Guanacaste Outreach

Most recently we went on a weekend outreach to a region of northern Costa Rica called the Guanacaste. The trip by bus took 5 hours and we arrived at night to a church in the town of Rio Naranjo. The pastor is a single 24 year old guy named Marvin, who we learned is very passionate about the church and community. We slept on the concrete floor of a warehouse type building and awoke around 3 am to loud wind and rain, 4 am to roosters, 5 am to a baby crying, and 6 am to the sun coming in, and 7am for breakfast. Throughout the day (Saturday) we went door to door in groups of 2 or 3 to talk and invite folks to our worship service later on that evening. I (Jason) am extremely apposed to door-to-door evangelism but in the Latin culture here people are very welcoming and open. It turned out to be fruitful and I actually enjoyed meeting quite a few of the locals. After lunch we picked up trash to show our involvement in the community to those whom with we didn’t get a chance to meet. We all gathered on the soccer field in the center of the town to play with the children (boys played soccer of course and the girls talked and played games). Afterwards we preformed 3 different attention-getting dramas on the field. After cleaning up and eating dinner (of more beans and rice) with put together a 2-hour worship service with music, dramas, and a short message. Upon closing for the night we were able to talk more one on one with several of the folks who we invited and had never been to the church before. After another night of sleeping on the concrete floor with rosters crowing at all hours of the night, we awoke around 6am for breakfast and a hike to the local waterfall. The water was bitter cold but that didn’t stop many from jumping right in. Upon returning in the afternoon we participated with the Church service with yet again more drama, worship, and short message. We completed the trip with the 5-hour bus ride back home with standing room only or sitting on the floor in the isle as we did.

The P.I.T. Crew

So here we all are, all 16 of us + 2 little ones. This is the Army in which we will over take the trenches. We have shared many laughs, tears, and stories/testimonies. These are the many faces of which we both argue and pray with. Pictures only do us partial justice as to who we truly are. Our needs are constantly being shared within the crew but at this time we would like to share on our behalf as well as theirs. We are often like tea bags... you really find out the flavor when you're in hot water. All are experiencing financial difficulties impending this outreach trip to Southeast Asia. Some have a fraction of the cost, some none, and others don't even have anyone they could ask. We have to raise $48,000 by the beginning of April. That's $3,000 per person. There are frantic sells of personal items, frozen flavor ice, fresh squeezed OJ, bake sells, and on and on. It's amazing to see how hard people are working and how pleased God must be. Yet, this is a small amount of revenue in comparison to what it will cost to travel to Asia. However, this is a good time because we are learning the principle that we do the possible and God does the impossible. Please pray for the "impossible" to happen!

On a side note there are a few things to tell you. Our team has been called the "PIT Crew" because we will be traveling to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The Philippines has an unemployment rate of just 8% yet over 40% of the population is below the level of poverty. The culture is primarily made up of Roman Catholics, but the catholicism there has been transformed into one of idolotry which takes the focus away from Jesus. In the Philippines we will be carrying out mercy ministries such as building homes and other physical ways of helping the people and community in order to open hearts to share the gospel. On the other hand Thailand is predominately Buddhist. This religion makes up approximately 93% of the total population. The well-established YWAM bases here have given a list of over 170 different ministry opportunities. We will be able to minister in the prisons, and the sick in hospitals or any other way God leads us to build relationships and spread His word and love. Finally, of the three countries, Indonesia has been the most affected by natural disasters, possibly more than any other in the world. As many may know, they were greatly affected by the tsunami in December 2004, which left thousands homeless. Indonesia is still in need of much aid to recover from this dissaster. Besides natural dissasters, this country is made up of over 90% Muslims and is the home of the most extremist group of its type in the world. The Christians that have gone to help transform this country have been persecuted greatly. Many christians have become martyrs for their faith here due to a currupt and militant Muslim government. Here we will be joining YWAM teams to disciple and teach the local people about God and His love and truth. We also pray we can bring hope to the christians who live in fear of persecution.

If you feel led to contribute to any of us on the P.I.T. crew team we would love to hear from you. Jason's email is Jaymooky@gmail.com and Jen's is JenRodHaynes@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you either way just to keep up our lines of communication. Thank you so much for keeping up with our website. We appreciate your ongoing support through friendship, prayer, finances, etc.

Most importantly, please keep the prayers flowing as we get ready to leave. We are so excited for this time and we all want so deeply to serve God and serve the people of these three countries! Please pray for wisdom as we prepare and for our hearts to become sensitive to the needs of the people we encounter.

God Bless,
Jason and Jen



Just to make it easier, if anyone would like to give financial support to join our mission in this way, a check can be sent to either Jason's parents or our church. The quickest way for the team to get the money would be by sending it to Jason's parents but money sent to the chuch is tax deductible. We are excited to see God provide for all of us in whatever way He dreams up but if you are excited to join the relationship by financial support then pray and let us know who you would like to give to (or just to the group in general). All in all, this time is about relationships with the people we will be caring for and with all of you as our friends and family so please don't give if it's solely because you feel guilty. We cherish all of our relationships deeply and would never want to harm them by focusing on money.

Thanks again for all of the love and prayers!

