Hello,
beloved family in Jesus !!!
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed
is the man who trusts in
man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart departs from the Lord. For
he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when good comes,
but
shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is
not inhabited. “Blessed is
the man who trusts in the Lord,
and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall
be like a tree planted by the waters,
which spreads out its roots by the
river,
and will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
and will
not be anxious in the year of drought,
nor will cease from yielding fruit. The
heart is deceitful above
all things,
and desperately
wicked;
who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
even to give every
man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doings.
Jeremiah 17.5-10
This is such a good passage, and it always speaks volumes to me! I often
love the comparison of our lives of faith in Jesus to a standing tree, just as
Psalm 1 describes it. Three key words stuck out to me: cursed, blessed, and
deceitful. The first two words are strong, and present us with a choice, because
it’s always a choice! It brings back to mind Deuteronomy 30.15-20 where Moses
presents both choices to the people of Israel, life and good or death and evil,
each pair goes together, being life and good, the blessing of loving and
following God and His commandments. In this passage, Jeremiah is declaring the
curse or blessing that each choice brings along, and the benefits or
consequences of each one, however, whichever choice is a matter of the HEART.
The difference between the blessing or the curse is made upon whom my heart
trusts? Flesh or the Lord? The Lord asked me this question when meditating on
this passage, whom do you trust Paula, flesh? man? Or Me the Almighty God? Of
course, I answered: You Lord, my heart trusts in You, I want to continually be
that tree planted by the waters and not anxious in the year of drought.
Nevertheless, immediately after the Lord said: How do you know? Your heart is
deceitful above all things and wicked.
And I nodded: That’s true Lord, I don’t really know if I fully trust you
wholeheartedly. But then in His love, He said: I search and test the heart,
don’t worry, ask me and I will show you where your trust is.
Wonderful conversation ah? It struck me that I need to rely on the Lord,
and ask Him to show me my own heart, and where my trust lies. And He’s so
faithful to do that, if I pray like that!!!! In that, I’m acknowledging my
weakness and my deceitful heart, for I don’t want to trust even in my own
perception of trust, but I want to be affirmed in Him, by Him and for Him. My
trust is not always in Him, and He shows me in what areas; I am called to be
obedient to surrender all those doubts or fears or trusts in others, unto Him,
so that my full trust is in Him and Him alone. Ask yourself this question, and
ask God to show you your own heart and where your trust is…there may be
surprises !!!! Let’s be surprised now, and change now and not later, when we
find out our tree looks more like a shrub !!!!
END OF FALL SEMESTER 2013
The semester truly flew by and it was a good one ! As I
mentioned in my previous newsletter we had a total of 10 girls and two guys. It
was a pretty diverse group, that was her to know more of Jesus and to learn
more of His word. The classes went great. I taught a Spanish class that gave
them vocabulary and grammar basis for them to interact with the community, in
simple instances like at the supermarket, feria, or asking simple information
questions. I enjoyed the class seeing them wanting to learn and improve their
Spanish! We got to share our testimonies in our girls meetings and it was such
a joy to see the grace of God working on so many lives in so many different
ways to get each one to come desperately to Him and to finally bring them here
to Costa Rica !!!! We are truly privileged to have them here for an amount of
time ! We got to celebrate birthdays, stroll around town, go to the orphanage
together, have dinners with locals and of course celebrate Thanksgiving
together with a wonderful meal !!!! I miss my roomies who were so opposite but
both so much fun, please pray for them as they went home for Christmas break –
Sarah and Alicia. Alicia will be coming back to Costa Rica in January and Sarah
may be in Murrieta next semester. May the Lord continue to reveal His truth in
their hearts and establish them as women of God, and women of the Word!!!!
