Well, some of you are probably wondering, “What is Dan doing all this time in Costa Rica? I hear all these things about Carole but where is Dan?”. Hopefully I can answer these questions and more!
So, as I hope you guessed, I am here in San Jose, Costa Rica (just in case you thought maybe I got off the plane in the Bahamas or something). And I have had an amazing experience the last 4 weeks. God has been working on me in so many areas. The first 3 weeks were all about hearing God and removing everything from our life that hinders our relationship with Him so we can better receive guidance. I have “cleaned out the closet”, so to speak, and this past week God has began to build a new foundation on that clean slate. This week we learned all about the Father heart of God, which was amazing!! In my past I have had the opportunity to learn so much about who God is and how he is my Heavenly Father. But this week God took that head knowledge of Him and put it into my heart. I not only know of his love, I have experienced that love first hand and felt the loving embrace from my Father. To know that I am just a child of God and I don't have to know or have everything in control because my Dad has got it all covered and he just wants me to experience the fullness of His love! God totally changed my perspective of Him as my father. Having God as my Father, I now understand that it is not I that takes God places, it is God that takes me places because he loves me so much and just wants to be with me! God has called us to go to Europe for our outreach and it is amazing to now understand that it is God who is going to Europe and he just is inviting us along as His children so that we can experience more of His love.
Some highlights of the past 4 weeks: We got to take a trip to Panama and see the amazing beauty of jungles and mountains that God has placed in this place! I have seen God at work in amazing ways through peoples lives, finances, and safety, stuff that you only read about in books! I have met many amazing people and I am developing many deep friendships. After rededicating my new life of freedom in Christ I was baptized in a wooden canoe fully clothed and unplanned! I have had many amazing times of worship just freely expressing my revelation of who God is to me. We have had the opportunity to reach out to a nearby college campus, playing music, sharing the gospel and just spreading Gods love despite the language barrier. The list goes on and on and this is only the end of week 4.
Some prayer request for the upcoming weeks: Next Saturday (30th I think) will be our first major outreach where we will be running a Sat night service for youth. We will be doing drama, worship, testimonies, ect...Please pray for the hearts of the youth to be softened so that Gods message will make an impact on their lives. And also for unity in our team during preparation for that time. Another big prayer request is the finances for our outreach. As a complete team we need 25,000 dollars. Although Carole and I have been blessed to receive so much support, many people on our team were not as fortunate and we are now working as a team to gather the funds necessary for outreach. We will be doing many different fundraising projects and we know that if God wants us to go he will provide what is needed. But we still could use prayer for wisdom and guidance in what God wants us to do and who we need to talk to to gather all of the funding necessary.
Thanks for all your prayers, and financial support.
Dan
My Father loves me!
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Dan and Carole McClelland
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I cried today for an hour and a half. Tears pouring from my eyes to the point where I could cry no more. I had nothing to say. I had nothing to give. I could not even stand, I could only lay curled up in my bed in the arms of my Father and cry. All I could do was think He loves me that much and cry. It was the most intimate hour and a half I have had with God, my Father, for a long time. I have been seeking and yearning to continue to hear God's voice. I have been praying and spending time with Him to hear what to do next. Lord, do you want me to go here or do this or bless this person or serve this person. In the mist of all the noise I have been making, God has been telling me one thing over and over. I love you. I have brushed it off thinking I know you love me but what do you want me to do. Again, I love you. Ok, Ok, God I know you love me but how can I serve. What do you want me to do after DTS? Where do you want Dan and I to go? I love you. I love you. I love you.
Today, I was finally able to stop and absorb what He has been trying to tell me, I love you. I was brought to complete silence at how He has created me, formed me, redeemed me, calls me by name and He says “YOU are MINE” (Isaiah 43:1). And all I could do was cry. I could not thank Him, I could not sing, I could not dance. All I could do was be still, lay in His arms and cry because I was so overwhelmed by His love for me.
A divine appointment
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Dan and Carole McClelland
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Yesterday we went to one of the universities in San Jose for a local outreach. We were challenged to invite people on campus to coffee and engage in a conversation with them about God. I joined three other girls in our DTS, Jody, Valerie and Melanie. We prayed for God's guidance before we started and after we prayed we shared what God told us during our prayer time. Valerie said she saw a girl with brown hair and blue eyes, Melanie said she felt we were supposed to talk to only girls and Jody and I got that it would be very very easy to start a conversation about God with the people we were going to meet. Melanie said she felt we were supposed to talk to only girls and Jody and I got that it would be very very easy to start a conversation about God with the people we were going to meet. We walked around a bit on campus struggling to know where to go and how to approach people and then we saw a girl with brown hair and BRIGHT blue eyes with another girl walking towards us! All of us were excited! They passed us and we followed them for a while and then finally approached them. They spoke English and were very eager to hear about why we were in Costa Rica. We shared about how much God the Father loves us and how it is nothing like any love we experience on earth. That this love was unconditional and that He wanted an intimate relationship with them. The girl with blue eyes and brown hair was raised Catholic but did not practice but was eager to hear about how God was personal. We prayed for them afterwards in the middle of a cafe. Everything we heard during our prayer time was exactly right, a girl with blue eyes and brown hair, we would only talk to girls and it would be very easy to talk with them (esp. because they knew English and were so eager to hear about God)! It is soo cool how specific God is when we are open to listen.
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him - but God has revealed it to us by his spirit. The spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. . .We have not received the spirit of the word but the spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." 1 Corinthians 2: 9-12
First update from Costa Rica
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Dan and Carole McClelland
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God is good, Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is working! Dan and I arrived in Costa Rica safely, moved into our place (a shipping container divided into rooms) where we will stay and met all the members of our group last weekend. Our team is made up of 19 people from different parts of the world. It has been great to get to know them and to hear their stories of how they got to Costa Rica. The weekend was a fun time to get to meet everyone and learn more about the YWAM base, San Jose and Costa Rica.
The weather here is very rainy right now. It has rained heavy everyday we have been here. But it is soooo beautiful. Now I know why they had to come up with new names for the many shades of green in Costa Rica.
Our first week was about hearing God's voice, and our group did. The speaker went through some things we need in order to hear God's voice clearly, like humility, faith, clean heart, a yielded will, waiting before the Lord, and the ability to recognize God's voice. Our leaders challenged us to just be still and know that He is God and listen to His voice. And we did for sure!
It was an amazing week of unity among our group, each person working together to be one group (one body), just like 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. To see the body working together and each person using their God-given gifts to glorify Him and and the body of Christ, was a glimpse of heaven. As we work together as a body, God does amazing things. Things that we can not imagine on our own understanding or with our mind. Friday, our group worshiped God in spirit and truth, breaking down idols and confirming one another's strengths and gifts, and surrendering our all to Jesus from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm with no breaks. It was a intense day of change and growth we will never forget.
This past weekend, Dan and I had to renew our passport visas (They only gave us 15 day visas but we are good now for 90 days), as well as two others from our group. So the two leaders of our group, Tony and Rosella, drove us to the Costa Rica/Panama boarder to cross over for the day. It was a fun bonding experience for us all and we got 4 more stamps in our passports! We got to see the Caribbean side of the country and drive through some beautiful landscapes and go swimming in the ocean. We are now back at the base and started our 2nd week, which is focused on Intimacy with God. We are looking forward to what God is going to teach and reveal to us this week.
Continue to pray for the learning of spanish. In one week we have already learned so much more but it always seems like there is so much more. It will really help us communicate more effectively with the spanish speaking staff and people on our team.
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