Costa Rica/Genesis 34 - Pastor Scotty Brown

I've never done this before. That's not a scary thing to hear from a

pastor, but that's a really scary thing to hear from your cholera-eologist right

before you go into surgery. So we had our trip to Costa Rica. I didn't really

plan on the trip. What happened was is I had mentioned that my wife and I had

gone to Costa Rica in January and got hooked up with a guy named Daniel Rojas

and I said in a message I think that he needed help and I was thinking about

putting something together. Well I got bombarded after service, be careful what

you say or what you wish for, and people wanted to go. So we fast-tracked it. This

was a shotgun trip because they were needing help building some classrooms

for some kids that had been rescued out of the sex trafficking world and the

organ harvesting and blood harvesting. And so I asked, or we put together a team

and people just showed up. I did not ask one of these people to go. They did

it on their own. So I'm not guilty of anything. So I'm gonna ask them to come

up and we're gonna share just a little bit with kind of what the

Lord did when we were down there and where is everybody? Oh yeah they went

back. The coffee was that good. And so we're gonna pass this mic around and

Susan gets to start. And I'm just gonna have them kind of go through and just

give them like a quick synopsis. If they get too windy I'm gonna put my arm

around them like this and you guys nod your head and that means they're done.

Is this on? Oh it is. Well this was a ministry that was on our hearts, all of

our hearts when you hear about these children and what they went through. For

me the most inspirational part was on the first Sunday when we were there we

were invited to the first church service and it was in Spanish.

Praise the Lord I understood it. But Pastor Daniel, after he gave his

message he was talking to these girls. Remember there's 30 girls with their 30

babies and there was also children from the Starfish house which there was

probably 40 of them. And they were all there with a few other folks but he was

telling how he loved to dedicate babies, how he loved the children. I mean

obviously that's why his ministry is all about. But he said before I dedicate

these babies to this mommy you have to surrender your life to Jesus Christ

first and follow him. So as you remember there was 30 and I would count either

15 to 20 mommies came up with their babies to see, to save Jesus, to receive

Jesus in their lives. Sorry. But anyway to me that was praise the Lord and so when

they were coming down the aisle after the service was over and I just

reassured them continue to walk with Jesus because he will guide your lives.

He's gonna protect you and this baby. You need to continue to walk with him and so

that was that's all I gotta say about that.

[Applause]

I'm not gonna talk a lot. I do want to mention I've been overseas before with

other missions teams and missions groups and you always have little in-group

issues. You just do. And the first time that this team here this was the

first time I've ever been on a team where like there was like no issues. Like

God gave us a spirit of unity and of oneness that I hadn't seen before and it

was like anybody that needed help got help from someone else on the team and

there was just we all clicked we all had the same heart the same vision the same

purpose and so like it was just cool fellowship and ministering and laboring

with one another with like zero interpersonal issues so that was a cool

blessing. Amen. That was a miracle. Yeah the first the first part of the trip when we

actually got to see the kids a little bit more than the second part of the

second half was the first part when when you actually get to see. It's tough.

Really is. Just little kids and carrying babies but the the second half was more

nose to the grindstone because you're not there with the kids. We're in

this separate building that none of the kids are on it's just us and Lauren

bless her heart she's the missionary from Michigan that is serving with Daniel.

She's amazing and yeah we just get the work done and go home get some rest eat

wake up the next day have more rice and beans. Driving was incredible. Yeah so

there weren't there weren't a whole lot of us that did I think there was maybe

three of us that drove and coming back and I did I was the least of them I just

had a couple of short trips and coming back here it was like okay I got to put

my mind back into the United States. Everything is go go go it's dare them to

play chicken. So I don't I don't know how you managed your coming back but yeah

really cool experience that way if you like excitement go drive in Costa Rica.

But Daniel himself lionheart that's all I can think of. I don't like I don't like

coming after you because now I feel like I need to cry but if the Lord ever puts

it on your heart go because he shows you so much more than you can even imagine.

