November Update

If you didn't see our last month's update, here's a chance to!  Just click on the video below to catch a glimps of what's going on here in Costa Rica!



Kamper update Nov 2014 from nlkamper on Vimeo.

September Newsletter

Can introduce you to some amazing woman?  Meet Ale, Loredona, April, Andrea, and Francella!  These are just some of the women who help keep me sane here in Costa Rica.  Our time together each week has become such a life line for me! 
About a year ago, in desperation, I asked a couple of the women at church with young kids if we could get together, just to have a cup of coffee, let the kids play and talk.  Nothing fancy or formal.  The response was an overwhelming, "YES!  We need that too!"  It's universal, moms need other moms! And there really isn't anything like this formally happening here in Costa Rica.  Believe me, I searched and searched!

Our church has an amazing amount of land for being in the city in the Central Valley.  We have a soccer field and a playground!  The kids can play safely, and the moms can talk.  And eat.  We do cafecito, which here is around 3 pm.  There is usually coffee, bread, and something sweet.

My friend Ale explained it like this, "Un rato para estar juntas sin presión de donde están los chicos!!! Siempre es bueno conocer a otras mamás que están viviendo situaciones parecidas!!" For those of you who don't speak Spanish, she says, "it's a time to be together without pressure of wondering where the kids are!  It's always good to know other moms that are living the same situations you are in."  So very, very true!!

Would you pray for our times together on Thursdays?  Not only has it been a help to me, but it is becoming an outreach too.  For one of the women, this is her only touch point with the  church. Pray for us as we encourage and spur one another on towards loving our husbands, doing what's best for our families, and growing in the Lord.

Thanks for being part of what God is doing in Costa Rica!

Noah, Liz,
Forrest, Elliot and Quinn

July Newsletter

We have some great news!  The Lord has clearly directed us to serve alongside the pastor and staff at our church here in Costa Rica as assistant pastor and school chaplain!  This is a continuation of the type of disciplining ministry we were doing at Roblealto but on a larger scale as we will be.directly impacting the lives of over 100 members of the church and 100 students (and their parents) that attend the church's largest ministry, the bilingual Liberty Christian Academy (LCA).

For years, both LCA and our church have been praying for these needs to be filled. In the role of assistant pastor we will be assisting our pastor in different projects and helping to facilitate community growth and outreach for our church. At the school we are working to create a comprehensive Bible Curriculum, pre K-11th grade,  planning and leading weekly chapels, and working one on one with students and parents. We're also excited about working with the teachers to cast a vision for making disciples out of the students.  Many of students come from broken homes, and don't know Jesus.  Their families send them to LCA because it's an English speaking school.  What a huge opportunity!!

One of the things our pastor wants us to develop in our church is being the Body of Christ to one another.  What we grew up knowing as  church family, (things like bringing meals to people after babies are born, surgeries, etc, helping people move, being the physical support in times of crisis,) doesn't often happen in many Tico churches.  Our pastor has told us he really wants to see the church grow in this and wants us to not only model that, but to help people understand and grow in those areas of hospitality and community.  He also wants us to disciple the members and move them to being active serving members of the church. We also see this church on the verge of some really great outreach possibilities in the community we are situated in as well as in Costa Rica.

We have officially started in these new roles and are so excited to hit the ground running!  We are thankful for UWM and their help in this process.
 

Thanks for all your kind emails and prayers!  We wish we could have answered you all personally!  Know that God used those to encourage us and discern where He was leading!

Because of Him,
Noah, Liz,
Forrest, Elliot and Quinn

May Newsletter

“At the command of the LORD they camped,
and at the command of the LORD they set out…”
  Numbers 9:23

Last month we finished our term at Campamento Roblealto. What started out as a 1 year assignment lasted a year and ½ with many amazing stories of changed lives in the volunteers and staff, and in us, many opportunities to grow and learn how to serve in this new culture. It also has helped to refine our calling to disciple Latinos. While camp is a wonderful setting for this, the Lord’s hand is moving us on to something different.

