YOU'RE HIRED!!

I'm thrilled to announce that we've hired my 14 year old nephew Carson Vescovi as our part-time ministry assistant!
   

He will be assisting me 15 hours per week with countless work projects and an unending list of to-do's.
   

Carson has volunteered for GTD for the past 4+ years and served as one of our Jr Guides for the past few summers. He is a very hard workers, a ton of fun, full of adventure, and dares to dream big dreams. At such a young age he is already an impact person.
   

Yesterday he completed an exhausting 5 hour application and interview process with me. At the end of the process it was my privilege to say, "You're hired!"
   

This is the first paying job he has ever had! Welcome to Team GTD Carson! We're so blessed to have you on staff =)
   

UTAH & COLORADO Trips ON SALE Thru July 15th!!

  

30 DAY SALE: UTAH ($849) & COLORADO ($899)

Select Our Lowest Price Offered Until July 15th

We haven't had a chance to promote these trips like we wanted to sooooooo we are discounting them for the next 30 days to our early bird lowest price.

Come join us on a God-awesome trip of a lifetime!!!! (Click links below for details)

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LINKS:

UTAH Trip (Sept 18-23, 2017)

COLORADO Trip: (Oct 2-7, 2017)

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MAIL CALL!

Tackling 6 months of "less urgent" mail!!

(Getting caught up on tons of office work after a very full retreat season!!)

Road Trip! (Spanish Immersion Team in Costa Rica)

A little road trip excursion started a couple of days ago for our Spanish Immersion Trip students and now we are in one of the most lush areas of Costa Rica I've seen called Monteverde. Monteverde is in the cloud forest, and the place we are staying is above the treetops....(we can actually see and feel the clouds pass us by)! It's incredible! Last night we went on a guided night hike and saw sleeping birds, raccoon type animals, a tarantula, large grasshoppers, frogs, and bats. Today we'll be heading out to ride ATV's and go zip lining! I'm so excited to see more of this beautiful place!

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Monteverde (By Talia)

Today we drove into central Costa Rica to spend time in Monteverde, which is a cloud forest. This is one of my favorite parts of Costa Rica 🙂  Talia details our day below.

Second day for the books in Costa Rica! We started the day with our families. For me personally, Adriana (my new mama) had to go to work early so she left Veronica and I some breakfast sandwiches on their table. Although we didn’t get to see the girls before they left for school, we left them a note en español for them to find for later. We had about a 4 hour drive to Monteverde, and I can speak for the team that THIS IS THE CUTEST PLACE EVER. We are seriously in love with the views here. We ate a huge lunch (I ate two empanadas at once which was pretty impressive— and they tasted amazing) and walked around the hotel. So many pictures were taken, (that one is for you, parents!!) and we learned that the view can change from completely foggy to completely clear within minutes. As soon as the sun went down we want on a guided (once again, look at us parents! We’re being safe!) night tour and saw some pretty impressive animals like tarantulas, vampire bats, blue-crowned mud bird, and many other that sounded too crazy to be able to remember. We finished off our night with continuous orders of large pizzas and some card games that I continued to beat Cavan and the rest of the team at. Sadly we couldn’t spot any sloths but fear not for me and Autumn’s mission to find them will not be deterred! Our mission to bring a native sloth back home is still alive and well.

quote of the day: smooth like mantequilla (gracias a autumn)

Terminó el segundo día en Costa Rica! Empezamos con nuestras familias. En mi familia, Adriana (mi nuevo madre) necesitó ir a trabajo temprano entonces ella puso algunos sandwiches en la mesita para Veronica y yo. No podíamos ver las chicitas de mi familia antes de ellas fueron a su escuela, entonces Veronica y yo pusimos una carta para la familia a escoger. Tuvimos una maneja a Monteverde, y yo puedo hablar para todo el equipo que ESTE ES UN LUGAR MÁS LINDA. Todos tienen amor por estas vistas aquí. Comimos un almuerzo grande (yo comí dos empanadas en una vez que fue muy impresionante- y el sabor fue increíble). y caminábamos alrededor del hotel. Hay muchas fotos que toman ( este es para ustedes padres!) y aprendíamos que la vista puede cambiar de neblinoso a claro con minutos. Cuando atardecer, fuimos a una visita guiada (un otro vez para utds, padres!!) del noche and veíamos animales impresionante como tarantulas, vampire bats, pájaros, y otros que fueron más loco para recordar. Terminamos este noche con pizza y partidos de tarjetas que yo sigo a ganar contra de Cavan y todo el tiempo. Tristemente, no podíamos escoger un perezoso pero no tienes miedo porque la misión de yo y Otoña para escogerlos no está roto! Nuestra misión para traemos un perezoso a los Estados Unidos está vivito y coleando.

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Day One (By Jessie)

Hi!

