Pictures!!!!!

We finally have some semi fast internet so I thought I would attempt to post some pictures! :)

Flying into Cost Rica

Wordless bracelets the first day of ministry

Mariah teaching the kids how to play American 'Futbol'

Cody and Steve playing some costa rican 'futbol'

Swimming hole with vines as rope swings

The houses the men live in that are in the rehab program. The building farthest back (straight) is the back end of the church)

Chris stripping logs with a machette

Where we started....

Before swinging from the vine into the river!

progress on the new house we're building for the rehab program.

Crocodile infested river and boat ride! It was beautiful out!

Monkeys!

One of many crocodiles!

Progress on the house!

Ministry today in Crystal Ray

Craft Time

I will try and upload some more pictures at a later time but this is all i have time for!! Hope you enjoy them!!

Ministry in San Jose

Hello Family and Friends,

What a wonderful week it has been and it only continues to get better.

We all had a blast yesterday on our fun day in the rain forest. We had an eventful boat ride down the crocodile infested river where we saw lots of wildlife including all sorts of birds, reptiles, monkeys, wild horses, and of course crocodiles!! It could not have been a more beautiful day as well. We had rain everyday for the most part this week with clouds and a cool wind, and then yesterday was sunshine and no clouds!! We could not have been more lucky! After surviving the fear of heights, everyone highly enjoyed the zip line. Gliding through the jungle on a single cord was such a thrill for everyone. After doing that, we were able to see some poisonous snakes, and beautiful poisonous frogs. We also were able to go horseback riding which was a great unplanned activity. By the time we finished for the day, we returned back to our hotel in Sarapaqui to pack up our luggage on the bus. We then drove to the church where we had been doing ministry to see the progress on the house in the last 24 hours. We were all so encouraged to see the house take form with the front wall of the house up. We then said our goodbyes to Rodrigo and his wife Aydee (i-day = phonetic spelling) for the last time and many tears were shed.

We finally got to San Jose where were checked into a quaint Bed and Breakfast hotel. Everyone fell quickly asleep after our debriefing time.

Today was our first day of ministry in San Jose at the new church branch. It was the first day of VBS with the children and we had so much fun. The kids were absolutely precious and on several occasions the youth were stating how they were going to pack one of the children in their carry-ons and bring them home with them!! After playing Whale and fish (sharks and minnows), we sang worship songs in Spanish with the children. It was neat to see our youth leading the children in songs and even getting into the hand motions. After singing, Brandon gave a message on Jonah and the whale (hence the game connection), and the kids were highly interactive and so much more attentive than the day of ministry we had earlier in the week at another location. It was encouraging to everyone to see the bonds forming already in just a few hours.

Today was a relaxing but rewarding day. After we finished the minstry time at the church we had the next several hours to ourselves. The majority of the group walked around the city just to experience culture. This immersion was invigorating as well as educational. Those of us that went, walked with our intern Martha to her apartment where we rested before walking back (and of course had to make a pit stop for icecream!)

After the adventures we all headed back to the B&B where most of the team took naps before we headed out to see the coffee shop that Chuck and Robby (The Missionaries stationed here), are starting as a ministry. Martha graduated from culinary school specializing in pasteries, and American pasteries will be served at this coffee shop as well as the coffee. We visited the location tonight to see the progress on the construction. Everything is almost complete and it is absolutely beautiful. We are now at Chuck and Robby's house for an American dinner. Most of the youth were thrilled to not be eating rice and beans again as Costa Rican's eat them with literally every meal (breakfast included).

Tomorrow we will be doing our second day of VBS at the church in Crystal Ray where we were at today. Pray that the Lord uses our team to impact these children and other people we come into contact with. The focus of ministry tomorrow will be on following Jesus and being obedient to His calling. We want to stress that all people, no matter your race, where you're from, who your family is - you are called by God, and He wants you to follow Him. We are all God's children and even if you mess up terribly or have made some bad decisions, God still loves you just as much and still wants you to follow Him. So we are very excited for our ministry tomorrow with los ninos (the kids), so please remember to keep us in your prayers from 10-12ish.

After our time of ministry tomorrow we will be doing our souvenir shopping downtown San Jose. We are all excited for interaction with the locals, and to barter for our purchases! :)

On Sunday, after going to 2 church services (one of which Brandon will be preaching at so keep him in your prayers), we will be doing our third day of VBS with the children in Crystal Ray. This is the day that we will be doing the wordless bracelets about salvation. We're hoping that our youth can continue to progress in their great impact with these children who just love them.

Hopefully I will have another opportunity to blog again on Sunday evening when we are back at Chuch and Robby's for a final dinner with them before leaving Monday.

