God gave and God took away.................... Blessed be His Holy Name !

".....so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.For to me, to live is Christ,

and to die is gain" 

(Philippians 1:20b-21)

Fun time with dad , last year in Florida right after my brother's wedding !

Dear Family and Friends in Christ Jesus, 

Sorry to not have happy news from the mission field this month, but I think that it's for His glory to share what has happened and praise Him in at all times, because the Lord gives and He also takes away, and likewise because I want to share my need and how fragile I feel now, asking for your prayers for me and my family in this time of need. I'm sorry it's almost a month after this happened, but it's been pretty crazy and busy for us in the past three weeks!

As some of you may already know, my dad, Gustavo Rojas, without any sickness or pain, suddenly suffered a brain stroke on his left hemisphere on October 17 early morning. This accident paralyzed him on his right side of the body, left him without speech and had him be hospitalized in the Special Care Unit in Medellin, Colombia for 10 days. He had the grace of being conscious and fully awake, listening to us and responding with moving his hand for 9 days. Even though his neurological condition was fairly stable and acceptable, his kidneys and lungs started to fail more and more until the Lord called Him to His presence on Friday, Oct 26 at 6 pm.

It was really hard for me to receive this news but God in His grace surrounded me by prayer, and support not only of my team of service in San Isidro, Costa Rica but also of my pastor in my sending church in New Jersey and all the body of believers that got the news. God provided for me to travel to Colombia and arrive to meet mom, dad and my brother and sister on Saturday October 20. That night I had a very special moment with dad at the hospital. He got so happy when he heard my voice and he smiled feeling me next to him, and hearing me praying for him and encouraging him to hold on to Jesus and to trust Him completely in this time of trial. That Sunday, we praised and worshiped the Lord before going to the hospital and read the Word together, as family, and it encouraged us to trust and wait on the Lord Jesus in this situation.

During the next days, we would take turns to be with him all the time. God gave us the blessing of telling him, once again, how much we loved him, what a great dad he had been in the power of the Lord, how much he had impacted our lives with his love for Jesus and how he taught us to love Him not only with his word but with his life, and how proud we were of him and grateful to God for giving us such a father, so in-love with Him and His Word.  We also read to him his favorite verses and chapters of the Word and we sang to him his favorite hymns everyday. In the middle of the pain, the Lord gave us multiple opportunities to share His love and word with nurses and doctors. It was awkward but cool, to be able to feel God's love for them, reaching out to them thru us, in spite of the situation. His love cries out, we just have to listen to Him to be able to see pass thru our needs unto their greatest need: JESUS

This pic was taken for their anniversary on October 10th. 39 years of purposeful and God-glorifying marriage!

I want to truly thank each and everyone of you that knew about this for your prayers and encouragement. The Lord truly was responding to your prayers giving us strength during that week to suffer the situation but at the same time love daddy in his last days on the earth. I stayed with dad over night for 4 nights, and one of those I was outside of the room, crying out to the Lord, like at 3 am, and a sweet nurse came to me to comfort me. Her name is Andrea. As she was giving me human word of comfort the Lord was speaking to me and telling me: tell her about Me, she need to know real comfort from me!. Don't know how, but I heard and obeyed and so in the middle of my tears, I shared the gospel of Jesus with her and she was shocked listening to me and she just nodded with her head to all I was saying. We could not pray for she had to go take care of a patient but please pray that God allows me to go back to that hospital to see her and take her a Bible and some written material for her faith. It's amazing how our Lord can glorify Himself in this way! All glory to Him!!!

Dad's last day, he was in a deep sleep and not awake at all or feeling much. As the day progressed his condition started to get worst and God allowed mom to be right next to him when He finally called Him to Himself to rest at  6pm, after 70 years of life, 39 years of marriage and 39 years of knowing, loving and walking with Christ Jesus. "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job  1.21). He finally went to be with his beloved Savior and Lord, and God gave us His great peace and unspeakable joy to have that certainty in the middle of the pain of this loss.

