Missions Blog

Snyder-Costa Rica

Katie Snyder — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Katie Snyder’s Story--http://www.katiesnyder.com/costa-rica

Can a mission trip change a life? Can teaching someone the sport of softball really make an impact on his or her life choices? The answer to these questions, I believe, is yes.

This past week, I had the privilege to travel to San Jose, Costa Rica with FCA and Score International. Our mission: to teach the sport of softball while sharing about our personal experiences with God.

Our group was quite diverse. Four softball players from four different high schools, one softball coach, one 16 year old missionary, two adult business owners, one FCA leader, and one photographer/ex-softball player (that’s me).

From the very beginning, there were trials. Upon arrival at the airport, one of the teenagers was told that she did not have a ticket, forcing an additional $1800 ticket to be purchased and a lonely girl flying by herself to Costa Rica by way of Miami. This initial incident was followed by vomit, a sprained ankle, a manna ray sting and several long days of hard work filled with tired, achy muscles and sunburn. The flight home would not have been complete without an emergency landing (causing a missed flight), sleeping in the Charlotte airport and renting a rental car to make it home.

In addition to these trials, there were many victories. On Sunday, we arrived at a local park at 7 am to find 40+ women of all ages eagerly awaiting our arrival and already passing softballs. From Monday-Friday, we taught clinics at 3 different universities, a foster home, an elementary school, and an under-privileged neighborhood. In addition to the clinics, we were able to play games with younger children at most of these locations. One day, we were able to hand deliver over $100 of groceries to a small group of women in an area slum.

Everywhere we went, we were well received. It was invaluable to us that there were missionaries on the ground in Costa Rica who had already begun making relationships. Because of this, we could identify where the specific needs were in order to make the most of our time.

The eagerness of the students cannot be described. I’ve never seen anything like it in the United States. They deeply desired to learn this sport that has not been played in their country for forty years. Men and women alike worked extremely hard practicing the techniques we demonstrated day in and day out. At the end of each clinic, we were able to share a little about our personal walks with God or a little tidbit about the ways in which playing sports helps you in life. Almost every time, there were people who came to each of us to let us know how much what we had said meant to them and why.

I enjoyed this trip because we were able to relate to people in a very tangible way. By teaching them softball, we gave them an additional skill in life. They were interested in hearing our personal journeys and what brought us to Costa Rica. By delivering food and handing out toys and clothing, we proved that God does provide.

In addition to having an impact on the people we served, this trip had a lasting impact on all of us. Many of the group members had not seen poverty like we experienced. Some had no idea that teaching a sport could mean so much to someone. All of us left changed for the better. It was an incredible week!

Katie Snyder – Photographer & Retired Softball Pitcher

FCA Missions/Costa Rica

Sarah Oliver — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

When You Serve; You Change Your Life

As You Change the Lives of Others by Simply Serving...

Sarah Oliver – 10th Grade Student FCA Missions Costa Rica April 2011 – Her Story:

Words can't describe the impact God made on me. Everything this week; the team, kids/adults we worked with, and even the experiences you had on me.

None of this would be possible without the help of my support team. As i left Costa Rica i felt my work was a success and life changing. Life this week was rough 14-17 hour days, little sleep, and the things i saw/thought/experienced.

Talking with local missionaries this week really helped me capture and influence me more. Satan tried to stop us but you NEVER let him. Yes, we had our ups and downs but it was worth it.

The works you did in my life this week didn't only affect the team but the people we worked with as well. My favorite thing this week was seeing the smiles/laughter, instructors playing with the kids, how everyone blessed us, and scrimmages.
It surprises me how busy you can keep people, and the impact you can make. The laughter and bonding with everyone was AWESOME. This week we got to experience the life of a Costa Rican by going into their houses, eating the cultural food, interacting, and following their daily schedule.

As an overview this week we did great works and made new friends. My team established softball, worked with the national team, had several clinics with colleges and elementary schools, worked in the community, and we faced many experiences.

