VCHS Engage: COSTA RICA

It's been two months since we left for Costa Rica! It feels like it's time to finally reflect on our incredible time together!  Every year the video seems to get longer, but we don't want to forget any of the fun moments we had on the trip.  Every year we are also very particular about the music used in the video, because music is tied so strongly to memories, so this year we have four songs: Tengo Musica Por Dentro - Cielo  This song was requested by Senora Harrison's sister - we LOVE the chorus "God put the rhythm in me, the joy of my heart. How am I going to hide it if I'm free, yes, I am free." Jubileo (Aqui Hay Libertad) - New Wine This song was requested by Senora Harrison's sister - we love all of the lyrics, which say "Freedom is in this place. It's the year of jubilee. There is no more captivity. There's freedom, there's freedom. You've changed my mourning into dancing, you've given me joy." Kesi - Camilo This son

As we travel home today, each student is writing up their final thoughts on the trip. Please read them! Thank you so much to all of the donors for investing in our trip and in our kids - we truly couldn’t have done this without you. I think your investment in their lives is going to pay dividends in the future! Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for us on this trip - there were so many amazing things that happened (negative covid tests, connecting with YWAM, power and water coming back on, Korah feeling better, and more). We believe in the power of prayer and know that this trip was covered in it. Thank you to all of the students on our trip - you guys served your best all week and made it so enjoyable for us as chaperones! Thank you to God for being faithful and providing and comforting and being worthy of praise at all time and in all places. Brenden - At the beginning of this trip I was second guessing myself and saying I did not want to come on this trip. I ended up being

Last night was such a late night debriefing, that we had to wait to include this information in today’s summary. We finished up our devotions on love last night and spend some time going around the circle letting each other know what it is we’ve loved about each person on this trip. While not everyone is a Words of Affirmation person, we thought it would be important to give everyone a put up while we were together one last night…  Kate Cooper - Kate and Korah killed it in volleyball and it was fun to watch Kalei - Both Kate and Korah did a great job keeping up with the Costa Rican girls in the volleyball game Harrison - Kat is so gifted in what you do, it’s like there’s no effort, it just looks natural. What’s better is that there’s no boasting, you just go out and do it. Andre - Very good with the clinics and teaching.  Clausen - Kate has the sweetest spirit. While she is an incredible gifted athlete, she’s also just a great human. So sweet, such a servant, and a friend to all. So gl

  Love Always Trusts - Cooper Cooper shared Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.” Cooper shared a story of a tightrope walker who walked across the rope and everyone cheered, then he walked across the rope with a wheelbarrow and everyone cheered, then he asked everyone if they trusted him and they cheered, yes! Until he asked one of them to get inside the wheelbarrow. How often do we say we trust God, but are not willing to get inside the wheelbarrow? Even if we’ve seen him come through over and over (like the tightropes), we sometimes doubt he’s going to come through for us in the moment. Cooper gave an example of us trusting in Limon, when our whole day changed and we just had to trust God to redeem that day and make it valuable. He also shard Psalms 91:2 - “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” The next time we go astr

  Love Rejoices with the Truth - Hannah Hannah led this devotion and was glad she had “Rejoices with the truth” because Joy is her favorite fruit of the Spirit and one she demonstrates well. She shared 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Hannah shared that sometimes we focus on finding God’s will in our life, but his will is for us to rejoice always. ALWAYS. Do we have a spiritual joy inside of us all the time? That doesn’t mean we’re happy all the time. Happy and joy aren’t synonymous. Happiness is temporary - a feeling. Joy is an attitude - an action. We have to choose joy. She also shared Psalms 16:11 “In your presence there is fullness of joy.” This summer Hannah did a word study on Joy in the Bible and looked up everywhere that joy was mentioned. She had this verse written on her board because it reminded her that nothing can give her joy except for being in Christ’s presence

Today we headed out to visit the Widow’s Ministry that we support every year. On our way, we stopped by Maxi Pali to purchase groceries for the widows. We purchased 17 of each of the following items: Rice, Beans, Flour, Salt, Sugar, Oil, Masa, Toilet Paper, Tuna, Bread, Milk, and maybe a few more items. We packaged those items into bags to give away, then drove to the church to meet with the Mom and son who run the widows ministry. In the past, we have always visited the Bethesda House for this project, but because of COVID, the Widow’s Ministry had to move to an area that had more space, so they moved to a church location. When we got there we were given a brief history of the neighborhood by Dona Luisa’s son, who informed us that this is one of the poorest neighborhoods in San Jose, one filled with lots of crime - drugs, prostitution, etc. Many fathers are missing from the picture, which is why the widow’s ministry is so important. He explained the importance of having a safe place f