His funeral was the next day and it was an amazing song of praise for His life. Testimonies and message of the Gospel were used by God to touch hearts, specially of those that were there and did not know the Lord. Dad's life yelled "Jesus" and his death did too. So many people talking about how he shared the gospel with them, how he discipled them, how he encouraged them , or prayed for them. It was God's glory being shown and giving us comfort in that moment. My family and me were really sad, but had the strength to praise the Lord and sing to Him in the middle of the tears and praise Him on that day for Dad's life and testimony, and also for his death, for our Lord is ALWAYS good and ALWAYS faithful and perfect in all of His ways, even when it's painful or we don't understand.

The following days and weeks have been hard as you can imagine, we miss him so so much ....Nevertheless, we feel and see God's mighty hand carrying us, and comforting us and giving us peace that surpasses understanding, specially to mom. He's reminded us of His promises that sustain us and reestablish us when pain comes and we can simply cry and burst out in thankfulness to Jesus for dad's life. I really thank you for your continued prayers for me and my family as we seek Him and His Word daily, remembering the great lessons of passion and humility that dad left us.

It's incredible how my mission field changed suddenly and radically for a few weeks. As all my family lives away from Medellin, and everyone has their jobs, God allowed me to stay here, ministering and taking care of mom. I'm supporting her physically (with the house and driving her everywhere she needs to go), emotionally (just being there to cry together, to hear her comment about dad every single minute) and spiritually (praying with her and reading the Word every morning). WIth God's grace and the support of my team in San Isidro, the Lord aligned it all for me to be able to bless mom during this hard time for her, so this is my main ministry for a few weeks. There's a lot of legal matters and papers to take care of and I can be of help here with her. I plan to be here until Christmas, being faithful in the ministry of my family. I am of course in touch with the team in San Isidro thru email and skype and with the people I was discipling too. It's God's work and He's orchestrating it and sustaining it during this time of transition for my family. I pray to fly back to Costa Rica the first weeks of January, so please pray about mom, and God to direct us on deciding what and where is best of her, where He wants her to serve Him. 

With my parents at a friend's apartment in Fort Lauderdale, FL 

Thanks once again for your prayers and support, and for your gestures of encouragement for me and my family. The pain is great but our God is greater and He shows us His love thru You all. May the Lord bless you and use you, wherever you are for His kingdom.

Love in Christ,

My call is : COME AND SEE !!!

The first time I see the phrase "COME AND SEE" in the first chapter of John is in John 1:39. It's right after Andrew and Simon Peter decided to follow Christ. They called Him Rabbi and wanted to know where He was staying and Jesus said: COME AND SEE. It says they stayed with Him for a day, which let's us know that they really wanted to get to know Jesus and to talk to Him for longer than a casual conversation. Jesus knowing their genuine desire, does not answer the question: where are you staying? with a place, for it wasn't about a place to go, but about a journey that they were starting. Jesus invites them to walk with Him and discover His truth and light by themselves. He invites them to walk with Him, as He leads them in this new life. This is the invitation that I received and accepted one day in my life and that made all the difference. Let's remember that the Gospel, and the new and eternal life that we proclaim is not a merely a destination, but more than that, it's a walk with Jesus and a personal discovery of Him every day, though His Spirit and His Word. Everyday, Jesus' message to us continues to be: COME AND SEE. 

The second occurrence is on V46. Jesus found Philip and invited him to follow Him and he did. Once Philip was walking with Jesus, he found his friend Nathanael and shared how they (Philip, Andrew and Simon Peter) had found the Messiah that had been prophesied, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael was kind of skeptic about the Messiah being from Nazareth and Philip said: COME AND SEE. It's really interesting to hear this phrase now from Philip. He knew Jesus and had seen Him as the Messiah, and he knew that he could not explain or describe Him as well as inviting Nathanael to come see Him for himself. So here we find this as an invitation that Philip extends to his friend. It's an evangelistic invitation. It's the invitation that we all should carry in our wallets and pockets, ready to be given out. COME AND SEE. It's Jesus whom people need to see, it's Him who changes lives, gives hope, purpose and eternity. It's His redemptive work the actual invitation to all humanity, and He has chosen all of us, His disciples to share it, to proclaim it. Therefore, let's raise as His people and share this invitation, with our words, with our deeds and mostly with our lives ! This is my call!.