You go there with a mind that you're gonna do something but God really does

something in you and so if he says to go go and I have a whole lot to say but I

just can't. I won't cry through this whole thing but the kids just like they were

saying the children it's there's such a need there and the Stan and I have a

ministry in Uganda and so I know what Daniel when he was speaking to me many

times there's so many needs and you feel like those needs are on you but you

wrote the reality is that God is the one who supplies all those needs and I just

pray that for this church if it if the Lord puts it on your heart to come

alongside our pastor and this church to help in that in any way just say yes

because God will show you so many things if you do so that's all I'm gonna say

because I won't cry. If you think she cries. The the thing that stood out to me

and like Sandy said we've been out of the country on several different

missions and even have a ministry in Uganda right now that's ongoing. The

first time I ever went on a mission trip it wasn't because I really wanted to go

it's because my wife wanted to go okay and me being the man that wants to

protect my wife I went and I look at every one of these team members here on

my first trip God used my wife to get me there and I have been all about missions

ever since because he used my wife to get me hooked on you know what he's

really doing in the world and it means a lot and the even though we didn't get to

interact with the kids a lot and there's a reason behind that and it's very I

don't know you're gonna talk about that yeah but Scotty I'll explain why but we

had a team that started out when that first went out there was like 15 or 8

maybe 20 I think it's 23 something like that we're going God weeded it out to

nine and it was interesting because you get nine men and two strong women

together everybody's got their own idea what you know but it's really

interesting you and you just sit back and watch God work because he pulled

every one of these guys together like they're they were on the team because

they were supposed to be on the team you know and God used like they said God

used every one of us at first until we we saw what the kids were doing and then

you turn the team loose for about five seconds and we rebelled right off the

bat they told us not to leave the compound and pretty soon everybody's

sneaking off the compound they don't do stuff but when it when it come to work

you know those when they're when our own time it's like a bunch of cats running

around you're hurting cats and you can't can't keep them all together but when it

come time to go to work they work like one one body and we got the job done and

it was an awesome experience and I think every one of the guys on the team you

know that were on the team they changed their life forever you know and I

encourage you if you ever get an opportunity even if you don't like I did

the first time I drug my feet the first time and you can't stop me anymore you

know because you just see what God is doing and in our normal lives we don't

give him the credit for what he's doing and you need I just encourage everybody

to open your eyes and see what's really happening see how God is working in your

life every second of the day and just surrender to that and I encourage again

if they ever get a chance to go or do or even support because that's even part of

it you know that's the important part but just get get involved know what

God's doing and it'll change your life

thanks for the heads up on this one so I want to thank Scottie for for putting

the whole team together or just giving us the opportunity to get out there and

do something like this and the more I walk with God the more I realize that

it's really about God's timing and and God's timing for Daniel to do his

mission and then our mission to get there and I'm going to speak to two

things that that kind of happened in that realm one is that when we we got

there the water tank was not able to house the girls and so they could have

showers and it took a team of us to get this 2,000 gallon water tank up and over

this hill I don't know if anybody has seen the video but it was literally

across the pasture and up this massive hill so they could have water so God's

timing for us to get there and to do that for them was just amazing the other

thing that I I just was amazed by and and and completely touched by was when

you watch Daniel with these kids and you just you look in some of their eyes and

you know that they've been through things that you you can't even imagine

some of us and to watch them walk by him in their common area and to hug him and

grab his leg and hold his hand and to have a love in them after what they've

been through reminds me that God loves us and and the the enduring love that he

shares with us and the enduring love that he puts in us to overcome

everything in our lives to get better to be better to to know him and and just his

ever-ending blessings that he pours out on us every day so to mimic what Stan

said just you know every day you know if you look for it you're gonna see it and

and you can overcome everything and these children really have by loving

Daniel and and and holding on to him it was just it was a blessing for me to see

it's it was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen so that's all I

have to say

I think my biggest takeaway from the whole trip was hold your babies close

yeah you know there's a hundred little ones there that never got a real mom and

dad to tell them that they love them again they were they were passed off by

the people that were supposed to care about them and protect them the most

in their world and then we come home and have Easter Sunday with our families and

