Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful-Heb. 10:19-23
Before I share with you some of the beautiful things that God is doing here since I came back in January, I would like to share a few thoughts on God's truth. I am reading through Exodus in my personal time and came to chapter 28 which describes the way God design the Priesthood Garments, and how they were to be worn by Aaron, as the High Priest and by his sons. Chapter 29 goes into the cleansing and consecration process they were to go through to become official lifetime priests for the Tabernacle. It called my attention that the High Priest was to wear a golden diadem on his forehead with these words engraved: Holiness Unto the Lord. All the other engravings on the priesthood garments referred to the people of Israel, but this one on his forehead referred to himself and the way he was to come into the presence of God on behalf of the people. Likewise, as Hebrews tells us, Jesus is now our High Priest, who is perfect and holy, and once for all became the Offerer (High Priest) and the Offering (Lamb of God) at the same time on the Cross. He made atonement for our sins and opened the way for us into God's holy presence. How cool and perfect is that !!! Moreover, 1 Peter 2:9 describes the church as Royal Priesthood, which means we are made priests in the new covenant. As I am a priest for the Lord, I ask the Spirit to engrave in my heart "Holiness unto the Lord" that I may approach His Holy throne boldly (Heb. 4.16) but also in holiness: with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having purified my conscience and my body unto Him (Heb. 10.22). Our God is Holy, and only He can make us holy as He is !!!! Let's draw near Him and pursue holiness = ).
This spring semester we have a total of 9 students in the Bible College, 5 girls and 4 guys. It´s been so cool to see everyone God has brought to us this semester, how different each one is and what a blessing it is to get to know them all. We all make a great family, for sure !!! I live with two girl students named: Audrey and Mari, both so different and so loving. We have so much fun together and get to share about our lives and what God is doing and showing each of us. We have a female intern, Shaviane, and she lives with 3 other girls. We have a girls meeting every other week to have fellowship, share our testimonies, meditate a on the Word and pray for each other. I feel like the Lord is blessing me so so much through the girls, and seeing all the conviction and revelation He is giving them in different areas of their lives. God is definitely at work and I am so so privileged to be here and serve them with all I can. Here is a picture at a Women´s Bible study with most of the girls and some Ticas that usually come.
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| Women's Bible Study with Annie, Chelly, Students & Staff and some Ticas !!! |
Since I have been back, the Sunday Bible Study is growing spiritually and becoming more and more solid in the sense that there is already a faithful and committed group of people that attend and that come so hungry for the Word and for fellowship. I have to say that Sunday is definitely my favorite day!!!! My heart just bursts of joy to see the people coming in the afternoon to study God´s Word. Every Sunday is a new adventure of faith, praying for God´s Word to break, change, restore and touch all the lives of those that God faithfully brings each Sunday. I serve with the kids and that has also been such a blessing. The group is small and energetic and we just have so much fun singing, studying God´s word, and then playing and doing a craft based on the theme studied. I am going through the book of Luke with the kids and I can see how their little minds retain so much and their faith in Jesus is being nourished little by little. They encourage me to walk Jesus, speak Jesus and live Jesus to the most. As a petition of a family that comes faithfully on Sundays, since mid February, we are gathering for prayer in their house every Wednesday evening. We get together to worship and seek God in prayer, lifting up the prayer requests of other people in the Bible study as well as our own requests. I´m pretty excited about this new space God has opened for prayer, for it´s in prayer that we need to walk and only in prayer that God will move through His Spirit in our hearts together as a body and in others as we intercede for them and stand in the gap. May the Lord lead and move this prayer meeting to His heart and may all attendants grow in our prayer life.
Here is a picture of kids ministry on Sundays, from left to right: Elian and his little brother, Hazel, Esteban, Mariel, little Isabella and Tiffany.
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| Kids class on Sunday Bible Study !!! We have so much fun = ) |
Don't know if you all remember but last year I wrote about a girl named Liseth, who accepted Jesus in September and whom I started to meet to study the Word together. Well, she decided last year that she wanted to get married in obedience to God's Word. A week after I got back, she got married and I had the joy to help her with some little preparations and to be at her wedding and get to know all of her and his family. We started to meet up again to study the book of 1 John. Please lift her and her husband Bryan in prayer. May they become a family for the Lord Jesus, and may she grow in the knowledge of Jesus and His Word and leave behind all weight such as tradition, and religion to run freely the race in Jesus (Heb 12:1). A second girl I would like to ask you prayer for is Nikole. She came to our Tuesday night class of Thessalonians with her friend Shirley. I had the opportunity to talk to her during the break and hear she was going through so much hardship and was at the end of herself. I invited her to come on Sunday and gave her a Bible verse to read and medidate. God had me pray for her salvation every single day of that week, as I knew she was suffering. She came that very next Sunday to the Bible Study and was strongly touched by the Word of God and the application Ryan, the pastor, shared about the need of Christ's sacrifice for forgiveness of sins. After the study, she came to me and said: I'm done with trying by myself, I want Jesus in a real way in my life, I need HIm. We prayed and cried together and she accepted Jesus into her heart. What a wonderful joy, What a glorious decision! Ever since that moment, which was 3 weeks ago, she's been coming to bible studies, and meeting with me at least once a week, to study foundations of faith. She is a dear sister now and is part of God's family. However, she's still suffering from past decisions and is in need of a job desperately, would you help me pray for her and for God's revelation, will and strength upon her life?.
Here is a picture at Liseth's wedding and a picture with Nikole two days after she gave her life to Jesus !
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| Liseth getting married and Nikole and me after Bible Study. |
On another note, the Lord gave us an opportunity this month to go outreach an indigenous group in the South of Costa Rica called the Guaymi, and it was truly amazing!. I have pictures and stories but I promise I will share those in my next newsletter since this one is too long already.
In short, as you can read God is clearly at work in this Valley, and I feel so privileged to be a part of what He's doing and can't wait to see what He will continue to do. As I always ask, and need to ask, please keep me in your prayers and also the ministry in San Isidro. Your prayers make a huge difference and it's probably those that God is answering with every single person that comes to His knowledge and that He allows us to love upon. Please pray for me regarding these areas: good & balanced time management, spiritual discernment in conversations, interactions and discipleship, inspiring personal time in the Word, and more opportunities to meet new people and share the love of Jesus. Please pray also for the staff team here: Ryan, Gerry, Vanessa and me, and for the interns serving with us this semester: Aaron, Kory and Shavi.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support, that's what keeps me here! I am so blessed to have you in my family = ). May His love and grace flow through this valley swiftly and may we just be tools in His mighty hands !!!
Love you all in Christ,