Well, after sharing this that encourages me and focuses me on Jesus and hopefully you too = ) , I can share with you that serving the Lord in San Isidro, Costa Rica is going pretty well. I feel much more adjusted and more at home, day after day. The Lord has been so so good at displaying His love and faithfulness to me here in so many different ways that it only causes me to praise Him!

First of all, I see His love, through the students, and the staff. We are into the middle of the Fall semester already and it's been great to know each other, share and spend time together, studying His word, sharing with other people or just chilling and having fun in the Pink House (which is technically the main campus). One of the activities that has been so much fun to do together is playing soccer. We have played already 3 times, and have learned so much about soccer as we played. Even though I'm Latina and love soccer, I must confess that I hadn't actually played more than twice in my life before coming to Costa Rica. It's been really fun to run, play, defend and scream "goal" together. I believe it actually shows some of the bonding that God has started to work among us with His love.

Here are the two winning teams !!!! Siiiiii !

Calvary Chapel Bible College Group-Costa Rica 

I see His love through the girls too. Bible College Girls: I live with two girls, in the apartment and the other two girls live next door. Vanessa, the other staff member lives on the first floor, so we are all in the same building. We all have "tea party" as a group to pray and share every other week in my apartment, however we also set up prayer partners, so that we grow deeper in prayer with that girl. I definitely see the Lord putting us together to bless each other and to be there for each other. They are all such a blessing this semester. Local Girls: I usually meet with Silvia (Gerry's wife) every Wednesday morning to pray together and study the Word, and that's always a sweet time.

Silvita and Gerry (Staff), dressed up in typical costumes!

 I also meet with one or two local girls from the Sunday Bible Study every week, just to have a walk or a lunch together and be a part of their lives, and be a friend to them as they are to me. In addition, I met this one girl named Lizeth at a local supermarket, who is friends with Shirley, a girl from the Sunday Bible Study, and the Lord has allowed me to build a friendship with her, so I usually plan to visit her at least once or twice a week to talk and share a little bit about the Lord and His Word. Actually over time, God gave me the opportunity to share the gospel with her, and she decided to invite and accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior early in September (Praise Report !!!!).
As a matter of fact, let me share her story ......

STORY TIME = )

So I go to the "Snow-cone Stand" inside the Supermarket, looking for my friend Shirley, who attends the Bible Study. However, Shirley is not there and this nice girl explains to me she was there only there for the lunch break covering her, while she was having lunch. I introduce myself and so does she, and we start talking about where I'm from and other Colombians she knows, and how she used to live in the Capital and then moved to this town, etc. We had a good first conversation, and she was really nice and opened to share about her life, and I thought: "Lord, it seems like she's nice and she can become a friend". So I started to pray for her, daily and went back to visit her the very next week. This time we talked for over an hour, while she helped customers from time to time. She kept saying "my husband this and that" and after a while I said, so you are married? And she goes "well, we call him 'husband' here", and I said, but is he your husband or your boyfriend? And she looked at me and said: "technically he's my boyfriend, because we're not married but we live together" and I said: "I see, I understand, so he's your boyfriend then" and she smiled and said "yes, he is".

The week after that I visited her, and in the middle of the conversation she said: "Paula, where in the Bible does it say that you have to get married before God?", and then I showed her a couple of passages, but promised to come back with a list of all passages that talked about marriage. She also asked me what to read in the Bible and I told her to read 1 John. Three days later she texted me saying she was done, and asked what else she could read and I told her to read the Gospel of John. The very next time I stopped by to visit her, I gave her the list and read a couple passages with her about marriage before God and the sins of fornication and adultery, and she agreed. Then, she told me she was almost finished reading John and that she had many questions about the Jews and their religion and all that. Then she asked me specifically about communion, and she said: "Paula, so is the wine Jesus' blood and the wafer Jesus' body? I don't understand that quite well". So I said: Let's go for lunch sometime and go over that passage together to understand what it means, because it's very important. She said "yes, I would love that". Almost at the end of the conversation she said: "I love God but honestly I don't know where I'm going if I die today". This pricked my heart

