Vacation Day – Our vacation day was awesome! We went on a Crocodile Safari! It was ridiculous! We saw huge gators (some up to 18 feet long) getting fed from literally a foot away. We have lots of video and pics of that, so I’m sure you’ll get to see them! Then we went to Jaco Beach! It was ridiculous! I’ve never experienced waves like that! They were brutal! The boys and I had a blast getting crushed over and over again by them! Then we went to Jaco Taco, a sweet taco bar for dinner! A great day overall!
The House – We’ve made a lot of progress on the house. Today, we’ll finish the walls along with the roof, and ideally put the windows and doors in. It’s been an awesome experience.

Tiko Worship – They call the people here “tiko’s” and call us “gringo’s”! Tiko worship is like a dance party form of worship. We had youth group last night and finished the night off with some Tiko Worship, it was a lot of fun.

A Powerful Afternoon - Yesterday afternoon was pretty powerful. We took a walk to a family’s house (kids pictured above) to bring them food, hand with them, and pray for them! The youngest son, was born in a field, his dad cut the umbilical cord with an unsanitary knife. An infection went into this child’s brain. He shouldn’t be alive or able to walk, he is doing both. He is working on communicating, although all he can do right now is make noises.

Then his older sister, who is 9 years old, was raped by her uncle when she was 8. It was so bad she had to get surgery. I don’t think I’ve ever been so heart broken and ticked off in my entire life. Her uncle was put away for 3 months, but because he didn’t have a trial yet, they let him go until the time of his trial. He was living next door to this family. Thankfully, some supporters of 6:8 ministries provided the finances to move this family to a safe location.

We go to play with these kids, the girls braided the girls hair, and we finished our time with them praying over them. I think this was definitely the experience that impacted me the most. Please pray for this family!

Being the Church - On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store and a bakery, bought some food, and handed it out to people who were in need throughout the city. It was so simple and easy and it was such an awesome thing to do. Through the church here and 6:8 ministries they’re reaching the homeless, children through twenty somethings, adults, addicts, men, and so many more people. It’s so cool to see a church be the church in a city. It’s an honor to be a part of this.

The rest of the Trip – Today, a team of us is going on a long hike up to the Cross. There is a huge mountain with 3 crosses on it. Everyone here says it’s a must do. I’m excited to go to the top with some of our group. I know it will be an awesome memory.

Sunday, we’ll have church, then we’re going to the city of San Jose to tour the city and get some shopping in. Monday, we’ll dedicate the house and hang and minister to the family we’re giving it to.

Tuesday we come home . . . it will be bittersweet.

Miss y’all back home!

Much love,

Bubs

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It’s 5 a.m., Thursday morning in Costa Rica. Today is our vacation day! We’re going to a crocodile farm followed by going to the beach and a few other surprises.

It’s been an unbelievable trip so far! Our typical daily agenda looks like this:

8 a.m. – Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. – Work with Lunch
6 p.m. Dinner
7 p.m. Chapel
8 p.m. – 10 p.m. – Group Time

We’re working with 6:8 Ministries! They are awesome! They are definitely being the church in Costa Rica. Were helping in several different ministries:

1.) Building a House - They have a vision to build 12 houses a year for people! We get the privilege of building one of them this year! It’s a ton of work and we’re literally building the house from scratch, but it’s awesome! We can’t wait to give the house to the owner when it’s finished this weekend.

2.) Feeding Center – A few times a week the church opens it’s doors to feed the homeless. There is a 70% unemployment rate here. So they get these people in the door and ultimately try to get them to serve in some capacity and ultimately get a job where they’re making money.

3.) English Classes - We’ve gotten to go into schools as well as be a part of English classes the church offers in the evenings! It’s so much fun!

4.) Dramas / Sharing the Gospel – We’ve presented a drama we’ve practiced everywhere we go. Afterward, the Gospel is always shared. It’s pretty awesome!

5.) Men’s Center – This was pretty sweet. . . they have a center where they bring in 7 men, as long as they follow the rules, and house them. They ultimately try to get them off substance abuse and into the working world.

6.) Prayer Walks – Walking around the city and praying for different needs! Definitely awesome!

We’ve done several other things as well, but we’ll fill all of you in when we get back! Pastor Nathan has posted some pictures here. We’ve taken a ton of pictures of the projects we’ve been a part of and we’ll be sure to post them when we get home.

