Past / Present / Future

Time is just flying by. It's already been a month since I informed you the last time. Well not a lot has happened but still I want to inform you a bit on some work I'm doing. I want to talk about my trips, graphic designing and about my job starting February.

Trips
I always have to go on trips for one of two reasons. The main reason is to promote MOVIDA and our event CIMA. Almost every weekend we are traveling to visit different churches where we can talk about MOVIDA and CIMA. Not to long ago I was with 3 co-workers in the northern part of Costa Rica to do exactly that. I had the chance to talk to a pastor about the possibility of doing a missions trip to his church.
The second reason a lot of times is combined with the first reason and this are trips to other countries to renew my visa. Every 3 months I have to leave the country to renew my visa. This gave me the chance to visit El Salvador, Nicaragua and next month Panama. Most of the times this trips will be combined with promotion in different churches and also with our "CIMA Days", which I talked already in a previous post about.


Graphic Design
Because I understand a bit of graphic designing I got asked to do those graphics that have to do with my work area (missions trip) on my own. In the picture on the right you can see some of the many works I've done. Besides the graphic designing I also created the whole CIMA website (check out the website).
A lot that I have learned now in graphic designing I've learned from my co-worker Bon Fernandez (Bon's Website). He is a professional graphic designer that completes work for christian organisation in South America as well as in Europe.


Work February and onwards
A few days ago I booked my return flight to Switzerland, which doesn't mean that I'll be staying in Switzerland. What I want to say with that is that I arrive on the 22nd of February I'll be arriving in Zurich but already on the 23rd I'll be heading to the headquarters of MOVIDA in Switzerland to go from there on a missions trip to Croatia. You might remember that already this year I had a group of students from my old bible school in Canada with me in Brazil. Well those three went back to Canada and suggested to keep sending teams. So they they got in touch with me again and this time I'm taking them together with MOVIDA to Croatia. If you are interested as well you are more the welcome to come. You can find information under unter http://cimaintl.movida-net.com/en/europe/
This trip will go till the 22nd of March. After that I'm for know in Switzerland till October. In this time I would like to work for 3 months in car mechanics again. July and August I would like to help MOVIDA Switzerland with the CIMA in Switzerland. This website I'm working on right now. Also I would like to attend my next module in Korntal (Germany) for the course Intercultural Coaching. And then when everything works out I'll be flying to Brazil.

Well this were some information of my work. This days we are expecting a hurricane to cross Costa Rica, which is probably the most exiting thing happening right now.



Thank you so much for your interest and your support through prayer.

Culture and theft

Unfortunately it has been too long since my last post. For this post I want to talk a bit about my trip to Nicaragua and also about the different Cultures that we have here in Central america.

Ticabus

The trip to Nicaragua was mostly good. Three of us left on the 7th of October with Ticabus (Bus here in Costa Rica and also kind of national pride - comparable to Air Canada or American Airlines) to Managua, Nicaragua. The bus might be the pride of Costa Rica but to be honest it was my worst trip ever (see picture). The space between the seats were less then 20cm and after a 9h drive my knees were red and in pain. Lesson learned, never again go with Ticabus. Then on our drive back we returned with Transnica from Nicaragua and the trip was like this (see picture). Ok enough for the buses, but if you are ever traveling through Central america I suggest you to avoid Ticabus.
In Nicaragua I had two main things to do. One was to talk at one of our events and the second was to visit two Pastors to talk about the possibility of them hosting one of our missions trips. I had three days to visit both Pastors but one of them lives at the Pacific coast and the other at the Caribbean coast. The plan was

Transnica

that I would do that by bus but that was almost impossible due to the little time I had. So I rented a car and in those three days I drove just over 1000km. The trip across Nicaragua was really beautiful and a highlight of this trip and I can look pleased back to this part of the trip. It looks like that the meetings were successful and that we are going to have two more missions trip to Nicaragua. But exactly on this trip I also got robed and this not by any "normal" criminals no it was directly by the police. To explain what happened I have to give you some background information. On this whole trip I encountered once in awhile a police barricade which was set up with some cones. This meant for me to slow down and drive around the cones. So as I was returning from El Rama (see map) I can to an intersection just outside of Managua. I stopped and noticed that the police has set up some cones in the middle of the street. Well as experience has shown I thought that I had to go around them. What I didn't noticed was that the cones were set up to indicate a lane and that all the traffic that was coming from where I was coming was suppose to drive between the cones into that lane. Well as indicated I thought that I had to go around once more, which I did and which I wasn't suppose to do. The police then informed me about this and told me that I had to pay USD110 :( Because I did't have any time to fight that and I didn't want to loos the documents of the rental car I had no other option then to pay the ticket. As I left the "crime scene" I noticed that the officer never gave me a receipt for the money I gave him, oh well, those two officers are now almost a minimums wage richer (minimum wage is about USD 130). Yes, this are USD110 that I will never see again

