Team Training - Whitney

Hey All, Whitney here! I am Summer Sipes younger (and more fun) sister. I was blessed to go to Costa Rica a few years ago with the team and will be returning this trip as well. I live in Charlotte, NC so I am unable to attend the team meetings, however!! Who knew that weeks of being sick with bronchitis, etc. that I would end up flying to Texas early and be able to actually attend one of our meetings and get to know the amazing team from Frisco.

On December 10, we met after church to learn a little about our trip and continue planning. Our meeting kicked off with the most amazing rendition of jingle bells to the tune of “I’m a little tea pot.” The bonding of our team is in full effect. We discussed our testimonies as we have been working on them throughout the weeks prior. It’s a challenge to take something you speak on and put it on paper, but it was a great spiritual growth opportunity for a lot of us.  

A key part of our time together was to learn more about our Tico family (the group we will be ministering to) and their culture. Joy Benken (team leader) led us in learning about aspects of the Tico culture that would benefit us.  The Ticos are a hugging culture. They function on Tico time, not a set schedule (I could get used to this!). A big lesson for me that I remember learning on our last trip (I got reminded daily) – Don’t pet the dogs! Trust me, its harder than it sounds!

Our groups then broke into their tasks teams where we had time to plan our activities, crafts, and lessons around the theme – Walking with God, we find peace! It was amazing to watch each group go to work, brainstorming and committing to creating an amazing experience for the Tico kiddos that would help reinforce the theme! Let me tell you, Frisco Bible students are creative and passionate! God is definitely working in and through them already. When we went to share our group ideas, it was cool to see how similar the ideas were and how they would all work together! We ended our session with prayer!

This is where I am asking you to join us. As we continue to prepare for our trip, we would greatly appreciate you partnering with us in prayer over a few key aspects:

• Pray for our team as we continue to work through our testimonies. This is such a powerful part of our relationship with God and we are asking that He continue to unfold our testimony and areas He has grown in us. We want our testimonies to show clearly the true love and gift of Jesus and the way He impacts our lives in peace!
• Our team members have completed their fundraising letters and sent them out. Pray that God would open up hearts to partner with us financially in raising the funds we need. I remember a leader last year saying a team is made up of the stay, pray, and go. We need the financial team member, the prayer warriors, and we have the gift of being the feet of each of you as we go!
• Pray for us as the majority of us begin to crash course Spanish. We want to let our Tico family know that they mean the world to us and one way we can do that is to go the extra mile and learn their language (obv just the basics) so that we can better communicate with them.
• Pray for each of our teams as we continue to finesse our planning and lessons. We are the first group of the year to see these kiddos and work with Hope International, so we want to make sure the message and them of Walking with God, I find peace- is clear and loud.
• Pray for us! Pray for our hearts and minds as we dig deeper in our walk with Jesus. Most of our team are in school, have family and job commitments and these can lead to distraction from spending time with Jesus in prayer, time in scripture, and worship. Pray that over the next few months each member would have an abundance of time to spend with Jesus and that it would be a powerful part of our testimony.
• Pray for our the Tico and Los Pavas community as well as Hope International. Pray that God will begin to work on their hearts in preparation of what they will hear and receive from our group.
  
  I want to thank you, from our team, for joining us and stay tuned for all the impactful, memorable, and fun things to come as we will continue to share!

- Whitney