Blue skies and Rainbows

Wow what a busy past few days. The team has been working so hard to share the love of Jesus in Honduras. July 6,7,&8 were extremely busy. We had a total of 8 house builds, a visit to the hospital, one medical clinic, one food distribution, work out in Didasko, a team going to buy fresh food at the market to send to Didasko, several devos, and a trip to the Jesus statue. So as you all can tell we have been working so hard!  Today was a day we finally were able to get a quick breath and spend time getting to know one another better. We had worship this morning learning about the importance of shining our lights in this world full of darkness.  Afterward, we went to Mi Esperanza to learn about the ministry that helps women learn a trade to support their families. We were able to shop for products made by the women to help support this beautiful ministry. To learn more you can go to www.womenofmyhope.org. After doing some shopping we went to have lunch then headed to the Valley of Angels to do some more shopping. We loaded the bus at about 4 and went to Santa Lucia to meet with Tim Hines for singing devo. After devo we came back to the mission house for dinner and headed to bed. 

It's been an awesome day. It's hard to believe there are only 2 work days left.  Please continue to pray for the groups as we go into our last two days. We love you all and will see you soon.  

Love y'all. 

BRANDY B

Rainy Skies and Mud Pies

Happy 4th of July! Even though our missionaries weren't able to celebrate in the United States, that didn't stop people from donning the American flag from head to toe with pride. The day started out with a meal fit for hard workers and a motivational devotional from Andrew Jonas. While the translators and doctors went off to the medical clinic, everyone else headed out to build houses or lead VBS. The day was overcast and the clouds crawled over the surrounding mountain tops as the builders hammered away. Around half way through the day it started raining cats and dogs. The dirt turned to mud and the grounds became more useful for slipping than walking. One of the groups was fortunate enough to have mostly completed their house, but the other two groups were nowhere near completing their homes. The builders worked on despite the trying weather conditions and finished around midday. Since the buses couldn't drive on the muddy roads, the builders had a mile long walk after completing their houses. Everyone made it back safe and sound, albeit exhausted. The medical clinic was hard at work that day too, managing to help over 200 people. The warm and hearty dinner was met with great appreciation from the diligent missionaries. The nighttime devotional was lead by Andrew Jonas. He talked about how although we are tired we are following God's command to go and spread the gospel. 

July 5th was met with less patriotism than the previous day but with no less excitement. Jeremy Myers lead the morning devotional and sent everyone off with encouragement. The groups were medical clinic, house builds, or VBS again and people eagerly jumped into another work day. The medical clinic has another successful day and kept their track record of seeing over 200 patients while VBS entertained the children. The house builds were hindered again by rain and mud but the persistent missionaries built on. Once everyone was done with their jobs for the day they returned home to warm showers and dinner. Andrew Jonas ended the night with a devotional about bringing God back home with us after the trip. Until next time, adios!

First work Day

July 3, 2017

Yesterday we started with breakfast at 7am - 7:50 am.  We had eggs, beans, toast, and fruit.  After breakfast we had morning devo.  When devo was over we split into five teams (3 builds VBS, and medical).  Everyone received their assignments and loaded supplies to on buses to begin the dat thy.

The medical team went to the same place they worshiped the previous day, Nuevo Oriental.  *side note, I am not the best speller in the world so there is a very good possibility the places we go will be misspelled.  The medical team worked throughout the day and saw about 200 patients.

The three house build teams and VBS all went to the same community.  It is a newer community and I honestly cannot remember the name.  While the teams began building, the VBS team started the VBS.  The three teams built throughout the day and finished just before the rain began.  There are now 3 families with a dry place to sleep

When we finished we came back to the mission house for dinner and then devo.  Today we will build three houses and have another day of medical clinic.

Thank you for all the prayers.

Brandy Barnett

It begins

July 2, 2017

Today the Terry Reeves team arrived. It was a day of travel for a majority of the team that is here as of now. Jermey Myers group and about 10 of Terry's group went to worship with the church in Nuevo  Oriental.

Jenny Lovell group, Chad Chapman group, Terry Reeves FCA/ Bell Shoals group, Sarah Hinson and Katie Gerstemier have made it. We have some coming in tomorrow and I believe one in Tuesday. The plan tomorrow is a medical clinic, 3 house builds and VBS. Please send prayers for travels and the work.

Also please be advised there is a media fast every other day, basically on the even days everyone can get on media. The blog will be posted nightly. Ok. I'm off to bed good night.

Brandy Barnett.

Owls 🦉

Good morning everyone!  I apologize for not posting last night. I will be covering the last work day in Costa Rica and yesterday's travel day to Honduras.