I spent most of my day crying my nine-year-old yeah I love you guys

thanks you guys we're gonna we're gonna and then you guys if you want still the

mic from me can but we're gonna we're gonna show just a few there's a couple

video clips and then some still shots Stan and Sandy would not shut up to the

Lord about those those what would we call them ricochets or those the divine

appointments and we so we get a layover in Phoenix and here's this woman she

pops off says the Lord's name in vain and what'd you say to her Wayne God's

who brought us here and it's so convicted her heart she was she was a

believer and she was just kind of running amok and so we gather around and

prayed for her and and then the next slide would be Oh

Sandy Oh what I can't oh the shoes oh that was so much fun I think they shared

on Sunday about the shoes but all the little children and I think we had 28

boys and 25 girls total and what we did was we had their feet print had drawn it

out you know how you when you were younger how you draw your handprint on

it they did the footprint the same way and they brought we brought him to the

store and the guy at the counter was so awesome because every single one of them

yeah Alejandro he was so awesome because he took every single one of them we cut

them all out he put them on one of those foot measuring whatever those things are

called but he measured each one so that we got them each a half a size bigger he

wrote their names and then the girl that was helping us also put him in a box put

a little tag on each one with their name so the kids got each got a new pair of

shoes so that was awesome and the two girls that you see in this picture here

are workers with the children and they were looking at shoes and we looked at

theirs yeah you saw our shoes yeah you need shoes so at the time it was buy one

get one half off so they both ended up with two new pairs of shoes and it was a

blessing that was a lot of fun that was a lot of fun yeah and those two had left

Argentina to come be a part of Daniel's team okay do we have another slide oh

here's our here's our team pushing the the tank up the hill the grass is a

wildest stuff you ever saw I stepped onto the grass and I disappeared I fell

and I I just kept falling and I'm just going what are there snakes down there I

but it was it was it's amazing this would be a cow man's dream the grass in

this country is is amazing so that was us we got it up on the hill next slide I

think is the tank set in place we got it up and and set in place I think is there

another oh no no I had to take that because you can't see him but there's a

couple Bremer cows so it's it's cow country I mean the hills had had cattle

on them and and was pretty cool and that's the compound you could see in the

background oh there's the cattle sorry that was the the last slide was the

compound where the two girls the all the girls with their babies are their

septic system was overloaded really two really nice facilities but and then they

tried running their dryers and fried a service line coming into the into the

complex so they've got a lot of work to do I actually heard from Pastor Daniel

this morning and the inspection did come they've got a couple adjustments they

have to do but it sounds like they're gonna have a favor with the with the

city and get their school up and going so we're excited about that and then oh

yeah well they took us out to dinner and and I got on a on a bucking machine but

they didn't turn it on praise the Lord it would have broke it would have broke

every bone in my body and then here's here's the the facility when we first

got there so they had some drywall done and the other side wasn't done so

Wayne and Josh and myself and James and Jake Tillo we slung a lot of drywall mud

and I got it all over everything actually so yeah oh I had to see that

that's a shower electric wires in the shower how safe is that but that's the

hot water heater so it's low pressure and the lower the pressure the hotter

the water yeah was that one that was with me and me and Wayne's in our in our

in our bunkhouse yeah black tape good they don't even have wire nuts there but

and this is Lauren Lauren she was she's a professional soccer player she was in

Costa Rica on a professional team got hooked up with Pastor Daniel and wanted

to be a part of it and he's had so much of a turnover because people are so

overwhelmed with the needs of these kids that he made her go home she didn't want

to she wanted to stay he said he said no I want you to know that God's called you

here so you go home for two months after you've prayed for two months if you want

