Filed under: Religion, Youth Ministry | Tags: 6:8 ministries, Celebration Church, costa rica, spencer
we arrived back in FL late Thursday night, and rode a bus into the wee hours of the morning returning home. Probably got back into my bed at 3:30 a.m., then hit the jail to catch up with some of our guys there.
Over the 1 week in Costa Rica we were a part of some amazing projects. we could tell from day 1 that it would be powerful…when firstcoastnews (local abc and nbc affiliate) showed up at our church wanting to do a story on our trip….and then offered continued coverage throughout the week through reporting on our blogs over at from the field. it was just that kind of week for us. i have so much to say, and will as the days go by. i’m in florida, but i’m still in a state of mind that’s a little hard to define. i miss costa, i love st johns county, i don’t like my consumeristic life so much, and i’m pretty sure i love God more than I did a week ago. Good thing he’s not like me…His love never changes.
Filed under: Celebration Church, Religion, Youth Ministry | Tags: 6:8 ministries, costa rica, mission trip
Our team is doing such an incredible job. Be sure to check their blog for student updates! The picture above is from our team’s renovation of a small local park. Our team brought sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, soccer balls, stickers, and bubbles to play with the ninos. They literally would not let Taylor Brantley leave, as they clung to her feet. My wife Rachel and I had a good time playing on the see saw with Lindsey G. and these 3 local girls. As you can see, they still had trouble balancing me out!
I spoke at the youth service in Aurora at Mt. Sinai Church… it was a packed house and my first experience speaking with a translator. Carolina did a great job as my partner in preaching for the night. I spoke about how often, we have a see saw kind of life, trying to balance 2 separate lives, our church life and our outside church life, it’s so topsy turvy and is painful, and it never seems to give us ‘balance’. My point..the world is out of balance,,, there’s no real balance apart from living a genuine life as a follower of Christ in the world….then there aren’t 2 conflicting lives, but just one.
Later in Aurora, we did something similar, except the poverty was more extreme. Instead of a park, we setup in the middle of a street. It was not as sheltered, and many adults watched the interaction our students had with their children. the transformation 6:8 Ministries has been involved in these past 2 years has changed that neighborhood from a place of random street fires, gang violence, and no safety for children, to the place we found ourselves yesterday, with packs of children clinging to our team, our girls in particular, having the TIME OF THEIR LIVES! Thank you for your prayers as we continue. today we goto paint a local school. Tomorrow we hike to the top of a mountain nearby for an unbelievable time of groupbuilding and connection with Christ.
from the field-
big john
Filed under: Religion, Youth Ministry | Tags: 6:8 ministries, costa rica, missions
Tonight Rachel and I head to Costa Rica for a weeklong mission trip with our church in our partnership with 6:8 Ministries there. This is Rachel’s first overseas missions trip, my second.
We’d appreciate your prayers. There are 24 of us, 17 of which are teens. I will try to post a couple of times from the field. Our teens will be posting here. I’ll be speaking Saturday night at a teen service down there..my first time ever with a translator!
