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.

Found new Family

I ended my last post with a prayer request and that’s why I want to open up this one with thanksgiving.
Meanwhile I have found a church that I really enjoy and that’s why I thank you for your prayer. It might surprise you what kind of church it is but I’m actually attending a Biker Church called “Soldiers for Jesus M.C.” (Motorcycle Club). Their goal is it to reach out to the Biker community. While only man can be members of the M.C. there are many other people that attend the church. The church has a lot of families and young people like me who have nothing to do with Bikes. I really enjoy this church because they made me feel like I’m part of it even though I was just visiting. Another thing they did that so far I never experienced was that on my second visit I also had birthday and one of my friends that came along told them that it was my birthday and in short notice they organized a birthday party, which also was my only one that day. So I never experienced that, that “strangers” would organize and celebrate a birthday party with me. As mentioned, I really enjoy this church and feel like I’m part of them.
At work things are going good. Out of the ca 20 locations for a missions trip we have 8 confirmed and another 4 in the last few steps to be done. We still have a lot of work in front of us and not a lot of time. Sometimes this week I should be publishing the website, which will be something less that I have to worry about. As promised I’ll let you know as soon as the website is online. If you know someone that is interested in doing a missions trip to Costa Rica this summer, then please get me in touch with them. We are still looking for people.
wo more things that I had the chance to experience the past few weeks. First I experienced my first earthquake and about a week later my first volcano eruption. Now if you’re thinking if I’m safe, then I can affirm you that there is no need to worry. The earthquake wasn’t that strong and the eruption not that big as well as that the volcano isn’t really close. However, the city of San Jose was covered in ashes and it smelled really strong of sulfur. Well this was it for now. Thank you so much for your interest and may God bless you richly.

Impressions from Work

Sadly it has been already 3 weeks since my last post. Why "sadly" you might think, well that's because I've intended to post every 2 weeks a new post and not every 3 or 4 weeks. But as I already mentioned in my last post the work has started. I'm very busy with working on the website, which still is not quite ready, this because we are missing some details (confirmation of major speakers etc.) but I'm also very busy with looking for different Churches and Organizations that are willing to host a group of young people who want to do a missions experience. At this moment we have locations in Costa Rica, Panama and Brazil confirmed. I'm really happy about what I'm doing. Yesterday my Team welcomed 2 new team members who want to help us with this challenge.
At the beginning of this month we welcomed a group of students from Cornerstone Bible School in the Netherlands here with us. They came to be part of our MAC (Mission Adventure Camp). It was great to get to know them and to see who God is working in their lives. On their free day I had the chance to go with them to the volcano Poas. To be standing on top of a volcano is quite impressive. Also the temperature difference between San Jose and the volcano is quite interesting, while San Jose had about 30°C on top of the volcano we had max. 15°C. The average temperature on the volcano is 12°C and a lot of the times you don't even see the volcano due to the clouds that cover it. I was fortunate enough to have had a beautiful day while I was up there.

Now something more personal related. When I first got to here I started attending the church of the family I'm staying with, but when the Movida director returned from Europe he asked the new missionaries, which is an American and me to look for another church. The reason behind it is, that out of the 9 Movida missionaries 7 go to that church and he would like to see us going to different churches so that we can represent and promote our work in those churches. So now the American missionary and me are looking for a new church. So if you have time today to pray about this I would be really thankful.

Ok, that's about it. I hope I can write in about 2 weeks again so that you don't have to wait that long for my next post.

God's blessings over you!

And the work begins!