to come back then you can and she's been there for the last three years she is a

she is a spiritual stud muffin this girl

and there's the shoes again Payless was so glad to see us coming and there's the

girls when they went forward with their babies they're all holding their babies

and and that's Pastor Daniel and then his his twin sons and Lauren lead

worship and then his little girl you can't see her she's 13 but she also

sings and leads worship there it's quite the family affair but over a hundred

kids they have this is a little starfish home and these are some of the kids that

are there there's 48 kids there and and if you want to see some cool videos get

with Wayne he's got some videos of them doing exercises and stuff in the morning

but it's called little starfish and there's a story with that so this this

this man was on a beach and there were millions of starfish and and Pastor

Daniel heard this story that's why he calls it little starfish there were

millions of starfish on the beach and this little boy was out on the beach and

he would run and grab a starfish and throw it back in the ocean they were all

dying and and so a man was walking down the beach and he asked a little boy what

are you doing he goes I'm I'm saving these starfish he said there's millions

of them there's millions of these starfish how do you think you can sit he

says can you make any kind of a difference or it doesn't even matter and

he grabbed one and he wrote went over to the surf and he threw those starfish he

says it mattered for that one right and that so impacted Daniel that that he

named the house where the kids are this is isn't where the girls with their

babies are but where the kids are they call it little starfish and then what

else we got oh yeah here's here's here's the crew we're gonna we're slinging mud

right now everybody is doing some mud and and you can go go to the next slide

too and this is this is at the end this is the afterwards so we got it painted

we slung a lot of paint we had to scrape a lot of paint off the floor Susan and

sandy painted the backdrop on the stage black and it just it looked really cool

the sides there are gray and the backdrops black and and there's the

stage oh yeah on me yeah well I'm a knucklehead yeah but incredible facility

they they now have they have nine classrooms seven of them are functional

and so that was the whole herd there we were cleaning everything up before we

left to come home and it was it just looked cool the the rafters right there

are metal and the main wire the main service wire was wrapped around the

metal Raptor going and and then Chris and and Stan got it put in a conduit and

and and brought it up to code but it was it's a lot of their stuff there's a

little sketchy now the drive the driving and poked in excuse me in Costa Rica

maybe downtown Pocatello too but but the driving everybody in Costa Rica drives

just like I do and I mean I was in my element and it's amazing I haven't got

five or six tickets since I've been home but but what's it do we got any more

slides is that it that's all of them okay all right well give these guys

what's up oh yeah so these guys are rock stars Stan and and Chris totally redid

the electrical James totally did the the toilets all the toilets were working

women and actually there's lights in the boys bathroom when we left and and then

Josh and and Tyler and James and I were or others were were we were mud packers

and painters and we did all kinds I even got shocked putting in lights so but but

what motivated Daniel to start this whole thing because this is only this

ministry is only it's not even I don't even so totally a year old yet but what

happened was somebody could approached him and tried to sell him a set of

six-year-old twin girls for 50 bucks and Daniels and he's in Costa Rica he's he's

Argentine but he's been in Costa Rica for 20 years his wife marine is from our

Costa Rica and he thought okay don't sell kids kids aren't for sale he's and

so he kind of blew it off and then he had somebody from the the government

there tell him said no this is going on all the time and so looking back he his

heart was broken because he said if it happened today I'd buy him right I'd buy

him and I put them in a safe place and I would raise them and that's what he's

doing with a hundred kids he's he's raising these kids and he feels like he

has to you know have to has has to have them stay with him until until they get

through college so that they can self-sustain because actually the girls

with the babies CPS was actually pimping them out and then giving them a kickback

and and so just actually they're just programming them for this lifestyle and

so anyway it's just up it's an incredible thing so I'm gonna have these

guys sit down and I'm gonna I'm gonna share with you a little bit more and

then uh it am I on can you hear me okay so I think I've said it from this pulpit

before but where you are in the scriptures is where you're at in life

and it was it was fascinating that as we would sit down and we would do devotions