As you all know our heart for camping ministry is what has brought us to Costa Rica. All we learned from Camp Barakel and  Campamento Roblealto has blessed us with the tools and experience to know how to host groups, to do One on One discipleship, lead small group Bible study and to serve. Also Noah’s pastor’s heart has become very evident since serving as camp chaplain and we believe these will all be crucial to our next step.

During this transition period Noah is serving at our church’s Christian school as a 4th substitute until July. This will give us time to explore what God has next for us here in Costa Rica.

We believe that at the command of the LORD we camped, and at the command of the LORD we are setting out on a new adventure, with our continued heart for missions and our calling to disciple Latinos. We are looking forward what God will do next with us in Costa Rica.  Would you pray with us that we would clearly hear what God has next for us?  We are grateful for your continued support through the United World Mission.

August Update

Greetings from Rainy Costa Rica! We just finished up  our 'winter' camping season here at Roblealto.  Yes, winter.  We know, we're still above the equator, but here it's rainy season and the temps are cooler.  We do have to laugh when we see people with wool hats, scarves and mittens on in balmy 70 degree weather with rain! Our primary ministry is to los jovenes, the young adult volunteers at camp.  We get to invest in them so they can than impact others. As camp is over for the "winter," we are now focusing on special events for the volunteers, discovering new ways to connect with them and provide them with biblical training and beginning to think through the next camp season that starts in January. We are so very grateful for the prayer and financial support from you all!  By supporting us, you are helping to impact the next generation of Costa Rican leaders with the message of the Gospel. Noah was able to spend some time with Daniel, one of our former voluteers, who now serves as a missionary in Costa Rica working with impoverished kids.  It was a good time of catching up and Daniel commented he learned so much from Noah in just the short time he knew him and was grateful for his work at Camp. Hard to believe it was just about a year ago that we were given the green light to move back to Costa Rica. We're so thankful to have partnered with many of you to be part of the work that God is doing here at Roblealto.  However, in this last year, we've seen our support level drop to about 92%.  This works out to about $500 a month.  Would you pray with us about this?  And if you have been wanting to get in on what God is doing at Camp Roblealto, let us know!  You can also donate online by clicking here. Our July camping season was a great two weeks of fun, mud, laughter, and sharing the Gospel with kids from all over Costa Rica.  Check out the action with these videos from High school camp, Elementary camp and Preschool camp (and look for two super cute white kids in the preschool video) There were several kids who came to Christ over the two weeks of camp,  including one girl who had attempted suicide before coming to camp!  Praise God!  Noah was  able to spend valuable time with the volunteers including 6 brand new ones which was a big answer to prayer. He washed dishes and weeded plants alongside them,  as well as taught the Word and encouraged them while they worked long hours during the camp season. Donate Our Blog Noah'sFacebook Liz's Facebook

April Newletter

A Hike

Two weeks ago I (Noah) spent 6 hours on a volcano with Esteban and Gerson, two guys who love the Lord and want to grow more in Him 

Esteban and Gerson on a tree that lays 8 feet above the trail

What an enchanting place, a part of Costa Rica I had never experienced, the ancient forests and strange plants on the side of a volcano! Here is one of the lagunas, where lava at one time erupted

Esteban was our guide as he we tracked a Tapir through the jungle, we were probably 30 yards away from it when he took off his backpack and told me to do the same as he said "it will be easier to move if it charges us." To bad we never got to see it face to face :)
 

 

Here we are at the summit having lunch overlooking the main laguna (below) as a large red falcon flew past us

What we do here is not instantaneous, the changes aren't always seen on the outside of a person, but we know what an impact that one person can have on another when they spend time showing they care and taking the time to invest in them.  This is what God sent us here for, to meet the need and change lives one (or maybe two :) at a time.

Thank you for your prayers and for your financial gifts that keep us going!

Noah for the rest of us

November News Letter

Psalm 82:3 "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed."
A reminder of why we are here.

I met Eduardo 4 weeks ago with a broken backpack and standing barefoot outside his shanty town home in a slum of San José, Costa Rica. The directors from Campamento Roblealto and I were meeting with the director of Education Plus to see who he ministers to on a daily basis. These kids homes would make us ashamed of the amount of time we put into our garden sheds.  They live in barrios where drugs, sex trafficking, violence, and poverty tend to overshadow the idea of hope of a better life.

