Casafé
I am excited for all that is going on here at Casafé these days and plans for the near future!
We are doing tutoring on Tuesdays to help the youth with homework, study for texts or learn English! This past week was a great success, Emily was in charge of it and another lady from also came to help  – we had a sweet English class! Laughing and learning together!

Also, Leni, from Germany is volunteering here for 3 weeks. She is  working with Casafé and another ministry here. She is super sweet and a great help! (She is the one front and centre of the picture below!)

I brought a Unicycle back from in Canada for the youth to use….and the guys are learning fast! (I love that they like what I like!)

Today we had youth over and some of them shared their testimony with a short term mission team that is working with Sarah Barrett for the week. It was so cool to see them stepping up again and being the leaders in this situation. Just as they were leaders at camp last week, today they were leaders in sharing what God is doing in their lives. And after testimonies they also had the opportunity to give some surf lessons to the team. I love these youth!! All of the youth have walked through hard things, their stories are not easy, their childhoods were not easy. Sharing their testimony is not only to encourage others and bring glory to God, but also part of a healing process for them. For one of the guys, today was his first time sharing his story, but I am sure it was the first of many. God is doing so much healing in his life.

 

Today, with the help of the World Race team we had a little kids club with soccer and boogie boarding. One of the girls shared about God can be like a soccer coach – instead of teaching you how to play soccer God is teaching you how to live your life and guiding you in that. Simple but great. A lesson these kiddows can remember every time they place soccer!

Later for din din, one of the young adults from the community made the team dinner and we got to pay her for her work to help her out because she is having a hard time getting a job because of residency issues. It is great to have a blessing both ways. Blesses the team and blesses and empowers one individual from this community!

 

We also got to put up a new sign for Casafé, that a couple of the girls from the World Race Team painted for us! (Thanks guys!)

It is so great to have Katie Feusse (Emily’s Sister) here at Casafé as our very first Intern for a month!! She’s been here for just over a week and has been a great help! She will be helping with the events we hold here, with some logistical things, and making this place look a little better!
Katie gets along with the youth great and was a super big help with our youth training on Friday!

Emily’s Mom was also here for a few days, and was super generous to buy us new things to fix up the house and make it more “home-y”! It is so cool to see the different ways God provides!

 

Iglesia Radical had a surf camp right in front of Casafé, so we had the opportunity to help them out and offer them water, showers, and even a little first aid!

 

Then the following day, Sunday the 24th, Casafé had the opportunity to host a BBQ and Baptisms for Horizon Church!

It is such a blessing to work along side of these two great Churches! English and Spanish speakers -we all love the beach and Casafé is a great place to meet! May God continue to use this place for his work!

This is Casafé – God is good!

A few years ago while I was working at my dad’s shop God planted a seed of a vision to start a youth centre in Jacó. I was trying to make an extra buck before heading back to CR and I was just thinking about Jacó and dreaming of what the Lord had in store for it. I thought about how great and needed it would be to have a fun, safe place where youth could come and find refuge from the worldly pressures and be discipled in life and in the Word at the same time.

Little did I know that God would bring this into fruition – how He wanted it.

As I began to share my vision to start this centre people encourage me to go for it. I started praying and planning and God opened up the door for me to start a Youth Ministry House. Instead of a centre he provided a house and spoke to me that this must be focused on going deeper with the youth and not wider.

The Lord gave me someone to help me kick this thing off, my roommate Emily. And He told me to follow Him and trust him for provision in every area. He gave me the name Casafé – which is just putting the works house and faith together like “housefaith.” (But it sounds way cooler in Spanish!) He was showing me that this must be a house of faith. As faith is the foundation of our faith and we must have faith in God every day as we walk with Him through every situations we find ourselves in – the easy ones and the difficult ones  – which is exactly what we want to instil in the youth.

So, here we are. Emily and I live in this house by the beach ministering to youth of Jacó through Youth Trainings, Bible Study, surf sessions, tutoring, hosting Youth Group; and soon to be offered: guitar classes, computer classes, study hour, english classes and more!

We work closely with the local church, plugging the youth we work with into a christian body and working with the youth that are already plugged in – inviting them to what we have to offer  and going deeper with them!

There is such a great community of believers that have helped us get things going! We had a mission team help us paint and fix up the house. We have had people drop off supplies and snacks. We have had other donate, and pray over Casafé. It is so cool to see what God has done through Casafé in just a few short months!