Now a few words to the culture. I had the chance so far to visit El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and I heard a lot from Panama. Of all this countries Costa Rica is unfortunately the country that has the least night life and infrastructure. Well what do I mean with that? El Salvador as well as Nicaragua have a night life, you can go downtown or go to the promenade and have fun. Well in Costa Rica most of the city closes down by 10pm and nothing happens after that. And if we look at the capital cities San Salvador and Panama City have way the better infrastructure then Costa Rica. I'm still trying to figure out why Costa Rica is so expensive and why they think they are the greatest in central america. Don't get me wrong, Costa Rica is a very beautiful country and it has a lot to offer. I event think it is the best place to come to as a tourist but sadly I can't find and see to much of an own culture. I talked before of the food here, El Salvador has the Pulpusas and the Nicas have according to them invented the Pinto (rice and beans for breakfast). Yeah the verity of their food culture isn't the greatest. Really typical here is to have rice and beans three times a day. You can image how I might feel. Every chance I get to eat something different I'm looking really forward too.
A few words to the people. According to my experience* I find the Ticos (Costaricans) way friendlier and helpful then the Nicas but I would put them equal with the Salvadorians. As already said, I haven't been yet to Panama and can't take a stand to that yet. All three countries have one thing in common though, they are very influenced by the United States. For example does El Salvador use the US Dollar and the other countries have a lot of things that can be found in the US as well and remind the people of the US.

I think this is it for now. Thanks again for your interest. If you have any questions or just want to send me an email, then just get in touch with me. My contact information you'll find under Contacts.

God's richest blessing over you

*This few lines are my personal experience. Other people might have experienced this countries different and might learned different things. I don't want to confuse or hurt anyone here. This are just the things I learned so far about this countries.

14 weeks

14 weeks left. Just 14 weeks left till the CIMA in January starts. Work is advancing and soon the whole registration stress and the trip books will start. I'm personally doing good even though sometimes the ashes from the volcano bother me.

Yes we have an active volcano close by (40 km if you drew a direct line). Last week he erupted and due to the ashes they had to shut down the airport. My eyes were in pain and breathing was also not easy. Now the air is clean again but depending on the direction of the wind we might smell some sulfur in the air and everything might be a bit covered in ashes. It's kind of interesting to experience this, so far the coolest part of it were the earthquakes. The strongest was 5.3 on the richter scale but to be honest it also was about 140km away from us but still, to suddenly feel the earth shake underneath your feet is quite impressive.

Ok, my last post has been awhile. I traveled a bit in the last months and there is more to come. After my trip to El Salvador I was quick in Switzerland for my best friends wedding. It was a great surprise for him. I also used this trip to attend the annual meeting of MOVIDA, in which we discussed a bit what they expect from me and where they could see me in the next few years. I'll talk about this more as soon as everything is confirmed.

View from the office on the day of eruption

I'm now about 3 weeks back in Costa Rica and I'm already getting ready for my next trip. Together with 3 other missionaries we are heading to Nicaragua for our last promo tour. What exactly will happen I don't know yet. I just know so far, that I'll have to give a mini seminar about transcultural missions.
In the last few weeks I was busy with getting the last locations ready for the mission trips that we are offering in January. I have some new once confirmed and some others I'm still waiting for an answer. Also we have confirmed two trips to Europe. One will be in Spain and the other in Croatia. This two trips will be a month long during the months of February and March. I'll have the chance to join the group that will be heading to Croatia.

While I was in Switzerland some people asked me how I was personally doing. To be honest I'm doing good but I also am noticing the non-stop work that we have. We almost work between 6 and 6.5 days a week and the close we get to CIMA the more we have to get ready and finish up. I'm surprised by those missionaries that are doing this for years and can keep up with this pace. I'm looking forward for a little brake next year. I'm also attending a church here even though it's not that often that I attend due to work I still love the change that it gives me the times I can go. It's always refreshing to be around the youth of that church and to do stuff with them. But beside that I'm doing pretty good.

Well this are the News for now. If you have any questions about CIMA and / or the trips to Europe then let me know. Find my contact information here >>

Thank you so much for your interest and your support.
May God the Almighty bless you richly!

Trip to El Salvador

After 10 days of intense work in El Salvador I'm finally back in Costa Rica. But I want to start at the beginning, August 5th.
On August the 5th a co-worker and I flew to El Salvador on a 10 day promotion tour. We left about 5:30am and landed about 7am in El Salvador. We were welcomed by some MOVIDA friends who drove us from the airport to Santa Ana. On Saturday we already had the first visits to do. We visited a youth service and a small group. Also I got asked to preach in a church on Sunday. Those who know me, know that this is not my strength and that I don't like to do that what so ever. But accepted the challenge and I prepared a message.

