Costa Rica Day 6

Today we have traveled to Puntarenas. It is a small coastal city along the Pacific. I am currently at a small internet cafe. They have graciously allowed us to use the net. We ate lunch at the beach at a small cafe and have had about 30 minutes to shop at their souvenir shop. We have been in a bus traveling slowly through the mountains so it is good to stop. We are about 1/2 way to our destination. Sorry no pics for this blog and not much to report, but all is well.
J. Ray

Costa Rica Day 5 part 2

It's 1:00 a.m. Saturday your time and 11:00 p.m. Friday night our time. Here are just a few random pics I threw in for your enjoyment. Thanks for your comments they have been great. If you have a message you need to tell someone, leave a comment and I will pass it along.
Tonight, Kosmos officially ended. This was a great conference. There were right at 500 people in attendance and almost every one of those did ministry each afternoon. There were over 1200 salvations total and 43 students surrendered to full time missions. We even had 6 from Southside on that list. Praise the Lord! This really has been an awesome trip and I can't say enough how awesome these students have been. Every one of them - I love each of them and am proud of each of them. We have a great team.

This may be the last post. We are headed to Guanacaste tomorrow morning and do not know if we have internet access. If so, I will definitely keep you updated. If not we will see you Wednesday. We do miss you but we are definitely where God wants us. We covet your prayers as always and you are in ours.
Josh

Costa Rica Day 5

Wow, God is good. We had a great little Pow Wow last night as we met for an evening debrief after the evening service. God was there as each person shared what God has taught them thus far on this trip. It was great! We also spoke of many students who were not with us who missed and wished were here. Perhaps should have been here but did not listen to God tugging at their heart. We know and understand following God isn't easy. God never said it would be easy. But what follower of Christ would not want to be a part of what God is doing? Make sure and ask your student or friend when they return what God is teaching them. Each of them had extremely profound statements and I am proud of every member of this team.

Today we had another opportunity to return to the orphanage we visited. Today we were prepared. We painted about a 1000 sq. foot area. The orphanage already had the paint and we had the supplies. Only problem they had some really cheap paint. I'm not kidding when I say we put four coats of paint on these walls. We also painted the bars in the front which were in pretty rough shape. We purchased some oil based for that and the area was well ventilated so it wasn't quite as fun as our last painting experience when we were all high from fumes and everything was funny.

As I told you yesterday, we really hooked the children up with lots of toys and games etc. Today was the day we spoiled the teenage moms. We were able to stop at the two stores on the way to the orphanage and purchase items to make gift bags for them. We filled them with nail polish, lip gloss, body soaps, candy, fluffy little bath sponge thingys, and other things I've been told women like. We gave it to them at the very end before we left and their eyes lit up like a six year old on Christmas morning. It was great to see them smile. We were able to share the Gospel with them and show them Christ through our actions.

We were really overstaffed at the orphanage yesterday. I expressed my concerns to Score yesterday and today they added another group with us. This really crammed us in there. Some of that group passed out tracts up and down the road close to the orphanage. Some hung out with the orphans and some painted. It really did work out well and turned out to be a great day. This last shot is from the bus as we were leaving. Totally different from yesterday. Many of the children and moms at the orphanage were waving as we left and tears were shed as we said goodbye. It was hard to leave, especially when we knew we could do so much more.

Please continue to pray for us as we press on. We are getting tired and still have four full days ahead of ministry. Tomorrow we leave for Guanacaste at 6:00 a.m.

in His Love,
Josh

Costa Rica Day 4

I hope everyone is doing well back in the good ol Estados Unidos. We are all still alive and well and only suffering from lack of sleep. Many students accused me of falling asleep in the service last night. Don't worry parents I did not. I always try to be a good example. However, it was extremely hard not too. OK maybe my head bobbed once or twice. Anyway, we visited an orphanage today unlike any we have visited on past trips. It was an orphanage for teens who already have children. The catch is all the teens had been abused by a parent or other relative. It was definitely eye opening. There was one 15 year old girl with two children. It is a christian orphanage but the teens definitely did not seem happy. They were hard to interact with. The young children in the orphanage were a lot of fun.

We were able to play games, make T-shirts, color, and hang out with for a few hours. Tomorrow we will return to the same orphanage and half of us will paint and do fix ups while the other half will hang with the children and teens again. We wll share the Gospel with them as well before we leave. (please pray for that) We were definitely able to overwhelm them with gifts. I wish we had known there were going to be teenage mothers there. We were able to really hook up the children but we didn't have much for the teenage moms.

This is a shot of the front of the orphanage. It has bars like everything else in the country. They sell clothing to raise money for the orphanage. I assume it is things people have donated but I didn't ask. Please continue to pray for us. Please pray specifically that God would speak directly to our students and eternally effect their outlook on life and God. I will post again tomorrow if the net is working. It's kind of a hit or miss thing around here. We miss yopu and the team sends their love. Special shout out Danielle Ray - hottest youth pastor's wife in the world. . .but I don't miss my dog! By the way that dog is for sale if you know anyone interested. Just joking the dog isn't for sale. I will pay you ten bucks to take the dog!

Josh

Costa Rica Day 3

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Today was another great day – Good News – Julie finally got her luggage. Huge answer to prayer. The team is doing great. Everyone is getting along and I really believe God is working in each of our lives. The food is good and the weather has been exceptional. Today we had an opportunity to do ministry in Los Guidos. It is a village in San Jose. We went to two different schools. In one school we did a drama and played games in somewhat of a school assembly. Chaley, Josh, and Sam participated in one of the skits with students from Marcus Pointe Baptist in Pensacola. Also, Kalyn shared her testimony in front of the entire group as well. We had many decisions for Christ today and this school has not seen many groups prior to our coming. If you can see in the pictures this is a beautiful place minus the houses. Everything is in pretty rough shape. Crime is rampant and every house is completely barred with most having razor wire on top of the bars. Nonetheless, God is here and moving. Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to an orphanage. We covet your prayers and you are in ours as well.

Josh

Costa Rica Day 2

Today we went on our first day of ministry. We left the Hotel a little after nine and dropped another group off for their ministry. We traveled to s small school in a suburb of San Jose. There were probably about 200 students there from K-4th grade. We were asked to paint a classroom for a kindergarten class of students with mental disabilities. The room wasn't huge, maybe 800 square feet but definitely needed some cleaning and a fresh coat. It was full of stuff so after moving much of it outside we started painting. We had to use oil based paint because it's always somewhat humid here and no climate control in the classrooms. 15 of us in the room was overkill so we split up and some played with the children outside while the rest painted. We had a great time. I'm not sure if it was because serving others in the name of Christ is fun and fulfilling, or because we were in a small room with a lot of oil based paint fumes. Either way, we got the job done and all of us got to hang out with the children as well. We had a blast! We have a service this evening and I will try to keep you up to speed on what's happening in Costa Rice. Still no word on Julie's luggage. Please pray for that asnd the effectiveness of our team.
Thanks and God Bless,
Josh

Day 1 Costa Rica

Well we made it in safely and had a pretty uneventful trip. (Which is a good thing) We only had one person lose their luggage. Julie Coleman - We are praying it comes in today. The Hotel we are staying is extremely nice. We have learned, that when a Costa Rican says it should only be a few more minutes, that could actually mean a few more hours. The Kosmos group has filled up the entire Hotel and I think they double booked a few rooms. Our group is set up pretty nice. We will be painting in a public kindergarten school today for our ministry. We will also be distributing Gospel tracts. I will try to keep you posted as often as I can. So far, everyone is healthy and happy! Please pray for Julie's luggage and pray for effectiveness. God Bless>.
J. Ray