To be honest it was so cool how we challenged ourselves to speak Spanish and they were challenged to speak English. The country was marvelous and so willing and accepting. I hope you will let me keep in contact through facebook with the friends we made this week.

I pray you will let me go back soon to visit, as well as, have the opportunity to work with everyone again. It was a blessing to see the work and impact you stirred up. I could of been by the beach, pool, or at home hanging out, but i felt a need to go to Costa Rica and expand my calling. As i left Costa Rica i found my specific calling to be a nurse/ youth missionary.

I asked God to help me in everything i do for my calling. My prayer was he would show his unconditional love to his faithful servants. Clearly you were there before us. We worked so hard and strong to get your name out there, that Satan was to fear. He did everything to stop us, but it never worked because: A) there is no one like you B) you're greater, stronger, and higher than any other.

The biggest challenge this week was a little bit of language block and our devotions. As a team we studied Philippians 4, but for me i also studied 2 Corinthians 5 and 6. This week in Philippians we talked about our favorite verses, always rejoice no matter when in life, live by the whatever’s (vs. 7), be content, love others/ /know God is near, be a friend, and bless everyone.

My personal bible study was about loving people and to not be afraid to die. I was asked who my hero was and i said my parents. Because they love me and want the same for me as God would, and all they provide so much for me.

The purpose i had on this trip, was for God to make me seek him more and him to open the eyes of my heart to see the cry/hurt of Costa Rica. I would have to say i was most touched with the single moms and how they lived and provided for their families. Please bless everyone and keep them safe. Those who didn't pray to receive you, I pray that they will. Thank you for all you give/gave/ will give me.
Continue to let me be a faithful servant and light into your name. As i start back to reality, help me to remember the studies, experiences, and stay connected to you. The trip could not have been possible without our coaches, Score, and FCA.
Please let me keep in touch with everyone. Get ready God to prepare me for another trip, because my work is not done on earth or in my heart. I won’t stop till i die.

Sarah Oliver – 10th Grade Student FCA Missions Costa Rica April 2011

FCA Missions/Mexico

Joey Potter — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

FCA Missions to Mexico-Follow the journey!

FCA Missions / Ukraine

FCA Missions — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

FCA goes to the Ukraine...follow the footprints!

Dominican Republic

Susan Baughcum — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Safe, maybe not, but it was good

So I was going to summarize my trip over the past few days… but then I didn’t have internet basically all week. Instead, I want to share about the week I had this past week then I should have time over the weekend to sit down and blog about my overall experience.

This past week was a cool one. As I wrote in my last blog, I was with a basketball team and four coaches from North Carolina as well as Joey Potter and his intern Robert. They were definitely a pretty cool group to be around; they were a good group of guys and a lot of fun to be around. In addition, they played ball with a lot of passion, a lot of intensity, sometimes maybe with a little too much intensity. Some days I think it helped in their testimony and sharing with the guys they had just competed against and other days I think it bit them in the tail a little bit. But one thing is for sure, they were a fun group to watch play and there was definitely never a dull moment. However, the cool thing this week didn’t happen on the court, it happened in a village here in the Dominican called Los Altos.
Los Altos is one of the smaller villages here, it’s further out from the SCORE complex than most other villages, and it’s become one of my favorite villages to visit. The main reasons it’s become one of my favorite villages are because their land is beautiful and the families there are so nice and very welcoming. So this past Monday we were able to visit Los Altos. We walked through the village, talked with the people that live there, and played with their kids. We were there only about 45 minutes because of miscommunication between bus drivers in the morning, and because of that I don’t think the team was able to truly let what they were seeing and doing sink in. But we got back on the bus to return for lunch and Joey told me, pretty adamantly as only Joey can, that we were going to feed that village. That he had seen the kindness and welcoming attitude in their hearts and that we were going to bless them by providing a physical need. I was in complete agreement with him and I was excited about the opportunity we were going to have in feeding that village. The cool thing is the situations that presented themselves the day we were scheduled to go back and feed them.