Just before I had to preach my co-worker asked me how I'm doing and normally I would answer, that I'm nervous and that I'm not feeling well. But this time I told her, that surprisingly I was feeling really good, even though it was my first time preaching in a church. This statement made her nervous. I eventually preached about missions and our responsibilities and this based on the story of Zacchaeus. According to the feedbacks I got I believe that my message went well.
During the week then we were working towards the event on the upcoming weekend. This week is the main reason why we went to El Salvador in the first place. MOVIDA organises several events through out the year called CIMA Day. This event gives the youth the opportunity to experience one day of CIMA. This way they can understand a bit what they can expect in January but also those that can't go in January can learn more through the Seminars and Workshops about the mission of God.

On Saturday, August the 13th we had our event and I had two main rolls during this day. First I represented the Experience-Program, which we are offering in January after the conference. My goal was to promote the mission trips and motivate the youth to consider this opportunity. My second roll was to lead a seminar. The theme of it was "How can I get involved with missions". I had about 15 participants and also here I believe it was a good turn out. The whole weekend was from our end a success. We received many good feedbacks and even invites to come back next year.
Well now some general information. If you read my first post about Costa Rica you might remember that I talked about the food and how the Costa Ricans eat a lot of Rice and Beans. Well the El Salvadorans have their Pupusas (check link and picture). In El Salvador they eat this dish several times a day. If I would have to choose now between the rice and beans or the pupusas, then I chose the pupusas.
The next information is, that during the preparations for the event I had a small accident. I got asked to cut the tickets for the event, which were 300 tickets. I was doing this with one of those paper cutter, now this one didn't have a protection and due to the amount that I was cutting I got into a routine which led that I forgot my finger. This ended in me cutting off the tip of my finger. Now it might sound really bad but I don't think it was that bad. I did have to go and get two stitches but the finger is healing really well.
Again I want to remind you, that once in awhile I'm doing Facebook live. So check out my Facebook Page and watch the videos from El Salvador (Link is on the top right on my blog).

Well this were the information about El Salvador. It was a really beautiful experience and I made some new friends. The people there are really welcoming and open and they gave everything to make us feel at home. Also you can find pictures on my Instagram (Link on the top right corner of my blog) about this trip.

Thanks so much for your interest and your support.

There's enough work

So now I have quick time to write an other post. The last few days I was really busy but I think it's better for me to start at the beginning. As mentioned in my last post we had a group of three girls coming for a missions trip. For the last week of their trip, which was also the last week of July they where here with us in San Jose. Due to my ability to speak German, English and Spanish I got asked to help them out with translation. One of the occasions was at a youth service in one of the churches here in San Jose where the girl from Switzerland shared her testimony and where I was able to translate for her. An other place we visited was a High School and an other youth service at a different church. If you ask me of my opinion on how this trip ended and of what I heard was that this trip was a success. One of the participants understood through this missions trip what missions is all about and is now open for missions. Our goal from MOVIDA's end is it to mobilize and motivate youth for missions and this surly happend. Right after this missions trip our Volunteers retreat started. This retreat needed a lot of attention and so also a lot of energy. Due to a holiday on the 2. of August we didn't get the Monday off after the weekend. And so it ended up that we worked hard during the week, then the weekend and ending with a slow Monday.

Now you might say, that I had the 2. of August to rest, which would be right but because I had visitors I decided to show them the volcano, which I have seen now for the forth time. After the volcano we went and visited an other place called the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This trip there was so beautiful. You didn't just see the waterfalls but also had the chance to go through a zoo and see the animals that live here in Costa Rica. Some of them we also had the chance to touch. Yes, so this day wasn't really restful either, where I could of restored some of my energy. It came as it had to come, I started feeling weaker and weaker, now this was my fault and I don't want to blame anyone here.

Slowly I'm coming back to my full strength now. But I'm also already standing before then next busy week. On the 5. of August I'm flying for 10 days to El Salvador where we will have an intensive time filed with meetings and preaching. Now if you know me you also know that I don't like what so ever to preach and I'm not the best in it too and that's why I ask you for your prayer. But as Paul wrote in the New Testament, God is strong in our weakness.

So this is it. I don't know how much internet I'll have in the next 10 days but if I get some, then I probably quick do a Facebook live stream. So keep post and follow me on Facebook.

