Meet Our Team 2013 -- part II

Our 2013 Costa Rica missions team includes a variety of ready and willing, enthusiastic and able high school students. We want you to meet them, and just as we—the leaders—are getting to understand their hearts and abilities, we wish to have you see, too, those same loving souls and what brought them to our team.

David Dupont

As a senior on the Xenia Christian campus, David Dupont, hopes to attend Wright State University to study engineering. David enjoys sports a lot, especially soccer. At XCHS, he is involved in soccer and swimming. He also enjoys reading (when time is available), but his favorite thing to do is to spend time with friends.

Having seen his friends go on the Costa Rica mission trips these past years has encouraged David to do the same.  “I have seen my friends come back from the trip changed and more oriented towards God and His plan for their lives,” David states. 

With the purpose of serving local community in Cincinnati, David has gone on local ministry trips for several summers. David remembers, “It was great to go and help the community, and it showed me how much I can give back to the community.” On this upcoming trip, David looks forward to being able to help the people of Costa Rica and to impact their lives for eternity.  

Overall in life, David has learned and wants to share with others: “I would say that no matter how bad something seems, God has a plan to turn it into our good, and He will turn it around in some way.”

Rachel Graver

Our youngest team member, a sophomore, had never imagined undertaking a mission trip until two years ago when her older sister Sarah decided to go to Costa Rica.  In fact, not only did Sarah go once, but she went twice before graduating, and the stories and adventures she shared with Rachel really excited her to think of taking the same trip one year herself. “I guess you could say,” Rachel shares, “that my interest in going to another country for a short term mission trip is all the life-changing memories my sister brought back with her; I would love to experience the same for myself. I chose Costa Rica because I have heard so much about the country.”

Rachel looks forward to working with the children’s Bible schools and helping the Ticos. In her own life, she looks forward to growing closer to the Lord through sharing His love with others while putting her trust in Him and allowing him to choose the best agenda to do so.

Among Rachel’s other interests, first comes soccer, and she hopes to play in college after graduating.

Whether by people or by God, Rachel loves being reminded time and time again, and she wants to encourage others with the fact that if we can just learn to put our trust and faith in the Lord, He will never leave us. Rachel states, “His mighty plan for all of our lives is in His control, and He will not give us more then we can handle. He is always in control when we feel like we can't control anything else.”


Savannah Slaton

A junior at the Miamisburg DCSS campus, Savannah Slaton, chose to join the Costa Rica team after experiencing a trip to Peru with her youth group in 2011.  She really feels that God is calling her to go on another trip to spread his Word while doing things she loves.  After considering a variety of mission trip options, Savannah felt like God really wanted her to go to Costa Rica. 

Savannah shared that her trip to Peru in 2011 really showed her how to be grateful and thankful for everything God has given her--everything from her family to her house to her church and everything between. On this trip, Savannah looks forward to sharing God's word in every way she can and to building strong relationships with the other team members. 

Savannah’s other interests include . . . well, pretty much just cheerleading. As she states, “I love cheerleading and it pretty much consumes my life so I don't really have time for many other hobbies.” Savannah does enjoy encouraging friends with cards or candy, particularly to remind them that they are loved and appreciated.

ARIN WILGUS

Arin Wilgus—or as most of us know him—“Dash” is a junior at the Xenia campus.  When asked about his reasons for wanting to go on a missions trip, Arin shared that he wants to serve God, and in particular, he wants to share the gospel with the “Ticos” (Costa Ricans) in their native language.  

An enthusiastic student in Spanish III, Arin states that one of the reasons he chose to go to Costa Rica is because “me encanta” the Spanish language. He also saw this as an excellent opportunity to serve the Lord. He looks forward to teaching kids about God and to growing more in his own faith.

Other interests of Arin include reading and outdoor activities. He participates in sports, particularly swimming and track. He also enjoys his pet, a bearded dragon named Torch.

To encourage all of us, Arin reminds us that “God will use you in ways you will never believe.”

Meet the team 2013

Our 2013 Costa Rica missions team includes a variety of ready and willing, enthusiastic and able high school students. We want you to meet them, and just as we—the leaders—are getting to understand their hearts and abilities, we wish to have you see, too, those same loving souls and what brought them to our team.

Mariah Smart

One of our veteran team members, Mariah Smart, has actually been to Costa Rica twice before. A senior this year, Mariah plans to study Spanish at Cedarville next school year. Mariah believes in the importance of using God-given abilities and passions to meet the needs of others—for her, this specifically involves children, and specifically in an Hispanic culture. For those reasons, she has been excited to participate in these ministry trips to Costa Rica. 

Even though both trips were to the same Central American country between Nicaragua and Panama, Mariah shares that each trip stretched her and taught her in distinctly different ways. For her, the first year impacted Mariah with a new view of the world. She states the she saw the world “a little more like the way God sees it and was able to see his love across border lines.” On her second trip, Mariah learned the importance of hard work and looking outside of herself for the sake of helping others in their life and faith.

This year, Mariah anticipates being able to interact even more with those we work with since she has seen increases in both her Spanish and her confidence each year.  “I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of our team members and those we are serving,” Mariah states.

