Filed under: By Maggie
The China, Costa Rica and Africa teams. We will all leave at the end of March and be serving for two months.
Just one image of the tragic devastation from the volcanoes in Costa Rica, leaving many homeless and stranded in refugee tents.
A Christian is never broke.
We either “have the opportunity to receive financial blessing” or not.
And in this case, I have a big opportunity. Which can only mean one thing: a big blessing.
The other leaders and I just announced outreach locations yesterday, and I couldn’t be more excited with how it came out.
My team will be headed to Costa Rica, where we will be helping earthquake refugees in several different ways, from working on houses to passing out food to watching children and wherever else there is need.
And eating a lot of bananas. At least that’s what I hear.
Looking at the pictures of the devastation in the area where we will be serving, it’s hard to imagine a small team of young people can do.
Almost as hard as it is to imagine not doing anything.
As our location and ministry are becoming more set, so is the reality of my need financially to make this happen.
So I am asking you to stand in this with me. I will be praying every night this week for breakthrough and I ask that if you think of it, you send up a shout out for my bank account as well.
I believe in the power of prayer and truly feel like this mission is God’s will, and that the finances behind it are in His hands.
But I also believe that He can work through yours.
If you feel led to support myself or the Costa Rica team financially, you can e-mail me at margecan@gmail.com to find out more information.
We will continue to plan this mission in faith that the cost is not a burden we will have to carry on our own, but that many will stand with us on the platform that the world is in need, and to those that have been given much, much is expected.
And now you know what YWAM actually stands for: Youth Without Any Money.
But with a whole lot of heart.
Filed under: By Maggie
The students and I outside Verbier, passing out cookies. Behind us is the base of the Swiss Alps.
There is only one thing better than cookies:
Free cookies. With Swiss chocolate chunks.
Our first slope cookie and coffee ministry kicked off last weekend, and, considering I have never pioneered a ministry before, and definitely not in a French speaking country, everything went surprisingly well.
Enough visitors ski at Verbier that it’s not hard finding English speakers. Especially when you have cookies in had. Plus we set up coffee and tea and six smiling faces, which in the cold culture of Switzerland attracted enough attention even without the blaring music.
Note: No one ever told me you can’t listen to Modest Mouse when you’re doing ministry. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Along with the cookies we passed out a couple of verses that Ben – a student from North Dakota - hand picked for the day. Most people were confused about why we would sacrifice our time and money to stand in the cold and when we told them it was to “bless people” we usually recieved polite but awkward smiles - a poor attempt to cover up the fact that they were probably skimming the parking lot for our mental institution probabtion officer.
Which, I’m the first to admit, many “evangelisers” may need. But I am a firm believer that Christians can be normal. Maybe even cool.
Maybe.
The amazing thing about the Boarder’s DTS is the group of “alternative” style students that is attracts, not at all fitting into most people’s Christian missonary box. Which I think is a great thing.
They are able to talk to people who probably consider themselves too “cool” for Christianity, and make connections over things like snowboarding, music and art, proving that we aren’t all bible bashing, close minded, ultra conservative nut jobs trying to break out of our Christian bubble for the first time ever.
Not that that’s a bad thing…
But in this European, secular culture, it really is unfathomable to most that anyone would do anything for any other reason than themselves. And the very idea of it seemed to make them uncomfortable.
But our calling has never been to “make people comfortable,” has it?