Today is our first day and a lot has already happened to remind us that we are in another country. I am living in a house with Autumn and a Costa Rican family. For breakfast my new mom named Mirna cooked us rice and beans and avocado and a mystery meat. In the family, there is a fifteen year old girl and a father but they were not home so we ate with Mirna and learned a lot about her and her family. Then she showed Autumn and me a little of the town. We are in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains and tropical vegetation. But the best part of my experience so far is that my family has two little dogs named Princess and Mia. They are my new best friends of course! Autumn called me the dog whisperer. Now our group is at the church talking about what we are going to do this month and our new families (in Spanish of course!). There was a frog that was in the kitchen that we are in and I decided to save it, but when it was in my hand, it always wanted to jump around the room. Veronica was screaming and a member of the church names Yikson ran into the other room. Eventually I brought it outside the church and saved the life of the frog. It’s hard to understand a lot of the Spanish here because the people talk very very fast and use words that I don't know, but using the words that I know, I can avoid words that don't know in order to have a conversation. But I know that later in the month i will be able to understand a lot more.

Live a pure life!
Jessie


Hola!

Hoy es nuestra primera día y ya teníamos mucho cosas ocurrían para recogernos que estamos en una país diferente. Estoy viviendo en una casa con Otoña y una familia costaricence. Por desayuno, mi madre nueva se llama Mirna nos cocinó arroz y frijoles y aguacate, y un carne misterioso. En la familia hay una chica que tiene quince años y una padre pero no estaban en la casa como así comimos con Mirna y aprendimos mucho sobre ella y su familia. Luego, a Otoña y yo nos mostró un poco de la ciudad. Estamos en un valle rodeado de montañas bonitas y vegetación trópica. Pero, el parte mejor de mi experiencia hasta este punto es que mi familia tiene dos perritas se llama Princesas y Mia. Son mis nuevas mejores amigas, por supuesto. Otoña me llama “el pero musitador.” Ahora todo el grupo es a la iglesia hablando sobre que vamos a hacer este mes y sobre nuestras familias (¡En Español por supuesto!). Era una rana que estaba en la cocina que estamos en y decidí salvarla, pero cuando estaba en mi mano, siempre quería saltar sobre el cuarto. Veronica estaba gritando y uno de los miembros de la iglesia se llama Yikson corrió en un cuarto otra. Eventualmente, la traí afuera de la iglesia y salvé la vida de la rana. Es difícil comprender mucho del español aquí porque las personas hablan mucho mucho rápidamente y usan muchas palabras que no sé, pero usando las palabras que yo sé puedo evitar las palabras que no sé para tener una conversación. Pero, yo sé que subsecuente en la mes podré comprender mucho más.


¡Viva una pura vida!
Jessie


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Meeting with Word of Life

Meeting with Keith Balsley of Word of Life in Hudson about future retreats and future opportunities. Our great thanks to Word of Life for the valuable role they play in many of our local camping retreats. This is such a great ministry... We are very blessed for their partnership!

Thank You (Day One From Lauren)

First of all, a huge thank you for following along with our trip!  We so appreciate your prayers. 

We arrived last night, and everyone settled into their host families houses. I have been blown away by the excitement that families have shown to host these students, and their commitment to that role. We are thankful.

These 5 students have been so resilient and up-for-anything, and watching the way that they invest is a blessing to me.  Everything is tougher in another language, but they are embracing time with their host families, communicating with each other in Spanish, and jumping on opportunities to practice in conversation. I could not be more proud of them.

Today they spent the morning with their host families, then met for lunch and a tour of the town. We had a few errands, and let the students lead so that they could practice their Spanish - they had a key made, went to the copy shop, bought chips for their cell phones, etc. 

All of the host families, along with a few other key families in the church, came together for dinner and a game of fishbowl (catch phrase and charades). The students took turns describing, acted things out with their host siblings, and guessed and laughed along. It was a beautiful picture of community.

Today we will leave for a 2.5 day trip to Monteverde, a cloud forest in central Costa Rica. 

-Lauren (Spanish Teacher) 

IMMERSION TEAM DEPARTS FOR COSTA RICA!

Our Spanish Immersion Team from Calvary High School is on board their flight to Costa Rica where they will spend 1 month immersed in the culture and community as they learn Spanish, experience life in Costa Rica, and participate in community outreaches. It's going to be an amazing month!

Please keep Laurie and the team in your prayers as they live in host homes 4 days each week and travel throughout the country the other 3 days. Special thanks to their Spanish teacher Lauren Shaeffer for overseeing this trip and for all the hard work she has poured into this event!!

Follow the GTD Blog & Facebook Page for regular updates =)

AND SHE'S OFF...

A 4am airport run kicks off a one month GTD journey for Laurie in Costa Rica. She's working with our first ever immersion team from Calvary High School of Clearwater. The students are embarking on a cultural adventure of learning Spanish by immersing themselves within the wonderful community we work with in La Fortuna de Bagaces. We can't wait to see all that they learn and all that God does in and through them over the next 4 weeks!!

Please keep the team in your prayer as they live in host homes and take time each week to travel throughout Costa Rica. It's going to be an amazing experience!

PS: Laurie and I have had a great and full 2 weeks since she returned from upstate New York. In addition to our regular ministry work, we've been working on our wedding plans!! Laurie finished her fitting for her wedding dress, I started the search for my suit, our "slightly late" invitations are coming together, Laurie's parents are doing a thousand incredible things to prepare their back yard for the ceremony, and last night we started registering at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Just under 3 months to go!! It's getting real folks! It's coming together! Praise Jesus =)

GTD = Getting Tasks Done!

Tackling work projects with some awesome volunteers! ... it's the family business ;)