It’s always Autumn in England

I made it back to America last night. It was FREEZING! The weather in Costa Rica had been around 70-75F (18-22C) all week. It is about 5F yesterday, which is -16C. What a shock.

Anyway, just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and emails while I was gone. I will try to send out an email update this week. There is just so much that happened, it was a great week! I will add more pictures to Facebook too. Feel free to read the blog we wrote while we were gone: http://loveatworkincostarica.blogspot.com

Please pray for our team here in Costa Rica. Three people have been sick today. One had eaten something bad, one person was severly dehydrated and the third had a mild allergic reaction. Please pray for safety and health for the team. Also pray that the three men who are sick would recover quickly.

Other than that, we are making progress on the houses. We put the walls and roofs on one house today and laid the foundations on three houses. Tomorrow we will put the walls up on at least 2 houses and hopefully 3.

I have emailed many of you, so I won’t repeat exactly what I wrote, but our team arrived safely in Costa Rica with few hiccups. Only 1 person missed a flight, but he was able to get on a later flight and made it safe and sound. Today we spent several hours building houses. I spent the majority of my time hauling stuff from the church building to the house where they needed material. I am tired. The houses are on a hill, and there isn’t a road like we imagine. It is dirt, but with deep ditches, holes, large stones, etc. Hard to walk on and immposible to get a car up. I didn’t take any pictures today, but I will try to get my camera out tomorrow and get some taken. I am exhausted, so I plan on taking a shower and heading to bed! If you want to receive the emails I am trying to send out daily, leave a comment and give me your email address. One of the reasons you may not be getting an email from me, is that I am using my work laptop and so I don’t have my home email addresses.

I had several people ask me about going to Costa Rica yesterday. Several people also asked me about the blog I set up at blogspot. I guess I didn’t realise people were actually reading it, so I shut it down.

It was called "The Overbay’s Adventure" but since Evan ditched me, and I am now going on my own, I figured it wasn’t really the "Overbay’s" adventure, so much as my own, and I already have a blog! So, anything you want to know about my trip to Costa Rica, find out right here!!

The countdown is on though. I leave in 15 days! I still need people to pray for me each day that I am gone. So, if you are willing to pray for me please let me know. I believe having people praying for me every day is really important. I have posted on this before…See the final paragraph of that post. If you want more evidence of this see Ephesians 6:10-19. This passage is known as the Armour of God, but it says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." and therefore…Put on the Full Armour of God.
It then goes on to say, "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

That is one of the things I would ask you to pray for me while I am in Costa Rica…that everything I say and do would make Christ known. That I would show his love to everyone I come in to contact with that week. That is what this trip is all about. Yes it is work, yes I will help build a few houses, but mostly, I want to show Christ to everyone I see.

Friends,

Many of you already know that I will be heading to Costa Rica in December! Here are some details of this trip and some ideas of how you can find out what I am doing. Unfortunately, because of a change in circumstances, Evan will no longer be able to go with me.
East 91st Street Christian Church has partnered with CCA, in Alajuelita, Costa Rica. CCA is a church which has developed an integrated ministry for reaching their community with the love of Jesus. This is your opportunity to partner with us to help reach one of the poorest communities in Costa Rica.

There is a group of around 50 people going to Alajuelita to work with CCA. The plan is to build 12 houses in 12 days. We will be there from the 13th to the 21st December.

I am writing to as ask that you prayerfully considering embarking on this journey with me. Most of my expenses will be covered by E91, because this is considered a work trip for me. However, I would like to have a team of people who will pray for me during this trip. I would like to have at least 1 person or couple praying for me each day that I am traveling. Please also pray for Evan and I while we are apart.

As well as your prayers I am hoping to raise around $500 for expenses that E91 will not cover. For example, I would like to buy a few tools, painting equipment and work gloves. Once I am done with these, I will leave them with CCA for future teams that come to build houses. Anything extra that I raise will be given directly to CCA. CCA buys all of the building materials in advance, so that they are waiting for the team when we arrive in Costa Rica. Once the team is gone, CCA continues to minister to the families who are living in the new houses. CCA runs a school, medical facility and a children’s feeding centre. Each participant on these trips is asked to donate $500. Any donation you give to me, will go towards this donation and your donation will help continue this important ministry.

All checks can be made out to me and sent to me at my home address. If you don’t know it, leave me a comment and I will email you!

I will be updating this blog as plans come together and while I am there. I am hoping to get lots of good pictures and add them too!

I/We would like to support your time in Costa Rica through

Praying on:
Saturday 13^th       Sunday 14^th       Monday 15^th     Tuesday 16^th      Wednesday 17^th    

Thursday 18^th     Friday 19th       Saturday 20^th    Sunday 21^st          

Donating:

$20      $50       $100     $150     Other $                         

Receiving email updates:
Email address                                       @                                            

If you want to follow along with our Adventure to Costa Rica…head here: http://theoverbaysincostarica.blogspot.com/

I have decided to keep a seperate blog for Costa Rica. So please head there for updates and to find out how to support our time in CR.

EDIT: November 30th - Evan is no longer going with me to Costa Rica, so I decided to just use my blog for updates. There are several reasons Evan is not going with me, and when we know the exact details, I will share them on my blog.

I have added some pictures of Costa Rica to Facebook. These can be seen here

These are pictures that I have been given since starting to work at E91. There is a picture of one of the houses we will be building, as well as some of the houses we will be replacing.

I will certainly be taking more while I am in Costa Rica and I plan to take my laptop and update as the week goes along. Here is where to look for updates: http://theoverbaysincostarica.blogspot.com/

I have decided to keep a seperate blog for Costa Rica. So please head there for updates!

For those of you who read this, but don’t have Facebook, here are a few pictures from the ceremony I attended in England to accept my British Citizenship. Just CLICK HERE

Enjoy!

I’m siting in JFK airport in New York right now. I’ve been here almost 6 hours. I’ve already been travelling for 14 hours. As soon as I get on the plane, I plan to fall asleep…at least that is the plan.

Evan and I got the first $100 for Costa Rica. I don’t think they would want their names written on here, but if you’re reading this, you know who you are and thank you!!

I am going to start a blog just for Costa Rica using blogspot because from what I have used it is easier than blogsome. I will post here when it’s up and running. Well we should be boarding soon and since this is the first time I have used my phone to post on my blog I want to se how it works!

I am going to Costa Rica. December 13th to 21st. I am still at work tonight, waiting for a meeting to start regarding this trip.

I have also convinced Evan to come with me! I am really glad. Even though I will be "working" during the trip. It will be good to have Evan there and be able to relax in the evenings with him, rather than try to figure out if I can email/call/text him. However, it does mean we now need to raise around $2,000 for him to be able to go. All of my expenses are covered. If we get any extra, it will go into a pot that goes towards the cost of the building materials for the houses we will build. I believe the goal is 12 houses by Christmas!

Please be praying for Evan and I. I know I mentioned it a couple posts ago, but I do believe this is a time when the enemy will strike hard, because we are doing something for God. I am still excited!

Now, I need to get a new camera! Anyone want to donate about $150 for that cause?? lol Just kidding. It will be an early Christmas present to myself for this trip I think!