it was amazing how the Lord was ministering right to what was going on

when we got there it was total chaos there was an emergency they couldn't

come get us from the airport with the bus and so we're sitting there waiting

with all of our luggage and totes and everything and and we didn't even see

Pastor Daniel the first day and so it totally went different than we expected

is that what happened to you life is just goes different than what you expect

right and and in one of our devotions it was it was in Luke chapter 22 where

Luke 22 · chapter mention

excuse me Luke chapter 8 verse 22 where it says now it happened on a certain day

Luke 8:22

that he got into the boat with his disciples and he said to them let us

cross over to the other side of the lake and they launched out but as they sailed

he fell asleep and a windstorm came down on the lake and they were filled with

water and were in jeopardy and they came to him and awoke him saying master master

we are perishing and then he rose and he rebuked the wind and the raging of the

water and they ceased and there was a calm and he said to them where is your

faith right where is your faith do we listen to God really right because fear

crept in and pushed all of their faith out of the way and so when we're in

Costa Rica and things I'm going think this isn't the way it was supposed to be

right and I'm wondering what Jesus's tone was with his disciples here what he

rebukes the wind and the sea they come to him and saying we're perishing and he

says where's your faith so was Jesus encouraging these guys when the storm

came and they thought they were gonna die to put on a smile and keep rowing

we're going to the other side of the lake right put on a smile keep rowing

we're going to the other side of the lake why because that's what Jesus said

you know and so Jesus didn't give us the details when we went down there right I

thought I had some details with Daniel that didn't didn't work out but that's

okay because my motto okay you guys want to know my motto my motto is blessed are

the flexible for they shall not be broken right blessed are the flexible

for they shall not be broken and so we were just rolling with it right we were

working hard we were rolling with it and another and then I like like Josh said

we were I was just amazed at how this team how everybody was so gifted in

certain areas you know some of us were just gifted with the gift of help we

were just helping each each other but but with Chris Chris's expertise on the

electrical we were one of our readings was in Exodus chapter 35 verse 31 where

Exodus 35:31

it says God calls three men in that passage and he has filled him with the

Spirit of God and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all

manner of workmanship and I saw it right in front of my eyes right these guys

they were just gifted I mean James tearing into you know James is set in

the toilet and he set in the toilet and he drills to start drills down into the

concrete put a little anchor bolt down for the toilet and he goes up a sprung

a leak and the the water line was this far under the concrete right next to the

hole going down into the drain we saw a lot of stuff in Costa Rica right you

couldn't do that in America so so I think if we had if we had ten bucks for

every time we ran to the the supply store right we we could build our own

building and then the last one was

as when you look back and you see the Lord's hand and in in Exodus 39 this was

the last one it says thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting

was finished and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had

commanded Moses and so they did and that was that was just kind of our parting

verse as we were getting ready to come home that we had done what God had

called us to do I you know honestly I don't I don't know that I'll go back I

have a sense that I might but it is just anyone that has an opportunity like

these guys just told you to step out in faith and go to something that's

uncomfortable to you when you see this you you realize that just the reality of

what America has compared to the rest of the world right it's just it's absolutely