That Saturday we went out to lunch and ended up talking for 3 hours in the restaurant. The Lord led me to explain to her the plan of Salvation and the meaning of sin, the cross and grace. At the end of explaining the Gospel, the Spirit was telling me to ask her to pray and invite Jesus into her heart, but it was kind of late already, and she's a Catholic so I was hesitant, but the Spirit kept pressing this on my heart, so I asked: "Do you want to invite Jesus into your heart today understanding His grace and love?". She said: "Paula, I invite Jesus into my heart everyday, I pray to Him". So then I explained what this meant, and how it was a prayer but at the same time, it was a one decision for life, based on faith and believing His Word to be born again, and with surprise on her face, she looked at me and said: Yes, yes, I want to do that!. So we prayed together, and then she asked me to pray for her boyfriend, for God to cause him to want to get married as she wants to get married before God, and so we did.

After this, I just kept praying of her, for this decision to be real in her and for Father, Son and Holy Spirit to start a mighty work in her heart and that's exactly what has happened. It's so so EXCITING for me to see this !!! Soon after accepting Jesus she asked me to meet up and explain the Bible to her, so we started to meet Friday early mornings to go through the book of 1 John and it's been a great time to talk, laugh, become better friends and understand God's word together. Honestly, the Lord is teaching me so much as I prepare to go through each passage with her. We have met 3 Fridays already and I pray that she grows in her faith and falls in love with Jesus and His Word, and His light shines in her and from her to all the people that she has contact with, for only His glory! Please help me to pray for Lizeth, her heart and her growth and for me, for God to guide me and give me wise words and His love for her! I promise to post a picture of her next time I update the blog!.

This post got kind of long, but to close this post, I just want to ask you to pray for one more thing: Evangelistic Outreach on Saturday, October 27. As an idea from the students, we plan this outreach to be free pedicures for women of all ages, and to have kidz activities in case they come with kidz. The plan is for each woman that comes to get a free pedicure and a snack and then see a drama skit performed by all of us girls reflecting how we, as women, search for love but can only find it truly in Jesus. Then we plan to share an evangelistic message explaining the Gospel of Jesus and a call to prayer. Please lift this up, and pray for divine appointments for all of us to invite women, and for God to use the fliers we are working on! We pray in faith for hearts and lives to be saved and transformed by His power alone !

You are His light in the world, so Shine in the darkness !!!!

Love in Jesus,

A month already in Tica Land !!! = )

Yes I know, I can't believe it either! It's coming up on a month soon that I have been here in Costa Rica, more specifically in the town of San Isidro del General.

I have so much to share about this past month, and I also have so many pictures to share, however I will try to share it in pieces not to overwhelm you with information. In this post, I intent to describe my experience getting here and adjusting to this place so far in three different aspects: the culture, the people and the ministry! But before even sharing about these three, I would like to share a little bit about what God has been encouraging me with in His Word.

One day last week, my reading took me to Leviticus 22. This chapter talks about the requirements God gave Israel for their offerings of animals to God, the holiness and cleanness in the offerer and the offering and also who was allowed to partake of the holy things afterwards. I want to focus on the later one, who was to be allowed to eat of the holy offerings. First of all, the only ones in Israel that could partake of this meat were the priests, Aaron and his sons alone, making sure they were clean before God as per the requirements from V2-9. However, within the priests home, no outsider, hired servant or even outsider married to the priest's daughter could partake of the holy offerings. According to V11 only those bought by the priest with his money or born in his house were allowed to eat this holy food. These two called my attention: one bought by him or born of him. And I asked myself, isn't that me? My Hight Priest is Jesus Heb 6.20, and He bought me at a high price by His grace (1 Cor 6.2) and also gave me a new life making me to be born of His Word and His Spirit (1 Pet 1.23). Two very important Christian truths, redemption and regeneration. Through these God has allowed me to partake of the one holy and perfect sacrifice, and acceptable offering, once and for all, which is Jesus Christ himself, even thought I'm not worthy, and can not merit it in any way, He has done it all! I know it's so simple but so exciting to realize these truths again! The Lord encouraged me through this, reminding me that it's Him who does the work, it's His work! And serving here is all about Him and clinging to Him !!!!

