FM Meetings

We had a great day today meeting with a number of other Central American leaders praying for the almost 2 billion people that have never had the chance to heard the good new about Jesus. It is a huge job but God is doing great things around the world. We are excited to be a part of it.

We heard testimony today from each of our Central American bases and one of the most exciting things we heard is that many of our CA churches are beginning to catch a vision for sending their own people our to the nations. Even since we came here eight years ago we have seen a chance and many Latin American are seeing missions not as the work.of a few white people from Europe or America but as something that belongs to everyone regardless of race.

From our own area we have several couples that are preparing themselves to go and it had an opportunity today to pray for them and heard their stories. It will be exciting to see how their stories unfold.

I head back to Costa Rica tomorrow with Gabriel, we have a bus that heads out at 7 am. Karen headed north this morning with Zachariah. She is going to be teaching this week in the YWAM base is Honduras. We ask for your prayers for our travels that we will have no trouble at the borders or on the road.

Blessings from Nicaragua,

Douglas and Gabriel.

Celebration and Transformation

We had a great time last night celebrating God's faithfulness here in Nicaragua. 25 year ago in the midst of the Nicaraguan civil war a brave young couple with their two kids moved to Nicaragua to tell the people about Jesus and founded the first Youth With A Mission center in Nicaragua.

As we drove across the border from Costa Rica i was struck by how much the country has change even since we first moved to Central America almost eight years ago. Huge wind turbines cover the what was before abandoned fields. New crops have been planted everywhere and people have hope. Of course this is not all because of YWAM but simply because God is bringing his blessing and it is wonderful to be a part of it.

A part from the celebration we had leadership meeting all today and again tomorrow then on Tuesday we will gather with other leaders to talk and pray about unreached peoples and how we can participate in reaching them with the good news about Jesus. It is exciting to be with so many others that share a similar passion.

We will post again as we are able. Internet is very limited.

Blessings,

DKGZ

Headed to Nicaragua and Honduras

Hi all! A quick update before we head out tomorrow morning. We are headed to Nicaragua for a few day to celebrate the 25th anniversary of YWAM Nicaragua which will be followed by a couple days of regional leaders meetings and a Frontier Missions meeting.

Gabriel and Douglas, will be coming back to Costa Rica on Wednesday but Karen and Riah will continue on the Honduras so can can teach for a week in their Disipleship Training School. We are excited but also gearing up for several days on the road.

Please pray for smooth and safe travel, that the meetings would go well and that Karens ministry time in Honduras will go well.

We will try to post when we can, either here or facebook.

Blessings,

DK and family

I can not believe it is already October!

Well with our last communication we tried using a new program called Mail Chimp but since it is not working for us today we are back to our old blog which is much easier to work with.

I can not believe it is already October! It seems like yesterday was September 1st but here we are starting a new month. September is always a very busy but fun month for our family as Douglas and I celebrate our anniversary and Gabriel's birthday is this month. Also it is when the Bible school starts for Douglas and the day after our anniversary is Costa Rican independence day!

Because of the school starting and Independence day, Douglas and I decided to celebrate a weekend early this year and took a night to get away. We stayed in the city and visited a hotel we had seen but never stayed at before. It was so great. We had amazing food and the gardens at the hotel were gorgeous. We felt very blessed to have that time alone before the craziness of the next few months began. These are a few of the beautiful pictures Douglas took of the gardens at the hotel.

 This year for Gabriel's 10th birthday we decided that instead of a party with his friends that we would take one of his best friends with us and go zip lining. This is a very popular tourist thing here and the boys have been asking to go for a few years now. We had so much fun and even I, who is terrified of heights, went without having a heart attack. The scariest part was seeing two bullet aunts very close to us. Those of you who have been following us since the beginning might remember that these are huge ants that have a very, very painful bite and I have had the pleasure of being bitten twice. I think if the ant had gotten much closer I would have jumped from the platform where we where waiting around a hundred feet in the air.

The bible school is going very well. Week three starts on Monday and the students seem to be catching on very quickly. It is a super fun group of students and they even played a joke on Douglas where one student asks the correct pronunciation of the command "to die" in Spanish and as Douglas says DIE!  the whole class falls out of there chairs and hit the ground. you can check out the video on you tube using this link.       http://youtu.be/Oahu_0fZB20

They also keep posting on facebook late at night when they are all studying. Here are a few of the Pics.

