Costa Rica Follow-up

 There will be no words to adequately share with you what God accomplished in Costa Rica on our trip there. I shared with the team and I will share with all of you that were a part of the Costa Rica team through prayer, giving, gifting and going…. I suspect the fruit of that trip will not be seen by most of us in this lifetime. But, His spirit in me affirms it will be a very, very productive crop. His presence was amazing.

Here are some snippets of some of the feedback from the missionary women…

• I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and how these complete strangers have prayed, invested, and loved on me. It demonstrates God’s love for me in a tangible way. And in turn, it gives me the desire to show His love to others in a tangible way.
• The welcoming committee was the absolute crowning moment of the retreat for me. Someone mentioned my name, “Helen,” and said, you were praying for me. My trepidation evaporated, my insecurities were enveloped in the welcoming hug. I became an immediate “BELONGER.” That was one of the many gifts I trundled home in the red bag. The sense of being a part of, and not a stranger to, the body of Christ, to all those women – a foretaste of heaven. When I get there, with all my rusty bits, and questions and things still hidden, the booming welcome from my Heavenly Father will cancel it all out, and I will be a family member for all eternity. I can’t wait.
• I had never heard of Pure Joy International before 2 of my teammates and I attended a free of charge 4 day conference for women missionaries last week. It was incredible. There was solid Biblical teaching from some of the most loving, Christ-centered women I have ever met, we found out people from churches associated with Pure joy had been assigned to pray for us the past 5 months, they sent us cards letting us know they had been praying for us and ministries and churches also associated with Pure Joy sent us gifts. I have never seen the body of Christ come together in so many different ways and from different places all with the goal of supporting missions and missionaries. If you know missionaries, please pass on the word that a Pure Joy conference is worth attending. I have no association other than having attended a conference that was an absolute blessing for my teammates and I, but would like to say if you or your church would like to support the work Pure Joy International is doing supporting women missionaries please visit their website.  www.purejoyinternational.org
• It was a delight and a gift for me to attend this conference at this time. Even now, I'm processing the "gold nuggets" from the team and attendees!

No matter how much we share with you about the impact your partnership with Pure Joy International means there is no way for us to express it that gives it justice.

As I close out today, I want to give you the link to the partner video that several of you were a part of on this trip. When we play this for the missionary women you can see tears running down some of their faces because they can’t believe someone is doing this for someone they don’t even know. I pray those of you that pray, give and gift realize that what you do is a picture of how Jesus gave His life, everything for us before we ever knew Him. You gave without them knowing you.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmn3u9gvnx2ivko/CostaRica_PREPVideo_2017_v4.mp4?dl=0

His,
Vickie