Repost of Thoughts from Costa Rica Team Members...

(There were some text issues in Monday's post for those that receive it via email so we are reposting it to correct - hope you don't mind reading it again!)

Last week I asked the Costa Rica team members if they could find time to share a few thoughts on what it meant to them to serve as a team member during the retreat. Several of them responded back over the weekend and here is their view…..


I keep trying to find an adequate way to describe the team member experience on a Pure Joy adventure. All the words that form are insufficient. God was at work from the beginning, His hand putting all the pieces in place, the big pieces and the little pieces, who needed to attend, who needed to work and even who needed to stay home this time if only to allow another to participate. I feel blessed and honored to have been a part of what God did in Costa Rica this year, in the women that attended, the team members and myself.

Pure Joy was amply named from blessings received, lives touched and the hearts affected. Thanks, Vickie, for continuing to let God use you in this ministry.

Denise
 

As I look back on the trip with Pure Joy I am amazed at how 12 people, most of whom had never met, seamlessly came together to be a team. Each person had their job and yet no one grasped at being more important. Instead each person did their job, but also folded in to make sure each team member was successful. Huh, many parts- one body- I think I've heard that somewhere before. Ha ha. I know a large part of this was because of the incredible prayer coverage for Pure Joy's trips. It is truly an amazing experience. As incredibly beautiful as Costa Rica was what went on inside the hotel with those missionary women was equally as beautiful.

Kathleen


Being on the Pure Joy team was a "mountain top" experience for me. Having known about this ministry for several years, I would pray that someday, when the time was right, I would get to help with a retreat. From the start of the journey, which began several months before the actual trip, God confirmed over and over that this was the time! Boy, I had no idea what we were in for!! Through preparation for the retreat and my personal role, I was stretched and pulled in directions I was not completely (or at all!) comfortable with. That just lead to more prayer and total dependence on a God who I knew had called me to this and who knew I could Not do it without Him! That puts you in a place of humility where God will use you for His glory in ways we cannot imagine and that is exactly what happened. The missionaries on the trip were so personally blessed and refreshed, but at the same time, so were the team members.

So much prayer was behind all of the speakers, and I know the goal was to speak to the hearts of the missionaries, but it felt like the talks were just for me. I had known for years that there was something holding me back from fully believing that God is good. I would certainly say that He was good and could tell you lots of reasons why I thought so, but there was fear in me that proved deep down, I believed otherwise. The person I loved the most in the world was taken from me when I was six. 27 years later, during a prayer time at the retreat, God revealed what was holding me back and I was finally able to truly thank God that He was sovereign, He knew best, and because of and in spite of this tragedy, He has been glorified. He is so good! That is a major one, but there were several ways that my perspective was challenged and changed. This was an experience I don't think I will ever get over and I'm pretty sure I don't want to. :)

Heather


I hope reading these ladies hearts has encouraged some of you to take the challenge to become part of a team in the days ahead.

Please remember to pray for our Peru trip. Registration will begin in a few weeks. Pray for the team that will be going. Already God is up to His awesome ways! Please begin praying for the missionary women that will register, the team going, and as always sponsorship of the missionary women in attendance. We have 13 sponsored with 37 more to go.

Recently it was reported to me that someone felt that we shouldn’t have to ask for sponsorship of the women for each trip, that we should have the trips built into our budget for each year. Well, truthfully we do have the sponsorship built into our budget each year because we trust God that He gave the vision for Pure Joy and that He will make provision for what He has called us to. We never know for sure how many trips He will call us to take in a year. But when He does, we go! Truly, every trip we are completely dependant on God for our resources for that trip. It keeps us in prayer and it keeps us humble before Him because ONLY GOD through HIS people could make this happen each time. It is an incredible thing to be a part of. However, if any of you feel led to give us a donation to cover all the trips before Jesus returns we will count that as from God, too! All kidding aside, if HE ever stops providing then we will have to suppose He has a different plan. Until then we will do as the song says, “Trust and Obey”, because there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

Peru or Bust!

Love you all so much,

His,
Vickie