New Home, New Season

¡Buenos dias a todos! We hope that you all are enjoying your summer. We have been very busy in these last few weeks and we would love to share with you all.

     Our last update we wrote that we had finally found a home near the YWAM base. We started moving in right at the start of July and celebrated Zachariah's 7th birthday on the 4th of July at our new place. Karen found a fireworks stand and we celebrated his birthday in patriotic style. We have had to be very creative with the storage in the new place but things are starting to come together. We found that we have a lumber distributor just down the road and we have been taking advantage of it to build some new furniture. We have a ways to go yet but our new place is starting to feel like home. The best part by far has been the convenience of being so close to the base. We have been walking some mornings and the ability to come home at any time has been great for home schooling. We have already been able to have several people over and we are finally able to use our home as we have dreamed of.

 Along with our new home we finally bit the bullet and got a dog. The boys have been asking for one since forever and our new home had just enough room. Her name is Sparky and she is from a local rescue shelter. Right now we are working on her not doing her business in the house. Some days are better than others.

Moving on to ministry stuff, those of you who have been with us for a while know that Karen and I have a heart to see Latinos serving with unreached peoples. Our first step towards making this dream a reality was the Bible school that we started thee years ago. This last year we have seen a couple of major breakthroughs. Last year in August we met with leaders from every nation in Central America, minus Belize, and together we laid a foundation for a cooperative training program utilizing YWAM facilities throughout Central America. We were able to meet again in mid June and are planning another meeting for March, possibly in Turkey, a gateway nation to the part of the world were we would like to focus our energies. We cant provide a lot of detail due to security concerns but things are moving forward.

Back at the YWAM base, I (Douglas) have been working hard coordinating our Training department, overseeing our 4 annual Discipleship Training School (DTS) as well as our several second level schools. Right now our April DTS is serving in Israel, the July school is in their 3 month lecture phase and is preparing to head to Romania, and we are getting ready for the next school that starts in September. Also our School of Worship in currently ministering in churches in Germany and we have the Bible school and a School of Christian Worldview that both start in September. Way too much work for just me which is why I am currently assembling a training team to help spread out the load!

Preaching on missions in a local church

Karen has had some exciting changes in her job here at the base. She has been handling the personnel department, processing new incoming missionaries as well as placing our current missionaries into their areas so that the base community can function well. She as been wanting to transition out of this for some time and we are finally starting to see it happen. The personnel job is being taken bit by bit by a couple of others and Karen is moving into the Community Life coordinator. We are a super diverse multinational missionary community with people working in a half dozen different schools or ministries and Karen's job is to help ensure that we maintain that sense of family, working together with the same common goals and values.

A cool part of all that has been happening is that Karen and I have started receiving invitations to teach. I am headed to Washington DC on Saturday to teach in a DTS for deaf students and we are both heading to Honduras in October to teach in a new YWAM facility that was planted just two years ago.

We are super excited for the new adventures that God has been bringing in the new season and it is wonderful to be able to share it with you all. We very much value your prayers and support.

Blessings in Christ,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah.

Exciting New!!! We are moving!

We have a lot to catch everyone up on but the most exciting is that we are finally moving closer to the YWAM base!  As many of you know we have been thinking of selling our house and trying to buy closer to the base. But over the last year as we have tried to sell our house and looked at options to buy we continually hit road blocks.  At the beginning of last week Douglas and I took some time to ask the Lord what he wanted for us and we both felt a confirmation that we should not continue to try and sell at this point but rent out our house and rent another close to the base. Last Friday we went to drive by a house I found on-line and ended up looking at the house and deciding to rent it. We signed the contract and got the keys two days ago. We are so excited and now are trusting the Lord to bring the perfect people to rent our house. We would like to rent to Christians and have a family from our church that have shown interest. The house we rented is super close to the base, less than a mile. We can actually walk if we want to. Below are a few pictures of the new place. It is not any bigger than our house now but it does have more bathrooms. yea!

Welcome!

     Living room, small but tons of light.















Our Kitchen? we might need to add a few cupboards or something but we'll make it work.













 Laundry room













                                                                                                                                     Look a bathroom in our bedroom. yea!
                                  