A couple prayer requests:

For safety while doing ministry
For God's providence and hand in our ministry
For rest as some exhaustion is starting to set in
For life changing experiences for the youth to remember
For the experiences the youth have had here to impact their personal relationships with Jesus Christ so that growth in their spiritual lives are seen, and that they continue to grow after returning home.

We thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support.
We are all so blessed and lucky to have this opportunity and are all falling in love with Costa Rica quite quickly.

Until next time,

The Team

The end to a new beginning.....

Hello All,

We have reached the end of our time in Sarapaqui. Tomorrow morning we pack up and head back to San Jose for our VBS ministry Friday - Sunday.

I just wanted to give you all a short recap of  what has been going on so far as the Lord has been doing some great things through our youth.

Last night when we returned to the church for Dinner, Rodrigo showed us a video of a prison ministry him and his wife take part in. They had just gained access to a new prison 22 days ago and already have had 15 baptisms with the men in this particular prison. Rodrigo shared of his passion for ministry, and his calling by God. Everyone was touched and greatly moved by his story.

Every night after we finish our day and wind down we have a debriefing time. During this we discuss passages that we have been studying every morning in devotions and also partake in a 'bead service'. During this time the youth and leaders have the opportunity to give out beads to other team members. There are 6 different beads. They are: Service, Selflessness, Patience, Encouragement, Joy and courage. We have asked everyone to be attentive to their teammates throughout each day so that they can give beads for certain acts of courage or selflessness, (etc), that's demonstrated throughout the day. This has been an encouraging part of everyone's day as we all lift eachother up. Everyone is quickly collecting a long string of beads that they will forever keep as a reminder of their ministry in Costa Rica.

We woke up bright and early this morning to get a head start on our construction project. Our goal was to atleast finish the skeleton of the house, as well as the concrete inside of it by the time we left Sarapaqui. After a really long day of working, we finally finished it all. All the youth, leaders, locals, and men (living in the homes that we're building) all worked really hard all day long to accomplish our task at hand. We had a 12 hour work day that continued well after it was dark. It is neat to see the relationships that our youth are building with the missionaries, locals, and men in the program as they work everyday. It was quite a sad evening tonight after dinner when we all had to say our final goodbye's to everyone we had been working with. Everyone made sure to take lots of pictures, and give multiple hugs with the exchange of the words 'God bless you' that was taught to the men in the rehab program this week. To hear the words "God bless you" come out of the mouth of one of the men who claims atheism was such a joy and gave great hope to everyone who had been sharing their faith.

No one ever realized how much work it takes to build a house from scratch with little to no tools. So many of the youth were saying how glad they were that this was not the case in the United States. Even though there was a big language barrier, the youth and the locals were still able to communicate enough to understand eachother. Although it can get quite frustrating, both the locals and the youth were trying to learn the language of the other and it was surprisingly a success. This was definitely thanks to God, and of course our wonderful interpreters Miriam and Martha.

In the last blog I stated how there was a little bit of home-sickness and by that I mean that everyone is sick of home and are all stating that they never want to leave Costa Rica! :)  Even those who were hesitant to go to a new country are so sad that this week is passing by quickly.

Everyone is very excited for our fun day tomorrow. We will be taking a trip into the rain forest to go on a boat ride down crocodile infested waters, and then will be going through a zipline course in the rainforest. When we found out how much time and money it would take to go to the beach for our fun day, they all voted for the boat ride and zipline.

Please remember to keep us in your prayers tomorrow that there would be no injuries, and that we would all be able to relax, wind down and enjoy some time away from 12 hour work days. Friday morning we will be diving right in to our childrens ministry and everyone is so excited for some interaction with the locals.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. We all feel so lucky to have this opportunity, and only wish we could share it all with you.

Until next time,

The Team

A Busy Couple of Days!

Hola! Buenas Tardes!

Hello and good afternoon from Costa Rica.

I want to apologize for the lack of blog posts on here. We have not had access to a computer and consequently couldnt update the blog. Furthermore, the internet is really slow, so I am not sure I will be able to upload any pictures at this time until we get back to San Jose on Thursday.

We have had such a wonderful few days here in Sarapaqui. After leaving San Jose on Saturday we had a nice 3 hour long drive to get to our first destination and place of ministry. We all settled in quietly at the hotel and quickly fell asleep.


The whole team, leaders included, have all been experiencing some major culture shock, especially with this being the first time for most students to visit another country. Every person has been such a joy and so polite. We have had lots of first time events for almost all the youth and it has been such a blessing for the leaders to watch all the youth go through these experiences. Thank you to all the family and friends who have written letters. They are much appreciated as a little bit of homesickness is starting to set in.

