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Round Two

Hello all, As I mentioned before I am heading back to Costa Rica for a second year as the Female Student Life Coordinator for the GAP year program through Score International. This past year was challenging for sure which made for an excellent learning and growing experience. There were many highs and lows, but the grace of God was ever present. Through the course of these last nine months, we saw the Lord guide and direct 20 students, 4 interns, and 5 staff members closer to himself. I am beyond thankful for the year the Lord gave us and the students He sent to Costa Rica. I am also very excited for this coming year. I know that the Lord is going before us to send the right students and staff to Costa Rica. This year my role will be very much the same as last year. My ministry has been and is two parts. One is focusing on the GAP students. Second, it is leading a group of students to partner with Salva and Veronica in a town called Los Guido where my team is able to h...

Looking Back and Thinking Forward

Hello Friends and Family! It is that time of year again to make decisions and figure out what next year will look like except... those decisions have already been made for this year... praise God. In August I will be returning to Costa Rica to serve as the Female Student Life Director once again. This year has brought me great joy to serve and disciple students. This year, we have seen 5 of our students commit their lives to Christ and more than that make decisions to re-dedicate themselves to the Lord. In November, nine of our students were baptized. Every day I watch my students discover what it means to die to themselves and choose to live for Jesus instead and to choose to put the needs and desires of others before their own. It meant they needed to choose to serve in their ministries even when they were tired. It meant they they had to choose to work hard in Bible and Spanish classes to the glory of God. It meant that when they were uncomfortable they had to choose an atti...

Campamento 2019

My team and I returned from camp Friday afternoon. We spent the majority of the last two weeks at camp and together learned a lot. It was an incredible time of loving on youth and serving in camp ministry. Both weeks we went to a place called Camp McConnell, but we worked with two different groups. Week one was Campamento Uno 7. We were helping Jordan Segura, one of the missionaries that works with SCORE. He had an incredible group of teens. They participated in the lessons, asked good questions and were willing to help out whenever needed. My team was able to build amazing relationships with the students. I am so proud of them for getting out of their comfort zones by participating in games, sharing their stories, and even leading devotionals. They loved on students well and that was made so evident when it came time to say some difficult goodbyes.  Week two we worked with Salvador, the leader of our ministry group in Los Guido. We had around 16 students come to c...

"Poop-tarts and Pop-tarts"

One semester down and one to go!  Somehow time has flown by. I feel like it was yesterday that we were picking the students up at the airport, but I know so much has happened these past few months. As a house, we have gone through many "poop-tarts and pop-tarts" or highs and lows. There have been unexpected changes along the way and even more unexpected challenges. As a staff, we faced sickness of many kinds. The students have been challenged in their faith and challenged to re-evaluate how they view the world. There has been much growth because of these challenges and I praise God for His faithfulness through it all. Praise God for coffee and friends This semester has consisted of many outings, adventures, classes, and times of fellowship. For example, in the middle of the semester we took a trip to Nicaragua to get our passports stamped. That was a refreshing time spent together outside of the Villa. However, it is guaranteed that there are no guarantees...

Dream Job

Pc: Abby Shaw Hello everyone! It has been a little over a month since I arrived in Costa Rica to serve as the Female Student Life Director for the GAP program. In some ways being here is still surprising because I never imagined I would have the chance to come live here again. In other ways, living in Costa Rica and in the Villa feels absolutely natural; it feels like I am home. In many ways this is my dream job. Starting from 10th grade when I first traveled to Costa Rica I knew I wanted to spend my life traveling and mentoring students. I had no idea what that would look like or that I would end up in Costa Rica. Then not only am I working at GAP, but, I am also continuing to work for Lancaster Bible College as their International Admissions Counselor. God has been so generous.  Our Leadership Team GAP Students 2018-2019 Pictured above is this year's GAP class. The students have been here for three weeks. In those three weeks they have begun...