Sorry about the long period of time since I posted. I have been super busy with the end out lecture phase, NIKO and with outreach there was no WI-FI so it was very hard to stay in touch with anyone. So The end of our lecture phase we had two of our students bid farewell and we were really saddened that they left our team (missed you so much Andrea and adrian). god was calling them else where at that particular time and we had to let them go as hard as it was. You both would have loved outreach so much.
before we started NIKO and out reach in April we needed to go re-new out Visas..sooo we go to spend a day in Panama and 10 hours traveling through Costa Rica 5 hours each way. Just absolutely beautiful.
NIKO
NIKO was amazing for those reading this who are interested in taking a DTS that involves a NIKO I can't really share what goes on other than it challenges you on three levels: 1) mentally, 2) Physically, 3) Spiritually. Everyone spends a day being a group leader with specific challenges. It is great for team building, team unity and the biggest most valuable part was communication. What keeps a team together and unified is communication. Learning to communicate with and without words as well as attitudes makes a huge difference with how a team responds to every situation and circumstance. Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos as it would give a lot of the NIKO away as we were also living on the basics. I can share more in-depth with those I know won't do a NIKO, otherwise I can't say much else. Lo ciento, me prometi (I promised).
Outreach
For outreach we went to two different parts of Costa Rica, Perez Zeledon-Pacuar (south pacific part) and Talamunca-Shiroles and Caroma (South Caribbean part). In Perez Zeledon-Pacuar we stayed at a local church where we spent the first 3 days doing Bible distribution, the heart behind this project is to see a Bible in every house in at least one nation. The Bible has the power to absolutely transform and change lives and we want to see the spiritual landscaped changed for the best. We were also involved in a soccer ministry where it just poured rain and it was awesome :) In Costa Rica we planned and facilitated a lot of services where we planned worship, dramas and testimonies. We preached the word integrating our testimony and invested a lot of time building relationships with those both in the church and in the surrounding community. God opened so many doors for children's ministry and a day of service in Pacuar when we had no ministry planned and needed something to fill these days. It came in the form of a missionary couple who were building a alternative medicine organic based healing/recovery ministry, which ended up being a huge blessing. In Shiroles/Caroma we did a day of service a church in Caroma where we were staying. while in Shiroles/Caroma we got to experience showering in rivers which was pretty awesome and normal for those area. It was cool to experience God in new ways and truly being thankful for the blessings I have here. We also did a lot of church ministry here, sharing testimonies of what God has done in our lives and how we got to where we are today. Planning services, dramas and testimonies. We got to build so many relationships with some amazing people in both Pacuar and Shiroles. I hope to go back some day and visit to see how God is moving. i am so excited to see the fruit that comes about from what God did through us.
Our last month of outreach, we spent two weeks in Honduras-El Cacao (45 minutes outside of La Cieba) and two weeks in Guatemala (1 week in San Miguel & 1 week in Lake Atitlan). In El Cacao we did one week of ministry delivering de-worming medicine to kids and praying over the families. We also hiked 3 hours to a community in the mountain to do a children's program, a prison ministry, and we also did two youth services/hangouts on two Friday's as well as participated in two services for mother's day and also for a missions Sunday. We facilitated two services as well. We built amazing relationships with 4 of the youth in particular and it was amazing that even with a language barrier God was still able to help me build awesome friendships that will last a life time. God truly knows how to work through every situation and circumstance. The last two weeks we spent in San Miguel and San Pedro. In San Miguel there was a strong spirirt of division and with God's help and strength we stayed unified as a team the whole time as throughout our whole outreach. In San Miguel we did a hospital ministry bringing words of encouragement and prayer, prison ministry sharing my testimony about how I was a prisoner in my own life and how I found the freedom I so longed for, and that in the midst of their situation they can find the internal freedom through Christ who gives both life and points us to the source of our Identity and who we are in God's eyes. We also were involved with holding 2 services one on a military base and also one in a local church. We also had a soccer ministry. In San Pedro we got to be part of a parade, as well as statue evangelism (lol it was so much fun to do) we held 2 services at the pastor's church in San Pablo, our last day of ministry was on the radio where 4 of us got to sing on the radio ( and they did a fantastic job Grace, Joanna, Jairo, and Michael) then we started our debrief.
Now we are at the end of DTS graduated read to face the real outreach and take what we have learned over the pastt 5 months and apply it thorugh everyday life and bring life changing transformation through our testimony of what God has done in our lives and grow deeper in our relationship with Him standing firm in our identity. I will miss you all so much you mean the world to me and I know now what a truly close family is and the value of each person. My life has been forever changed by knowing everyone in my DTS leaders included. Love and blessings,
Joshua Escaravage
What is up next: Eagles Nest for the month of July/13 and Stffing at YWAM LA starting August 24/13
The first two weeks of camp I had the pleasure to co-counsel with our head counsellor for the age group of 9-12 years old. I learned so much about not only why God had put me into this role, but also the multi-faceted dynamic involved with being a counsellor.. I was an ear, the cool counsellor, parent, teacher and I also learned so much from these kids, especially when Jesus mentions about blessing the Children Matthew 19:13+14, Mark 10:14+15, and Luke 18:16+17. The biggest thing I took away from the first two weeks was just to have fun and be a kid in a way and to meet them on their level. For me really hit home with 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 about finding a common ground and how to build an awesome relationship with each camper, which filtered into a deeper relationship with the staff as well. This is so awesome because not only was I learning to build relationships with these kids, but also with the staff at the same time. For me this has been the biggest challenge of this past year. God is really helping me to accomplish something that has truly been lacking in my life and it feels so good and freeing to see how God uses those around me to bring me closer to where He needs me to be so I will be more effective in my calling.
The last week that I was involved with Eagles Nest we had the age group 12-14 year olds and my cabin had the paintball camp and I got the opportunity to be lead counsellor and got the opportunity to disciple my co-counsellor, while he was able to relate to the paintballers, because that is one of his passions. God moved just as powerfully through this age group. The amazing thing is how much deeper of relationships that we were able to build with these kid and relating the Bible and how it is so relevant to our spiritual lives. We had a Holy Spirit night and 3 boys in our cabin had very strong spiritual callings. One boy received the gift of discerning spirits (he was able to point out where the angels were on the property and drew one so detailed) what a powerful gift for intercession, one got the gift of tongues which is very powerful for prophecy, the other had the gift of faith. God is so awesome and amazing I was totally left speechless and in awe. I love it when God just blows me out of the water.
I did spend the last week making encouragement cards for all the staff that God used to help me to grow such a deep relationship with all of them. I was so encourage by the staffs response on how much of an impact I was and the huge role I stepped into and filled, that when I left there was a hole that had to be filled and even though my time had come. I had peace knowing that they were more than capable of running a fantastic week for these kids. The last week I was in Medicine Hat in kind of debrief mode, I ran into 2 kids from my cabin in week one. They told me that camp was the best part of their summer and that they are really looking forward to next year. That is so encouraging. God is always good and faithful all the time.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support, you have all been such a blessing to me in more ways than you know. Thank you for being a part of God's amazing family and partnering with me. Many blessings.
Your Brother,
Joshua Escaravage