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| With the girls at the orphanage Riding a local bus and having fun ! With my roomies = ) |
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| With all the girls on Thanksgiving !!!! |
CALVARY CHAPEL CENTRAL AMERICA CONFERENCE FOR PASTORS AND
LEADERS IN GUATEMALA
The Lord in His
love allowed me to attend this conference in November. 4 Calvary Pastors from
Costa Rica attended, including Ryan, and also several missionary friends and
leaders, including my boyfriend, from the Calvary close to the capital. It was
a good group from Costa Rica and an encouraging Conference based on Revelation
3, the message to the church of Philadelphia. It took place in the town of
Antigua, Guatemala, at the premises of Calvary Chapel Bible College and
Potter’s Field ministry there. It was a blessing to meet people from Nicaragua,
El Salvador, Panamá, Belize, Mexico and Guatemala at the Conference. God is
truly doing a work in Central America thru the ministry of Calvary and there
are several church plants teaching God’s word and growing slowly but surely!
Personally, It was a true blessing to be at the Conference with Luis, my
boyfriend, and get to share about what God was showing each one, encouraging
us, and to pray together at different moments. Another cool thing was to be
able to meet Wendy Hodges from Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg. She is a great
in-depth teacher of the word that I learn from listening to her pod casts
online. In addition, I got to see old good friends from Colombia that live in
Guatemala and that refreshed me with their words and prayers !!!! God is so so
good and loving towards me allowing me to attend this Conference! I was
energized and challenged to come back and keep serving Him and His people with all
of my heart!
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| Close friends and missionaries serving in Costa Rica - With Wendy Hodges |
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| The Costa Rican team - Find me in the back if you can !!!! = ) |
Please continue to
pray for the women of EnSusManos. We finished teaching the book of Philippians,
it was such a blessing and challenge of joy and contentment for all the women
that attended, and for me, of course! I can say we truly grew in His grace
regarding the joy that He wants us to experience day to day. We said bye to two
precious beloved women from our group. The first one was Gabby Mata. After
praying for a job change, and meeting up with her once a week to study and
pray, the Lord opened a miraculous door for her in the capital to work in a
good library, as a librarian, which is her current major. We were so sad to say
bye but happy to pray for her and trust the Lord’s hand upon her life and she
moved on. I truly miss her! Got to meet up with her in the capital once and see
how she’s doing there and pray for her. Please keep her in prayer, so that she
attends a Bible Teaching church and finds godly friends. The second woman that
we said bye to was Odelva. Remember the wedding we had back in March? Well,
they got to build a house in Buenos Aires, and they moved as a family there end
of November. We miss her too as she usually attended the studies and the church
as well. Please pray for her and her family: Junior, Odelva, Hazel and Josafat,
for God to keep them in His ways and give them a good church where they are. We had our Christmas gathering closing
the year with the women on Dec 7, and got to share some gifts and Christmas
carols. It was a sweet time together !!!!
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| Women's meeting Saying bye to Gabby with the girls! |
Jesus gave me the
chance to visit Fernando every other week at the orphanage, talk to him, become
more of his friend. I shared the gospel with him again and got to pray with him
too. Once, I got permission to take him out of the orphanage, and we went to
town, had fun, got him some shoes and then went to the mall to play and have
“taco Bell” that he had never had
before. My heart grew for this boy and my prayer became stronger for him. Thank
God his dad came to visit him several times in these past months, and he would
often say he wanted to go home. When December came, I ran into one of the
caretakers at the orphanage and she said, Fernando’s dad got the custody to
take him back home the night of his graduation. I got mixed feelings: He wanted
to go home so bad, but I would not get to see him anymore and had to give him
all to Jesus.
The Lord prepared my heart and so the evening of Dec 11, I got to
attend his school graduation, give him a little gift and pray for him and see
him go off with his dad, after the ceremony! He was the only indigenous boy in
his class so you could notice him easily! He said bye to his friends from
school and to the boys at the orphanage too !!!! My prayer is that the seed that was planted in his heart and
the love of Jesus that he saw and felt, brings forth fruit in him in the years
to come. He has a Bible to read, and I know that the Lord is with him. Let’s
pray for his protection, and for his teenage years that are at the doorstep! I
also pray his dad has a more active role in his life and takes good care of
him, I actually pray that the Lord gets a hold of his dad, and that he gets
saved soon !!! Prayer is a
powerful tool !!! He’s in the Lords hands now and on!.