 As we look forward to the next few months we are very excited and a little overwhelmed by all the events coming our way. Starting next weekend we will be attending a leadership retreat for all YWAM Costa Rica and then the very next weekend we will be traveling to Nicaragua for an all Central American leadership retreat. As Douglas and the boys head back to Costa Rica I will be continuing on to Honduras to teach in the Discipleship training school (DTS) at the YWAM base there. It will be my third time teaching at that base and I am thrilled they keep asking me back. Douglas and the staff of the Bible School will be having the Bible reading weekend before I return from Honduras and then a week later Douglas heads to D.C. to teach again in the DTS for the deaf. When he returns we will have a visit from his mom and then a week later his dad will join her to teach in the Bible school. That same week is our base 2015 planning week which usually consists of 5 straight days of meetings held off base from 9am to 4pm. Douglas will miss most of these as it is the week his dad is teaching but I will need to attend them. It will be great to have mom J. here to hang out with the boys. After that, Thanksgiving, another retreat, the end of the school and then a short break for Christmas and the New Year with the M.s.l m studies seminar and getting ready for our year of travel in the M.E.  We covet your prayers during these next months as I am having a mild panic attack just writing about it. ha ha!

Thanks again for your prayer and support. We could not be here serving with out you all.

Blessings, Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

A New Season

So we apologize again for taking so long for send out an update.The last few months have been pretty busy for us with our time in the States and now the last month here in Costa Rica. We don't want to skip anything good and thought that a longer update would be worth it.

Back in mid June Karen and the boys arrived in the States, and I followed a couple of weeks later. It was a great time getting to see friends and family and enjoying the long summer evenings. We were even lucky enough to make it to the annual budget bbq at Countryside Community Church. We also got to celebrate Zachariah's 8th birthday on the forth of July, go to parades, the beach, camping, hiking, canoeing, attend Karen's 20 year high school reunion and see friends we had not seen in years. It was amazing! We will soon upload a few photos of some of the highlights. Thanks so much to all of you that made our trip so special we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Our first three weeks almost four back at home here in Costa Rica were focused on preparing for our YWAM Bases ten year anniversary celebration. Ten years ago the founders of our missions center came to Costa Rica with a team of 5 people to start Youth With A Mission San José. Ten years later we are a missions community of 60+ working in a multitude a ministries in the community and training hundreds of young people for missions. in 2005 Karen and I attended the very first Discipleship training school that our missions center ran. Gabriel was 9 months old when we arrived and learned to walk here in Costa Rica. It was during that 6 months here in Costa Rica that God confirmed for us our life call to missions and to train and send Latinos to preach the Good News to those that have never heard it.

The anniversary party was a tremendous success. There were times of celebration and dancing, times of reflections and worship and a special service for local church youth groups calling them into missions. Karen ran the logistics for the event and arranged the decorations which kept her very busy the last few weeks. All in all it was a wonderful time to thank God for what he has done and for what he will do in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. Several talented young staff at our base put together a video celebrating the last ten years of YWAM San Jose. Just click on the link below to watch it.



YWAM SJ 10th Anniversary Video

In addition to base celebrations I have been getting back into the training department with two schools running and three preparing to start in September including my fall Bible School. I have had a lot of interest in the school and it looks like we might have about 12 students most of whom are Latinos. I have a wonderful team of 4 to help me from the US and El Salvador and i am very blessed to have so much help. We will fill you in on more details as the school approaches.

While i am preparing for and leading the Bible school Karen is going to be focusing more of her time on the boys and doing most of the home schooling. She swore to me when we got married never to expect her to home school our kids but here she is. Proof that God has a sense of humor. We have been looking forward at our trip to the M.East next year and making some changes to help us be more flexible for when we will be traveling.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. We could not fulfill the call that God has given us without all of you.

Blessings,

Douglas, Karen and the boys

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.

Off to Honduras

Hi all!!!

We are super happy to let everyone know that we have received all the donations we need to cover the airfare which is the majority of the cost our trip. At the moment we are packing and cleaning madly. We leave tomorrow morning! I had to renew my passport at the last minute and it totally came 5 days early, just in time for travel.

We still do need some funds for the bus trips, border crossings and room and board for the second two weeks of the trip so you would like to make a donation just click on "Make a Donation" button above for instructions.