The only bedroom (for 2 adults + 5 kids)

This was the first time I had been exposed to the other side of Costa Rica that tourists never see. I was touched and moved to compassion for this boy Eduardo and his family. The director, who was like a favorite uncle visiting the family, asked how they were doing and what size shoes he needed. This was a reminder of why we are here.

We're excited that Campamento Roblealto is partnering with this ministry, Education Plus and others to provide a week of camp for free.  As our supporters, you are a part of this too!

Hope experienced at Camp

We're calling it Proyecto Esperanza (Project Hope), where we will provide a week of camp totally free for kids like Eduardo.  These kids normally never leave their barrio, but with Proyecto Esperanza,they will be able to get away from their normal lives and spend a week in the mountains. As we talked about the idea of partnering with Education Plus the Director told me:

 "For many of them just the fact that they don't have to share a bed for for the first time in their lives and get to have 3 meals a day will make the week an amazing experience and will free them to hear more about the love of Jesus through His Word as they play games and listen to the devotionals."

This is all part of training up the next generation of Christian leaders who help to bring the gospel to kids like Eduardo and many others.

As the year ends our ministry is just now ramping up.  My office is filled with volunteers and the phone is ringing off the hook with parents signing up their children for the upcoming January camp season.  My prayer journal is filling with the personal requests of the college age and young professionals that we call voluntarios. I am meeting on a weekly basis with the voluntarios to help them write the bible studies and devotionals they will teach kids like Eduardo this January. We know this is where God wants us and are so thankful to be able to see already how the Lord is using us here.

Opportunities to get more involved and be a blessing:

• If you are interested in learning more about the ministry that is helping Eduardo on a daily basis, check out this video. 

• If you or your church might have interest in sponsoring a Project Hope camp or to send a few individuals to camp please let us know.

• This month we are filing our paperwork to gain our temporary residency which will save money and  time by not having to leave the country every 90 days.  Please pray all will be in order and that it would be granted. For those who are able, it would be a huge blessing to us if you would consider a special one time year end gift for this purpose. It would go a long ways towards these expenses. Here is how you can make your tax deductible gift online today.

Noah, Liz, Forrest, Elliot, and Quinn

June Newsletter

A Little Stop In Zeeland

As many of you know we have come "home" from our year of language school to the little town of Zeeland, MI.  We will be here a total of 5 months as we look forward to begin serving at Campamento Roblealto in the beginning of October.  Zeeland has been a mixture of a comfortable reprieve from the stress of living overseas and also a unexpected source of reverse culture shock with its green grass and big open spaces and tall white people! (Noah is no longer consider tall again)

 

Over the past two months we have been able to touch base with our churches and a few of our supporters and family.  We also have begun our last phase of the support raising process.  We are currently at 92% and our goal is to be at 100% by July 31st.  In the midst of all of this we wanted to share with you some of our praises and prayers.

Some praises:

• The healthy birth of our son Quinn! What a guy, he is peaceful, eats and sleeps well and mom and dad are even getting some sleep.
• Our sister and brother-in-law will be able to come down with us to move in September and we have all but $500 of the $3000 needed for this trip
• Our supporting churches have been just that, very supportive as we have shared, preached, and worshiped alongside them. If you attend one of them, thank you!!
• We have been able to rest and enjoy our family here, while Noah has a place to go "to the office" most days and do support stuff.

 

Some things to say a prayer for:

For God to move in the hearts of the people He desires to invest in what God has called us to
• That God would show us the perfect house for us to rent in Costa Rica that is near camp, has a bath tub, yard, and has the space to host the college age volunteers we will be working with on a weekly basis.
That we would have the funds and find the right vehicle for us and our ministry when we move at the end of September.
That we would be able to make the most of the rest of the this summer for our 3 boys and our families and friends.

It is strange to think that we are only here for 3 more months, but this little stop in Zeeland has been a blessing that also reminds us that our hearts are in camping ministry and Latin America. Daily we are reminded of this as we see kids getting on buses to local camps, or get Facebook updates about what is going on at Roblealto in Costa Rica each week.

