conference and classes

this past week i began teaching clubs at lighthouse international school. that job will be fun, but will most definately have it's challenges (like the 25 minute ride up some ridiculous hills on the way there).

i am helping manfred learn guitar- we are hoping that theos place might be able to switch over to live music instead of music videos and the best part for me is that worship in english is better for the demographics of this group! i never thought i'd be teaching music lessons to people my age overseas.

also, i met with alvaro williams, the leader of the youth group at unidos por cristo. his insights were very valuable and i'm beginning the process of thinking through how to find leaders. please pray for this process. spiritual depth is rare in costa rica (outside of catholicism). there are many baby christians, but most of them are just in the starting phases of a relationship with jesus. this is not necessarily ideal for leaders of youth. please pray that the lord would open doors and put leaders in the path of this ministry.

lastly, i wanted to mention that yesterday i went to a conference for pastors. benjamin invited me and it was an honor to be among the most influential christian people in costa rica. the speaker was bill hybels from willow creek. i just have to say that going to christian conferences like this in smaller countries is most definitely the way to go. it is so easy to have a personal conversation with the main leader (i did not b/c i had to leave early). i enjoyed the conference- sitting only 5 feet away from the main leader was awesome and his insights were awesome. doing ministry in costa rica has been quite a unique experience. it is far different from anything that i had imagined before hand.

i want to make a brief comment about theos. bill hybels has done a research project surveying over 700 churches throughout the world. when benjamin told him about theos place, hybels made an expression of intrigue and said that he had never heard of anything like it. working under benjamin has been a lot of fun. it is clear that god is using this ministry in powerful ways.