Thanks so much for your interest and your support.
God's richest blessings over you

Don't miss Out

After two weeks and two CIMA-Days since my last post I'm getting close to half time of my stay here in Costa Rica. This brings up some mixed feelings. On one hand I'm looking forward to return to Switzerland and reunite with Family and Friends but on the other hand I also made some good new friends here that I will have to leave behine and whom I most likely will not see that fast again.
I want to look back quick a bit on the past few weeks. I want to start mid June, were I had the chance to meet a Swiss/German missionary Family called Mosimann. They are serving here in Costa Rica with an organisation called LiL (Light in Latinamerica). I really enjoyed getting to know them and to hear more about what LiL is doing here in Costa Rica and I hope that one day I can visit their trainings fasility.
In the last two weeks of June we had our second MAC (Mission Adventure Camp) groupe with us. Personaly I didn't spend any time with then but I had the chance to quickly meet the people that came from Europe (3 Germans and 1 Swiss) and in a few days our last MAC trip will start. During the second MAC I was at our first CIMA Day here in Costa Rica, which I talked about in my last post and we also had our first CIMA Day in Panama. But I was just at the one here in Costa Rica. Combined we had about 200 youth attending this event. The next CIMA Days are coming up and we have a lot to prepare for.
In the last two weeks there wasn't a lot happening, this due to the summer break. Our Director went with his Family on a vacation and left me for two weeks as his replacement.
Well and what is coming up? As already mentioned, in a few days the third and last MAC group is arriving. This group will be the smallest that we had this year. Because I know 2/3 or 2 out of 3 of the participants I will be spending a part of their trip with them and sharing this experience. After this MAC trip we have our Volunier weekend, which we have about 60 people signed up for. For this weekend we will have the Voluntiers from Panama and Nicaragua joining us, which means that at least I will meet for the first time most of our Voluntiers.
I hope that after this weekend I'll get the chance to write an other post with some pictures. I'm saying this because 5 days after the weekend I'll be leaving for a 10 day trip to El Salvador. This trip will contain promoting CIMA and the organisation as well as connecting with new Churches and Pastors.

Talking about CIMA, I want to invite and challange you to be part of this awesome and life changing experience in January of 2017 here in Costa Rica. The International CIMA 2017 is a great tool, which teaches young people to find out about their God given gifts and talents. You'll be joining people from Centralamerica, South and North America and Europe on a week long experience that will not just change your life but will affect the people you return to.

CIMA Day

It has been a while since my last post. But the main work that I have been doing in the last few weeks wrapping up the Website project, which is done now (as promised here is the link International CIMA 2017) and I also was getting ready for our first CIMA Day. Now if you don't know what CIMA Day is, it is basically one day of CIMA like we will have it in January. This way we can show the churches as well as the youth what they can expect in January. This first CIMA Day was held in the southern part of Costa Rica this last Saturday and this upcoming Saturday we will have our first CIMA Day in Panama. I was part of this last CIMA Day and I helped out were ever they needed me. At the end of the day I also had the chance to speak and talk a bit about the missions trips that we are offering after the conference in January. During the whole day I was at the booth for the missions trips to informed those who where interested and we also offered some games where they could win something. We offered them something that they could win instantly and we have a price that we will give away at the CIMA in January. For this main price the participants needed to fill out a quiz and have all questions right to qualify for the draw in January. This has to be a bit hard because we have a sponsor who is giving USD 70.00 to the winner so he/she can use it for their missions trip. That's why I thought of a quiz to figure out who should get this money. During this weekend I also figured something new out, I started to live stream through Facebook. This means that people that were online at the same time could watch through a live stream what I was doing here in Costa Rica. It is a live stream that Facebook later on saves to my Facebook page, this way you still can see what a was doing this last weekend (watch the videos on Facebook).
On our way back we stopped by the beach for a couple of hours.
When I got home and I got out of the car my phone fall of my hand unto the asphalt, this causing part of the touchscreen not to work any more. But this wasn't the end of the day. Later in the evening I transfered all pictures to my laptop but when I tried to look at them my laptop showed me an error message. I googled for solutions and I tried to fix this problem. Well that led that my laptop ended with the "Blue Screen of Death". This ment, that I had to do a system restoration.Through this I lost all my programs on my computer but at least I was able to keep my files. Now my laptop is working again but since I bought my laptop at the end of last year I learned that I made a huge mistake. Never again will I buy a Windows laptop, even it might be half the price of a Mac but at least the Mac doesn't come with the problems that Windows brings along.


This was once more a small update of what I experienced and what I'm up to this days. There is still a lot of work and work is going really slow.

Thank you for reading and for your support.
God's riches blessing


PS: We are still looking for people that might be interested in participating in a missions trip at the end of July to Cost Rica. Please get in touch with me if you're  interested or if you know of someone.