We're thankful for you all and would love to hear how your summer is going!

Click here to find out how to join the team

February Update

The last month has been full! We thought we would just include photos this time, but if you are interested in more of the story behind some of the photos, click on the highlighted text.

We made a couple of visits to a possible ministry placement

Photos courtesy of Forrest Kamper


We've enjoyed our 3 boys!

Had our first trip to the emergency room

Noah played his first soccer errr futbol game here.

We got to spend some time with a legend in the Central American Camping realm

What a full month!  We're excited to see what this next month will hold.  Thanks for your prayers through all the ups and downs.

Noah, Liz, Forrest, Elliot and Baby Boy Kamper
nlkamper.blogspot.com
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January Newsletter

We're back into the swing of things here in Costa Rica after a fantastic month in Michigan.  Classes are off to a great start for our last term of language school.

A while back, Noah mentioned to you all that there was a need for shoes for the homeless here in Costa Rica.  And wow, did people take that to heart!  We were given enough shoes to fill 4 huge duffel bags.  We were also given donations to cover the expenses of bringing them back with us!  Also, we didn't have a single issue with security or customs.  I really wonder what the customs guys thought when we brought in 4 duffels of shoes!  What answers to prayer!

The shoes went to a program called Jesús en Las Calles (Jesus in the Streets) at the church we have been attending here.  More specifically the shoes will go to a part of the program that works to help people get off the streets.  When the contact people came by to pick up all the shoes, they were amazed at how many there were!  They told us that about 75% of the people in the program are men and 25% women.  Funny thing, we had 3 duffel bags of men's shoes and 1 of women's! They knew that not everyone can give so much and have invited Noah to come a be a part of distributing the shoes and working with the people they will benefit.

A huge thank you to all who gave and prayed for this!  Many people will hear the love of Jesus because of these shoes!

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."   

James 2:14-17

Noah and Liz Kamper

November Newsletter

Part II of the Exciting Kamper Update....

We are super pleased to announce that we are going to have a new baby!!!

God has answered our prays and we are expecting this new Kamper baby to be born at the end of June. We will be back in Michigan for the summer after we graduate from language school in late April.

Liz is struggling with morning, noon, and night sickness which has made school and being a mom and wife challenging at times, but we have seen God use this for good. The boys are excited about the baby and the fact that Elliot now is a "big brother" as well.

In other news:

God has been providing some encouraging opportunties that remind of the importance of this year of language school to prepare us to serve in Latin America.
Noah was able to help run the staff retreat at school where he took part in leading games for the staff.  It was like adult ambush but all in Spanish, his first time doing so.

Also, a couple weeks ago we had the privilege to observe and be a part of a camp here in Costa Rica.  La Cumbre is a beautiful, outdoor adventure camp run by a Costa Rican Director named Silenia and another LAM missionary.  Silenia invited us up to observe and help run some of the activities at her camp. 

We were tremendously blessed to sit under and hear the heart and philosophy of this women who knows christian camping in a Latin culture.  She taught us a number of things and encouraged us in our passion for Christian Camping in Latin America. Silenia also gave us contacts with others  who are doing camping and could help us out in the future. 
What a fun weekend to spend time with volunteers at a camp and to begin doing the job we are called to do.

To other quick praise notes:

God has provided the funds to pay for Noah's last seminary semester.

Noah has started a homeless shoe ministry and our church here in Costa Rica might be able to partner with him to begin providing shoes and the gospel to the men we see on the street on a daily basis.  If you have adult shoes to spare or a few extra bucks we will be collecting shoes to take back to Costa Rica when we come to visit in December in Michigan.

That is all for now, thank you for reading and feel free to keep up with us on a weekly basis at nlkamper.blogspot.com

With much grace,
The Kampers

October Newsletter

Our Honduras Trip!

We've been very busy in a good way recently and have so much to tell you.  At the top of our list is our recent trip to our future home in Honduras. Here is our first installment of a multi-issue super exciting Kamper Update.

Hanging with the Williamsons at Camp


We were so thankful to spend time last month with our ministry partners in Honduras. We know that one of our priorities is to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with them. You can guess by the photo how well it went.