Our students have been incredible! They all have amazing attitudes and I literally have not heard anyone complain. We’re making a ton of great memories together! I know this is going to be a life changing trip for each of them.

Please continue to pray that God will continue to do big things both in and through our lives!

We miss you guys back home!

Much love,

Bubs

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Today we took a team of 16 students and 5 leaders to Costa Rica for a missions trip. We’ll be back on the 31st of August. We’ve partnered with 6:8 Ministries for this trip. This is our second year going down there! I was not on the trip last year, so I have no idea what to expect! Below is a recap video from last years trip.

I know we’ll be building a house and doing a lot of evangelism! I’m expecting God to do great things both in and through our team. When you think of it, please pray for our team. Pray for safety, pray for a life changing trip for everyone, pray for our health, pray for the people we’ll be ministering to, and pray that we’ll make God really, really big in the lives of the people there.

I’ll miss you guys! Have a fantastic week!!

Bubs

P.S. – Question, Do you think I should have “Guest Posts” when I go on trips like this? Let me know!

While I’m gone . . . I highly recommend checking out these blogs/posts:

ZackBlair.net

Bradcooper.us

Michaelhyatt.com

Swerve

Seth Godin

Here are some links to past posts I’ve written that were popular and that I believe will add value to your life… So here you go:

• Book Reviews

• Free from Sin, Addiction, and Bondage

• Alcohol, Purity, and Our Culture

• Setting and Attaining Your Goals

• People that Have Changed my Life and People that I’d Love to Have Lunch With

• God’s Plans

• Kingdom Minded

• Ask Anything Fridays

• What Makes a Great Teacher

• Catalyst West Coast

• Overcoming Insecurity

• The Best of 2008

• All About Me

• Ministry Highlights

• Ministry Lessons

• Marathons

• Romantic Notions

• Best of 2009

See you in a week!

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We could not have pulled this off without the help of some amazing leaders pictured below: Travis Trout, Tina Kruk, Strealy Clark, Abby Clark, Brianne Kessel, and our hero of SOS, McKenzie (the baby).

They gave up hours of their summer to invest in our student interns. They were such a blessing and I’m so grateful for each of them and so proud of them! They did an unbelievable job!

As far as the students, this group was so amazing! I could not speak highly enough of them. We held the bar pretty high with what we expected from them:

• Write 3 sermons and preach one
• Teach a nugget for devotions
• Attend staff prayer weekly
• Attend all Rev Events and Outreaches
• Plan and Run the Small Group Olympics
• Take notes and ask questions when the Pastors would come in and teach them
• Co-lead a Jr. High Small Group
• Have devotions, prayer, and worship for an hour
• Watch John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership training
• Read 3 books over the course of the summer
• Listen to sermons by Pastor John and Keith Moore
• Help plan and revamp Revolution
• Serve and Lead in one area of ministry at Rev
• Help with day to day office work at the Church
• Blog Once A week

They all did such an amazing job and we created so many memories that we’ll never forget. I’m grateful for this experience and to get to be a part of these teenagers journey. They’ve taught me more than I’ll ever teach them.

Here are the students who were a part, along with a link to their blog (I’ll post a picture of them on Friday):

Summer of Service Blog

Anjelica Farino

Anna Bettencourt

Ariel Wick

Bethany Bettencourt

Cianna Nuzzo

Jesse Swanson

Lisa DiFalco

Michael Hamblin

Nathan Hamblin

Niki Wolbert

Rachel Johnson

Ryan Nuzzo

Hunter Stanchek

Lexi Brancadora

Veronica Nardini

To the interns, I love you guys so much! Never quit going after God with all of your hearts and you’ll go places you’ve never dreamed possible! I believe in each of you so much! Dream big and go for it! If you guys ever need anything, I’ll be there for ya. You were all an incredible blessing to me, our leaders, rev, and our church this summer!

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God’s really been checking me on my motives lately. My motives for serving, going into ministry, preaching, making money, networking, the list goes on and on.

Jeremiah 2:31 hit me hard while I was on vacation. One of the things I’ve come to realize is that I’ve been guilty of pursuing the “abundant life” God’s promised us, instead of pursuing the God who provides abundant life.