Addresses:

Jason and Jennifer Haynes
c/o Pat Haynes
3318 Octavia St
Raleigh, NC 27606
(Make check payable to Jason and Jennifer Haynes with Missions written in the “memo/for” space)

Or

Grace Biltmore
PO Box 5718
Asheville, NC 28813
(Make check payable to Grace Biltmore with YWAM written in the “memo/for” space)

Week 9: Panama Outreach

God has been so faithful and moving during our time here! We just recently reached our half-way point in the DTS and took a short-term outreach trip to Panama to apply what we have learned. As a group we carried out many ministries of mercy including feeding the homeless, playing with orphaned children, sitting and sharing with the elderly, serving an indigenous tribe by assisting in cleaning their school house, dancing/performing dramas in the streets to people passing by and praying with those in need and hurting as they shared their requests, and so on. As the week came to a close and we took the 20 hour bus ride back home, we had time to reflect on why we are here. We began to grasp the vision for our future here. The key is that we believe and then do and not the other way around. This is not faith by works. It’s applying God’s love to others as He loved us first!

All of the time we have spent in classes was preparing us to go out and be God’s hands and feet to His children in need. As Jason and I tumbled around on the floor with a group of orphans., our hugs and smiles were those of God’s to his forgotten babies. When we walked the streets in prayer seeking hungry people to give food to, God opened the door for us to not only share physical food with them but to tell them for Him that He loves them and they are worth caring for, praying for, and loving. Even in the indigenous village where they have heard the gospel numerous times, God opened a way for us to show our love for them by getting to know them as individuals and meeting a physical need by carrying buckets of water from the river to their school. In doing this we gave them a day to watch others do a dirty task to show God’s love for them instead of preaching the same thing they have always heard and asking them to serve us. This week was so humbling and at the same time exciting because God put all of our head knowledge into action by asking us to use our hearts and hands to get dirty and serve others.

Thank you so much for praying and supporting us! The next weeks and months will be even better! God is calling us out into the nations to share his love. We only had a week in Panama but that is only the beginning of this ministry. We wish we could fully express how excited we are to be His tools!

Week 8

Week 8 was taught on “The Holy Spirit” by Steffan Hugo and his apprentice Lindoni. Steffan is the Director of one of the South Africa YWAM bases and has pioneered several of the 15 in South Africa. Lindoni is a native of South Africa and from an indigenous tribe there. Throughout the week we discussed just what the Holy Spirit is and what roll it plays in our lives. The “trinity” as many may already know is made up of God the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit (or Ghost). Many have a misconception of what the “Holy Spirit” really is. It is what truly speaks to us after the acceptance of Jesus in our lives. It guides us in decisions through prophecies, visions, etc. It is also what gives us our spiritual gifts such as healing, tongues, knowledge, wisdom, and many more. Some may never feel the presents of the Holy Spirit (much like myself) mainly because we are all made differently. It was a good week to just “soak” in the Holy Spirit. We also had an emotional time of giving and prayer with one another.

La Cruz

La Cruz means "The Cross". Up on a mountain-top south of the city of San Jose lie 3 different crosses on top of 3 different mountain tops. It took all day one Saturday for about 10 of us to go. First we left around 9:30 am with a 30 min bus ride up to the last stop on the hillside. Then we hiked about 2.5 – 3 hours up to the last Cross. What an incredible view (as you can see from our sample pictures). The weather was amazing with a cool breeze the higher we got. The mountains we hiked were called the “Mountains of Death” because a long time ago before the Pan American Highway was placed, people had to hike over these mountains and would often fall asleep on top because of exhaustion and die of hypothermia. Today, many take pilgrimages from all over the country to the main cross (the tall metal structure). We were exhausted but it was well worth getting out to see the countryside and exercising at the same time.

Week 7

Week 7 was a random one because the folks from South Africa got their weeks mixed up; therefore we had several of the staff speaking on numerous subjects. The first couple days we talked about "World View" of how the world sees religion. There are many different schools of thought including animism, dualism, fatalism, existentialism, and so on. We discussed what they were, how they were wrong, and what they were lacking. Next we had our student cook speak on hygiene, nutrition, etc. Finally we had what's called Genesis, which is an interactive class anywhere in the world connected via Internet. They can see us and we can see them. We linked up with the YWAM base in Kona, HI for teaching. The guy discussed a few strategies for raising support, personally for our outreach. On the next day the base director from Amsterdam spoke on "Celebrating the Nations". This day was so very special to us. We learned that God truly desires fellowship in Him in our own way. We aren't expected to change our culture in order to become "Christians". We were all created in the likeness of His image and that may show up as a tribe in South America, charismatic culture in Latin America, or even the traditional Roman Catholic Church. We share one thing in common, that we all love the Lord, and this is most important... not our differences in skin color or native language.

Where in the world are we going?

This past week as a group we finally decided where we will be going on out reach! They have divided our class into 2 groups, each with 3 leaders and 12 students. Jen and I are going to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand! I rightfully named our group the P.I.T. crew after the first letters of each country. Indonesia as you all may remember was affected tremendously, and still suffers from the tsunami in 2004. (The other group will be going to China and India.) We will be leaving mid April. Please, please continue to pray for us involving travel, finances, and now specifically for the people and government of these countries. We are so excited and can’t wait to share it with you.

Indonesia is predominately Muslim, Philippines Catholic, and Thailand is made up of Buddhist. We will inform you more on what we will be doing in each country a little later.

P.S. Photographs are various pics from each country we will be traveling to on ourt-reach and are made possible by Betterphoto.com. Thanks!

Going away for a week!

Hey guys! Sorry for being such slackers, you wouldn't believe how incredibly busy we have been the last couple weeks. We've been prepareing to go on our Panama outreach this coming week. We are leaving tonight (3/9/07) at 9pm. We will be taking a short bus with 29 seats... and 29 students! The ride to Panama City takes 18 hours one way!!! Sooo, we just wanted to let everyone know that we have a lot to catch you up on when we get back next week. Keep up the prayers!