an amazing night

Well, it's about 2am now and I'm still praising God for an amazing night. God seemed to hear our cries for him to move in our ministry and gave us an incredible time with him tonight. Our students were challenged to allow the Holy Spirit overflow out of their lives to affect the people around them. They were also challenged to be broken for their friends who don't know Christ. Many of our students poured out their hearts to God in different ways and our students actually took over the worship service! The band left the stage and our students just worshiped however they felt led. It was truly incredible! Thank you for praying for us this week. We have seen several students come to know our Lord and others who have turned back to him. Our prayer is that God will use this week to overflow to Tyler!

Hello to all!

This week at High School Camp is FLYING by. God is doing some really awesome stuff in the lives of our students. Along with awesome worship services led by Brandon Mitchell and Luminate, the students have been able to enjoy the beautiful Missouri weather. Lake activities have seemed to be the favorite among our students, along with cave exploring and just hanging out with their new and old friends. Yesterday a group went to the water park and had a fun time relaxing in the lazy river and getting crazy on water slides.

Overall camp is going very smoothly with hardly any injuries of sicknesses. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We have another service tonight, a wrap up one in the morning, and then we will head back to Tyler around noon.

God is still at work in the hearts of our students...camp isn't over yet!

Hello HSC friends and family! As I am sure many of you are wondering, we DID make it to camp last night with no complications and right on time. The early crew did a fantastic job having everything perfectly ready for the rest of us when we got here.

When we arrived at camp Windermere, we had a brief orientation followed by a delicious meal of pizza! Luminate and Brandon then started us off with an incredible night of worship and a great message. This year at camp we are discussing what it means to see this world through God’s eyes. Brandon did a great job introing the rest of the week.

Late night was a fun time for team bonding and watching some people have to eat/do weird things!  (you can ask your students about this later!)

After a much needed night of rest, we started strong this morning with Luminate and another message from Brandon. This morning, Brandon preached from 2 Corinthians 6:14-21 (focused on verse 16). The students responded well and it is obvious that God is moving in mighty ways.

Free time went smoothly and many students were ready for another evening of worship and the word.

Tonight was a totally different experience from the other services. Luminate led in worship and the Spritit was at work from the moment everyone walked in the doors. As Luminate continued to play, Brandon encouraged the students and adults to pray with one another. Tonight was unlike any other. Reconciliation, encouragement, and freedom occurred in this place and we KNOW the Spirit of the Lord was right here with us. Three students accepted Christ for the first time tonight. Proof that our God is at work and that he is NOT finished yet.

Please continue to pray for rest, our saftety, and that God would continue move and break down walls in powerful ways. He will change lives if we step back and allow Him to work. 

HIGH SCHOOL CAMP

Hey Everyone!

Just letting you all know that we are leaving for High School camp in less than 3 days! This year we are traveling to Roach, Missouri and staying at Camp Windermere. We have over 130 students signed up, so we KNOW God has huge things in store for us. Please be in prayer for our safety and that God would move in mighty ways in the lives of our students.

We leave from the 110 Student Center at 6:30 AM on Monday and should be arriving back around midnight on Friday.

We will do our best to update you during the week on everything that is going on at camp. Thanks for all of your support and prayers!

Costa Rica is the most beautiful place i've ever seen or had the chance to visit... not only are the hills, beaches, and jungles breath taking, but also the people we've encountered have an overwhelming love and passion for christ and sharing his word with those around them. God is truly working here in us and through us every day. I'm really sad to see the trip coming to a close, but God has really set my heart on fire for him and I'm really encouraged to keep the passion flowing in tyler and everywhere i go. Thank you for the prayers! See you soon!

-Nikki Barnes

Buenos Noches mi familia!

This week has has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. To be able to see the hearts of the people of Costa Rica. Today alone the church I am working at had 51 people come to know the lord. That truly touched me today. The pastors and workers in the local churches in Puntarenas have been so helpful and patient with us, and that has really been a blessing. None of our pastors are fluent in English, and we were definitely not the best at Spanish, but their patience has been the thing that really allowed God to overcome the language barriers. The passion and love for Jesus that the people have here in Costa Rica is contagious, and I pray that I can carry that passion back to the U.S. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers and your thoughts, and continue to do so as we have our last days in Costa Rica. God bless all of you and I can't wait to see all of you in the next couple of days!