We are super excited for this new phase of our ministry here as we start teaching more and focusing on mobilizing more people for missions! Please be praying for us for health, protection, easy border crossings and the last finances that we need for the trip.

Blessings,

Douglas, Karen and the boys!

Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala

Dear friends and family,

We are only a week away from our planned trip to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. As we mentioned in our last blog post we have been invited to teach in Siguatepeque, Honduras (try saying that three times fast). Then we are planning to extend our trip by a couple of weeks and visit the other Youth with a Mission bases in El Salvador and Guatemala using the opportunity to build unity between the bases and also to promote YWAM Central America's new frontier missions committee known as CCAMF. We started the committee in August of 2012 together with members from all the other YWAM bases in Central America who have a desire to see more central American missionaries serving among people groups that have still not been reached with the good new of Jesus Christ. We are excited to see what God will do here in Central America as we come together to work for the same purpose.

We are planning to fly in to Honduras and then bus from there to El Salvador and Guatemala, flying home from Guatemala city the 21st of April. We have felt strongly that our boys need to come with us and participate in the call that God has given us as a family but that obviously increases the financial burden. Apart from the air travel costs which are around $400 per person we are hoping to keep the expenses very low but we estimate that we will need about $2000 above our normal monthly budget to make the trip possible.

We are excited for this new phase in our ministry and we trust that God will make funds available but the truth is that we cannot move forward without people helping. We invite you to prayerfully consider making a donation towards our trip.  I you would like to donate just click on the "make a donation" button above.

Many blessings,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

The last month and a half

This last month and a half has been as is normal full of good and challenging things. Definitely the most challenging was the death of one of our YWAM base leaders in Honduras. Carlos and Melissa Urquia along with their 5 children started the base in Siguatepeque 3 years ago and shortly after Carlos was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Two weeks ago after a very hard battle he went home to be with the Lord. Carlos and his widow Melissa have been such an example of people who trust God and live in his peace through all circumstances. Melissa is originally from the states but she will stay in Honduras to continue to lead the base. There oldest son is around 13 and then they have 3 more boys and a baby girl who is two. Please keep Melissa and her children in your prayers as they learn to live without their beloved husband and father. 

Me with Carlos and Melissa back in November.

  As I posted in the last blog in November I Karen had the opportunity of traveling to Honduras and teaching at their base. It was such a privilege to meet Carlos before he went to be with the lord. 
Now Douglas and I have been given an invitation to go back and teach at the base in April. We had already been making plans to take the whole family to Honduras in April to teach but are even more convinced now that this is a door God is opening so we can go and minister to the base and Carlos' family. Douglas was actually able to go to the funeral in Honduras with our base leader and talked to Melissa about some ways we can bless their base when we go.We would also like to visit some of the other bases in Central America while we are traveling. The plan would be to fly to Honduras and then take a bus to El Salvador, another bus to Guatemala and then fly back to Costa Rica from there. The point of visiting the other bases would be to continue to network with other YWAM missionaries in our region, to see continued unity and more collaboration among the bases of Central America.

We also posted in our last blog that we were looking forward to having more of a schedule as we started this year and it has been really great that so far that has been mostly possible. The boys have been doing great with there home school, we have had just a few days off including most of last week as we had an amazing conference at the YWAM base.  As missionaries  most of the time the focus is outward but last week was a time for us to focus on our own lives and marriages. It was such a blessing and God used it to show many of our staff areas in there lives where God wants to do healing and purifying. 

 

As part of our schedule we have signed the boys up for Karate! Douglas and I also signed up for a class at the gym that is at the same time as the boys class. It has been great to go as a family and have some time to get healthy. We really wanted the boys to have interaction with kids during the week as they are either at the base or home all week with mom and dad. They are doing super great and love it.


The last exciting piece of news we would like to share is that we are definitely planning to be home this summer for about 5 weeks. The plan is to come home the middle of June and stay till the end of July as I have my 20th high school reunion that last week of July, which is very hard for me to believe! We will let you know final dates as soon as we know.

We will need financial help to make both trips a reality. The one to the states as well as the one to Honduras, El Salvador and  Guatemala. If you would like to give toward either trip just click on the make a donation button above for instructions.

We are so grateful to every one that takes the time to read about our lives here in CR it makes us feel remembered and loved.
The Johnstons, Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah