Rotting Fruit

When I was preparing my sermon, I was really frusterated that God wasn´t giving me a dirrection, or even a topic. I stressed out, became bitter, angry, and let this get in the way of not only my relationship with God, but with my teammates as well.

In tears I cried out to God and asked him why I had not dirrectin for my sermon that I was supposed to give withing 5 hours. He responded with ¨what was the last thing i aked you to do?¨ I honestly couldn´t remember and asked him to remind me. ¨rake¨ Rake? I was like, okay seriously God, that´s rediculous, I want to rake all the garbage and rotting fruit from around the house to the pile in the back, but not now, i need to get ready for my sermon now.... I knew that I should have done what God had asked me to do but I stubbornly refused and instead racked my brain, and went over notes, and stressed out even more for over an hour. Finally, I was like fine, fine God, I´ll try it your way.

I asked for a rake and began raking the garbage and rotting fruit from the yard to the back pile. During this time, I figured out that raking wasn´t necesarily what God wanted me to do. But he wanted for me to take the focus off of myself, and for me not to rely on my own abilities, but to put the focus on him, and trust that he is in control. During this time I was praising God, and by praising God- exalting His name instead of my own- he was able to rake away from my heart the bad fruits of bitterness, and anger that I had let take root.

and that is what the sermon was about, worshiping God, giving him the glory. That God is a passionate God and that is how we should go about life as well, taking joy in everything that he has blessed us with, and in worhiping God, it acts in the opposite spirit of apathy, self centeredness, and bitterness

Colombian Prison

we organized to join with a church to go to a prison here in colombia. Its not the dramas that we presented, nor the preaching that was given that struck me. It was the worship. The holy spirit was moving in that place, and it was so incredible to see the inmates praising God with such joy, with such passion. There were really only a handful of Christians, and the rest were just there to get a sandwhich and pop which the church was bringing for this Christmas event. Nonetheless, God was in this place, and I could see that he was starting to break down walls and working in the hearts of seemingly the hardest of hearts, and I´m excited for all that is yet to come with these men and women. God really taught me something through this time of worship. Society looks at these people as not even people, they are ostrasized for what they have done, but they are still part of God´s creation. I feel like I was able to see these men and women, not as inmates but as something much more... as beautiful part of creation lifting up their voices to bring praise to their creator. And the only way that I was able to see this was through the loving eyes of the father.


For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[a]Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers
Romans 8:38-39

I don´t think that its coincidince that the first place that we went to was a prison, since Isaiah 61 is one of our team verses. I think that God was just giving us a tangible picture of the restoration that can occur when we go to glorify him.


1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

what is to be restored isnt just those who are physically devastated becuase of being in a prison or under poor living conditions, but those who are imprisoned in their mind, those who are living under an oppression, under spirits of insecurity and apathy among other things. But we are here to proclaim the freedom that is acailable and the restoration that comes in knowing and following Christ Jesus.

Maria Çu, Brazil

Of the week that we were in Santa Rosa Peru, we were given the opportunity to spen one day in a community in Brazil. We werent sure where we were going to stay, or even if we were going to be allowed to stay there, but we felt that this was where God was leading us so we went.

Our team waited as our leaders went to talk with the chief of the community to ask permission for us to stay therw. Once granted permission, we went to the house of a pastor to ask to stay in the church, which we were also granted.

while there we also played with kids and performed dramas and teaching for a church service. But this time it was more challenging becuase none of the kids could understand spanish, when they spoke portuguese we were able to understand them, but their main language wasn´t portuguese but Ticuna. Despite language barriers we were still able to communicate the message of God´s love.... that sounds so corny, but its so true.

9After this I looked, and behold,(H) a great multitude that no one could number,(I) from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,(J) clothed in white robes, with(K) palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice,(L) "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Santa Rosa, Peru

we crossed the amazon river to go to a community in Santa Rosa Peru. we were welcomed with open arms, by the pastor who was very excited to have us there.


The church in Santa Rosa
On the right the pastors house and the left is the house that we stayed in
Most of our time was spent playing with kids. as soon as we would step out of the door there would be a few kids, and as we started playing, more and more would arrive, SEriously these kids would like fall from the sky or come up out of the sand or something... well maybe not seriously, but it seemed like it. It was such a blessing to be able to love on the kids here.

It seems that they don´t receive much attention from their parents, and when they do, its to be yelled at. Its common to see a little girl of 5 taking care of her little sister of 3 all day long. Or an eight year old caring for her little brother of 1 month. I just don´t understand what changes in between the time that they are young that they have so much love and care for their siblings, but then they grow up to neglect the children of their own.

Most of these amazing kids have skin or eye infections, a couple of them had lice or parasites. I assume that this is from the conditions of the community as they bathe in a contaminated part of the amazon river right off of a couple different ports. Not to mention that they play in the sand all day.Rebecca and I
Ester and I ¨hermana

Jade Ester Lucero ME and REbecca




Besides doing activities for the kids we ran the church services with dramas, teachings and testimonies.

you know you are a YWAMer if...

you know exactly how many hand pumps it takes to fill a bucket of water...
you praise God upon the sight of the little porcelain structure in your bathroom...

so for three days we went to a pretty advanced community in Leticia where we had to pump water by hand, fill buckets of water to cook, bathe, flush the ¨toilets¨

all eleven of us stayed at the pastor of the community´s house, while we went out to evangelize and invite people to the church activities we were putting on.






sunday we had a big activity for the kids, i was a clown in unreal heat for 3.5 hours... it was insane, but so worth it.





will finish this later.....

Leticia, Colombia

December 10th we set of for outreach... It was hard to say goodbye to the environmental school students, as well as the family that lives on base, as they have come to be like family to me as well. Right before we left, I helped set up a Christmas tree which made it even harder... Its funny how quickly different places can become refered to as home. I have my home in the states, my home in heredia, and now my home in Leticia....

our travels took two days with an overnight layover in the Bogota airport. i was somehow able to sleep there while construction was going on in the same area. This is something that i definitly thank God for, being able to sleep anywhere when given the opportunity.

most of the team had trouble in one airport or another with bags, or visas, or flight reservations and such, but thanks to God everything went through alright.

we were welcomed by the staff in leticia. the base has two parts to it, so the girls all sleep in one house, the main house where we eat and such, and the boys all sleep in another house which is like 5 blocks away. this is where daily devotionals are held after breakfast.

Its really interesting to see even the differences in cultures between colombia and costa rica:

here there are armed soldiers everywhere. whereas costa rica has no army.

everyone uses motorcycles here, and only when going into town do i see cars.

you can see up to 5 people riding a motorcycle, or someone riding a motorcycle while carying a tv or groceries and such.

none of the toilets have toilet seats.

and there are just a lot of words that aren´t the same in costa rican spanish and colombian spanish

one of the girls at the base, jessica she is about 12 years old, (but reminds me so much of carlene in belize)she showed me how to wash clothes by hand on a washboard sink sort of situation, it was quite interesting.

Flesh and Blood

more to come...

Acts 17:28

28'For in him we live and move and have our being.'...

The Year of the LORD's Favor

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Isaiah 61:1-4 (NIV)

Living Sacrifices

so i decided to put up verses that have been really touching me throughout my time hear...

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

NIKO

Niko means to overcome. This was a week that I can´t share a lot about but that it was very challenging emotionally, spiritually, and physically. I was stretched in all areas.

One thing that I learned through a tangible experience is that even though God might call us to a path that it seems as though there are too many obstacles, He provides a way overcome it.

God asked me if He could do something, and I responded,¨only if it is going to bring glory to your name.´ Soonafter, something of mine broke, where I had to rely on others, and essentially walk by faith.

Outreach.....

It sounds as though we are going to Leticia, Colombia, a place in the Amazon. From there we might be able to also go to Peru and Brazil, depending on the cost. (be praying about finances for everyone as it seems as though the cost might be more than we originally thought)

people

this is Catalina and Cinthia, they are sisters who live on the base. Cinthia is a leader with my DTS and someone who I spend a lot of time with, she´s like an older sister to me

This is Sol and Cinthia, Sol is one of the EARS students here and my older brother, . He is also the one who had me hold the chicken while he killed it

La Zona Roja

So for one of our ministry times we went on a friday night to work with a ministry called corazon samaritano (samaritan's heart). It was started by a youth who wants to show God's love with what they do, bringing hope to those who are considered by many to be the rejects of society. But we know that they are valuable in God's eyes and want to share his love with them. what they do (and what we went to help out with) is serve food at around 10:00 at night in one of the most dangerous places in San Jose. We served food and shared a little bit of time with the drug addicts, prostitutes, and homeless of this area.

Matthew 25:33-45

random fun

me rocking out to my friend's band's demo song (Setimo Fuego for any of you who would like to look them up on myspace and support a Costarican Christian Metal Core band)memebers of the band (maruko, guti, and idk the other guys name)
jade and i got haircuts a while back


Ruth (Panama), Me, and Kristy (Canada)

a lesson from the goats

As I was making breakfast one morning (which is my job for the second half of lecture phase), someone came with the exciting news that a baby goat was being born. Joel and I quickly rushed out to witness the event. As I watched the kid emerge from its mothers body and start to struggle to stand on its feet, I found a similarity in my own life. As I start to learn and put into practice new things in my life, I struggle with it, fall and try once again, eventually finding my balance and ability to stand, walk, and run.

During work duties I was asked to help with the goats to finish off. Help was needed to milk Mariposa (the goat that had given birth days prior to this). She was so full of milk that she wouldn't let Koda (the newborn) drink from her. It took four people to hold her in order to milk her since she was in so much pain. Terry (the base director) continued milking her despite all of her intents to avoid being subjected to such pain. He knew that in the end this would be beneficial to both she and Koda. I again began to relate this to my own life, how things can be painful during the time of passing through them, but in the end it is to bring blessing to my life, whether it be to add or remove something in me in order to shape my character

Eagle

The second week that we were here, someone had a vision of an eagle flying over a dark sky, but that it was really tired, and it was having a hard time flying. We prayed about the vision and asked God to reveal the meaning of it in His timing.

The following week the base directors from El Salvador came to give classes. In the first class, before we got into the material, the woman giving the class shared what she received when she was praying for our DTS that she had a word for the DTS which was the word "renovaion" along with that, she received that we were a DTS represented by an eagle, and began to explain the process that the eagle undergoes in its old age....

when an eagle reaches about 40 or so, it flys to a cave high in the mountain and begins a long and painful process. It first begins to pull out all of its feathers with its talons, and then pull out his talons with his beak, and finally breaks his old warn beak against a rock and pull it out. this is a very long process and slowly each part grows back, so that it can fly with great strength once again.

Ministry

Every Thursday we go to serve in the community or contribute in some way.

The first place that we went was to the recycling facility in San Rafael. We helped move and sort cardboard, newspaper, and all sorts of random things that should not have been recycled. I praise God for protecting us in here as we came across used syringes and the like.

The second Thursday that we helped set in place a barrier for a path at a school that provides a good bilingual Biblical based education for children that might not be able to afford such education. This consisted of digging a trench along the path to lay some tree branches in and serve as a barrier to prevent much from sliding down onto the path from the hill.

Today we went on a prayer walk throughout the neighborhood. As a group we prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide us as we prayed for the community. We walked in silence for about an hour praying individually, and then as a group as we felt lead. God is so awesome! At first I had my doubts as to whether or not anything would actually come of this, but as I passed different houses, God revealed to me different things to pray for. In the end we came together to share what God had placed on our hearts to pray for, and it was very interesting finding out that we were lead to pray about similar things for certain areas. As we walked back to the base, clear shimmering water ran through the normally dirty and clouded gutter on the side of the road. It was a symbol of what God is doing in this community, His spirit is most definitely moving!

classes...

have been excellent! each week a teacher from a different base from a different part of the world comes to teach the class.

1st week- was about knowing the character of God and leading a lifestyle of worship - a life of purity, passion, purpose, and proclamation. I found one concept quite interesting, it deals with the heart. The heart consists of one's intellect, emotions, and will. And to worship God whole heartedly it needs to be broken from my self and offered up to God, each and every one of these areas without holding back.

2nd Week- Identity! This week we focused a lot on who we are in Christ. my identity in Him is invariable because He is. He is my stability no matter what my circumstances are. When we aren't secure in out identity, its when we turn to other things in seach for love. we begin to relate to people acting out of our flesh. we may manipulate people, situations, and hide behind false securities. God wants us to allign our heart with His character, love, revalatation, absolutes, justice, and will. In order to do so we need receive healing to be free from the burden that we carry through prayer of confession - bringing out the pains of the soul, renouncing these things, and forgiving- those that i have hurt, those that have hurt me. we had a time of ministry where restoration definitely took place.

3rd week- a lot of this weeks teaching focused on recognizing God's voice in our lives, developing that sensitivity, seeking his guidance, and making sure we know its Him

This week is about relationships..... more to come feel free to comment or question anything i have on here ask for biblical referance or whatever, i'm writing this while being very sleepy, so if something doesn't make sense, let me know, or if you don't agree let me know as well....

off to sleep, i've got to milk the goats early in the a.m.

My Birthday

It was a bit hard having my first birthday away from my family but it was fun nonetheless....

Jade April (April is one of my room mates and a volunteer at the base) and I went downtown Heredia to celebrate. We went out to eat pizza at a little Italian place, and had some yummmy ice cream from some little colombian place.

Here is april and I ready to dig in!Jade and I
Enjoying our ice cream in the park (good ice cream for a doller, couldn't get any better than that)
so Jade saw the police officers with their guns and expressed that she wanted a picture.... so I went up and in the most american sounding accent I asked them if we could take a picture sense we weren't used to seeing police officers carrying around big guns. They were quite enthused.

Later that night we made a Costa Rican version of puppy chow (meaning they don't have some of the ingrediants here)

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off...

So today my friend Sol asked me if I wanted to kill a chicken. I told him that I wouldn't kill it, but that I would watch..... but watching turned into me holding the chicken's legs in the air while he cut the chicken's head off. The chicken didn't move at all, until his head was cut off completely. Then the saying seemed to make sense. It became harder to hold onto the chicken as its legs started making a running movements, and its wings started to flap around like crazy, and I had to step on the wings to keep it still. It was quite the experience :) we ended up eating this chicken in a soup for lunch, which was quite interesting as well.... So now that I've seen how its done, I might actually do it next time.....

This is Kristy, she is from Canada

so this is my friend Jade, and diet coke is one of her very good friends.
A year ago in her government class she doodled this picture in her notebook. Not only this, but she cut it out, kept it with a bunch of collage making stuff, and happened to stick it in a folder with her to bring to Costa Rica....



Coincidence? I think not....

more to come, but i'm off to an activity here...

so it has been quite some time since i have last posted....

the first day that i got to costa rica the screen to my camera broke, which I wasn't too happy about, but then i realized that it was actually sort of a blessing, because it takes away the opportunity to hide behind my camera and actually engage in what is going on. so all of my pics are coming from my friends cameras....

which is actually why i haven't written... i have been bonding with my fellow ywamers.


so this is my home for the next few months. There are about twenty of us living here on this side view you can see two doors in the midddle on the bottom level, the right one leads in to my room which I share with three lovely ladies.... the property extends beyond this and there are goats, chickens, gardens, soccer field, and some fruit trees, it is a gorgeous place.

San Rafael

I stayed with my friends sofi an Marco for the first couple of days, and tried to visit with friends in town. Things didn't go necesarily as planned, but it was good. Some of the conversations that i had and places that i ended up were definitly God led. things happened the way that they were supposed to. And now I'm at the base, meeting new people from all different parts of North, South and Central America, and we shall see how things go from here on out! I amk super excited :) i'm trying to be open for anything

my first night, getting ready for be, i was greeted by a cockroach. my first reaction was to take off my shoe and squish it, but instead i just laughed and let it be, haha, i am in costa rica.

visiting for the fist few days has been really good, i pretty much stay in the house, and then with any little trip that they need to take, i accompany them. whether that be to the pharmacy, to buy bread, whatever. i love them so much.

i stayed at my cousin, hannah{s house a night and we went to san jose so that i can get my id as a costa rican.

i love costa rica, the people, the noises, the rain, i{m just drinking it all in, and trying to remember to be present to whomever i am with.

Travel Day

Thank you to all who came to pray/ say goodbye, it really means A LOT to me.

I slept for about two hours the night before i left... only to have it brought to my attention that i am traveling with two different airlines, meaning that i would have to deal with luggage in ohare before catching my flight to Houston.. But God is awesome as the woman that i went to to check in was really patient with me, and changed everything in the computers so that they only place that i had to deal with luggage was in Costa Rica, and explained the layout of ohare so that id be able to catch my plane in my less than hour layover.

I had been at peace with goodbyes, up until sunday night- monday when i left... I didn{t realize how hard it was going to be on Kristoffer and Santi, which made it even harder on me. and saying goodbye to Gabby.... oh man, i was in denial about that one... I{ve never been to Costa Rica without Gabby, I{m pretty sure that the longest time that we have been apart is 3 weeks... It{s super hard, but I know that it{s going to get better for her and for me...leaving was incredibly hard... I swear i turned around 20 times to wave goodbye to my family "one last time"

i cried as i waited for my flight, but then when i boarded, i was super excited, cuz i was on my way to costa Rica =D.

throughout the day i met some really neat people.

The woman who sat next to me on the way to Ohare is a yale graduate on her way back to puerto rico for work. She was most encouraging, and even gave me a pack of tissues, after i broke down in tears reading the letters and looking through the pics that i took with me. In houston i met a guy on his way to Nepal, which will take him almost three days to get there. .. puts my travels into perspective. When i asked for change for a dollar to make a call home to let my family know that i had made it safely to houston, one of the little workers, shared with me how to make a call from houston without having to use the pay phones ;) I also met a man, who does missions in South Africa everyonce in a while to help them with their computer stuff, he was pretty neat. i met a woman from Japan on her way to a surf camp in Costa Rica, we helped each other out filling out the immigration papers on the plane.

LIGHTS, the lights flying into costa rica are just amazing at night, surroundedby the mountains :) i love it.

I went down to baggage claims only to see someone lifting each bag onto the carousel, it was quite interesting. but then they announced a carosoul change in spanish, so i went to grab my space at the carosel, and was able to grab my bags even before the tourists heard the message in english. I went through customs with out any problems... i forgot to give them my customs papers... oops, owell, they didnt ask for them...

i was greeted by my grandma, aunt,cousin and two uncles, which was really nice. i was so excited, to see them all, and just the fact that I AM IN COSTA RICA =)

there were more cousins and aunts waiting at my aunt annas house. It was a struggle at first to get back into the hang of spanish, but im getting there.

It was a long day, but I give thanks to God that everything went so smoothly

I leave in 1 week.... 7 DAYS. It is so crazy to think about.

Letting go is definitly an ongoing process.

The past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions and events as the date comes nearer. Overall I am so excited, as I know that I am about to enter into what God has planned for me at this time.

Rathar than goodbyes being something really hard, they have been quite peacefull. I feel at peace about this chapter of my life coming to an end, and I look forward to the adventure that lays ahead. It's not that I won't miss people, not at all, I already miss people like crazy... its more that I am at peace, and find comfort in knowing that the people who God has placed in my life at different times has been a blessing for that moment in time, and I know that we have established friendships that will endure the test of distance and time.

The overall word that I have gotten is to go with an open mind and heart, to leave room for what God is going to do through me and through the people around me. ... just something that i have heard in numerous places...

... that reminds me of what my former youth pastor, scott had said about our missions trip to belize... "be where you are" this is something that can totally be applied in many aspects of one's life, but something that has been quite present to me this past month. Just the fact that God has me in mn now appreciating the people, places, experiences, and memories being made now, and not necesarily being completely focused on what tomorrow may bring... Don't get me wrong... I am sooo excited for next week, I am just not there quite yet, and have to live in each moment appreciating every minute of it :)

to send me mail in costa rica

Natasha Acuna
JUCUM - Sept '07 DTS
Apartado 1444-3000
Heredia, Costa Rica
Central America

Update

So Far:

1) Well, if you haven't heard: I was accepted to JUCUM Heredia in Costa Rica (Juventud Con Una Mision = Youth With A Mission in spanish)

2) I was able to make the payment for the lecture phase of the trip from having worked all summer at the nursing home.

3) I purchased the round trip tickets from MN to Costa Rica and back. I leave September 10th and plan to return on March 3rd. The DTS arrival date isn't until the 14th, but I plan on visiting family and friends for a few days.

4) After some procrastination and some technical difficulties, I have finally finished and sent out my support letters (If someone didn't get one who would like to feel free to send me your address. In addition to the support letters I plan on sending out monthly updates, so yeah...)

5) I recently found out that I have half of my outreach money! Thank you so much to all of my financial and prayer supporters, I know that it couldn't happen without you.

These are all things to praise God for! I can't believe that this is actually happening...

What is left to do:

1) Financially, I need about $1, 400 more for my outreach. ($3,000 is what I needed)

2) Pack up my room. My room is going to be Santi's room, and I will be sharing a room with my Gabby until I leave

3) Pack. I need to figure out what makes the most sense to bring...

4) Prepare my heart...

If you could be praying for this, as well as for opportunities for where our outreach will be (I'm hoping for Africa, but I should be open to wherever) I'd greatly appreciate it

Somewhere Between Apathy and Passion

...

Leaving Comfort Zone

In letting go of the safety of my plans, and stepping out of my comfort zone, I am able to embrace what God has in store for me. And every time, it’s so much better than anything that I could ever have imagined myself. He pays attention to the details. He knows my heart, my passions, what I need, and where I should be. I just have to step out of my comfort zone and trust that He will take care of everything.

I get extremely excited in finding out what new adventure or journey is around the corner. I open my arms and let go of any plans that I had of my own. At this moment, I feel so risky, yet so safe. It is at this moment that I truly feel alive.

Although I release my will to take on his, I tend to hold back… My arms might be open to wherever he desires me to be; yet my hands grasp hold of people and comforts that I have let become a part of me.

Slowly I must stretch out each finger, to let go of all that I cling onto so tightly. Because I know that when I do release what is in my hands, I am able to receive all that He has in store for me.

My plan = take all rigorous courses throughout high school
His plan = Costa Rica

My plan = Go to Costa Rica during the summer to visit Ademar
His plan = Belize

My Plan = Marquette, get on the Physician’s Assistant track
His Plan = YWAM