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| A day out with Fernando !!!! We got to have Taco Bell !!!! A full adventure !!!! |
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| Fernando feeling pretty accomplished at his graduation ! He got spiky hear, a present and pix !!! = ) |
GOOD NEWS: I’M
ENGAGED AND SOON TO BE MARRIED !!! PRAISE JESUS !!!
As many of you
already know, Luis proposed to me on September 21st, and so we got
engaged full of peace and confirmation and started to pray for God’s will
uniting us soon as a couple for Him and His service! Even though my heart has
been poured in San Isidro and I love the people and ministry God has given me
here so much, I can feel the work of God moving my heart closer and closer to
Luis’s heart and aligning us to become a family, which implies for me moving to
Heredia, close to the Capital and leaving this ministry. It’s God’s timing and
His timing is perfect indeed!!!! Both of us have so much peace about this step
of faith and we see God’s hand before us, opening the way for a life together,
and confirmed with our pastors, leaders and families too. We have been getting
premarital counseling from his pastor, Jose Carrasco, senior pastor of the
Calvary Chapel in Heredia, town where Luis lives, works as an engineer and also
serves. The wedding will be on January 25th in Guatemala!!! I know
it's sounds soon however, we both know it's God's leading for us to get married
in January 2014. Please support me in prayer for the wedding, and also for this
big transition for me, as I will be moving to Heredia (small town next to San
Jose, the capital of Costa Rica) and as I’m praying for God’s new purposes and
leading there in terms of my new family and the ministry opportunities He has
at the Calvary there, and even in terms of outreach!!!! Nothing is clear or
defined yet to me, all I know is that He’s leading me to get married and move
there. By faith, He will show His way, and is providing for me a good husband
that loves Him with all of His heart, that leads me to love Christ and His word
more and that wants to serve His people. What else can I ask for? I feel so so
blessed and grateful with the Lord, for the gift of marriage with Luis in Him
!!! Please lift us up in prayer during this season of change and transition !!!
We truly appreciate it !!!
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| The day we got engagged !!!! This is THE rock , hehehe ! Together in Guatemala ! |
TRANSITION IN
MINISTRY….
In terms of
ministry in San Isidro, I have already turned over the church plant women’s
ministry completely to the team of missionary women serving here, led by Annie
Torres. They all have great relationships with the local women and girls and
will keep on edifying and serving them. They will be taking turns next year to
teach through the gospel of Mathew so let’s keep them in prayer!!!! During the
past two months, I have been meeting to pray and train two locals to take over
children’s ministry: Yuli and Silvia! They both love the kids so so much and
have a calling to teach them the word of God! It’s been so comforting and
encouraging to see the Lord raising locals to keep on serving in kid’s
ministry, as the church plant grows!!! Please let’s keep Yuli and Silvia in
prayer, for the Spirit to lead them and use them with these wonderful kids !!!!
= ( I will miss the kids so so much !!!!!
Regarding the Bible College, I have already turned the financial side
over to Vanessa, my friend and missionary serving here, and the “Dean of Women”
role to Shaviane, the girl intern that served the Bible College girls with me
for a year, became and close friend, grew so much in leadership that fits so
well this role for the upcoming year !!!! As you and I see, it’s the Lord’s
chess and Him, moving every piece in His time to His ministry!!!! My heart is
full of mixed feelings as you can imagine! I am so so grateful for the ministry
and personal growth that my Lord has given here for a year and a half already,
He’s been so faithful and all the Praise and Glory goes to Him alone !!!!
Thanks for being a part of all His doing here and for your prayers !!!! As I
move on to a new place and a new personal situation next year, I pray for His
leading, and for Him to determine the way He wants me to serve Him, and serve
His people !!!
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| Beloved Yuli ! She's a servant ! Next to me, Shavi and Silvia, will miss them much! |
Thanks so much for reading this update and keeping in
touch, and thanks so much for your prayers and support so far to my service to
the Lord and His people in San Isidro Costa Rica. It’s a joy to serve Jesus always!!!
As my situation and my role is changing, please continue to keep me in prayer
and I will inform you what the Lord shows early next year!!! Continue to seek His will and serve Him
every day, wherever you are !!!
In my Savior’s
love,
Merry Christmas to You and A Blessed New Year in Jesus' love, joy and peace !!!!
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