 We are so very excited but we could really use your prayers as we pack and get ready to move. Also for a renter for our house as we have already had to pay our first months rent and deposit. We are hoping to rent our house for just a $100 less per month than what we are going to have to pay. When we first started looking on line for rentals it was looking like we were going to have to pay about $300 to $400 more per month but God helped us find this place for much less. Praise be to Him!

We will keep you up dated and write soon about all the changes taking place at the base. Also for those of you who I have on Facebook I added pictures of my trip in Central America if you want to check them out.

Blessings,
Karen, Douglas and the boys

And we're back!!!

Plantains and coconuts at the local market

     Its been a while but we are finally getting settled back in to life here in Costa Rica! Our trip to the States was an amazing time and it was really hard to leave you all, but it is good to be where God has called us. The time has flown and a month has gone by since we left. One of the things that we have felt more and more strongly is that we are suppose to start working hard to move closer to the YWAM base so we can more easily do ministry and home-school the boys. So even though is good to be home it has been complicated as we don’t feel that we ought to unpack everything and get comfortable. Please be praying that God will open the doors for us to move quickly.

   

    Our arrival in Costa Rica started with a bang. I got a little behind last year and filed to renew our residency late with the result that Karen and my new ID cards arrived 3 days after we had left the country and we had not even applied for the boys. The last couple weeks we have been doing a lot of running around and standing in line after line in office after office to get everything straight. I got my new card a couple of weeks ago, Karen just received her's today and the boys will be ready next week. Praise God that it all has worked out. Lesson learned. The hard way. Is there any other way? : )

Riah with a Mango as big as his head.

    Meanwhile on the YWAM Base things have been changing quickly.  We are being mentored by a larger base from Montana that is helping us in the process of managing and directing the growth that God has sent to our missionary community. We are now a group of around 50 missionaries and God is bringing even more every day.  One major change is that Karen is going to be moving into more of a pastoral role and moving out of some of the logistics. It’s a difficult change since it means giving up some responsibilities that she has carried for the last few years. But it also means she will have more time to devote to discipling the long term staff which is her passion. My role is changing a bit as well. I have been officially in charge of the training department at the base overseeing the Discipleship Training Schools and all the other schools that we run. But it has only really been in the last month that this has really come into focus. I now have an office just for the training team.Yeh!! But more than that I have been given the freedom to actually start to lead in this area. I am very excited for the new schools that we are going to get to pioneer and all the students that we will get to interact with.

   In addition to all the things happening in our lives we want too to give a praise report for the things that God has been doing here in Costa Rica through the ministry of the Base. Some of you may remember us mentioning the Costa Rica Bible project. It is a project on a national level here in Costa Rica with the goal of placing a bible in every home in the nation. It has been going on for a couple of years now and in the last few weeks we have had several international teams arrive to help. They gave a report a week ago Friday and these are some of the things that God has been doing: 

In three weeks they gave Bibles to 3600 families. There were people that placed their trust in Christ during that time as well as several healings including one blind man that received his sight again. In one town they focused on several pastors that had been divided for years over minor doctrinal issues and some personal things.These pastors finally were able to lay it all down and met to pray together for the first time in years. Together these pastors who are from one of the poorest parts of Costa Rica raised a thousand dollars so that they and their churches could begin to give Bibles to their own community. God is doing great things!!!

     Karen and I wanted to finish by first thanking you all for a wonderful time in the States. It was hard to leave you all and we can't wait to see you again. Also, as we look at this next 12 months and our desire to move closer to the YWAM Base we realize that this will mean some significant extra cost either in the form of a mortgage or rent. We believe that this is the direction God is leading but we will need the help of others to do it. We would ask you to prayerfully consider supporting our family on a regular basis. If you would like more information about how to support us just click on the Make a Donation tab above or just click here.

May God bless you all richly,

Douglas, Karen Gabriel and Zachariah

Countryside Community Church

We had a great time at Countryside Community Church last night. It was wonderful to see so many old friends and to meet so many new ones. We felt very loved and honored by all of you. We will be at Countryside again on Easter, not sure which service and on the 7th of April right before we head back to Costa Rica on Monday the 8th.


