Life in Costa Rica

Hey everyone, Just wanted to reach out and give a quick update on how God has been guiding our steps in our upcoming transition. For those who haven’t heard, the Lord has been working a lot in our hearts over the past year. We are looking forward to our move to a town by the name of Santa Rosa. We now have an official move date (September 13 th ) and a house!!! Praise God for continuing to provide for our needs in this time of many unknowns. It’s been awesome to see prayers being answered in this journey.   We had the opportunity to host the Keystone Youth Group down here at the beginning of July. They were able to get a glimpse into the community and church plant where we will be serving. It was a very busy week as we held a mini VBS in 3 different locations. It was a blessing to have a team that was well prepared that was able to share the love of Christ to the different communities. They endured a very hot week and were full of energy the entire time. Please contin...

In May we said goodbye to our nineteen 2018-19 GAP students. Second semester was full of adventure, ministry, growing friendships and personal growth for many. We love seeing the continued excitement and yearning to learn as students jump in and make the most out of the second half of their year. This year was a challenging one for many of us here at GAP, with lots of problems and situations that came up that we had never dealt with before. From all the health issues (affecting staff and many students), to learning how to handle the many different personality types in the villa this year, to the immense spiritual battles and growth, we tried our best to lead this class well and always point them back to Christ! We saw God do amazing things in and through many of the students. God brought many of them to a saving relationship with Him, and we were honored to be a part of many of their baptisms! We saw students really begin to dive in to the Word of God and get answers to questions of fa...

Hey everyone! We are well into the second semester of the GAP year, and there are some cool things happening. Though every season brings its own challenges, we are so thankful to be a part of God’s work here in Costa Rica and in the GAP program. It was great to be home to celebrate the holidays and catch up with many of you, we are always thankful for visits back to the states to see family and feel refreshed.  Every January, we hold summer camps with the churches and ministries we work with. This is an awesome opportunity for the GAP students to really connect with the kids and teens they are serving in ministry, as they are normally week long, overnight camps. We love seeing students return after camps with improved Spanish and stronger relationships with their ministry kids.  Brandon and I had the opportunity to serve in camp with Salvador and his youth group from Los Guido! The theme of the week was “walking towards spiritual maturity”. There were speakers who c...

Hello dear friends and family, Here is a quick update on what life has looked like for us these last few months, we are excited to head back to the states to celebrate Christmas in just a few days! With each GAP year comes different types of challenges and triumphs. We love seeing God's hand at work through the program, and are privileged to be a part of His work! Throughout this first semester, God has been growing and changing hearts in big ways. There are 20 students in the program this year, many of them with open hearts for learning, growing and serving. We are always amazed to see how God grabs a hold of people within the first couple of weeks and and how he uses class and ministry to draw them to himself. During this first semester, 5 students realized their need for a savior and a relationship with Christ! It has been so encouraging to see these new believers grow in their relationship with Christ, and to see other students rally together to challenge and strengthen eac...

Hey there everyone! It’s been a little while since our last update and we would love to fill you in on what the Summer months have looked like for the Hoover’s down here in Costa Rica. A view of the mountains from our home In our last post we gave some news that God was on the move, doing something in our ministry that was bigger than what we could have ever imagined. We closed the doors to the church in Tirrases in May and have been trying our best to keep in touch and meet with some of the individuals from the church throughout the last few months. We are currently trying to figure out the best way to continue discipling and pouring into the people that God has placed in our paths from that town. Through many different circumstances since May, God has been giving us the confidence and reassurance that, even though it is hard, He is guiding our steps through all the changes. Our summer months were busy working with our awesome summer interns and some short-term grou...

“I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me into the Rock of Ages.” -Charles Spurgeon- The past 10+ months have been some of the hardest, most challenging and most stretching months of our lives. They have also been some of the most joyous, exciting and growing months. As I sit and reflect on all that has happened since Brandon and I started life together as a married couple, I praise God for every high and every low that he has brought us through. I marvel at the fact that He has never left our side and is continually guiding us through every step of our journey. I am amazed by the grace and love that He has shown us daily, even when we don’t deserve it. All of these things have helped us to grow closer together in our marriage, and closer to God as he pushes and pulls us. We are thankful for the many people who have joined us in our journey and for the prayers and encouragement we have received daily! Before leaving for Costa Rica in August of last year, we asked a few pe...

    Hey everyone!     We are well into the second semester of the GAP year and so far have had an awesome start to 2018 here in San Jose, Costa Rica. There is so much to reflect on and be thankful for over the past two months, and we praise God for the how He is working in and through us!     January included many busy days and nights packed full of signing, playing, teaching, praying and fellowshipping with the people from our church. We held two full weeks of Summer camps for the kids and youth of Tirrases. Both weeks looked very different from each other, but God definitely used each one to leave a lasting impact on both the students lives and ours. The first week included a VBS in the town of Tirrases for kids ages 6-11. In the mornings we had time to play games, sing, and spend time getting to know the kids. After lunch, we had a Bible lesson and craft in the church. We all had a great time being with the kids throughout the week as well as teaching...