We were scheduled to return and feed them Wednesday afternoon. The guys would play a game in the morning, we would eat lunch, then we would buy the food and go back to Los Altos. Everything was going well Wednesday until about the time we left for the grocery store. On the way to the grocery store I noticed that clouds were starting to build and I’m not talking about the typical afternoon showers we get in Florida. The clouds that were building were crazy dark and filled about half the sky. There was no doubt we were going to get rain that afternoon which doesn’t sound like too big of an issue. And in just about any other village it wouldn’t have been an issue at all. But the thing about Los Altos is that it’s off one of the main roadways a good bit and the way you get there is by a very soggy, sticky, muddy, terribly maintained dirt road. It’s so bad that when we had gone on Monday the bus couldn’t make it down the entire road and we had to walk the rest of the way into the village. So Wednesday when there was absolutely no doubt of rain, I knew that dirt road wasn’t an option. If the bus tried to use that road there was a good chance we would end up stuck and maybe not just the bus, we might have ended up stuck in Los Altos for the night. Thus, I knew that if we were going to feed Los Altos that day there was going to be a little bit of risk on our parts… and Joey was thinking the exact same thing.

We were on our way to the village, the clouds had completely surrounded us, I was assessing the situation deciding that we were going to feed the village no matter what, and then Joey turned to me and simply said “I say we do it.” It was one of those cool moments where we had both been assessing the situation, watching the clouds, calculating the risks, but also realizing the good that was going to be done, and we had both, independently, decided it didn’t matter, we were going to feed that village. That moment in itself was a cool moment. The rest of the ride to Los Altos I couldn’t stop thinking about how C.S. Lewis describes Aslan, the lion from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” who clearly symbolizes Christ in the book. It’s one of my favorite quotes, and I don’t know which character says it and the full context, but I’m guessing in response to a question they say "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good." It’s direct symbolism that a life of following Christ closely isn’t safe, nowhere I’ve read in the Bible guarantees safety when we’re walking in Christ’s footsteps, but man it definitely is “good”. What we were about to do wasn’t necessarily safe, especially in the eyes of five sixteen year old boys, but it was definitely good. We got to that dirt road and had to walk the entire road in which some parts the water had already started to rise above the dirt. However, we made it to the village, we were able to feed the entire village, and after we fed them we were able to hang out in their church, fellowship, talk, ask them questions, have them ask us questions, and just live life with them for about an hour. It was a great hour and you could tell they really enjoyed us sitting down and just talking to them. Nonetheless, after that hour we had to walk back down that dirt road to the bus. God definitely was looking down on us though because the whole time we were in Los Altos the storm moved very slowly and so they only received minimal rain while we were there. Hence, we were able to make it out of the village and down the road no problem; we just ended up a little more muddy and soaked than what we probably would have wanted. The entire visit and the nature of the situation made it an awesome experience and I truly believe that visiting and feeding Los Altos that day was the turning point of the week for the team and those boys by realizing the risks involved but also realizing the good to be done in that village and choosing to do the good rather than back down due to the risk of the situation.

I think a lot of times it’s the opposite reaction of a lot of people in the America church. We feel as if God wouldn’t call us into difficult situations or to do hard things. We’ll follow Christ and follow His teachings… as long as it already fits into our lives. We’ll follow Christ and His guiding in our lives as long as it doesn’t pull us away from comfort, away from friends and family, or as long as it doesn’t compromise out safety. It’s ludicrous if you think about it and look at how many of the men in the New Testament, including Christ, lived and realized that their true blessing won’t be on this side of eternity, but the other, longer side. This nature of the safety and risk taking following Christ in this life involves has definitely been something God has been trying to have hit home for me over the past few days. And every time I’ve thought about it, those words of C.S. Lewis pop up in my mind: "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

Mike