THE CULTURE:  Well, even though I am Latina and speak Spanish, I have so much to learn and to adjust to. There's no cookie-cutter for Latin-American countries, each one has a different flavor, smell and taste for sure!. I love the experience of observing how they do things here, how they say things here, and just what they appreciate and value. So I'm in cultural training as I speak, whether you believe it or not. I have learned that to say: "necesito esto"(I need this), I have to say: "ocupo esto", and also that to say "es lejos de aqui" (it's far from here), I have to say: "es largo de aqui". I truly enjoy the local variants and feel like a child in a toy store, trying all the new words, sayings, local dishes, and a variety of fruit and vegetables! One super cool custom that I have to share a picture about is brewing coffee (of course coffee is so good, not so good as Colombian coffee but almost... hehehe). They brew coffee here the old fashioned way, with the fabric sock! It's called "cafe chorreado". I bought a typical "chorreador" to make it this way.... I love it !, Here it is .....

I also include a picture of the mountains that surround this valley, and have me in love with this place. They remind me so much of my beloved Colombia:

This is called Poma Rosa in Cali, but here they call it "Manzana de Agua" - "Water Apple". It's delicious! I picked this one from a tree in the mountains!

THE PEOPLE: Of course this is the main reason why I'm here!. First of all, the team I work with in the Bible College, Ryan, Gerry and Vanessa, have been so loving and welcoming! They have truly been a blessing to me here! We meet and pray together everyday for the bible study study, the people that God is touching and we meet, and for the students that are coming in a couple of weeks. The Lord is uniting us in His Spirit and bonding us little by little with His love, to serve Him together!. Secondly, I have been able to meet the people that are coming to the study, specially the girls and know more of their lives...It's been sweet to fellowship a little with them and see how God is working in each life so differently! Thirdly, I have started to establish some relationships with people I have come in contact with for whom I ask you to pray, that God gives me the right moment to share His gospel, and that He prepares their hearts to receive Him. Pray for: Ivan & Kimberly (guys at the photocopy place), Sussana & Alejandro (sales people at a local store), Lizet (girl that sells snacks in a local supermarket) and Flore (waitress at a local pizza place). They are all so different but all in need of Jesus! May God work in their hearts! Here are a couple of pictures of the team and and some people from the Sunday Bible Study.

Spending a holiday in the countryside

The team I serve with

Having lunch with the girls (Im taking the pic)

THE MINISTRY: All around me is ministry of course, and God is glorified even in the simplest ways and conversations!   However, specifically, God has blessed me with great kids to teach and serve! They are eager to learn His Word, new worship songs and to have fun together! God has given me so much grace with them! They are so sweet! I already love them all! I currently have a group of 4-6, it varies, depending on the families that show up to the study. We are doing a series on the Fruit of the Spirit, at the moment. Moreover, I have met with some of the girls that come to the Bible Study to talk, and listen to them and questions have come up that truly show their desire to seek truth and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Praise Jesus for them! They all study and work at the same time, and also find time to come, please keep them in prayer: Shirley, Gabby, and July! As for the Bible College, I will be teaching a Spanish course that Im preparing for at the moment, and will be serving with the American girls. Please pray for them too, it's 4 of them: Jena, Shavaine, Morgan and Wendla. May God give me His grace to love on them and bless them in every way He wants me to. Orientation week will start on Aug 20 and classes will start on Aug 27, please pray for a smooth, Spirit-filled, fruitful semester!. Lastly, I will be helping out with the Evangelism class, in terms of the outreach activities. Please pray that God gives me ideas on how to reach the women and children in San Isidro with an event!.

Sunday Bible Study- Kidz' Worship

I thank God for allowing me to be here, and thank Him for your lives, prayers and support that enable me to serve here my Lord and Savior! Prayer is more than half of the work so please continue to pray for San Isidro and for God to teach me and use me here for His Glory!