The result? In our pursuit of the abundant life, we end up pursuing our own provision instead of God’s. This pursuit ultimately leads to the belief that we no longer need God, but that we can, in ourselves, provide our own life of abundance. This belief will lead to lack of direction, confusion, discontentment, not to mention: No peace, no joy, frustration, anger, bitterness, envy, the list goes on and on.

It’s so easy to come to a point in our walk with God where we pursue God for what He can do for us, instead of for who He is and what He has done for us.

But if we’ll be honest with ourselves or travel that path long enough, we’ll recognize that we’re nothing without God, nothing without our pursuit of Him, nothing without our desire to simply serve Him. We’ll never come to a place where we don’t need God.

God keeps bringing me back to a place where I didn’t care if I didn’t care how big of a ministry I served in was, when I didn’t care how big of a network I have, how much money I made, or what title I had, but a place where I trusted Him for all of that and I was so happy just because I knew Him and served Him in anyway I could. 

A place of total dependency on Him. There is no better place to live. Eventually we’ll all recognize that we need God. Our pursuit of anything but Him, will leave us empty and in want.

Pursue HIM with EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT. Only at that moment, will you experience the abundant life He’s provided.

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I’m looking forward to all the spending time with God, hiking all over Acadia National Park, Cadillac Mountain, Popovers at Jordan’s Pond House, sailing on the Margaret Todd, sitting out for the Town Band, stars over sand beach, and most of all, making memories with the people I love the most!

Here are a few pics from previous trips:

While I’m gone . . . I highly recommend checking out these blogs/posts:

ZackBlair.net

Bradcooper.us

Michaelhyatt.com

Swerve

Seth Godin

Here are some links to past posts I’ve written that were popular and that I believe will add value to your life… So here you go:

• Book Reviews

• Free from Sin, Addiction, and Bondage

• Alcohol, Purity, and Our Culture

• Setting and Attaining Your Goals

• People that Have Changed my Life and People that I’d Love to Have Lunch With

• God’s Plans

• Kingdom Minded

• Ask Anything Fridays

• What Makes a Great Teacher

• Catalyst West Coast

• Overcoming Insecurity

• The Best of 2008

• All About Me

• Ministry Highlights

• Ministry Lessons

• Marathons

• Romantic Notions

• Best of 2009

See you in a week!

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Everyone is seeking answers. Answers to what we’re going to do with their lives, how to break addictions, how to raise a great family, how to do well financially, whether or not something is morally wrong to do, the list goes on and on.

I know when people come to me about issues they’re going through, I want to give them answers, but all too often it’s to impress them rather than actually help them. I started asking myself, “How can I actually help people?” “What will actually get them through this?” At Impartation this year, I got my answer:

I was in a Question and Answer with Keith Moore and he was talking about a certain issue. He said that when the issue came up, he did not know how to minister to the people struggling with that issue, so he asked God. God spoke to his heart and said, “Ask them if they love me and if they’re pursuing me.” If they are, I’ll deal with them about that issue and bring them out of it. If they don’t love me and aren’t pursuing me, they’re not even saved, and that’s an entirely different issue.”

That’s when it hit me:

The answer to what you’re supposed to do with your life is: Pursue God.

The way to break your addiction is: Pursue God.

The way to do well financially is: Pursue God.

The way to have an awesome life is: Pursue God.

Thee answer to everything is: Pursue God.

Now when I’m going through something or someone asks me for advice, I ask, “Do you love God and are you pursuing Him? Are you getting in the Word? Spending time in prayer? Getting quiet before God?”

95% of the time, the answer is, “I haven’t been spending time with God like I should.” Then I know that the only way I’ll get the answer I’m looking for is to spend time with Him.

The Bible says, “If you draw close to God, He’ll draw close to you.” “If you need wisdom, ask God, and He’ll give it to you.” Let’s stop seeking people’s advice and start seeking God’s. Give God a chance! He is thee answer for everything.

This reminds me a lot of this video, Only God is the answer to everything we need:

Thoughts?

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It’s a story about God bringing Ian out of addiction and bondage into a life of freedom. I promise you it will have inspire you and give you hope:

If you’re 18-30 years old, looking for a new beginning, looking for new friends, looking for a family to be a part of, and looking for God, I couldn’t encourage you enough to check out 19 North. It’s a ministry that is changing lives on a weekly basis.

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