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Matthew, Mark, Luke & John

November 12th, 2012 No comments

The 4 gospels, together paint a whole.  One gospel is not better than another and one is not more important than another.  Each gospel gives a slightly different camera angle whose perspective helps us get the whole picture.  There’s every kind of famous artwork about each one, because they are all equally needed to understand the good news of Jesus.
And today, we’re the same way.  Ask 4 different people who witness a healing about what they saw, and they’re sure to tell you something different.  Ask 4 different people at the scene of an accident just exactly what occurred, and you’ll get a different tale.
Exactly why is this? Because we are each uniquely created in God’s image and every one of us is different, each person’s perspective is different and the strengths and weaknesses of each person are also just as different.
Each team that works with Harvest Hands is different and they accomplish different things.  Each member of each team is also different.    Scripture tells us in 1st Corinthians:

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

So too, each of the people down here serving as missionaries, staff of the greater Harvest Hand family, which encompasses Viña Anonos and Missio Dei Costa Rica (Rodney & Cindy’s house, the church and Les and Di’s house) have different perspectives about the same thing.  So, there are 3 other blogs you can read from the interns that live with us and I encourage you to do so.  You’ll gain a different perspective, a clearer picture and just an overall better understanding of what God is doing in Los Anonos, Costa Rica.

In alphabetical order – oh, and some of them write frequently and have a lot to say, and others write less often or are more photo bloggers.  Whichever it is, each comes from their uniquely gifted God-perspective.  Please make the decision to take a moment and subscribe to their blogs – read them on your lunch hour or when you have devotional time and please remember … to pray for all of us and the mission here in Los Anonos!  If you’re interested in coming to serve as an intern with this mission for a year, please contact us.  We’ll be happy to talk to you about it and send you an application and some information. We’re accepting application for middle of June 2013 now!

Shannon DeCourcey

Cartas de Amor // Costa Rica

 

 

 

Lindsay Jones

It All Started With A Phone Call

 

 

 

Jessie Morgan

Life Outside the Cookie Cutter

Categories: Missions Stories, Morris Updates, News Updates Tags:

Open Our Eyes

November 8th, 2012 No comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wutmEjdbedE[/youtube]

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ~ John 5: 17-20 NIV

Here are a few things we’ve been seeing in Los Anonos:

  • Healing – we pray every chance we get.  When we meet with folks in the community for any reason, we always ask if we can pray for them and if they have any specific needs. It is amazing to me as a North American, how willing people alwaysare to have us pray for them.  And we SEE God answer our prayers.  Just last night we saw 3 people healed!
    • Tito – injured a tendon in his foot. He has been limping for a number of days. It’s been very painful to do anything, including work.~ Healed!
    • Pino – Sadie’s husband, struggling with infection after gall bladder surgery; the doctors opened the wound and it has to be cleaned out by hand every day.  He’s been in a great deal of pain ~ Healed!
    • Rosio – suffering from really strong pain in her shoulder. A number of us gathered around her and prayed for her.  And what happened? ~ Healed!
    • Sometimes, for instance when we pray for someone to have enough food to eat, it means we have the opportunity to buy them and bless them with food too!

Interestingly,  2 of these people, and this is common, don’t usually come to prayer night.  But when people need healing they come to the church for prayer.  How awesome is that! Is every person healed every time? No.  But we do see healing more often than not seeing it. As the word’s to Chris Tomlin’s song express, “Our God is Healer, awesome in power.”

  • Spiritual Growth – We finished doing Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and have moved on to start Vineyard Bible Institute courses. We are currently doing Breakthroug:  The Nature of the Kingdom by Derek Morphew.  We were including use of the videos, but while some of the students speak English, his South African “accent” made it sound like a completely different language.  Les had to explain every few minutes.  Now, by popular demand, Les is doing the teaching.  The Syllabus material is in English and Spanish.
  • Changing Perceptions – We finished a Sunday series on the Fruit of the Spirit.  We are now teaching on what it means to be The Church.  This is a new concept for many changing the people’s perceptions about what church is really all about.  So far Rodney, David and Diana have taught on this subject.  Les is teaching this week.

All in all, we are asking God to send mature and seasoned workers for ministering to children, and an understanding of the word commitment.  But mostly, we are looking for opportunities to serve, to pray, to love, to pray, to teach and train, and to pray.  Because the truth is, our God IS greater!

God is doing good and even exciting things and we have the privilege of joining Him.  Yet often, there are spiritual attacks too, physical sickness, overwhelming home sickness, just complete exhaustion – between hard work, increased physical labor, sickness, prayer most mornings and everything in Spanish – yup, we’re tired. This is why we are so grateful this week to have had the blessing of having our home church work alongside everyone here, serving both the church and the community. The outdoor church was cleaned, de-mildewed (a constant rainy season battle), repainted,had its outer gate repaired and painted, done community cleanup and de-weeding, laid til in a classroom floor where medical clinics are scheduled to start 2 mornings each week, cleaned up the Planche (outdoor cement area abandoned by the government but used for other purposes and a frequent hangout for addicts) AND did a skateboard demo there, visited many people in the community in their “homes” and PRAYED for them, participated in PRAYER times and a worship night.  These are just a few highlights.  Today, the team is doing massage – thank you Lindsay, our licensed massage therapist and our newest intern and folks are also receiving acupuncture from Dr. Bert Mathieson (whose also our skateboard demonstrator).  Each and every team member has worked hard and PRAYED with and for people frequently and shown abundant love.  Saturday night this week is our normal worship (in Spanish) night, but we’re inviting people to come and be prayed for for healing.  We are excited to see God moving in this area!  Here are just a few pictures of today’s clinic and floor tiling. They do not include a number of our team, but I wanted to grab a few pics when I went down there today.

 

 

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