Abound in His Grace and Love!!!!

Blind Woman Walking = )

On this post, I would like to share about 3 important things happening during the month of May, as I am in New Jersey, serving in my home church and getting ready for the marching orders of my Savior to go to Costa Rica, as a Missionary! (It still sounds crazy to me, hehehehe, like I'm not talking about myself, or something).

The first update is on God's direction to the place He wants me to serve in Costa Rica, but before I share that, I want to share the verse that refers to the title of this post, and this is how it's been this year, and specifically this month!  The Lord gave me this promise on January 4th when I was in California in the Missions Conference, through my beloved Sally Smith:

"I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them"  ( Isaiah 42.16)


At that point, I thought it was a beautiful promise and I just took it as a word from the Lord that He would lead me this year!. So technically I can say this is like my "Year Verse" or something like that!. However, it's been a journey of 5 months into this year, of truly not knowing or seeing what is going to happen exactly the next week or the next month. Beginning of May, the Lord brought me to this verse again, and then I got it !!! I am BLIND ! Truly BLIND to His almighty purposes, His timing, His greater plans. This is exactly how I have been feeling, throughout this year, BLIND! I can not see what exactly is before me. I know it's in Costa Rica, and I know that is serving Him, but I don't know exactly, when, how, where! When God brought me to this verse, He showed me that yes Im blind, and we are all blind to the Spiritual Realm but we are not deaf. Precisely because we can not see, He call us to hear Him so that we can hear His instructions and walk accordingly, trusting Him in every step, for He promises to bring, lead, make light, and not forsake us. Jesus wants us to tuned our listening skills to His voice very well, because that's how He leads us, and that only happens in the College of the Feet, at the Feet of Jesus, everyday! So even though Im blind and feel blind to so much, everyday I hear His voice telling me where to go, what to do!!!! It's an amazing blessing because as I hear, I continue to grow my trust in Him only until I obey every step He tells me to take! 


I prayed and prayed asking Him to show me where He wants me to serve Him, and short after I was reminded of this promise. And someone I trust and respect told me: "You already know in your heart where God wants you to go, just obey, stop asking for more signs". She was truly right but still I wanted to ask for confirmation. I challenged myself to just obey in faith, and so I did. When I made my decision to obey and moved forward in faith, then God continued to confirm His will in this direction with 3 confirmations ! So even though I still don't see and am still blind, He showed me through His Word, through a tug in my heart and through others, and it was all aligned!. As you may have read in my latest newsletter, God is leading to go to San Isidro del General. It's small town, 3 hours south of the Capital and it's the third place that we visited with Maggie in February. The people there are truly in my heart, specially some wonderful girls I met there and I have started to pray for each of them specifically. There is a Bible College site there and a bible study, and I have been in contact with the leader of these efforts to start to pray for what God may have for me serving there ! I am so so blessed and excited to know where He wants me to go and to start to prepare for this move! Please continue to pray that God prepares and breaks my heart for what is to come, that God allows me to join the team and serve them and with them as He wants me to and that He provides the funds and means necessary for all this!  His timing is perfect, I am blind and I just have to listen carefully !!!! He is in control of this adventure of faith !!!! Thanks in advance for your prayers, encouragement and support !

Here are some pictures of San Isidro del General and the ministry there

The second update is more of a personal note! And the verse that comes to my mind is: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1.17). It was literally a gift from the hands of God that I got a plane ticket to go see my mom in Florida, for Mother's day (well, 5 days before). God truly knows the desires of our hearts and He is a good Father and Giver. The Lord allowed me to spend 9 beautiful and fruitful days with my mom in Florida, what I had not even thought in my wildest dream. His love continues to surprise me and touch me! I believe God knew that this special mom-daughter time was really needed for me, before going into the field, and He orchestrated this gift for both of us. We had so much fun, and also deep time in prayer and in the Word. Love my Mom and I'm so so grateful for her in my life!  Te amo Mamita ! a few pictures:

De tal Palo tal Astilla !!!! heheheheh

The third update is pretty short. As another gift, and due to the convenience of being in the East Coast this time of the year, I was able to attend the one-day East Coast Missions Conference that took place in Calvary Chapel Philadelphia. It was such a refreshing time to hear missionaries share their hearts and what God is doing around the world. God truly encouraged me through the teaching of Don Mclure about Gideon. He reminded me of the fact that it's not about the many resources I have for the battle, but about His way and His glory to be shown, and this generally happens with less and with lacks. The closing teaching was awesome too! It was David Guzik encouraging us to pray for missionaries and for our own ministries! So powerful ! Key lessons: intercede for other missionaries and battle with them in prayer, and devote time of your prayer life for this specifically, and second, pray the Word of God, pray Paul's prayers which are right on the spot!. In short God challenged my prayer life and encouraged me to pray more and better! Funny that the very next day after the Conference, I got a book as a present, and the title was "A Praying Life", so that was another confirmation!. The message for me was: Pray Paula Pray !!!!!God surprised me in the Conference allowing me to see my beloved friends the Aikoo's with whom I studied the Missions Training Program in Hungary. I love them so much and got to see them ! They are from Maryland and are praying and getting ready to go as missionaries to Ghana, Africa! Please pray for them too, for God to lead them in His time!. Here are a couple of pictures with my friends: Akiko, Shaunice and Ashely.....

With Shaunice and Gus Aikoo

With Shaunice and Ashley !

With Akiko, my friend !!!!

Well it's the end of May, and God has been so faithful and Im sure He is preparing and opening the way before me. May I yield to Him, and passionately prepare to step out in faith and obedience!
Thanks for all your prayers, encouragement, support and love!!!! I truly feel His hands holding me and I know it's the many prayers from you. Thanks for reading my blog and staying in touch, You are a blessing to my life!

Let's continue to pray for God's timing and provision for my departure! That He will make it clear when it is that Im to leave for Costa Rica! I have started to pack, get some ministry materials and prepare in faith!!!!  I will post something a soon as I have a date for the trip, in the meantime let's PRAY, PRAY AND PRAY!

Spying the Costa Rican land ! Pura Vida for sure !

Can you believe that we went to Costa Rica and came back already ?  I'm so so astonished at God's grace and love!  He took us and brought us back with a wonderful report and I'm still processing it ! It was a beautiful experience to get to know this beautiful land and most of all its beautiful people!

The calling to Costa Rica that God places and confirmed in my heart while I was in Hungary, 7 months ago is starting to become more tangible and to have shape in His Hands ! I traveled with Maggie (Assistant Pastor's wife from my home church) for 13 days. We clearly saw God's hand not only protecting us and leading us to every place we visited but also giving us His grace and favor as we were kindly received and loved by the missionaries and the people there! I confidently tell you that the trip was successful and very insightful! Thank you so much for your prayer and support, we truly felt them and saw them answered on every bus we took, on every meal we had and on every place we visited! This post may be longer than usual, but please take a little extra time to read and enjoy what God did in this trip !

Maggie and I on one of the buses (left) and enjoying a Cafe Britt Frappuccino, Delicious (Right)

One of the missions of this trip actually started on the plane from Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica. Maggie and I seated on different rows. Even though I had purposed myself to read and journal during this flight, a young Canadian-Italian man next to me started to talk to me half way into the flight, and so the missions started. We had a 2-hour conversation that ended with the explanation of the message of salvation from the passage of John 3. He listened attentively and even asked questions about eternity and good works, since he had a religious background. The Spirit helped me to explain to Him the gospel in the simplest way and I'm sure he understood the core of it, Repentance and Grace, however, we could not close in prayer for we were already landing. Please keep this gentleman in your prayers, his name is Marco Alberto. We exchanged emails and I pray to send him a Biblical place for him to visit in Winnipeg.

Once in Costa Rica, we spied the land as it was the purpose! Maggie and I visited four different places: Heredia (Central area of Costa Rica and the trip "base"), Tamarindo (Northwest area), San Isidro (Southwest area) and Dominical (Southwest beach area). In all of these there are church plants and/or other ministries being established.

