Heading to the Beach

Well my time here in Heredia is up. On Sunday i will be getting on a bus and riding 4 hours over to the Pacific Coast to the city of Samara. Samara is a small beach town where the other campus of Intercultura is located. I had a wonderful time here and have learned so much but it is time for a little change. I will be living with a local family and going to the school in Samara. Just wanted to give a quick update. Don't forget you can send me a email whenever. Keep me in your prayers and i will do the same.

God Bless
Ross

Pura Vida!

Pura Vida, A statement you can hear anywhere across Costa Rica. It literally translated means "Pure Life" but means something like "Full of Life", "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great", or "Cool!" When someone says to you "Hola, como estas", an appropriate response would be Pura Vida. It’s a phrase that can be used in many ways. The first time it was explained to me I immediately thought about living at Pure Life with God. I thought if we all lived a Pure Life with God how much better our day-to-day life would be. Just a little something to think about. I have been here in Costa Rica for 6 full weeks now and I am loving it. Last weekend we had a day off of school and the opportunity came up for me to travel to Nicaragua with 20 of my other classmates. We spent the weekend relaxing at the beach and had a really good time but on Tuesday it was back to school. I have been in class now for six weeks and I am at the second level of the intermediate section. My speaking and comprehension are getting better by the week. I want to take a second to thank everyone for all the prayers and for all the support.

God Bless and Pura Vida!
Ross Jeffords

Hola desde Costa Rica (Hello from Costa Rica)

Greetings to all! As you can see from the title of this blog I am learning Spanish, slowly but surly. I have completed a week and a half of classes. On a typical day I attend class Monday thru Friday, 8:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. Once class is over some of my classmates and I get lunch, usually at a small local restaurant a few blocks down the street or at the market. When we are done with lunch we usually head back to school where several things happen in the afternoon. For example they have dance classes everyday and cooking classes every Wednesday. I usually try to attend most of these classes. When classes are over I head home and usually study for a while before dinner. I eat dinner every night with my host family. After dinner I study a little more and maybe watch some TV with my host dad, Abraham. Then believe it or not I usually go to bed by 9:00 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. Going to school everyday for four hours and only learning Spanish is very difficult but it is also very fun. This weekend should be very fun for me; the school is taking a trip to Monteverde. In Monteverede we will take a canopy tour, swim in natural hot springs and hike up an active volcano, I am really excited. I'll update later with more info and pictures. Please always keep me in you prayer as I do you.

God Bless
Ross

On the Plane

I'm here, sitting on the airplane on my way to Costa Rica. Just wanted to tell everyone goodbye and ask once again for everyone to pray for me. Pray that I will be safe and that I will learn everything that I need to while I am down here.

On the Road Again

The last few months have been very busy for me. I spent two week going from country to country in Africa. We went to South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland and Mozambique. While we were there we were able to minister to many people and help with some of the construction on a brick wall that surrounded the church and international offices in Malawi. I have also been planning the next leg of my journey. I have decided, along with the help of Dr. Collins (National Overseer of Honduras) and my family that on Sunday September 6th, i will be leaving for Costa Rica to go to school to learn to speak Spanish. Since the first year of my missions work is over i want to thank everyone for all there giving. Most who decided to commit to sponsoring me committed to a year and that year is up for most. So i am asking that everyone will pray and ask for guidance on renewing you pledge for another year. Also if you have not sponsored me financially in the past and you feel like God is leading you to sponsor me, it would also be very much appreciated. if you have any questions about how to sponsor me send me and email with any questions. Like i always ask no matter if you sponsor me financially you can always support me with your prayer.

God Bless

Back in the Good U.S.A.

I flew home from Roatan on May 16th and have been having a blast since I've been here. I've been able to catch up with my family and friends, I've also made it to see the new Gwinnett Braves play a game. While it's great to be back in the States, i really miss Roatan. While i was on my most recent trip i was able to accomplish many things, but the thing i am most proud of is the youth group i have been in charge of. My first week we started with 15 kids and by the last month i was there we were running 50 regularly. God is doing great thing on the island and using me in many ways. There is several things that i would ask all of you to pray for. First of all on May 28 a 7.1 Earthquake hit about 60 miles of the shore of Roatan, i have spoken to someone on the island and they said that everything is okay and that they were shaken up but no one was hurt. The second thing is the a group of people from Lawrenceville Church of God, including myself, are going to San Pedro Sula from a week on a mission trip. So please pray for these things and for me on my future trips.

Island Update

Island life is Great. Over the past month i have been getting back involved with teaching the youth. We have been growing so much my first week back we only had 15 kids there and last week 50 kids were there. I am finally starting to feel like i belong here. I am being excepted my the people and they are finally taking me in as one of there own. Ms. Sara (She is the lady who built the clinic with her husband) came down for three weeks and we worked on some stuff at the clinic and we held a short clinic. It was great to see her because it has been so long since i've seen her. Yesterday i did not have much to do so some of the guys took me on a fishing trip we took a boat around the entire island it was so fun. Like i always say please keep praying for me.