Day 6 - Serving with YWAM

Today we woke up and had breakfast then headed to YWAM San Jose to help with some projects on their property. YWAM (Youth With a Mission - https://ywam.org ) is a para-church organization that trains and sends out youth (typically college aged students) on missions trips all over the world (over 180 countries). YWAM students typically do a 3 month DTS (Discipleship Training School) then they are sent on a two month mission somewhere around the world. I (Clausen) have served at the San Jose YWAM base in the past, so when our clinic today was changed due to COVID concerns, we got in touch with YWAM and they said they definitely needed help with some projects. It ended up working out perfectly and honestly felt like God’s perfect plan for us to be there today. YWAM San Jose recently purchased a new property and they are in the process of a major remodel and many building projects. Their dream is to be the home base for all the YWAM bases in Central America and will be hosting several leadership trainings for YWAM leaders all over the world in the next few months. They are in the process of building tiny homes for staff, students, and teams like our own to stay on the property in the future. 

When we arrived at the base we got a short introduction to what YWAM is and then we split into five groups to work all over their 14 acre property. 

• Team 1 - Paint Crew - Carolyn, Keira, Alena, Kate, Korah, Kalei, Jose, Dylan - YWAM just finished repurposing old shipping containers into a beautiful new office building. Our paint crew helped to finish of some of the painting by spraying down all the beams with anti-rust spray then painting them with a dark paint. This required a lot of work on the ladder and apparently we almost had an accident (Dylan), but he was saved! 
• Team 2 - Woodworking Crew - Señora Harrison & Andre - Because they are building all of these tiny homes they need beds to furnish them. Andre and Señora worked on sanding down bed frames and varnishing them to be used in the tiny homes that are currently under construction. Andre and Senora also were able to work with one of the YWAM staff - Isaac, who they throughly enjoyed talking to. 
• Team 3 - Rake Crew - Grant, Riley, Cooper - This team was driven down the hill and worked on cleaning out all of the drainage ditches of leaves and debris all over campus. They filled many many wheelbarrows full and worked hard today - until they got distracted by Canela, the YWAM dog. 
• Team 4 - The Muscles - BT, Ronny, Brenden - This team loaded and unloaded the YWAM truck several times moving furniture and other items all over the campus. They moved an unbelievable amount of doors, supplies for the mini houses, a sink, and more! 
• Team 5 - The Mower - Hannah - They asked for one student to volunteer to mow and figured they would only get a small patch done - not only did Hannah volunteer, but she finished the entire yard! I can’t tell you how big this space was, how hard Hannah worked, or how dirty she was at the end of it! MVP of the day! 

We were able to have a short break around 10 AM where we had bananas, cakes, and coffee with some of the YWAM staff - it was very interesting to learn about everybody’s different roles, how long they have been serving, and where they were all from. We met some missionaries from Switzerland, Brazil, Nicaragua, and the U.S. Later in the day we also were served lunch in their newest building - Pura Vida hall. Most of the students said that lunch was filled with some really great conversation. 

After leaving the YWAM base some boys (hint hint - Dylan and Jose) begged for us to stop at McDonald’s, so we indulged and grabbed a second lunch on the way home. We spent about an hour showering and watching the big soccer game between Real Madrid and PSG - much to Ronny’s dismay, Real Madrid won and Ronny was heartbroken. 

We all got changed and headed into downtown San Jose to visit the souvenir market where many of our students got matching items. Next, we stopped at the Rodriguez family’s favorite coffee shop - Kaffa Cafe - where we spent some time fellowshipping and enjoying some delicious treats. Some of you should expect coffee to be brought home by your students! Finally, we headed home for a late night dinner and debrief. We will share more about devotions tomorrow because they were two of the best on the trip so far (led by Keira and Carolyn). 

Thoughts from Debrief:

• Cooper - At lunch Riley and I sat with Isaac from Norway. He has lived on base for 6 months and we got to learn a lot about his experience. He’s only 21, but it felt like he was well beyond his years. It was just convicting that he is living for such a bigger purpose. Senora & Andre also talked to Isaac during woodworking and mentioned they loved his take on his relationships. He loves his friends from home, but realized it was an unhealthy relationship once he moved away. When he left, he realized his friends were toxic and not helping him make good decisions in life. He’s trying to be more righteous in his relationship with Christ and had to put some distance between him and his friends. They also mentioned he grew up in the church but he came to a point he realized there had to be more, so he asked God for more. He knew he was going to move to Costa Rica, then God opened the door for him to move through YWAM. That’s when his religion turned into a relationship. 
• Korah - Shared that it was so cool to learn about YWAM as an organization. At lunch Korah and Carolyn were talking about how it made them think that going to college right after high school is not the only option. Sometimes it feels like at Valley through CCL and courses were we’re forced into going to college right after graduation, but this opened their eyes to the idea that not everyone has to follow the same plan. Clausen added that gap years are increasing in popularity and mentioned it’s so hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life at 18! College, while a great option, and necessary for most, is not the only option. She also mentioned that the next six years, especially the transition from High School to college then college to the work force is going to be the time where they have the most freedom to try new things! Just think about it and pray about it - maybe taking a mission trip, maybe trying living somewhere else for a time - this is the time where they have the least responsibility and most flexibility! 
• Carolyn - Gave a shoutout to Hannah for being the MVP and mowing the entire lawn!! She also mentioned conversations today were REALLY good amongst the team - at lunch, on the bus, and devos - it was a great day of deep conversation!
• Keira - She mentioned that she has a lot of respect for the students & staff who gave up their life at home and completely abandoned the traditional way of doing life in America to have a bigger purpose.
• Harrison - I just love doing this with you guys. I sometimes think I could be at home doing something else, but I am just so glad to be here with you. Just seeing your expressions when you see and experience different things - it fills my cup.
• Kalei - Can’t forget that the views at the YWAM base were incredible and we loved seeing all the cows today. 
• Clausen - I got to spend a lot of time with Maddie, one of the YWAM staff, and I was just so inspired by her. She is my same age and two years ago was living in Switzerland as a flight attendant - her company sent her to Costa Rica on a service project where she met people from YWAM, that turned into her visiting more, and now she is part of YWAM full time. I was so inspired by her trust in the Lord and the fact that she gave up her comfortable life to be part of this ministry where she has to raise support. I am definitely going to keep in touch with her because if felt like a God-ordained meeting. We are definitely going to serve with YWAM on future Engage trips and HPS is going to send other groups there to serve as well. Today went exactly as it was supposed to go - even though we had a change of plans and weren’t able to do everything we initially planned on doing. 

Praises:

• Meeting the YWAM staff, them having work for us to do, and us having a small part in helping their ministry and furthering what the Lord is using them to do for Costa Rica and Central America in general.

Prayer Requests:

• Tomorrow we have a LONG day of clinics ahead of us. We will be leading volleyball clinics in the morning followed by basketball clinics in the afternoon. As we head into the tail end of our trip, we just are praying for extra endurance and energy so we can give these kids our best! 

And a funny prayer request: 

• Recovery for Jose - after eating 2 milkshakes and puking - he and Brenden had the great idea to say they thought they could beat the bus up the farm hill - we warned them about how steep and long that hill was, but they continued to make a bet. Clausen would pay them each $5 if they beat the bus, if the bus beat them the girls get to wax a strip of hair off their legs. Let the picture below inform you of how that bet went….we will be buying waxing strips on Friday morning :)