. In the meantime if you would like to make a donation towards trip costs you can do so through the link below.

Blessings! Douglas, Karen, Gabriel, and Zachariah.
Serving with YWAM San Jose, Costa Rica

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