Hola from Costa Rica!

Hola from Costa Rica! We're not sure when this will be posted, but we are writing this Monday night after two full days in Costa Rica. After we landed and went through Customs, we boarded a bus to Playa Junquillal, or the beach. Once we got settled in our hotel, Tatanka, we explored the beach, swam in the waves and the pool, and played some Ultimate Frisbee. After dinner, we had Late Night. Now, Late Night is a time for the group to bond by playing games and just doing crazy stuff. After Late Night, we had worship and small groups. Each group has about eight people and we use that time to talk about our devotion/quiet time with God.

Te following day was all about the beach. More Ultimate Frisbee, along with some soccer, sand fights, and lots and lots of riding/ tumbling/ body/ surfing / screaming/ laughing/ nearly drowning in the waves. It was a day full of fun and laughter, but by the end of the day, we were all exhausted. 

Monday, today, was bus day! There were curvy roads, curvy roads, oh and more curvy roads! Once we arrived at the camp, two groups went into town to invite people to the Revally on Saturday. We asked shop owners if we could put posters advertising the concert that will be taking place on Saturday. 

Right now, everyone is preparing for our day in the Indian village where we will be doing VBS. Please pray for us to be able to communicate with the kids and teach them about the love of Jesus Christ. Later on in the week, on Wednesday and Thursday, we will be at a different location for VBS. Friday is free day and Saturday is our Revally day.

 As we go through our week in Costa Rica, pray for safety, open hearts of the Costa Ricans and ourselves, and especially for God's love to be seen through us. 

Buen Dia!
From Hannah and Taylor: Your Official Costa Rica Correspondees

Come and Listen

Excited to start blogging again! Hope you are all having an awesome summer and are wearing enough SPF to keep you looking chicly tan. We’ve got a lot of awesome things coming up as the summer moves forward so make sure you keep updated by coming to CSM on Wednesday nights and checking out the blog and CSM website.

This Wednesday, we are talking about things that stink… good and bad… so you don’t want to miss it. Invite a friend so they can stink with you.

I don’t know about you guys, but there are a lot of times through the course of my walk with Christ where it feels like God is just not there, or He feels at least a thousand miles away. You know God is real, you love Him, you go to church, you serve, but you just can’t feel is presence. I think these times can be the most frustrating times for a Christian, trying to move forward when you just feel stuck.

But what I’ve learned this week is that God never moves, He may hide His face from us for a bit, but He never leaves. That truth puts the ball in our court. We have to come to Him, whether it’s through prayer, bible reading, singing, just being in His presence. Then we have to listen. And this is so hard. To just shut up, turn our televisions off, switch our iPods off, stop texting in the middle of our quiet time and just let God speak to us.

I would challenge you, if you do feel far away from God right now or if you’ve never heard the voice of God speaking directly to you, come to Him and listen. You’ll be surprised at what you hear.