The second flood :( Wednesday, November 3rd

Well, I've been putting up some rather vague statuses on my facebook, so on this quiet Sunday, I will let you all know whats really going on. The first weekend I was here, the night before Dad left, there was a flood. The river rose even before the rain started here in Anonos. It took out about 6 homes that were right on the bank and killed one man. We fed people that were in major need and helped out repairing houses that were wrecked. Rodney said that flooding is not a regular thing, and we all thought it was awful, but it didn't affect Anonos like the next flood that happened this past week. It had been raining pretty heavily all day due to the hurricane that was coming through heading for Haiti. We ran home as fast as we could from Bible study that night and went to bed. We woke up to a phone call from Adriannah, a member of the Vineyard here, saying that the River was so high, that she couldn't get out of her house and that a landslide happened behind her neighbors house.

 We were watching from the windows in the living room. The river was probably twice as high as the last flood, and what was amazing to me is that we could see people in their houses trying to rescue stuff! Even the people that could get out weren't leaving. Rodney and I watched the electricity transformer blow up and everything go dark. It was awful. We went down to the community, and everyone and their mother was up. People were screaming, dogs were howling, but we couldn't go across the bridge or do anything to help. Sometimes thats just how it is. So, Cindy put on beans and rice to feed the people in the morning, and the best we could do was pray. The rain just wouldn't stop. So, we've been feeding people since Thursday morning, and many many people have left. The government is taking them out and letting them stay in shelters until new houses are built for them. Tons of people are refusing to leave though.

This is after the river went down:

Today we saw that people are moving BACK into the Quebrada (the most affected place) because its starting to get cold and windy, letting people know that the rainy season is coming to an end. It is really sad. The foot bridge that really connects everything here in Anonos is closed off because the ground is so fragile. If an earthquake happened right now...wow. Everything would be gone. We have been visiting the people we are closest with that Julie convinced to move out. They are really scared of the unknown. But it is best for their families. Please pray for everyone here. For the ladies in the shelters to feel peace and know that God is with them always and for the people refusing to leave for protection.

Hey All! I just updated last week but thought I would again because I have a quiet night.
   I love it here so far! I especially love these kids. There is nothing better then walking through the street and having kids come running up dying for hugs. I love it. I am going to be taking over the kids program in probably a month or so, once I learn more Spanish. That will be challenging but a lot of fun.
  Probably the biggest problem I have run into here is the huge language barrier. It seems to be falling VERY slowly. I do love the language though.Please continue to pray for me in this area!
  We are headed to Nicaragua the beginning of December with the small team from Maine and a few people from here in Anonos. That trip is going to cost about $400, so I am going to need some support in this area. We are going to be putting on a big Christmas party there (in a town called Tippy-Tappa) and giving gifts to kids that normally would have no Christmas at all. So the money raised will help with buying gifts, feeding them at the party, ect... It should be awesome! I am excited for what God is going to do there. Please be also praying and consider giving to Harvest Hands specifically for this trip.
     Julie is definitely a wonderful mentor and friend to me! She is amazing and sooo on fire for God! She has a passion for the people here, especially the women. She has started exercise class and English class for them and they are totally loving it! Its amazing to watch. She actually teaches English here for all ages and I hope to get into that eventually too. It is really valuable to the people here. To know a second language helps them in a lot of ways.

  Another big thing that is happening here is the start of the new church. It is going well and you can soo tell that Gods hand is all over it. Right now we are preparing the building and holding small groups there. Julie is putting murals on the wall in some rooms and it looks AMAZING!
   Something that I believe God is putting on my heart is teaching the teen girls here about sexual purity, though I really don't know what they have already learned even about God yet. I would love to get a group started as soon as possible  with them. I have heard that they really have a huge wall up when it comes to teaching them. Please, please, pray for this area. I really want to be the missing link they need to get into a relationship with Christ.

  Well, its only been about 2 and a half weeks and I cant imagine leaving! Maybe this is what I will do with the rest of my life! Who knows. But thank you for your prayers!!! Miss you all!

I'm living in the book of Acts!!!!!!!!

Oh. My. Word. This is so incredible. God is absolutely astounding. I don't really know where to start. I guess I can start on Friday when Dad and I hung out with tons of little lids during Julies exercise class. Dad really fell in love with this 3-year old boy named Chi-chi who is such a big man in a tiny tiny body. He is so lovable. :) We gave all of them piggy-backs and played games, and had too much fun. By the end of all or piggy-back races, I think Dad had lost 43lbs. I'm very glad that Dad got to spend some time here. We had tons of fun together.

On Sunday, Rodney, Cindy, Steve, Dad, and I went to the beach. It was a 2 hour drive and it was soo hot, but so worth it! We are all sun burnt now. The waves were HUGE! and disorganized, so Rodney and Steve couldn't do too much surfing. But we found a lot of shells and cool drift wood and had an awesome day! Its weird for me to swim in October! During the long drive, we saw alligators and Iguanas and huge wild parrot-type birds, which I couldn't catch on camera :(.

 



Sunday night, the river running through the valley (that is Los Anonos) flooded over and about 6 houses were lost and tons were ruined. They still cannot find one person so they think he drowned in the river. One woman who has 4 kids across the street from the river lost absolutely everything. The river was about 5 feet deep on the street. I am sure many people down there didn't sleep Sunday night because they were trying to fix their houses and gather their stuff. But it was amazing, because as soon as we heard about it, we started praying, and Cindy prayed for the rain to stop and within minutes it did. The police only had the bridge blocked off for maybe an hour or so. So that night we went down for a little while to assess the damage. Our close friends Adriana, Maline, and Jacqueline, (not that I know how to spell)  house's were wet, but fine.

