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My blog is moving!
It will now be at :: mysignificantjourney.wordpress.com ::
Hope you'll follow me on this move!

Thankful (Week 2)

   Family. Simply family.
  
  I have THE BEST family! This week I've gotten to see a lot more of them than normal. It has been wonderful. God blessed me with such a supportive, amazing, fun, and always there for you kind of family.

   One day while I was in Costa Rica, I asked God "How much do you love me?"
He told me clearly " My love for you is incomprehensible. I see how much you love and miss your family. I want you to know that I love you MORE than that."
God loves so much! He gave me a love for my family that I think is so big. But it is still not even close to how much He loves me. If you're part of my family I want you to know that YOU are a blessing to me! I love you and appreciate you!

    So thankful to our wonderful Savior who loves me enough to put such wonderful people in my life!

Lots of Love,
The Cook
(Just a small glimpse at some of the wonderful people in my life)

  

Thankful Week 1

      Today as I sit here and it rains and rains.... I find myself thinking about a women I met in Costa Rica. Her name is Freci. Whenever it would rain in CR, Freci's small house would flood...every time. The water would all drain into her kitchen.

This is Freci. Making dinner for us at the church!

     This woman had other problems within her family,a small house ... smaller than my bedroom,the roof leaked in said house,the floor creaked in said house, and yet Freci was always smiling. She is one of those people that just lights up a room when she comes in. It wasn't because she had everything. But because she has a Savior who LOVES her! That was the joy inside of her that flowed out like Living Water!

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."~ John 7:38

     She made the CHOICE to be joyful and happy. To not dwell on the bad things in her life. Though I wouldn't blame her if she did. But she didn't! We could all learn a lesson from Freci. Remembering that no matter how bad it seems to be for us...there is always someone else who has it worse. Dwell on the good things in life. And allow joy and love to flow out of you! It will make a huge difference.

   I am so thankful for the roof I have over my head and the beautiful big house I have the privilege to live in.

Love
The Cook

** Thankful**
I am going to try to post the things I am thankful once a week or more for however long I can.

Look! There's a video!

Here's a video I made!
Hope you enjoy!
The Cook

HEAR me talk about my trip a little bit!

Hey guys! So you can't see my face but you can HEAR me!
Sorry about how I jumped around a lot.
So much happened on the trip and I just wanted to give you a little taste of it.
Hopefully I'll get to writing some stories on my blog soon.
But until then this vlog has some stories in it.
And concerning the end, my computer decided to stop recording. Haha!
I was going to say "Hope you all are well"!






With Love,
The cook

Overwhelmed

I'm overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed because the trip I looked forward to all year is now in my past.
Overwhelmed because God taught me SO much.
Overwhelmed by the JOY, LOVE, and, LAUGHTER we experienced.
Overwhelmed by the love I feel for the people I lived with and ministered to.
Overwhelmed by Gods love.
Overwhelmed by so many stories that I still have not gotten sorted.
Overwhelmed by the love those people have for us.
Overwhelmed by the tears shed for joy,for sadness, and for love.
Overwhelmed by what is ahead.

Overwhelmed because God has filled me up so much that
I feel like I'm overflowing.
My heart is overflowing.
My mind is overflowing.

It's all ok though.
Because I'm OVERJOYED.
Overjoyed by the AMAZING experience I had.
Overjoyed by just how much God loves His people.
Overjoyed in knowing that He has a plan for me.
Overjoyed in knowing that He speaks so much louder than I ever thought.

I'm OVERWHELMED.
And it's a good thing.

My Opinion on Short Term Missions

So, as you all know I just returned from my short term missions trip to Costa Rica. In the last couple of days, I've read a few articles that are putting down the kinds of trips that I just had the opportunity to experience. The articles contain a lot of negative viewpoints, viewpoints that I can’t see validity in. I have seen a lot of positive things going on, important things that God would want us to keep forefront in our minds.

Here's one of the articles:  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/06/18/why-you-should-consider-cancelling-your-short-term-mission-trips/

Most of the articles talk about the teams “forcing themselves” in, bringing too many things with them, making the native people dependent on them, and doing just little work. They then claim that the teams spend the rest of their time “vacationing”. I've heard of people saying we would be better off to send them "things" and/or money that we raised, instead of actually going to various countries and spending time with the people in need.

 I am sure that there are people that use missions as a way of exploring the world in the name of Jesus. And there are, in fact, groups formed with the specific calling of raising funds to send to different areas of the world in need. And the latter is not a bad thing. But I also know this: God equips each of us differently and calls each of us to specific tasks. The only shame or sin in that calling is to ignore it, pack up a box or mail or envelope.

We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. This requires relationship. The ONE and ONLY eternal gift that can be shared with hurting and starving people is salvation of their mortal souls through the Gospel. That t-shirt or pair of shoes or food is all going to wear out, become too small, parish or simply run out. But salvation and the gospel never wear out, is always enough and never spoils or runs out. Therefore, I must say, I don’t believe it is more beneficial, to anybody in any country, to send them "things" in place of taking & sharing the gospel.

“GO into ALL the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

I am sure some people use the trips as vacations, but that is between them and God and not for me to judge. To lump all value of short term missions and all short term missionaries into one big pile because of the failure of some to do God’s will is neither right nor accurate. It is certainly not true for my team, nor is it true for any of the teams AIM has launched. We lived in the same conditions as the people we were ministering to, we ate the same food that the nationals ate and we were expected to eat whatever was put in front of us. I have never sweated more than I did when I was in Costa Rica doing God’s will for me. It was no vacation, and of course we didn’t expect it to be. That's not what we signed up for. We wanted to live with the people, we wanted to serve the people and experience their culture. There were a few hard days that I honestly did not want to be there. But I pushed through because I knew this was what God wanted for me and HE had called me to do this.

I am aware of the argument that ‘short term missions teams make the native people dependent on them’. This definitely was not my experience. Sharing the gospel and demonstrating how the power of God is what they need to become dependent upon was mine and my team’s experience. In fact, we were only permitted to give gifts that our team leader said were ok to give. Even then, the gifts were presented to the pastor who decided the best way it could be used and beneficial to the people. For example, we gave the church markers that they can use for children ministry and outreach.  In this way, the misconception of the "rich American" is here to GIVE me THINGS is avoided.

As I said before, there probably are organizations that are maybe not doing what God intended for their trips, but assuming that all missions teams force their way into the culture making the nationals dependent upon only them or that all missions teams are just taking a vacation is just a lie that Satan plants to keep us at home.

Our contact was a pastor from a little village near Santa Cruz, CR. He and the church wanted us to come and they had things for us to do. Come to find out, they had actually been praying for us to come. They were amazed because they prayed specifically that people from the North, East, and West would come. When we arrived and we got to know them a little, they found out that each person on my team was from a different state and different area of the US. They realized God heard their prayers and answered.

Honestly, I believe and know from experience that short term missions is a great thing. When done correctly, it is not only beneficial to the native people, but also beneficial to the people going on the trip. The very important thing is that we continue to seek God on the subject. In seeking Him, we allow Him to use short term missions the way He wants to. Even if He just sends us to plant and water seeds, the native church can then continue to water and cause growth.

When we seek Gods will, allow Him to lead us, and then follow His calling, GREAT,AMAZING, and LIFE CHANGING things happen! 

With much love, 
The Cook