June 29
The group had breakfast at about 7. We ate and split the team into two VBS teams.  The teams went to two separate schools and had a VBS for the kids. Group one was dropped off at a school not far from the camp. The group told the story of David and Goliath. They said the school was in a poor neighborhood and had limited school supplies. I did not get a solid number of how. Any kids were at the school but I would say approximately 30-50.  While they were doing the VBS at the school the second group went to the top of a mountain to a school. It was a really beautiful ride up.  We enjoyed taking pictures and looking at God's creation. When we arrived, we were greeted by the schools Rnglish teacher. The kids assembled at the entrance to begin Vbs. There were about 30 of the best behaved kids I have ever worked with. We also told the story of David and Goliath. The kids listened and answered questions before splitting up into 3 groups for crafts activity and snack. While they were in the groups, the English teacher shared that most of the children at the school lived in, what we call, shacks. Most of the families were immigrants from Nicaragua that and over to work the coffee plantations. The school also has limited supplies, but we would have never known without the teacher sharing with us. It really put some things into perspective for our team. We hated saying good bye to these kids. I cannot say enough how good these kids were and how beautiful!!

After VBS,  we met up with the others for lunch then went to do some shopping. We were able to walk around Sarchi and enjoy the scenery!  We had dinner and then began packing to head out at 4 am Friday morning.

Friday June 30, was a travel day. All but 10 heades back to the states. The other 10 headed to Honduras to begin a campaign in Honduras. We met up with 2 others and made it to the mission house for dinner. After dinner we all went to bed to get a good nights sleep before other group members come in Saturday and Sunday.

Please pray for safe travels and the work. We love you guys!!

Brandy B

#tickletime

Good morning to you all!!  Today is our last work day in Costa Rica.  I cannot believe how quickly it has gone by.  I will cover June 27 and 28th in this blog.

June 27.

On June 27 (Tuesday) we had another day of VBS.  We went to a local school in Sarchi, the same as the one the day before.  We only had a morning session on Tuesday.  We had approximately 150 children Tuesday.  The kids learned about was forgiveness.  They learned the story from Mathew 18: 21-35 where Jesus is teaching the Apostles about forgiveness.  The kids were wonderful.  They listened and answered questions.  I am always encouraged by the children's eagerness and love.  When they  answered questions they always added something to the effect of "we can do this because we have God."  So pure and innocent.  This is why Jesus tells us to be like little children.  The kids enjoyed a craft, a fun activity, snacks, and a skit.  They were very well behaved and participated.

At the camp Jon Hackett led his final leadership seminar for the morning session and Diane Adams held her final lady's class.  The group met back at the camp for lunch.  After lunch the VBS team went to a local farm and day care to do a service project.  We spent the second half of the day cleaning the day care and sorting through good and bad plants.  The good plants were kept and the bad plants were thrown out. While the team was doing the service project, Chase started his portion of the seminar.  He worked with some of the local preachers and wives on accessing data for lesson plans.  They were able to gain access to apps for their smart phones and material to add to their computers to continue the work.  We met back up at camp for dinner and had our evening devotional.  The devotional was pretty awesome.  Diego and Terry took some songs and we sang them in Spanish and English.  For example: "It is Well With My Soul", we sang the first half of the song in English and switched back and forth from English to Spanish.  It was beautiful.  I know it sounds confusing, but it worked and it was beautiful. 

After Devo we received instruction and headed to bed.

June 28

Yesterday we had an early start to our day.  We had breakfast and loaded the bus to head to the school.  We had two sessions at the school before noon.  Today the lesson was on Patience.  We told the story of Hannah and Job.  The kids enjoyed the skits very much yesterday.  We followed the same plan where each group went to do crafts, hear the lesson, do a fun activity, and have a snack.  This was our last day of VBS at this particular school.  June 29, we will split our team into 2 and go to 2 different schools.  We will either do the story of David and Goliath or Peter (forgiveness). 

After VBS we went to camp and met with the group for lunch.  Chase had just completed his final session on the use of the technology to spread the gospel.  After lunch, we went to our cabins and began cleaning up and sorting things to prepare for leaving on Friday.  It was a much needed clean up time.  We also said good bye to some of our Costa Rican brothers and sisters.  Saying good bye is the hardest part of the mission trips for me, but the beautiful thing about it is God gives us hope we will see each other again no matter what.  It may not be on Earth, but we will spend eternity in Heaven with our brothers and sisters WITHOUT a language barrier.

