San Jose

the last night in berlin couldn't have been better... except maybe if i had more time to say goodbyes...
thank you to everyone who has shown me kindness and given me great friendships.

also... thank you all you have been praying for me.
i am in san jose, costa rica right now... suffering just a bit from jet lag... it should be about 04:00 with me cozy in bed, dreaming about happy fluffly clouds with vw buses... but i am joined with 8 others, trying to stay awake until at least 20:00 (9:00 pm) to get over this travelers trouble.

we left berlin early friday and arrived in new york (newark, nj) about 9 hours later.. with every moment, me growing restless because i am leaving a city i love, to another part of the world i know God wants me... however.. God has blessed me so much as i have obeyed, so it seems it would be wise to listen to Him..... eh?

i was encouraged to find out that i owe less money than i thought i did... but the total is still $1731.70...
i was blessed that the staff here are choosing to believe with me that God will bring the money in... He has brought in the entire lecture phase amount... and allowed me to come on the outreach.
i am more than blessed...
i have mentioned it.. but it is super important that i complete the outreach phase to, or i can not graduate dts. i do believe God has called me to germany longterm, and in order to continue working with ywam, i must first complete a dts....
thank you all again so much for prayers. i would not be this far without them.
and God hears them. He hears our hearts... our prayers... and answers them even before we are finished asking. HALLELUJAH.

when we were leaving new york, the weather turned wet, and we sat in the airplane for 4 hours.. with a 4.5 hour flight sitting ahead of us... needless to say.. we were tired, sore and anxious.
i do believe God got us here at the time He did with reason. i would rather be late than outside of His grace...
we arrived in san jose at midnight and about three hours later (11:00 berlin time) finally slept.

this place is different.. but i don't feel like i am here yet. we haven't had much interaction with locals yet, so tomorrow after church may be different.. wir werden sehen was passiert. we will see.

Lord, may we gain Your heart for the people here.
let Your will be done.

it is hard learning spanish and german at the same time.. can't say i have really put much effort into spanish just yet... that will change.
this week we will help at a sport arena... maintanence.. and yard work stuff... then work at a school... saturday we have a fussball match with some locals... GO BERLIN! (we, the dts team)
then next weekend we go to a city on the coast for ministry. a week from wednesday... i hear we will have the opportunity to hang with some surfers and skaters at a christian surfers place... i look forward to thrashing a half-pipe with some costa ricans for the Lord!
at the end of next week, we meet up with the ywam base from costa rica... and will see what happens after.

as for here... it breaks my heart when i see beggers and homeless sleeping on cardboard in the middle of the city. please pray for this. we were told that this place is nothing compared to some of the posperity in nicaragua... so i can only imagine it getting much more heart wrenching.
they need prayer.. and to know they are not forgotten... they are not unloved... and that they have a kingdom... a hope... a future.
Father... may Your will be done. please... hear their cries.. and be quick to respond. send more workers.

i trust You Father.
in Your sons name.. the same Son You sent to die for us... when we were at our worst...
AMEN

thank you again for all your prayers... and i encourage you to continue to.
i expect this outreach to only get more real as we witness injustice and pain.

i shall keep you updated though.

much love and blessings...

israel