After almost 3 weeks since my last post a lot has happened. Meanwhile the director of MIVIDA Costa Rica has returned and we had our team meeting during which we split up our responsibilities for this upcoming year. I was made responsible and man in charge of the Experimentas, which is the practical part that happens after the conference. This is a very important part of the conference. The vision is that the participants of the conference wouldn't just hear and learn theoretical parts but also would apply what they just learned. For this we offer a short missions trip. My job now together with my team to get in touch with different Pastors and Organisations who are willing to host a group of young people to experience God's hand on work. For this upcoming Conference which is an international one we are looking to offer trips to India, Senegal, Brazil, Albania, Costa Rica and the surrounding countries. Well you might think now that this is a lot of work and a huge responsibility. Well I can't and will not deny this. It is a lot of work and a huge responsibility. The goal is it to have as many participants to do such a trip. In MOVIDA's experience so far they figured that about 30% of the conference participants join a missions trip.   So I'm really thankful if you could keep this in your prayers. Thank you.
Beside this work I also am working on the website for this conference. Sadly I can't post the link yet because the website is not quit done yet but you'll be one of the first to know when the site is ready.
So now a few words to my privat life. During easter break the city of San Jose was totally abandoned. There was no one here, the streets where empty and most people where somewhere on the beach or in the mountains. On Good Friday I had the chance to join a few missionaries to go to one of the volcanos and to go to the hot springs, which are heated by the volcano. That day the volcano was covered by clouds but the springs where so nice. They had pools with hot water (so hot you couldn't go in) to the cold water pools. We had the opportunity to spend a really nice and relaxing day there. On our way home we stopped by a place that is known for their tree art (the way they cut trees). The garden of the catholics Church was very beautiful and with good reason the town is known for their trees but at the same time the catholic Church was having something like a parade. What I didn't noticed right away was that this parade was like a funeral. And surely enough they were bringing Jesus in a cuffing down the street. This whole picture of the parade was so messed up that I wasn't sure if I should

take this picture below and now even I wasn't sure if I should post it. But eventually I figured that to understand what is going on here I would have to post it. We are not used to such things in Europe or North America.

Ok, so now you're updated again. This upcoming Saturday I'll have a meeting with my Team in which we will plan and set our goals for this upcoming year.
Thank you so much for support, it means a lot to me.

God's blessing upon you!

First Insight

It has been almost three weeks since I landed in Costa Rica. Each day I learn something new about the Culture, Language and the Country. Costa Rica is very much influenced by the US. I can find here a Walmart like in the US or in Canada and the shelfs are full of stuff imported from the US. I would say that up to 90% of the products come from North America. So that's why I had the chance to enjoy the other day a Canada Dry, which I didn't know belongs to the Coca Cola Coop. Also when you walk down the streets it reminds me a lot of Canada. The Semi-trucks are imported and many cars just look like they come from North America as well. So as you can see Costa Rica has besides the landscape and the economy a lot of similarities with North America, this is true at least for San Jose. Now Costa Rica is also a very touristy country and that's why you find a lot of tourists, especially from North America and Germany in the streets of San Jose. This I think might also explain why San Jose is so US oriented. Well so much to the country, or more like to San Jose because I haven't seen yet a lot of the country. The Culture is not a lot different than other cultures in South America, so not much new things for me. Also the food isn't much different the Brazilian food. A lot of Rice and Beans and Meat (in my last post I wrote that I eat rice and beans every day for breakfast and that’s so far true except for one day). What was really surprising for me is that Costa Rica has filtered water coming out of the tap, not like other countries of South America such as Brazil. This is probably the only major difference between Costa Rica and Brazil. The language is coming along more or less. The fact that I speak Portuguese is a pro as well as a con. Many times I used Portuguese words in my Spanish and because some words are so similar the Costa Ricans don't correct me, so I think that I'm speaking Spanish but where in reality I'm actually still using a lot of Portuguese.

Marcus and Guiselle

I also noticed that when I call people in Brazil that I start using Spanish words in our conversations, so it isn't as easy as I thought but it's coming. It reminds me of the first few months in Canada when I started learning more and more English.
Ok, now a few words to my host family. I live here with a family that has two adult kids. Both of them are married and have their own family now. One of them is actually the neighbor and the other just lives a block away. This couple has an easy life style and not a lot but what they have they are sharing with me. This again teaches me once more to have a humble attitude in my life.