In Heredia, we visited and stayed with Victor and Nichol, a wonderful missionary couple that is serving  in Heredia with a School of Discipleship and Ministry. Christians from different churches are welcomed and received to study the word in depth, in a more academic way, and God is doing great things through them back in their churches and in the city. Victor and Nichol were such a huge blessing for us, receiving us in their home and displaying God's love and service in every way! We can say that they spoiled us with God's love hehehehe = ). Please pray for them and their ministry! Visit their blog !

We took a 6-hour bus ride north to Tamarindo, actually to Villareal specifically where we had the privilege of visiting the McKay Family and Capilla del Calvario Villareal, their church plant. They have served there for 5 years, speak Spanish and currently have two Sunday services and one on Wednesday. It was a blessing to hear Phil, the pastor, teach in Costa Rican Spanish! They have a team to serve the community where God has put them with different ministries and needs and are discipling and raising local leaders for the church. Likewise, Rebecca, his wife, speaks Spanish and serves their 4 kids as well as the local community. It was a complete joy to see what God is doing through the McKays there. We continue to lift them up in prayer. Capilla del Calvario Villareal. Heads up: please pray for Jeffrey, a Costa Rican with whom I shared the gospel in a restaurant in Tamarindo. He actually came to the afternoon service that Sunday and met Phil ! God is awesome !

Capilla del Calvario Villareal on Sunday (left) /  Phil and Rebecca Mckay and Maggie and Me (right)

Our next stop was San Isidro, Perez Zeledon, three hours south of the capital of Costa Rica. This is a little town, less rural than Villareal but still not as urban as a city. We visited the Bible College teaching site there, met the students and teachers/staff and sat through the Sunday Bible study they have recently started to reach the local community. God in His grace has saved around 9 people, of which at least 4 are young girls. It was awesome to meet them and encourage them in their faith in Jesus. We were encouraged by the strong passion there for the Word and the way the Spirit is leading this new Bible study. Bible College Costa Rica. We also visited a missionary couple in the same town, Curtis and Chelly who have 4 pretty girls and are also serving with the Bible College and having a Bible study on Wednesdays in their home. Capilla San Isidro. It was amazing to see the love and example that all these missionaries are setting in San Isidro, by living among the people and loving on them in word and deed. May God continue to lead them and use them!

Some pizza with the missionaries and students in San Isidro !

From left to right: Juli, Vanessa (staff), Me, Gabby and Shirley. Bible Study in San Isidro

Last stop: The beach in Dominical. We took a 1-hour bus ride from San Isidro to visit Mike and Starla Chaves and their ministry. They sell burgers at the beach to connect with tourists. Maggie and I made burgers and served the tables for one day, it was pretty cool! And on top of that, I got a free surfing class hehehe = ) The Chaves family kindly received us and invited us to join their service on Sunday at the restaurant that turns into church on Sundays. They serve breakfast to those that come early and then faithfully teach the word, in a "beach style" to all those that come. The teaching has simultaneous translation into Spanish. We were blessed to see many kids come, as well as tourists, to hear the Word of God! This family is impacting both tourists and locals at the beach! Let's pray for them and their continued ministry! The Refuge Church

Starla, Mike, Maggie and Me (left) and Maggie making burgers (right)

After this great trip, we just praise Jesus for His faithfulness! Back in New Jersey, we reported back to our church on the insights of the trip and continue to pray for all these missionaries. 

In the next couple of months I will be in New Jersey : 

-Praying for God's leading and confirmation on the place and ministry where He wants me

-Being mentored and prepared by my pastor to go out to the mission field, as I serve in my local church full-time 

-Trusting and praying for God to provide the funds for relocation and monthly support there

This is a season of transition in my life, a season of true faith and dependance on my Savior! I pray that He continues to shape me and change me, and cleanse me for His purposes! There are many things and details that I don't know exactly at this point and that I don't control, and precisely because of that, God is dealing with my full dependance on Him. It has to be enough for me to know that He knows, and He is in control of all ! He is my portion, my inheritance and my cup ! 

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance..” 

(Psalm 16.5-6)