amazing and and God was doing a work I think in all of our hearts and to see

these kids being their lives are being changed I sat and talked to two

fifteen-year-old mothers with their babies and they all nurse they all

nurse their babies I never saw a bottle I don't think and they all nurse their

babies and they're overwhelmed they still cognitively do not get it they'll

take her two or three month old and set them on a chair it's like no no no don't

do that right cuz I mean they'll just do a header right off the chair and it's

just they just don't they don't know and and so it was it was definitely an

experience that you know that does cause you to cherish like Wayne said cherish

your your family and we're not gonna get into it because we're about out of time

but Genesis chapter 34 the Lord is not mentioned in this chapter in the Bible

Genesis 34 · chapter mention

right and it's because Jacob took a u-turn and he went to Sukkot or Shechem

where he should have went to Bethel Bethel's the house of God right the

reason we come to the house of God so that we might hear we might hear stories

like this I call them God stories every kid needs to hear a God story do you got

God stories that you share with your kids I remember sitting at my grandpa and

my dad's feet and hearing them talk about the Lord you know even my dad was

a was was lost and backslidden and yet I heard all these God stories and I know

that they had an impact on me as I was growing up not to walk away from the

Lord or stay away from the Lord but to come to that place where you can meet

with others that have God stories and you can compare those stories of how God

works in our lives but we have to we have to create that opportunity right we

have to create that opportunity for our kids our grandkids I want my grandbabies

to know about Jesus do you right and so so bring him to church so talk to them

about those God stories how God's intervened in your life or how God's

intervened in your family and and and keep the fire burning keep the torch

ready to pass to that next generation because this is amazing how fast we grow

old and our kids grow up and now said you got grandkids you're just going like

how did this happen and it's so important to keep reminding yourself and

them of the things that God has done in your life Jacob had had this encounter

there at Bethel with with the Lord and and saw the ladder right we learned that

that was that ladder is Jesus that the angel of God's ascended and descended on

this ladder and so that's where he should have went back that's where God

was calling him back to and he took a detour are you on a detour right now

some of you might be on a detour you're not where you should be in my Christian

life the most miserable I ever was is when I was backslidden when I was in a

place where I knew I should have been in a certain place and I wasn't there and I

knew that God wanted me there and I was I was bowing my neck and I was being a

rebel and I was hardening my heart and you know there's a reason why the Bible

says humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up because if

he has to humble you I just want you to know he's really good at it right and he

knows how to do it he knows how to humble you and and I would I would take

the humbling of myself rather than the humbling of the Lord because sometimes

it takes much more harsh means but if we'll just bow our knee and say here am

I Lord forgive me and and and show me where to walk and how to walk that he'll

be faithful to do that and so I'm gonna encourage you all of you pray for this

little starfish house and and for Pastor Daniel in that ministry he's got down

there it's gonna do nothing but grow we saw we saw his church grow to almost

double from the time my wife and I was there in January to now it's it actually

grew it more than doubled and and it was just from within and so as these girls

have had all these babies and and these these these kids grow up I mean he's not

even have to have any new people come because there's that repopulating the

church as they go and so but but pray for them this is a this is an incredible

ministry what's really sad is like those all those millions of starfish on the on

the beach it's right here in our own country fact it might be right here in

this church that some of this stuff is happening they say one in three girls

have been sexually you know exploited some want some way shape or form one out

of three one out of four boys that's crazy and yet God has come to redeem us

from all that I look back at my own life and and and my my my own perversion and

how God has has changed the way I look at things and the way I the way I live

my life and that's what Jesus is all about if you're just living in the flesh

right some of this stuff is not very far from you look at our little are the the

all over the news right now with the what's this P Diddy or whatever his name

is right it's just it's it's just too common it's all too common and and God

wants to redeem it and he wants to start with you and me let's pray Lord we come

to before you this this afternoon Lord just thanking you that you are in this

this place where you redeem lives Lord and you you bring us to a place of

newness the newness of life Lord new creatures created in Christ Jesus Lord

you tell us Lord that we're created for good works because of what you've done

for us Lord and thank you that you've forgiven me of all the evil works that I

did in my life and and Lord you give us a brand new start and your your mercy

and your joy is it's new every morning Lord so I just pray that we would find

ourselves Lord in in that place of surrendering to what you have for us

Lord that you would direct our steps Lord and these these lives that are being

touched there in Costa Rica Lord you're you're raising up future missionaries

and future doctors and teachers and you're doing a work in their lives Lord

and so we just we worship you thank you for all these encounters that we have

Lord I lift up all these people that that we ran into Lord whether it's Alex

that thought he was deemed possessed or pastor Luis or Olga and Tristan and

Ronnie Lord all these all these people all those divine appointments that we

had Lord I pray that you would pour out your spirit on these people and draw them

to yourself Lord as you draw us to yourself today in Jesus name amen

alrighty let's let's stand and worship