God at Work

Exciting Growth in the Youth Ministry

It’s only 7:00am here in Puerto Viejo, and I can’t wait another minute to share with you the evidence that God is at work in the lives of the youth! Do you remember when I wrote in a previous email to pray for me, Sebas, and Jetsie as I was beginning to teach them how to lead worship for Sunday night house church? Well, as a result of our prayers, they are actually learning how to worship God themselves. And not only Sebas and Jetsie, but many of the youth who regularly attend house church. I don’t know how to explain it but within the last month and a half, there has been a distinct difference in our worship time together at house church – not only have they learned the words to the songs, but more importantly, they are growing in their knowledge of the One to whom they are offering their worship. It’s beautiful and so much fun to see happening! But wait, there’s more…
During Youth Club at the skate park one recent Friday night, we had a visiting team from a youth group in Arizona. They were playing couple of worship songs to advertise for the music clinic they were going to teach during the week. While they were playing, I was standing in the back next to Sebas (17) and Jordan (14) translating some of the words and talking about the music. Suddenly, Jordan turned to me and said, “TJ, how come you don’t go up and play….and Sebas can play the other guitar, and I’ll play the congas and Jetsie can sing?” !!!! Ok, let me just interject and say that this is NOT normal for our shy, small-town, too-cool surfer kids to want to get up in front of strangers, let alone their own peers, to lead in a worship song and definitively mark themselves as “the Christians.” I think they surprised themselves that we actually went through with it.

Wait, There's More...

Not only is their desire to worship God and be labeled as Christians evidence that they are growing in their relationship with God, but they are learning to serve as well. Now, in this culture, no one ever gives something for nothing. It’s actually a cultural norm that we’re constantly fighting against – always wanting to receive for free, never wanting to earn something for themselves, and absolutely never wanting to work for almost nothing in return. And yet, last week, this is exactly what took place for a few of our youth.
We had another visiting team from Christ for Life Sk8 Church in Colorado. This team was completely unlike any we’ve hosted before as their ministry almost exactly reflects ours. This team was a combination of Christians and non-Christians that stood at every point on the spectrum of their relationship to Christ. For some, their outreach was an opportunity to serve God, for others, it was a week to remain sober and learn about God themselves. It would be exactly like us taking our youth on a mission trip and that’s what made the week so much fun. For the first time, it was an opportunity for our kids to play a different role – they got to be both on the receiving and the giving end.
Together, the skaters from Colorado and our youth hung out and learned how to serve one another. The visiting team helped put on skate clinics throughout the week, teaching new tricks and bringing cool skate material. In return, our youth taught the visiting team how to surf, almost completely on their own accord!! It took some encouragement on our part, but we weren’t around when they decided to meet the team at the beach and spent hours teaching the mountain-folk how to surf. In fact, for the visiting team, this was the highlight of their week. One girl, who had difficulty getting the hang of it, told me how great it made her feel that someone took so much of their time to invest in her and make sure she learned. She was talking about Dexter (18), one of the youth from the skate park who attends house church regularly and is growing in his faith. He, Jordan, and Davis (20) spent time giving of themselves.

I hope these stories are as exciting to you as they are to me as we’ve invested in these youth together – you through prayer and financial giving and me by teaching and living alongside of them. Our youth don’t always make the best decisions…they’re very much learning how to trust God enough to let Him into their hearts and begin making changes on the inside before there is evidence on the outside. This is why seeing them make good decisions is so encouraging and brings to light what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Thanks for doing this with me! Let’s continue to be praying for Jordan, Jetsie, Dexter, Sebas and Davis as God continues to work in them. Please pray for the friends that they bring to house church – there is always at least one new face every Sunday night.

Also, please be praying for our first attempt at hosting a youth camp in July. We’re very excited to take our youth up to the mountains with a visiting team and spend time away from Puerto Viejo in deeper teaching, growth, and service time. I’ll fill you in with more details later!

Serving Joyfully,
TJ Gause

Personal Contact Info:
TJ Gause
Codigo Postal 141-7304, Puerto Viejo –Talamanca, Costa Rica, Centroamerica
TJ@alternativemissions.com

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