BubbaSmith.net

Hey Everyone!

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

Every summer we have a Summer of Service program where 15-20 students come in an intern for a summer at Rev. This is one of my favorite things in the entire world! Our team and I get to spend a ton of time with these guys over the summer and we really do become a family over the course of a few months.

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!

We kicked off a new series at Rev this past Saturday called Only God. Here is the series opener we use:

Our creative team did a fantastic job with this video! It’s going to be a great series!