Sunday morning we all woke up bright and early and headed into one of the small cities to do a childrens church ministry instead of attending church. This day was such a blessing to all of us. We were able to participate in a mix of things. Some of our youth including Steve and Derek were having a blast playing soccer with all of the little children. When it came time for the lesson, all the youth were able to take part in helping the children draw pictures of the world as Brandon taught about Jesus loving people from all nations all over the world.
After this time of preaching from Brandon, Nate and Mackenzie went on to lead the message on the wordless bracelet as Miriam did a wonderful job translating. It was so incredibly neat to see all of the other youth mingle with the children and parents as they helped in making their wordless salvation bracelets. The kids seem to be quite taken with our youth, although it didnt hurt that we were passing out suckers, and balloon animals. Chris, Mackenzie, Drew, and others did a great job at keeping all those that attended entertained with the balloon animals. They were a HUGE hit with everyone!

We came to learn, that here in Sarapaqui, we are working with the local church here whom has started a ministry. They started a drug and alcohol rehab facilitation for men. The men actually live in small houses right behind the church and live there until they are through the program. Our construction projects this week are to build another house so there is another spot for one more person to enter the program.We have been able to meet a good amount of the men going through the program and it has been so neat to see the youth be a light to them as they share God´s love through their actions.

We have had some fun times hiking through the jungle to a river with a vine as a rope swing!! After many backflips, frontflips, and an assortment of other tricks, everyone returned back to the hotel safely. Laughter has been our main form of communication between the team this week. Our team was definitely ordained by God, and are thankful that we have such a solid team.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Sarapaqui and we will hopefully be done with the house by then. Thursday morning we get up and drive into the Rainforest for our ¨fun day¨, along with shopping in the  city.
I will probably not be able to send another blog update until we are back in San Jose. So be checking back Thursday or Friday for updates and pictures.
Sorry this has not been as strong of a communication tool as we were hoping. I will try and upload some pictures at a different time when the upload time doesnt take 8 minutes and 27 seconds for each picture like it does now.

Prayer Requests -

Courage and clarity for the youth as they are asked to share their testimonies this week.
No rain so we can finish the construction on the house.
Safety during our excursions.
Health - no sickness
That we would be able to put the people of Costa Rica as priority over the projects.

Here is a preview of pictures to come!! The word-less bracelets have been a big hit already!!

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts!
Love you all,
-The Youth and Leaders

Hello from Costa Rica!

Hello family and friends!

We made it!!

Just wanted to send a quick message out to let you all know that your prayers for safe and easy travel were most appreciated as the Lord watched out for us all.

We landed in Costa Rica around 1:30 p.m. Costa Rica time. Everything went smoothly with customs and with no problems. We had our first Costa Rican meal (with pictures to come later!). We are currently hanging out at the house of the Pastor here in San Jose.

We are getting ready to leave their house to pick up Miriam from the airport, and then head on up the mountain to Sarapaqui!! All the youth are so relieved to finally be here and a little bit exhausted (understandably).

Continue to keep us in your prayers as we settle in tonight at the hotel, and get up tomorrow for our first day at VBS with the kids!! Cant wait to share pictures and stories with you all.

Thanks again for all your prayers!!

~ Lauren and the team

The Countdown is Over!!!!

All the bags are packed and tagged with bright orange ribbons, forms and passports have been turned in, crafts have been organized, and the last training session has been completed - Now what??

Tomorrow morning at 5am, Brandon and I will be meeting the team at the church to pack up and head to the Pittsburgh Airport to fly out to Costa Rica (and meet up with Miriam). We all can't believe that its finally here.

At our last training session Thursday night all the youth were saying how we can't believe after all this preparation, it is finally time to leave. We played the "one-word game" where each person has to use one word to describe how they are feeling right now about the trip and no one can use the same word as someone else. As the fears and excitements were mentioned we also got words like 'ready', and 'prepared' from our youth. This was of great encouragement to Brandon and I as we also believe the teens are prepared and ready for this awesome journey ahead of us. We cannot wait to see what awesome things the Lord will put into our paths as we follow God's direction to Costa Rica.

We are so thankful for all of the families and friends that have supported each and every one of us going on this trip. It is your generous giving, and your constant prayers that has enabled us to have this opportunity. We cannot wait to share with you what your support has done, and the people it has impacted. 

The devil is already making plans to try and get in the way of what the Lord has planned. Thankfully we all know that we have a God that is bigger and more powerful than all of that! To God be the glory in all that takes place!!

Until we land in Costa Rica,

Thanks again,

The Team

Meet the Team!

The plane tickets have been bought so the team is finally set. Lets meet the 9 youth and 3 leaders who will be going on this trip that you have been supporting through your financial and prayer supports.