Blessings,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

January 2013 Praise Report and Update

We only have one more week until we are back in the states and we are so excited. December and January have been very full and satisfying months. We had the pleasure of attending 4 weddings and we had a part in all of them. I had the very great privilege of marrying two of my them both were former students. Monette, a student in this last Bible school married a wonderful fellow Canadian here on a beach in Costa Rica. Another of my former students, Paola, a Costa Rican, married a fellow from California who she met while he was serving as a missionary here in Costa Rica. I was very blessed to be asked to perform the ceremonies for both couples and am glad to say that both went pretty smoothly (according to Karen). Marriages are not my strongest area of expertise but I was honored none the less.

Other than marriages our year here at the YWAM San Jose base started with a bang. Our first DTS started on the 4^th of January with 16 students from 10 different nations. We had many people on vacation over the holiday (including our base leaders) and so the operation of the base fell to Karen and me plus a couple of other members of the base leadership team. Also The Christmas season and January are always busy as we receive a good number of short term teams during this period. As well we receive Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) from other locations who come to Costa Rica to do their outreach. This year already we had 3 DTS teams from the US and three short term teams for a total of around 200 people. Our base serves as host for a number of local ministries working with children, street people, building homes in slum areas, mobile dental clinics and several other ministries as well. The teams come from around the world and connect with one (or more) of our local ministries as missionaries from our base serve as facilitators and hosts to help it all function. Our own part in it all is more logistical and pastoral. Karen and I serve the staff of the base teaching, mentoring and discipling as they serve in their various ministries. Our desire is to see these young people raised up and send out as leaders in key areas of influence in Costa Rica and around the world. It is wonderful to see how God puts the body of Christ together with each one working in their gift so that his kingdom is built. 

Here at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) we love to see young people leading out in missions, starting new ministries and finding new ways to communicate the Gospel clearly to our rapidly changing world. In the last month Karen along with her staff has had the opportunity to sit with almost every one of our 40 plus missionaries here at YWAM San Jose and talk with them about their dreams in ministry, where they see themselves in 5 years and how they hope to get there. This is an area where Karen shines and it has been great to be able to do what she loves (and to have some help!!!) 

In addition to all our ministry tasks we have also been madly getting ready for our trip to the US! Before we tell you anything else we have a major praise report. In our last update we let everyone know about our extra expenses for travel and a couple of other annual ones as well. We want to let you all know that we received all the money that we needed, both for the trip and for the extra expenses!!!!! It is always incredible to see how God provides for us. I had a couple moments of doubt looking at the amount and asking how it would happen and God rebuked me and softly reminded me of the thousands of other times that he has provided. I set my worry aside and simply trusted and of course he did exactly as he has done before and provide for our needs. 

We will see you all soon !!!   We are trying to plan a couple of open houses and once we have dates nailed down we will let you know.

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

Almost Christmas!

The directors of the three Costa Rica Bases

It has been very hard to watch the news over the last few days and we mourn with all those that have lost loved ones. Here in Costa Rica the last few weeks have been pretty packed as the year draws to a close. One of the most exciting things that happened has been the coming together of the YWAM Costa Rica community. Here in Costa Rica there are three different bases operating. The base That has been here the longest is located in the hills north of San Jose in a town called Heredia another is in Nicoya which is close to the coast in the northwest corner of the country,  and of course the location that we serve at in the heart of San Jose. This year has seen a huge movement in the three bases to start working in unity. Three weekends ago Karen and I joined with the other leaders and their spouses from all three locations for a time of fellowship and meetings. It was incredible to see how much God has done for us

and for the nation over the twenty years that YWAM has been in Costa Rica. Thousands of people both here in Costa Rica and around the globe have been ministered to though the work of these three bases and the faithful men and women that serve through them. This last weekend we headed out again for an annual all YWAM Costa Rica fellowship in Nicoya. All three bases came together to take Bibles house to house in a small community near the YWAM base and to fellowship together. It was an amazing time and lots of fun for the boys. 

Here in San Jose the base has been growing rapidly and a large part of what Karen and I do is to help direct and channel that growth. One of the goals of our base is be a training center for the nations where people can come and be disciple. But unfortunately training centers don’t happen by themselves and there are lots of details that need to be worked out. It is a lot of work and a lot of meetings but we are excited for what God will do in this next season of our YWAM base.