In His love,

Hunter Page

First of all I'd like to say that God has been doing some AMAZING things! We have been experiencing God in many, many, many, many ways, little and small; in the sunset, en los ticos ninos, in our room assignments, in our group assignments, in the rain, worshiping with the Costa Rican's, riding from location to location in the bus, even in painting an unexpected mural. God has shown me that He can reveal Himself to me in ways that I have never even crossed my mind! He has made Himself SO very, very apparent in awesome ways and He is getting the glory for all of it! :)

-Elizabeth Groth

Hello! Well, today was such an awesome day for our team. We started the morning with VBS with about twenty young Costa Rican children. We told the stories of Zacheo and Noah, and the kids loved it! We played some games and made some bracelets, and we are looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow. After a delicious authentic lunch of arroz con pollo, we went in small groups door to door to invite people to the crusade on Sunday and share the Gospel. This experience has been very unique for me. Yesterday when we went door to door, Matt and I were put in a group with the only Spanish speaking pastor. I thought this would be great, he could just do all the speaking! However, when we arrived to our street, he told Matt and I to go to one side of the street while he went to the other. God truly has filled my mouth with His words in Spanish, and it is incredible. I was saying words and speaking in tenses that I had learned this year in school and other sentences that I could have never said. Today I had the opportunity to pray the salvation prayer with a young woman all in Spanish!! It was really a divine appointment, and Richie gave her a Spanish Bible to read! God really is at work, and it is amazing to be a part of it. Ps. 81:10 has really impacted me this week because I feel that every time I speak in Spanish, I'm relying on God to give me the words. He proves Himself faithful every time. For example, tonight my team went to the evening service at our church here in Puntarenas. Right before the service started, the IMB director for this area asked me if I would like to share my testimony to the congregation. In Spanish. So, I did! God graciously gave me the words to speak, and I cannot describe the feeling of being used by the Lord and being in His will. I love the people of Costa Rica, and I LOVE talking to them in Spanish!!! Sometimes I absolutely do not understand what they are saying, but I'm trusting that God will give me the words that I need. He will! Keep us in your prayers!!!!

-Alejandra Sampson

Hello mi famila!! I miss ya'll and the food! But the experience here is totally worth it! When we first walked into the church we were greeted with hugs and kisses. They were so glad to see us and so glad to us there! I didn't realize why a certain woman was so thankful until my translator Lonna told me that she became Christian when she was eight years old because American missionaries came to Costa Rica to share Jesus with her family! Wow! I felt like I had some big shoes to fill! Seeing how the Lord is working through our groups and other groups is a mighty thing! VBS is awesome and the kids love us so much! After when we do our street evangelism the kids run out of the houses to give us a hug! I love them so much! Pray for our words and our actions they God's light will shine through us!!

-Brittany Reed

TUESDAY: DAY TWO

Yesterday we rode the zip line in the jungles of Costa Rica. To begin, we had to climb up hundreds of steep mud stairs up the mountain. They gave us instructions on how to brake and such. We also took a group picture by a beautiful waterfall. It was not a continuous zip line, we swung from tree to tree in the canopy. It lasted for about an hour and a half. I met one of the guys working, Raymond, and talked to him. He plays soccer and as we kept talking, I found out he plays the same position as me on the field. It was really neat to make a connection with a Costa Rican, and show the love of God through me in that way. If you think I was conversing in Spanish with him, you're right. NOT. Luckily, he spoke perfect English! The last part of the zipline was a straight down drop. It was definitely a surprise! Afterwards, they had fabulous fresh fruits. The pineapple was the best!! Overall, it was a good experience and it was so much fun as well as eye opening to see God's beauty in the jungle.

-Lindsey Halbrook

Today was awesome. It was our free day. A part of group left early this morning to embark on the canopy zipline tour in the tip-tops of the rainforest. Another section of our group headed into Jaco for a time of relaxation and shopping. While we were there we were walking down the sidewalk and some man caught the corner of my eye and it caused me to do a double take, as I took a second look it clicked; KELVIN! We saw one of the youth from N.I.S.S.I Church we worked with last year. We were so fortunate and lucky to get to see 2 students that our group worked with last year. On our way to Puntarenas we drove along the costline and stopped at a beautiful beach with crashing waves on jagged rocks, we all spent our 30 minutes taking pictures. It has been awesome to be in this God designed oasis. EVery aspect of where we are screams the glory of our Savior. We are currently preparing to go out on our first day of VBS so we ask for your prayers of protection, and guidance. The majesty of God has enveloped us in this place. Our God is great, strong, and mighty, and with His help we will ignite revival in His perfect and holy name. Continue to pray and lift up our group, gracias amigos ;)

-Dave Nedbalek

Thanks for all of your prayers. We will keep you posted when we can, the Internet here is sort of shady.