Monday morning we all got up super early and Dad's taxi came to take him to the airport. It was a long day! We brought down tons of rice and beans and bread for all the people that no longer have anything (even though they didn't have much to start with). We asked God to multiply it and he did! It was amazing! We fed about 45 people. When we all got back, Rodney decided to start the Sandwich give-away. God told him to give away 2000 sandwiches, so we went to the store and got enough for 200. When we went down to give away 100 for lunch, Jacqueline was already there with rice and sausage. So we decided to serve that first, as it was hot. Jacqueline told us that she started off with 2 small bags of rice this morning, so she prayed over it and asked God to multiply it, and we served over 50 people with just that rice! We were totally in shock when we heard this! He is multiplying so much, its especially cool to see the woman's faith be, too!! So while we were serving Lunch, it started raining, so Julie and I prayed for it to hold off for an hour. And exactly 1 hour it held off, just in time for us to get to the door.Julie was sooo excited. I think throughout the day Julie and I were down there 6 or 7 times. That hill gets bigger every time!!!!

And its only the first day.......

Well its only the first day, but for some reason there is alot to write about. Because of the egg man going through town yelling "HUEVOS, HUEVOS, HUEVOS" into a loud speaker, I got up at 6am. After some awesome prayer, Julie (who speaks AMAZING Spanish!) took me down to the community for her woman's exercising group. It was awesome and the relationship she has with the women  and their Ninos blows me away. After only a month! There was lots of little kids there, and one little girl named Kalin wanted me to paint her nails, take it off, paint them again, take it off....ect. for an hour! Needless to say, I now know my colors in Spanish pretty well. Rodney showed me the new iglesia (church) building that we are renting, which is sooo cute. Steve and Luis are working on painting that right now. The language is coming back to me better then I expected. Lots of people prayed that over me, and God is providing! I love it! The picture above I got right before we landed. The most astounding sunset I've ever seen.

As soon as this little girl came in La Casita, she snuggled right up to me. Julie says she is usually like this to everyone. She is the sweetest girl ever! And her sister! Sassy-pants Caty!  They are both so full of personality! Tonight at the Bible Study, I felt the language barrier come down even more. Hearing Rodney speak and then Julie translate helps alot because I could match the words up. I love this language already!

A quick update...

Hey, just a quick update...

I am leaving at 1:30 next Tuesday. Super Excited. I have about $2,000.00 dollars in my Costa Rica account thanks to everyones help and an amazing job at the Fair last week. God is really good!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Opponent

Hey again,
 wanted to say tonight that I am not feeling those same nudges anymore about "pursuing my own dreams, worrying only about my own life." I feel like this was definitely an attack from the evil one. Thank you for prayers.

"Be sober, vigilant, because your opponent the devil, as a roaring lion, doth walk about, seeking whom he may swallow up." (1 Peter 5:8) I love this version because it talks about the evil one being my opponent. EEEEK! Something about that excites me beyond words. I'm gonna kick his toosh! "whom resist, steadfast in the faith.... (1 Peter 5:9a)

Another one of those Eric Ludy CDs (I love them, if you cant tell already), talked about the word sober, how it means to be always alert and watchful, not letting anything dull your senses; anything worldly. (That to me is alot harder then it sounds.) Can you imagine if everyone on one side of the battlefield was drunk? Who would win? 

Well, must go to bed, super excited for the months ahead. I can't wait for this battle. :) :)

*Christina

With the Power of Your name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HY-_f6RA8U

Just wanted to share this song by Lincoln Brewster.  When I heard it the other day, I felt like this was EXACTLY why I was going down there, EXACTLY my feelings, all put into a song. I love it!!

A hit by the Holy Spirit

I think another major step of my "training", as Eric Ludy puts it, I think was when I went to Teen Camp in July of this year. I just went on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week cause I had to work, but Tuesday night's worship was really really intense. The Holy Spirit hit me so hard, and it felt amazing in one way but thinking about it after, I kinda felt bad cause I was supposed to be praying for the Teens there yet I sat and cried and cried and cried and got prayer myself. What was God thinking? I asked and I believe he said, "I can do what I want, when I want." Short and sweet. That smacked me in the face. :) I suppose I needed it though! I realized I was putting God in a box (or trying to anyway!). He really showed me who's who and what's what, as Myrraya likes to say. So, for that I am thankful. Even though it definitely gets uncomfortable, I cant wait to see what God has for my next step in training. <3

The mula involved :)

Hey, just a quick update! Tonight at the harvest party put on by friends from the church we raised $650 toward the trip. Plus a free airplane ticket. I'm in total awe of Gods goodness. :)

How selfish am I if I don't go tell the world? --Stand For You by Jonny Diaz

I think that the beginning of my training from God to be spiritually ready for this trip started at a MassHope home-school conference where a preacher named Eric Ludy spoke. He talked about a call he got about all the orphans in Liberia, Africa. There are kids there, 2 and 3 years old roaming the streets with no one to comfort them, no one to feed them. All alone. I cry at the thought of this! To think of one of my little brothers roaming the streets, falling down and getting hurt, really hungry, no blankets, and no one to say, "its ok, mommys here." or "daddy is here, its gonna be alright, we are gonna find something to eat." When Eric talked about that, I really think I was being trained. And have been continually since.

 I am always feeling like there is something inside of me, saying, 'you need to stay here, let some one else who doesn't have things here to care for, things here to do go do the missionary work, you don't need to.' And this makes perfect sense to me! I should stay, go to college, do my own thing, follow my own dreams. But then I think of all the little kids. That smacks me in the face. I have a savior who loves me sooo much, a wonderful God who created me and yet here I am being selfish doing my own thing. How selfish am I if I don't go tell the world? To think of people rotting in hell because no one told them.They are innocent, but have to rot there anyway! Jesus wants them and told us to go tell them. NOW!