Sunday Evening Costa Rica Update--Day 3

Wow! Where to start?!?! Church this morning was OUTSTANDING! Pouring and investing into about 80 kids was such a blessing to all of us! It was humbling to see how happy and/or excited they were about the shields, helmets and swords that they made as they completed their Armor of God wardrobe. Some of the kids had never seen or used crayons and it was such a blessing to be able to send each child home with their own box of "many colors". Becca "knocked it out of the park" as she stood before all these kids and taught the Truth directly out of the Bible!! We spent the afternoon with 2 TACTICA police families, grilling and listening to such moving and God centered testimonies. Every team member was moved and humbled to be able to hear these miraculous life transformation stories. GOD IS GREAT!! Looking forward with great anticipation for the rest of the week!!! Thank you for your prayers . . . we are seeing them played out here in Costa Rica. PRAISE AND GLORY TO GOD!!! (Nicki)

Well today was beautiful. The weather was great, the little kids were fun, and it was cool to listen to Rafael and Carlos share their testimony's. We got to go to the beach and swim in the ocean today, wow was it warm. The waves today were huge like I don't know, maybe 7 to 8 footers. The kids loved the passage shared by Becca and, they liked the balloon swords. We got to meet with a bunch of kids, i feel so sorry for them because they are struggling with family life and what not. But we made good connections with them and, even though we can't understand a word they are saying we still got through to them. Can't wait for the rest of the week only day 2 and, I can already see the work GOD! is doing in the people and us.
-Eric Rohlwing-

Wow!! I don't even know where to begin. Today was absolutely amazing! It is only day three of this incredible mission trip and you can already tell that God is completely at the center of it. This morning we had the awesome opportunity to love on a bunch of kids that really really needed it. It broke my heart to see the pain and sorrow on these kid's faces when they arrived at the church, but the joy that they had when they left was something so great I can't even put it into words. I had the great honor of teaching these kids this morning. It was a truly amazing experience that I am so thankful for. After church we headed to Rafael's house. He is an amazing guy and we had the opportunity to hear his and his wife's testimony. It was so cool. We also got to hear the testimony of a couple of Rafael's friends. Another amazing story. God is doing so much on this trip, and I can't wait to come back and tell you guys all about it. Please continue to pray. Although God is doing amazing things here, there are still many struggles going on among the people that we are working with. Love you all!!
-Becca McDonald

Great day today...what a reward to see the team working together and watching the kids leave with huge smiles on their faces! We are left with a boost of encouragement as we see the local teachers and TACTICA leaders deeply committed to their people. A beautiful country, with many wonderful people. Unfortunately, the majority of daily life consists of a dark life...drugs, abuse, prostitution, etc. - it's the norm. For the few believers who are here, they have to battle this and much more every day. The good news is that these people have faith - and a boatload of perseverance to continue living out their faith...kudos to them! Pray for them - for continued strength as they face the challenges of a society that opposes everything they live for and for their ministry to continue to grow.

~Tom Rohlwing

Hey! So far AMAZING trip. Its really cool seeing gods hand in everything we do. Today we were able to serve kids breakfast and put on a Sunday service for them. After the service our group went to a centurion, Rafael's, house for a cookout. Then our team came back to the hotel which sits right on the pacific shore. We went out into the water and got trampled by some major waves. Tomorrow we are planning on getting on a boat and going to a not so comfortable or good island which is filled with sin. Hopefully we will be able to go door to door and hand out tracks and share the word of god. I personally love talking to these people about Christ. They are so open almost the opposite of the U.S. Even though there are some language barriers we always seem to figure each other out. Charades is a very popular way to communicate. Haha.

-Ryan McDonald