Marianela and Jose

A key part of that training center is, of course, the Bible school. We are now in week eleven of twelve in our fifth school and the end is in sight. Everyone is getting excited to be done and celebrate Christmas including our family. Two of the students that I have worked most closely with are Jose and Marianela a Costa Rican couple that have been wanting to do the Bible

Ready for Bible Distribution

Our good friends Jake and Michelle

school for a couple of years. They came into the school so hungry for more of God and his word and it has been wonderful to see them dive into it with all their strength. They will be leading the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is coming up in January and we are very excited to see their hard work start to bear fruit in the lives of the next group of students. They also have been praying for a while about getting pregnant and have just received the good news that Marianela is expecting.  The Bible school is becoming known as the school to take if you want to get pregnant. We have only had three couples and two have been blessed with pregnancies during the school. Our next Bible school will not start until July so we have a bit of breathing room before the next one starts. 

Fun with FIRE!!!!!!

 We are in the midst of planning our trip back to
the States and are getting excited to see you all. We

Reading with Grandpa

have tentative dates planned for the 6^th of February through the 8^th of April. The boys are praying for snow and we are excited to spend time with family and friends. We have enough mileage saved up from the last few years that we have three of the four tickets covered but we are in need of some extra funds to cover the fourth. As well we have several end of the year expenses to cover including our residency renewal and our car registration.

Between the ticket, residency and car registration we need right around $2000. We would ask that you pray about making a donation to help with the extra costs. It is always a bit stressful when we don’t see where the money will come from but we have learned in

We got to MC our  friends wedding last weekend.

the last 6 years here in Costa Rica that God always brings it from some place unexpected. We arrived here in January of 2007 with about $400 dollars in monthly support and just our rent was $500 but every month God has provided for our needs and we have alwayshad enough. He has been so faithful to us and we are incredibly thankful both for him and for each of you that has help to make all this possible. If you would like to make a donation, just click on the “Make a donation” button above. 

Many blessings,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

Bible school in full swing!

We are well into the Bible school and week five is about to begin. We have studied the book of Acts, Philemon, Leviticus, 1^st Peter and now John. Lots to cover in 4 weeks but since the school is only 12 weeks long we have to take advantage of every moment. We always work to keep the school a good mixture of rigorous Bible study and discipleship and most of what we do has a double purpose. The first to dig deep into whatever book we are studying while learning valuable Bible study tools. Second is to help the students wrestle with the truth that they are learning and to apply it to their lives.

I want to give you all an idea of what a typical day looks like: We start each morning with an hour of either corporate worship or prayer. Then from 9:15 to 12:30 we have lectures on whatever book are studying. Lots of coffee to start things off of course. In the afternoon from 2 to 4 we spend a couple of hours going over homework with the students answering questions and handing back assignments. From 4 to about 6 the students have work duties, helping to clean and run the base. It seems funny to spend a couple of hours cleaning bathrooms or sweeping floors but it gives them a chance to put what they are learning in the classroom into immediate practice. Dinner at 6 and them back to the classroom for more homework until bed. We mix it up with small groups and one on one sessions to help the students process and continue to move forward in their studies.

This is Jose one of our two Costa Rican students showing off his home work assignment. 6 pages of chapter titles for the book of John.

It is a very challenging school both for the students and for us as a family. Lots of time and investment in the students and all so very worth it.

We have been very blessed this last month to have had the opportunity to house sit for a fellow YWAM missionary family who have been in the sates. There house is about 4 minutes from the base in car and a 10 minute walk. One of our passions is for discipleship and we have been able to have more people over in the last month than the last 6 months at our own home. It has also lessened our stress level an enormous amount due to the logistics of living father from the base.  It has been wonderful and we are continuing to pray that God will open up a way for us to live permanently on this side of town.

Every fall we start to miss Portland, the change of seasons and getting to where our warm clothes that we have stored in Karen's parents attic. We are planning a trip home but not for a few more months. Our plan is to come home in February and Lord willing stay through the beginning of April. We have enough mileage saved up that we can cover 3 of our 4 tickets. So if anyone would like to help us get home to experience a Portland winter you can make a donation right here on our blog site by clicking on the link below or at the top of the page where it says “make a donation.”

We miss you all and wish you a blessed fall.

Douglas, Karen and the boys