Mariah’s other interests include both people and solitude. She spends a lot of my time being with friends, reading, acting in school productions, and messing around in a variety of artistic hobbies.

I have found the greatest encouragement is in looking outside my own life and problems and instead encouraging and interacting with others. When you get a better glimpse of the bigger picture of life, and see God working in entire groups of people, it puts you in perspective and makes living in a way that is responsive to the gift of salvation a more natural thing to do.

Sierra Cole

One of the special benefits of these mission teams is the fact that both campuses come together to work toward a common goal. This year’s Costa Rica team includes four students from the Miamisburg campus of Dayton Christian School Systems (DCSS). Sierra Cole, one such team member, plans on majoring in Spanish and in International Relations at the University of New Mexico after graduating this year from Dayton Christian High School. 

Besides working toward this trip in January, Sierra is also involved on the tennis team and she does  make-up for the high school drama productions. Sierra has been playing the piano for seven years and has participated in gymnastics. In whatever she is involved, Sierra enjoys being with her friends and wants to be ready to help in whatever way possible. 

The Costa Rica trip interested Sierra as it has always been on her heart to take a missions trip, and every year when the ministry is brought up, Costa Rica has been the one to particularly pique her heart.  She also knows Spanish and loves working with children, which fits this trip’s purposes perfectly. As a personal goal, Sierra prays that the trip will enable her to grow as a person and to grow closer to God. To others, Sierra encourages “to not lose focus. No matter what you are going through, keep your head up and push through it.”

Danny Kolota

A junior at Xenia Christian High School (XCHS), Danny Kolota, wanted to join this year’s short-term mission trip because he has seen many of his friends’ lives change after they returned from mission trips. Danny states, “They seemed more focused on accomplishing God’s purpose, and they seemed more joyful as well.  I hope God will use this trip to shape me into the man He wants me to become.”

            Danny decided on joining the Costa Rica team because he knew the leaders and because his friends going on the trip are people he wants to grow closer to as fellow believers. He also believes that Costa Rica was a good destination as it is a Spanish-speaking country, and that is the language he has been learning through school. Having never been on a missions trip before, he wants to “seize the opportunity” before finishing high school.

Danny especially looks forward to trying the different food choices Costa Rica has to offer (“I love trying interesting and sometimes weird food items from different countries,” he states.)  He also looks forward to working with kids through the various Bible school programs the team will help with.

Danny’s hobbies begin with soccer, by far his favorite sport, although he does enjoy any activity outside or any other sport. But soccer is definitvely his favorite outdoor pasttime.  In areas of music, Danny played alto saxophone for five years after playing the clarinet for 2 years in elementary.  Other free time is spent enjoying comedy movie/shows.  Danny’s favorite TV show is The Bill Cosby Show, closely followed by The Dick Van Dyke Show and Family Ties.

In Danny’s personal life, he shares a teaching from his youth pastor in reference to fighting temptation.  The pastor reminded him that “it is okay to tell the enemy ‘Yeah, you’re right.  I do love my sin, and I know I can’t fight it on my own, but Jesus Christ is at the throne of God right now interceding for my sin and taking God’s wrath in place of me.’” Danny stated, “Every time I am about to sin I think of this and think, why would I want to give this incredible act of love and grace up for the shame of sin.  People today too often forget the importance of Jesus’ role right now (interceding for us), and it is arguably the most incredible part of His ministry.  He not only removed the sins of the world, but He continues to do so.  That’s incredible.”

This is the bottom line of carrying the news we carry to Costa Rica. Even in our Western Hemisphere, people still live without the personal knowledge of Jesus’ intercession and God’s incredible love and mercy for them. That is why we go.

Meeting 03: We claim our mission!

Please continue to keep the Costa Rica 2013 missions team in your prayers. Every two weeks, team members gather together in Maria's home (thank you, Howarah family!) and continue toward the goal of humbly serving the Lord while sharing His love across the borders and connecting others to Christ. -- That is now officially our team mission statement, one of the many decisions we made during the meeting this past Wednesday afternoon.

Team members have been working hard to raise support toward the trip in January, and on our meeting agenda Miss Clements reminded us all of our team verses, Galatians 6:9-10. How applicable these words are in regard to the perseverance we need in raising funds, prayer support, and learning to be a unified team.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Top--David D., Coach Harr, Danny K.; Middle--Miss Clements, Savannah S., Andy U.,
Evan R., Dan G.; Front--Menna Y., Mariah S., Katie M., Maria H., Arin W., Rachel G.,
Nathan T., Stephen P., and Mrs. Reilly (Not pictured--Sierra C.)

Although we were missing one of our team members (we hope you are well, Sierra), we took this opportunity to take a team photo.  Surely, this picture will be the first of many as we travel through the next two months (Miss Clements pointed out that two months from that very date--November 14--we would be on our way to Costa Rica), and while this photo shows a group that knows each other pretty well, when we take that last photo in January, we will be at a whole 'nother level of unity--an even tighter unity than we know now.

And none of our meetings would be complete without a building-up-the-team activity led by Coach Harr.  This time we learned the importance of strategy, of adjusting, of focusing, and --as always--of communicating clearly.