We had dinner and evening devo to close out our day.  After devo, we said goodbye to the rest of our Costa Rican brethren who left at 2am to make it back to their homes for work.  We sang songs and hugged one another and said our goodbyes.  We all made our way to bed for a good nights sleep to prepare for our final day of service.

In your prayers remember all those traveling and the continued work in Costa Rica.  Pray for our final work day and safe travel home.  Thank you for reading and praying.  Please remember those who will be continueing on to Honduras on Friday for another 10 days. 

Thank you and God Bless
Brandy Barnett

Go!!

Good morning everyone!!  Man what a busy two days we have had!!  This entry will cover Sunday June 25, 2017 and Monday June 26, 2017.

Sunday

Sunday was a day of worship.  Our group was able to sleep in until around 8:30 am.  At this time we met at the mess hall for breakfast.  We had a lite breakfast, toast, cereal, and fruit.  After breakfast we made two trips to the Church.  We arrived around 10 am and worshiped with the Sarchi Church of Christ.  Jon Hackett led the teenage class, Angie Adams prepared a lesson for the children, and Cary Hadley had the lesson.  After the lesson we had a meal with our brothers and sisters in Sarchi. When everyone had finished we loaded the bus to head back to camp.  Sunday after our team sorted through VBS materials and began preparing for four days of VBS at the local schools.  Jon Hackett and Diane Adams and a few other women prepared for the Seminar that will be held for the brothers and sisters of Costa Rica as well.  At around 5pm, we loaded the bus and went to the mall for a dinner.  We spent about an hour at the mall enjoying our meals and fellowship with one another.  A few of us did sneak away to the local grocery store to purchase a cake for the Behle sisters to celebrate their birthdays.  Beth Baily had a birthday Sunday and April had a birthday last Friday.  Then we headed back the camp to meet our new guest who had arrived  for the seminar.  We spent the evening meeting our brothers and sister in Costa Rica and worshiped together that evening.  We all went to bed around 9pm.

Monday

Monday morning we woke and had breakfast at 7am.  After breakfast we had devo led by Thad Butts.  After devo we gathered supplies and prepared to leave for the local school to conduct VBS.  When we arrived at the school, we received instruction from the principle on where our classes would be.  We would have a drama class,  arts and crafts, lesson, and activity.  We all met in  the auditorium for singing and instruction.  We had four rotations of kids in the morning.  The students learned about the story of David  and Goliath.  The morning groups we well behaved and listened very well. After the four rotations we loaded and came back to the camp for lunch.  After lunch we loaded and went back to the school for our afternoon group.  We tweaked the rotations a bit having a lesson class, arts and crafts class, activity class, and snacks.  The drama team did one skit during the meeting in the auditorium after singing.  When the meeting was over, the classes were divided into four groups to rotate through the classes.  This worked much better than the morning!  I would say we had approximately 250-300 students.

While the VBS team was working with the school, the brothers and sisters of Costa Rica were at the camp  participating in a seminar conducted  by Jon Hackett and a lady's class conducted by Diane Adams.  There are about 30-40 Costa Rican brothers and sisters here participating in the seminar. 
At around 6 pm we all came together to fellowship with one another and hear about each others day.  We had dinner around 7 pm and devo after. 

Today we will have a similar schedule.  I will attempt to post again tonight.  We have a media day, it is difficult to post due to internet power.  Several of the group have posted pictures on Facebook and Jon Hackett is trying to do Facebook live for devos.  Every thing  has been going well and we appreciate all your prayers.  Please continue to pray for the work and everyone traveling.  WE love you guys!!

Brandy Barnett

Coffee, trails, and fun

Good morning to you all!!  I hope everyone who reads this is having a beautiful and wonderful day.  I will be cover the past two days and the plans for today in this entry.

June 23, 2017
Friday the group went out into the Sarchi community to work with firemen, police men and environmental Government officials.  Our group splint into 2 teams.  One team went to a coffee plantation to help with cleanup, while the other team went to a community park to clean and paint the playground. 

Group one arrived at the plantation around 8:30am.  We unloaded the bus and met the Bomberos (firemen) and our leader (Carla) to receive our instructions.  From there we split into two teams one team went one way the other went the opposite way.  We spent the day cleaning and joking with each other and our new friends from the police and fire departments.  They showed us different fruits and explained when the coffee beans were ready to be picked.  We even had an opportunity to be part of  Costa Rican news interview.  Basically we were the background, but hey we were on TV.  After we were finished we met up with the other group and had lunch at the coffee plantation.