LEADERS:

Brandon Nutter

Brandon is the Youth Pastor at First Alliance Church in New Castle Pennsylvania. He has a heart for missions and a desire to be used by God. He is a die hard Michigan fan, and also loves the Cleveland Browns. He has an obsession with old books, especially ones that are of spiritual guidance. He has been married for almost ten years (anniversary takes place while we're in Costa Rica) to his beautiful wife Bethany. They have three children: Drew, Ben, and their newest, Lily, who was born on his birthday.





 Lauren Nutter

Lauren is Brandon's youngest sister. She graduated from Liberty University with a Communications degree specializing in Public Relations and Advertising. She is currently attending Cedarville University where she will be graduating with a second Bachelors degree in Social Work. Lauren has a heart for missions, and loves working with children and youth. Lauren's favorite color is blue and she is most looking forward to working with the children and people of Costa Rica.



 
Miriam Zepeda

Miriam is going into her Sophomore year at Azusa Pacific University where she is studying International Relations and Spanish. Miriam is our fluent Spanish speaker going on the trip with us this year. She loves the beach, her friends, and can't wait to be in Costa Rica ministering to the locals.

 YOUTH:

Cody Blair

Cody just graduated from Laurel High School where he was on Prom Court, voted class clown and most changed. In his free time he loves shooting baskets, going fishing and hanging out with family and friends. Cody is planning to attend ITT Tech for architectural drafting. The thing he is most excited about on the trip is interacting with the team and having a good time filled with lots  of laughs.



Mariah Burns

Mariah just graduated from Wilmington Area High school. She Played soccer, basketball, and ran in track. She was in peer leadership and FCA at her school. She loves to teach herself songs on the piano and her favorite colors are pink and orange. Hanging out with family and friends are her favorite past times. The thing she is looking forward to most on this trip is simply interacting with the people in Costa Rica while interacting with the rest of the team.




Mackenzie Hiers

Mackenzie just graduated from Wilmington Area High School where she played soccer, basketball and softball. She is also a member of NHS and peer leadership. She loves going on vacation, laying by the pool, and dreams of going to Greece one day. Her favorite color is purple. Mackenzie is a veteran on this trip as she went last year. The things Mackenzie is most excited about this trip is meeting new people, experiencing new culture, growing closer as a group, and seeing what awesome things the Lord is going to do.





 Chris Hill

Chris goes to New Castle Jr/Sr High School. His favorite color is blue and he was born on September 2, 1997. Chris has never flown on a plane before so this will be his first exciting experience. The thing Chris is most excited about for the trip is being able to teach people about Jesus.






Briana Lesnett

Briana is 18 years old. She just graduated from Wilmington Area High School where she was involved in tennis, chorus, women's choir, and chambers singers, musicals, plays, and was secretary in ambassadors club. In the fall, Briana is attending South Hills School of Business and Technology to study diagnostic medical sonography. Her favorite color is purple and favorite animal is a giraffe.The things she's looking most forward to is going somewhere new, learning about the people and it's culture, and spreading God's word.   

Derek Nichols

Derek is 15 years old and was born November 23.  Derek attends Wilmington High School. He is involved in peer leadership, baseball, basketball, and soccer at his school. His favorite color is green and is an Eagles fan! The one thing Derek is looking forward to most on this trip is connecting with the kids through Vacation Bible School.




Drew Nichols

Drew just graduated from Wilmington Area High School. He played baseball for his high school and plans to play in college. Drew is attending Geneve College this fall where he will be studying sports management and Business. In High School Drew was also involved in tech crew for the musicals and plays and was a part of NHS, and Peer Leadership. Drew's favorite color is red. The thing Drew is looking forward to most for the trip is growing closer as a youth group and spreading the message of Jesus.










Nate Stevens

Nate is 18 years old and just graduated from Bedford Senior High School. He is attending Monroe County community College in the fall and will be studying Nursing. Nate was involved in wrestling, pole vaulting, and School Bible Study at his high school. This will be his first time over seas, and his first time flying. Nate is also Brandon and Lauren's younger cousin. Nate's favorite color is White. The thing Nate is most excited about for this trip is the opportunity to see what life is like outside of the US as well as meet the people of Costa Rica.





Steve Wolford

Steve is 17 years old. He attends Neshannock High School where he plays soccer and basketball. Steve is also an Eagle Scout and his favorite color is red. The thing Steve is most looking forward to about the trip is experiencing the similarities and differences between the Costa Rican culture, and culture within the United States.





 We all thank you ahead of time for all of your support as it is greatly appreciated. We are all so excited to see what awesome things the Lord does with our group and how he uses us to reach the people of Costa Rica. Please remember to keep us in your prayers. Every so often, a couple of specific prayer requests will be added while we are on the trip that are things we are currently dealing with, so please check back!

We are excited as ever for this opportunity and can't wait to share it all with you.

Love,
The 2012 Costa Rica Team