The boys had a great time with the Williamson kids, and Ellie, Becca, Joel and Abigail did such a fantastic job with our boys!  Elliot followed Joel all around investigating toads, lizards, bugs and just about anything they could find and Forrest talked up a storm with the girls and Joel. They even got to go "fishing" with nets in the river.

Taste of the Future

Our visit at Camp Manantial involved getting our hands dirty and experiencing a little bit of what life will be like once we move their next fall.  Liz helped Cindy with camp laundry while Noah, along with two Honduran volunteers from PIER (the church that owns camp) helped Wes build some new bunk beds for camp.



A Huge Surprise Blessing

The plans to build our permanent home is progressing!

The Friday morning before we left to come back to Costa Rica, we were able to meet with some of the pastors of PIER who also happen to be engineers and architects!  And they literally said to us, "What do you want in your house?"  What in the world!!  We never in a million years thought we would be able to help design a house for us to live in!  And what a beautiful thing it is!  At least on paper right now!



After our meeting we went to lunch with everyone and Pastor Daniel started sketching what we had created back at church.  Here it is, on the back of a paper place mat.

And now we continue to pray.

Pray for the work teams, volunteers and money that will equal the $75,000 (We currently have $21,000) it will cost to build the house that could one day function as our camp’s main office.  (This is a change from the $45k we thought it might cost)
To update you on the big grant we were hoping to receive: we did not receive it this year and know that the Lord has other plans for how we would provide for our future home.

A Lot More To Share

We have tons more to share but couldn’t fit it in a simple email. Be looking for our next month’s update or get a sneak peak by checking out our blog by clicking here nlkamper.blogspot.com<http://nlkamper.blogspot.com/2011/10/in-mountains.html> to see what else has been happening.

Thank you faithful supporters, family, and friends for your prayers, money that you give to the Lord through us to reach and disciple His people in Honduras and for your emotional support and friendship!

Noah, Liz, Forrest, and Elliot

July Newsletter

A Million Dollar Moment

What is worth more than a million dollars?

We are here in Costa Rica for a year preparing to be able to serve God in Honduras. Recently I have been amazed at how He is using our day to day lives now to impact people for eternity just by how He placed us on the street and neighborhood that He did.

We aren’t simply preparing to become missionaries; we are seeing how we are ones wherever we go. Our neighbor Alejandra has asked Liz if she would be interested in leading a Bible study to read the Bible and explain what it says to her and her family. God placed us on her street for a reason beyond needing to pay her for our rent and to ask how to order a pizza.

I have had the opportunity to develop a relationship with our guard, Lidubino. From day one when I told him my name and he said “oh like the Ark of Noah” we have talked about God and faith.  The other day a group of Jehovah’s witnesses came to the door. I was able to tell them, in my broken Spanish, how they need to have faith in only Jesus who is God and not in their works. After they left Lilito asked about them and I was able to explain the differences between their false misleading beliefs and the Truth found only in the Bible.

I believe God using our broken Spanish to speak truth into Alejandra’s and Lidubino’s lives. Recently he handed me a gospel tract in English he a friend have given him. It was the one that looks like a million dollar bill and asks the “million dollar question”.  I was able to translate it and share with him how everyone is a sinner and how to be saved.  

I am so very grateful that we are being trained to be able to share this Truth in another language while here in Costa Rica. Thank you for using the money that God has given you to prepare and send us.  We want you to know that already God is using your gifts to reach people with the gospel.

Pray for Alejandra and Lidubino. Pray for boldness for Liz and me as we represent Christ. I've asked Lidubino if he wanted to receive Christ and he flat out said no.  Pray that I would continue to have opportunities to talk with him.

Praise God, after I told Forrest that our guard said no he was really distraught and after thinking about it all morning out son came to us and said he wanted to pray to believe on Jesus. He did and we even got to go and share the good news of his spiritual birthday with the Lidubino!

To those of you who have never considered supporting us; we invite you to be a part of sharing this good news with people in Latin America who are confused about who God is, how He views them, and how to be saved.

Because of Him,

Noah and Liz Kamper