Hi, thanks for visiting!!
If you want to see videos of what I do 4-6 hours a day, click on the picture of me in class (on the left) and then select a video to watch.
In these videos the classes were about the local church and its role in the community. We talked about serving wholistically, which means serving people in the physical, social, spiritual, and intellectual areas. In other words, not only meeting one need of an individual, but thinking of their needs in all these areas.
If you did not receive an emailed update or had trouble viewing it, please let me know. Thank you and enjoy!!!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Pura Vida!
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
~ Ephesians 2:8-10
In these last few rainy weeks I have had the freedom to spend time working in different areas that I won’t have time for now that the school I am staffing has officially started. I continued working with Metro Ministries, putting on programs for children in poor neighborhoods, continued working in “El Chinamo” and was able to travel a bit in Costa Rica. I have also spent much of this time preparing for the school, making welcome baskets for the students, staff meetings… I also just moved out of my container into a room in the new addition to the base. I am enjoying it quite a bit in my new room!!
Costa Rican Travels
I had the opportunity to go back to Talamanca (this is the jungle/indigenous area of Costa Rica where I did my previous outreach) and visit some of my friends I made during my outreach. It was encouraging to go to the church there and see some new faces in the church and be welcomed back into the community like an old friend.
I also got to go to a wedding in Puerto Viejo, which is in a Caribbean part of Costa Rica. Two of my fellow staff members of the school got married there and it was a beautiful beach wedding.
Foundations in Community Development School (FCD)
The school has officially started, which also means I am officially busy. I am so glad that it has started and am glad to focus on what I came here specifically for. We have ten students in the school. They are from Canada, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the USA. I am staffing the school with two Colombians and three Mexicans. I love the diversity of our group. I also love that I am being stretched in Spanish. All of our staff meetings are in Spanish and I have also started translating. Classes are Monday through Friday in the mornings and afternoons and each week we will have a different teacher with a different topic. This week our topic is Team Dynamics. I am so excited to finally meet our students, hear their stories, and see what God has waiting to teach each of them!
Prayer Requests
• That God would guide me as a leader
• God would speak to the students through this school
• That I would be able to translate well and accept help when needed
• Our staff team would work well together
Thank you for joining me in this school. Through your prayers and encouragement you too, are part of this school and a part of what is happening here. It is always great to hear from you and I hope you are doing well too!!
~ Ephesians 2:8-10
In these last few rainy weeks I have had the freedom to spend time working in different areas that I won’t have time for now that the school I am staffing has officially started. I continued working with Metro Ministries, putting on programs for children in poor neighborhoods, continued working in “El Chinamo” and was able to travel a bit in Costa Rica. I have also spent much of this time preparing for the school, making welcome baskets for the students, staff meetings… I also just moved out of my container into a room in the new addition to the base. I am enjoying it quite a bit in my new room!!
Costa Rican Travels
I had the opportunity to go back to Talamanca (this is the jungle/indigenous area of Costa Rica where I did my previous outreach) and visit some of my friends I made during my outreach. It was encouraging to go to the church there and see some new faces in the church and be welcomed back into the community like an old friend.
I also got to go to a wedding in Puerto Viejo, which is in a Caribbean part of Costa Rica. Two of my fellow staff members of the school got married there and it was a beautiful beach wedding.
Foundations in Community Development School (FCD)
The school has officially started, which also means I am officially busy. I am so glad that it has started and am glad to focus on what I came here specifically for. We have ten students in the school. They are from Canada, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the USA. I am staffing the school with two Colombians and three Mexicans. I love the diversity of our group. I also love that I am being stretched in Spanish. All of our staff meetings are in Spanish and I have also started translating. Classes are Monday through Friday in the mornings and afternoons and each week we will have a different teacher with a different topic. This week our topic is Team Dynamics. I am so excited to finally meet our students, hear their stories, and see what God has waiting to teach each of them!
Prayer Requests
• That God would guide me as a leader
• God would speak to the students through this school
• That I would be able to translate well and accept help when needed
• Our staff team would work well together
Thank you for joining me in this school. Through your prayers and encouragement you too, are part of this school and a part of what is happening here. It is always great to hear from you and I hope you are doing well too!!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Week 3
“The love of Christ controls us, because we know that One died for all, so all have died. Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him.”
~2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NCV
I have been in Costa Rica almost three weeks. I would call these weeks a time of transition, celebration, and serving. God has been so good to me while I have been transitioning to “YWAM base living”. I am living in a container again with a roommate, eating rice and beans daily, and meeting all sorts of new people all the time as new people are always coming and going.
