I Have Arrived in Costa Rica!!!!

Just wanted to send a quick update that I have arrived safely with all my things to San Jose, Costa Rica. I keep pinching myself only to realize its all real. The couple I am living with are very nice and have already helped me with a lot of spanish. Well I am now off to go to church for the first time here, thanks for all your prayers.

Packing

Just finished packing and I leave in just a few hours. I never unpacked from Florida, so I have been living out of a suitcase for two weeks. When it came time to pack, things exploded!! However,  it all came together. All weighting in under 50 lbs. a bag.  My bus leaves for Chicago at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and I arrive there at 5:15 p.m. Central. Then I go to O'Hare at 12:00 am for my 3:15 am flight to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Arriving there at 6:30 am I have a 2 hour lay over until my flight to San Jose, Costa Rica where I arrive at 9:35 am Central/no Daylight savings. It will be a long two days of traveling, but its worth it all for Him. Excited to share more with you along the way. Hope you have a great weekend and Lord's Day. 

A Full Summer

I just finished 2 and a half months of ministry in SW Florida at Corral Ridge Baptist Church.  It was an amazing opportunity to step aside from school an dive deep into ministry for a short time. It was at the same church that I fulfilled my internship for Moody and was mentored by Pastor Barry Crohn. The internship experience was remarkable and when face with what to do with the time before leaving for Costa Rica the Holy Spirit pressed on my heart to pray about Corral Ridge. To make a long story short it was from there that it all worked out for me to go to Cape Coral, FL and help out in the church. The time was full with teaching and preaching opportunities in all areas of the Church. I began the summer with helping the missions team prepare for their trip to Nicaragua. God used experience from previous missions trips and my time as a camp counselor to help in training the team for their trip. While they were gone I held down the camp and preached from Exodus. Then two exciting studies exuded from then on. First, was an exciting study of Lamentations on Wednesday nights for the Adults and the Second was a church wide study of Galatians on Sundays. The Galatians study was invigorating!! Pastor and I team preached on Sunday morning and evening, then combined with the sunday school classes the entire book was covered verse by verse. This study took 6 weeks as the whole church divide head first into Galatians. Needless to say, all who were involved learned and grew so much. Corral Ridge went above and beyond to include me into their family and shower me with love. Overall, this was a great experience of ministry, friends and growing in the LORD. 

Regen Conference 2009

Just finished up preaching at the Regenerate Conference 2009 Wheaton. What an amazing opportunity it was to preach God's word to a hundred students. The Holy Spirit was most definitely at work in the hearts of people, myself included. I preached from Philippians 1 for 3 main sessions and then enjoyed the fellowship and encouragement from other ministry leaders. I met so many new people who God is using all over the country. God still surprises me in the way He works and controls everything, bringing so many details to His glory. Also, He blessed me with the opportunity to spend time with dear friends Ronel and Kim Borromeo and then swing by to see Ryan, Ginger and Evelyn Jane Barnhart. Lil' bird was born just 2 weeks ago, so this was my first time to see her. It is so good to see those you love. Back in Florida now, with two weeks to go. The next two sundays we will be wrapping up our church wide Galatians study and then back home for 2 weeks to spend with my parentals and family, who I am really missing. 26 days until I leave for Costa Rica!

By His Grace, 

Eddie