Group two dropped group one off and headed to the park to begin work there.  They spent the day clearing vines of a fence and painting the equipment.  The group reports they had a great time enjoying each others company and working to help the people in Honduras.  When they were finished they met up with the group at the coffee plantation for lunch.

When we finished eating and cleaned up, the Bomberos (firemen) showed us their equipment and showed how to use the hose.  Many of the team members were able to operate hose with the assistance of one of the firemen.  Everyone enjoyed watching and participating in the activity.  After the fun we were given a tour of the coffee plantation and the process the beans go through before they are sold and shipped all over the world.  When the tour was over we loaded the bus and headed back to camp. 

At camp we all cleaned up, played soccer, or just relaxed until dinner.  For dinner we had tostados, which were amazing!!!!  After dinner we had a camp fire devo.  Cary Hadley provided us with our lesson.  After the lesson we roasted marshmallows, that were the size of your face, and mini sausages.  We also received instruction on what we would need to do for the following day. We were all in bed as close to 10pm as possible.

June 24
Yesterday was a travel/fun day for the group.  We loaded the bus at 4:30 am and made our way to the Pacific Coast.  Our group member did a number of adventures from zip lining, rafting, kayaking, horse rides, and trail walks.  We spent the day enjoying God's beautiful work in Costa Rica.  We saw monkeys and sloths and many birds, and lizards.  We all had a blast and enjoyed our time with one another.  We arrived back at camp around 10pm. We all went straight to bed.

Today the plan is worship with the local congregation in Sarchi have lunch with our brothers and sisters.   Afterward, we will come back and have VBS prep and prepare for the seminar, lady's class, etc. 

Monday we will start the seminar, VBS, Lady's class etc.

Thank you all for your prayers!!  Please continue to send prayers for safe travels for those traveling today to the camp.

Love you guys
Brandy Barnett

Poop and stuff

Good day to you all!  Our group has had an awesome day today.  If you are reading this then you are probably thinking "Poop and Stuff, What??"  Well you only thought you were going to get a gross story, but really you are going to read about serving the people in Sarchi, Costa Rica in the name of Jesus. 

So, a little introduction.  My name is Brandy Barnett and for the next 20ish days, I will be sharing about the work that will be done in Costa Rica and Honduras all to the Glory of our Father!  Our group leader is the one and only Terry Reeves and we have 32 people currently on the ground in Sarchi, Costa Rica.  Over the next week the group will be involved in a number of ministries that will assist in spreading the Good News of Jesus.

Today  was our first work day in Sarchi.  We woke and had breakfast at around 7 this morning.  We had eggs, toast, fruit and cereal.  After breakfast, we had a devotional lead by Terry Reeves.  Our theme this year is GO! from Mark 15:15.  As Christians we are commanded to go into ALL the world to share Jesus with every person.  God gives us opportunities daily to share his Word whether it be with your neighbor or with people in a foreign country.  Our group has been given a beautiful opportunity to share Jesus. 

There are many,  many ways to share the Word. Some may not seem "fun", but if you have a good attitude then it can be fun.  Today our group was given the opportunity to help the town of Sarchi with some much needed cleaning.  It may have not been glamorous, but it needed to be done.  The group worked really hard and we go to see and work in God's beauty.  The view was something that cannot be described by words and pictures will not do it justice.  Everyone worked hard and was very positive.  Like I said, it wasn't glamorous, but the attitudes of everyone was so encouraging.  Everyone worked hard and did what the was asked of them. 

As of now, the group is cleaning up and getting ready for dinner.  Being at the camp this year is awesome!!  There is a place to play soccer, or basketball and several trails to walk on the campus.  Its probably the most beautiful place to be.  I do not believe I will be able to post pictures, however, I will be posting some to facebook and I will send some to be put on the Torch insta gram.  I will do my best to post every night, but sometimes internet is sketchy especially in Honduras but Costa Rica there should be no problems. 

Please send prayers for the work over the next week for the group and for those that we will be working with.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me at brandyb06@gmail.com.

Love you guys
Brandy

It's getting closer!!!!

Good day to all of you!!  The first trip is just around the corner and there are still a number of things that have to be done.  Costa Rica team heads out in 21 days, yes 21!!!!!!  If you do not have your paperwork (Spanish Consent forms, rule sheets, application, passport copies) in to me, I need those like five weeks ago!!!  If I do not have these by next week, bring them with you with 3 holes punched in already.  I hope to have emergency contact numbers soon to email out to you all along with information on where we are staying.  Please email me with any questions you might have concerning the trip at brandyb06@gmail.com.  Thank you guys!!

Brandy B.