50th Celebration of YWAM
As soon as I arrived at the base we started getting ready for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of YWAM. People from all over Central America and the founders of YWAM came to our base to celebrate. While everyone was here (about 250 people) the founders of YWAM spoke to us about what God has been doing in YWAM and really encouraged us in what God is calling each of us to do. Personally, during this time, I was reminded about the “big picture” of what I am a part of. Going to all nations and spreading the gospel to people of all backgrounds and cultures!!
Serving on and around the Base
One of the things I have been assigned to do is work in the snack shop at the base, which is called El Chinamo. The money that is raised in the little snack shop goes toward paying for electricity, gas for transportation... It gives me the opportunity to meet everyone and everyone knows who I am now that I am “the Chinamo girl”.
I have also volunteered to help with a ministry at the base called Metro Ministries. They take this truck out to two different neighborhoods each week
and put on a little program for the kids in the neighborhood. The kids expect and look forward to the program each week. This weekend in Costa Rica was Mother's Day, so the message for the kids this week was honoring their parents. We open in prayer, sing some songs, and put on a little skit/message.
School of Foundations in Community Development (FCD)
Yesterday was our first official meeting to start planning for the FCD school that starts at the end of September. It got me so excited to start planning and talking to the other staff members about the different responsibilities we each will have. There are three other staff members with me. Kristi is from Mexico and the two others are a couple who is getting married soon from Colombia, Johan and Elsie. As the only English-speaker of the group, my main responsibility will be to translate all the classes. It can be very exhausting to translate, but I am excited to do it and trust that God will give me the ability to do it well.
I want to thank you again for your prayers and support. I know that I could not be doing any of this without the strength that God gives me through your prayers and encouragement. Also, thanks to my home church, financial support is now tax deductible. If you wish to give a tax-deductible donation in the future, you may make a check out to Immanuel Lutheran Church and enclose a note saying the donation is to be used for Elizabeth Koenig's YWAM missions, do not write my name anywhere on the check. The check can be sent directly to the church at: 12760 Lee Road Hinckley, IL 60520.
~2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NCV
I have been in Costa Rica almost three weeks. I would call these weeks a time of transition, celebration, and serving. God has been so good to me while I have been transitioning to “YWAM base living”. I am living in a container again with a roommate, eating rice and beans daily, and meeting all sorts of new people all the time as new people are always coming and going.
50th Celebration of YWAM
As soon as I arrived at the base we started getting ready for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of YWAM. People from all over Central America and the founders of YWAM came to our base to celebrate. While everyone was here (about 250 people) the founders of YWAM spoke to us about what God has been doing in YWAM and really encouraged us in what God is calling each of us to do. Personally, during this time, I was reminded about the “big picture” of what I am a part of. Going to all nations and spreading the gospel to people of all backgrounds and cultures!!
Serving on and around the Base
One of the things I have been assigned to do is work in the snack shop at the base, which is called El Chinamo. The money that is raised in the little snack shop goes toward paying for electricity, gas for transportation... It gives me the opportunity to meet everyone and everyone knows who I am now that I am “the Chinamo girl”.
I have also volunteered to help with a ministry at the base called Metro Ministries. They take this truck out to two different neighborhoods each week
and put on a little program for the kids in the neighborhood. The kids expect and look forward to the program each week. This weekend in Costa Rica was Mother's Day, so the message for the kids this week was honoring their parents. We open in prayer, sing some songs, and put on a little skit/message.
School of Foundations in Community Development (FCD)
Yesterday was our first official meeting to start planning for the FCD school that starts at the end of September. It got me so excited to start planning and talking to the other staff members about the different responsibilities we each will have. There are three other staff members with me. Kristi is from Mexico and the two others are a couple who is getting married soon from Colombia, Johan and Elsie. As the only English-speaker of the group, my main responsibility will be to translate all the classes. It can be very exhausting to translate, but I am excited to do it and trust that God will give me the ability to do it well.
I want to thank you again for your prayers and support. I know that I could not be doing any of this without the strength that God gives me through your prayers and encouragement. Also, thanks to my home church, financial support is now tax deductible. If you wish to give a tax-deductible donation in the future, you may make a check out to Immanuel Lutheran Church and enclose a note saying the donation is to be used for Elizabeth Koenig's YWAM missions, do not write my name anywhere on the check. The check can be sent directly to the church at: 12760 Lee Road Hinckley, IL 60520.
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