Ok, enough for now. Thanks again for your interest and your support. If you have any questions or would like to know how you can support me, then send me an Email. (contact information you'll find under contact)

God bless you

Three countries in three weeks

About a month ago I wrote about CIMA in Brazil and at the end of my post I mentioned that we didn't know where we would be heading on the 25th. Well it ended up that actually no one knew about us and that no one had any work for us. So the Pastor that we were working with offered us to stay for the last few days with him and keep helping him and his ministry. This time ended up being a huge blessing for all of us.
The last few days prior my return to Switzerland we enjoyed some free time downtown Rio. So we had the chance to go to the Jesus statue and to visit some beaches.

Back in Switzerland I had to start packing and say goodbye to my friends and family. I had three weeks left in Switzerland which one I spent skiing in the mountains. It was good to be back even though it was just for a few weeks. This way I got the chance to talk to friends and family and to say my goodbyes to them.
On the 24th of February my trip to Costa Rica started. My flight went to Frankfurt, then over Santo Domingo (Dominican Rep.) to San Jose Costa Rica. At 5:30am I arrived in San Jose and a missionry from Movida picked me up. Now I live with a local family which doesn't live to far away from all the other Movida missionraies. It is good to live this family and to learn this new Cultur first hand. Something that I have to get used to is their breakfast. The picture on the left is what Costa Ricans eat all day long. So that was my breakfast. It for sure will not be easy but I'm happy to learn this new culture and language


Well this is it for now. I'll post more in a few weeks again as soon as I have experienced more of this beautiful country. Thanks for your interest and support.

CIMA Brazil

Well finally I found some time to write a bit. I'm already 20 days in Rio de Janeiro and I had the chance to experience and learn a lot so far.

I arrived on January 4th in Rio. A volunteer worker of Movida (partner mission of the Swiss Alliance Missions) picked me up and took me to stay at her place until the CIMA (youth missions conference) started. In this 3 days prior to the CIMA I had the chance to help her with the last preparations for the CIMA. What I didn't know at that time was that this volunteer and friend of mine lives in one of the many slums of Brazil. Now to be fair there are different levels of slums. You have the less organized once, which are those that we hear and see in the news and there are the more organized slums. So I was staying in one of the more organized slums.

On January 7th we were ready to take all the material to the location where the conference would be held. Now on the same day I was also picking up a group of Bible School Students from CLBI (Canada) at the airport. So I stayed in Rio to welcome the students where on the other hand my friend which I was staying with left with the truck to Teresopolis (location of the CIMA conference). After the truck was ready to leave I returned to my friends house to pick up my stuff and head over to the airport. On the way to the house though I walked by a young man that was standing at the side of the road with a machine gun around his shoulder and a radio in his pocket. At least after I walked by this young man I realized that I was in middle of Rio in a slum.

After I picked up the team from Canada we took the bus to head out to Teresopolis. And on January 9th with about 250 youth from almost 10 different countries the conference started. The conference was great and all the conversations and encounters with other youth and speakers was of great blessing. My main duty during the conference was to translate the speakers into English and to translate the Canadian team into Portuguese. With the help of todays technology (translation equipment) it was really easy and handy to translate all the speakers. Even though I had some people thinking that I was going crazy because I was talking into a "turned off" mic and wanting me to be quiet everything went well and the people that needed translation had a good experience as well.

This are more or less the information’s about CIMA, the rest of CIMA went well and as already mentioned it was a blessed time of worship and hearing God's message.

After CIMA was done the practical part started. I'm still translating for the Canadian team. We are now stationed at a missions house of a Megachurch of Rio. This ministry works with kids and youth of the lower society of Rio. We had the opportunity to start right of by helping at a Bible Camp for those kids. We were asked to lead Devos and to plan the afternoon activities. This time at Camp was great and also of great blessings for both sides. The way we were a blessing here we also experienced how the Brazilians bless us and everyday I have humble myself and see how open they are. It breaks my heart to see how little they have and how much they give us.

Starting January 25th we will be located at a new place. Where this place is and what we will be doing I don't know yet, but as soon as I know I'll update you. As soon as I'm back in Switzerland I will upload pictures that I took and let you know. If you want to see some instant pictures that I talk with my phone, then check out my Instagram account.

Thank you so much for your support through prayer (new prayer request are posted under "Support")