SEPTEMBER 2012

Pura Vida

We walk by faith, not by sight

TOP: At Costa Rica's only amusement park with 50+ FundaVida teens & leaders for a day of fun & fellowship to celebrate Costa Rica's independence day. BOTTOM: Teaching a lesson to the kids alongside Jennifer (not pictured) about the fruits of the Spirit and God's love on the FundaVida service trip.

PRAISES!
Amazing service trip where kids made new commitments in their faith New opportunities to mentor/ disciple teen girls Opportunity for more training/ personal growth: Changes that Heal, 6-week course at church

PRAYER REQUESTS
Discernment in scheduling & where to focus time Wisdom & direction in new bible study and one-on-one mentoring Patience in teaching and leading activities at teen club with 40+ NEW kids! Continued nancial provision, meeting my budget needs

One of my favorite quotes says, "I could not have known that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like seasons; they have to or they die" (Donald Miller). I think I began to embrace this quote because I actually don't like change! But it seems to be a fitting description for life and ministry this year. As the leaves are changing in Indiana, I have the supreme pleasure and humbling opportunity to see lives begin to change around me each day--because every person has to change or they die. It's a biblical truth that I see in the reality all around me. God gave us this time on earth to change, to grow, to be redeemed and then we die. But oh, that we would embrace the process and see it's beauty amidst the growing pains! I hope you will find the time to watch this video (requires internet access) of the service trip I took with 25 other teens and leaders to Talamanca, a remote indigenous community in Costa Rica, earlier this month. The trip was filled with NEW things for me (and for the kids!): watching a cow killed in front of me and eating it for dinner; meeting people who literally have to walk miles

to get to school, a grocery store, or church; helping lead a service trip in Spanish and being the only North American on the trip; sitting through a 5-hour church service complete with 5 testimonies and 3 sermons! We worked hard digging a ditch for water pipes, painting and varnishing a building to be used for the ministry, and teaching and playing with the kids who live there. We also got the chance to have breakfast in some of the families' houses--the physical condition of the houses and stories of the people who live there would break your heart. But as I sat with Belen, a FundaVida teen who recently moved here from Nicaragua, and we listened to our host's story about marital infidelity and having children before she was ready, it opened up a door for Belen and I to share our life stories and struggles. Now we are meeting each week to talk about dating, purity, faith, and to learn a little English as she waits for her documents to arrive from Nicaragua so she can begin school here. I look forward to sharing with you next month the story I wrote for FundaVida's newsletter, "A Changed

Something NEW!

Life," about what two others learned on the trip. Something else new is the opportunity to "fill-in" for a missionary with Christ for the City, who is in the States with her family for several months, in a bible study with girls from La Carpio. They have welcomed me with open arms and we are already digging into the fruits of the Spirit. Last week as they shared their prayer requests at the end of our time together, 3 girls ended up in tears as they shared about the abuse and dysfunction in their families and how it is affecting them. From spousal and child abuse to alcoholism to prostitution, these girls and their families are broken and hurting. But as we prayed together, the truth of the study (fruit of the Spirit, love) sunk in even deeper and they all expressed their deep gratitude for that space, for that community where they experience in real and tangible ways the love of God they don't see at home. Will you pray with me for wisdom and insight as I come alongside these girls and many more as we look at life and love from God's perspective?

Teacher becomes student

The old adage that we learn more by teaching someone else is so true! I've been teaching English now for almost 6 months and it is a new adventure every day. I never thought teaching English would be part of my "job" here in Costa Rica, but it is a critical need and a key way to build friendships with teens to open doors to invest more deeply in their lives. I literally learn something new each day--a new word in Spanish, something about my students or Costa Rican culture. I love it! I remember thinking when I was younger I didn't want to be a teacher, not because it wasn't important work, but just so "normal." I wanted to do something different, something more "innovative." I have to tell you there is nothing "normal" about teaching English to these kids! It's a daily challenge to think creatively about lesson planning, motivate them to see beyond their world to a future with hope, and help them understand and put into practice the discipline it will take to realize that future. It's more than teaching English, it's teaching real life skills. It's teaching how to use context clues, how to study, how to make flash cards, how to take a test, how to dream, how to reach your dreams. And I'm learning more than new words and teaching techniques. I'm learning what it looks like to only be able to go to school through 6th TOP: FundaVida teens playing the "shoe" game at grade (and only 3 hours a day for teen club. One of the things I do each week is help lead group games! those 6 grades), how hard it is to study when you have to take care of BOTTOM: Kids leaving FundaVida's Kids Club after your siblings or children and worry the Kids' Day celebration (yes, an actual national about where the next meal will come holiday!) Close to 100 kids came out for a clown from, how it's almost impossible to performance, face painting, and lots of other goodies! look to next week, let alone next year or the next 5 years when all you know is poverty and dysfunction and no one in your family has graduated from high school. But I'm also learning daily how God responds to EACH AND EVERY one of those needs, how FAITHFUL He is when we aren't or don't know how to be, and how THOROUGH and COMPLETE is the healing and hope He offers.

COME TO COSTA RICA for your next church or family mission/service trip!
I am working in communities with real material/physical needs & one way you can help is to come and build, paint, clean, play, teach. Be the hands and feet of the Gospel alongside me, FundaVida and Christ for the City! Come experience what God is doing to proclaim freedom for the captives of poverty, abuse and sex-trafcking---to bring beauty out of ashes!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

2012 ANNUAL BUDGET $27,500 CURRENT BUDGET NEED $7,000 BRINGING HOPE TO HOPELESS PLACES = PRICELESS
Mail checks
payable to "CTEN" with a separate note for "Ali Campbell/Costa Rica" to: Commission to Every Nation PO BOX 291307 Kerrville, TX 78209-1307

Contact me for more information: ali.c.campbell@gmail.com

-Isaiah 43:18-19

To give online, go to:

www.cten.org/alicampbell and click "Donate"