Here in the States

I wanted to share with everyone that I am here in the States now. During my time here I am trying to meet with current supporters and I am trying to find ways to build my network. I wanted to start with that, because I have been home for little under a month and I have already exhausted the contact list that I have. This being said I am asking you to please help me in this, by way of helping me get into meetings with missions administration of your church or family church, and also if you have a small group or a men's group that I could share with. I am really open to any avenues, because God is showing me that support continues to come from the least likely places. I am committed to going back to Honduras at the end of January. At this current moment I am going back on faith, because I am no where close to the monthly need to remain in the country full time. With that being said I am a firm believer that if God brings you to it, He will be faithful to bring you through it. I am currently at $1,000 a month in my support and my needs full time are $3,000 so I am 1/3 funded. I have been on the field for 2 years and have never been "funded 100%" but I have never had to leave the field to this point. The reason being is one time donations have made up the other part, which I am very thankful for and are also very needed. The thing about committed monthly support is that it is what allows me to build a budget and allow me to know with out a doubt that I will be able to meet the needs that I have committed myself to. Living 100% off support takes a level of faith that is uncomparred to any other time in my life, but some very amazing things have happened in the process of this season of living by faith. Mainly the level of love I feel from the people willing to give and to believe in this work that the Lord has brought me to. 

 I wanted to share these photos as a praise of what God is doing in my life and in my ministry. These tools where bought with separate one time donations given by men wanting to help me equip my teams with the tools needs to do the work. Also yes you see right that is a check for $55,000 this was the very first day I started my fundraising meetings. I have been raising support for 2 years and to this date have received $28,000 and the God we serve is able to far beyond the work of man and provided this in one day. He is in this and behind this work, I want to stay out of His way and just be a tool used to bring Him the glory. I want to thank the anonymous donor of this check you have made it possible for me to buy a vehicle to work out of. Also I wanted to share this link to my new video that is a great way for you to share with people that want more info on what it is that I will be focusing on in Honduras. This film really sums up the mission God has put me on.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/b7sav526brbzq7h/Coy_Honduras_Short_V1.mp4?dl=0


All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

Where to start

      I do apologize that it has been a while since my last post, but there has been so much going on in my life that I let this get away from me. I would like to start with the most urgent of things, and that being please continue to pray. Pray for peace and trust in my life, I have started to build my budget for the next year on the field. The numbers are staggering and something that I know only the God of the universe can provide, but with that being said fear and doubt sets in on the down days and makes believing that even more difficult. That is where your prayers come in when I am to weak in Spirit it is your prays and encouragement that lift me up to push on. Prayer is the most important form of support, but the numbers are real and financial supporters are also needed. At this point I have got an idea of my budget and for the most productive I could be in the following year the figure is $145,000. This is me doing everything I feel I could possible do in the following year, think of it as a best case scenario. Yes you saw that right I did not accidentally add a zero, but allow me to break this number down. Right off the top I need $30,000 for my personal needs to remain in the country and everyday life, this includes things such as rent, power, water, basic essentials, phone, insurance and food, think of what you use on a daily basis well I need the same things haha. One of the largest parts of my budget is a vehicle, and for you that have been down to Honduras you are aware of the need we have for a personal vehicle. Also my ministry focus is construction, so I am in need of a truck that has a high haul capacity that is 4x4, because the majority of places that I will be working will be deep in the country where paved roads do not exist, and some times roads do not exist. The truck that I am looking at is the only truck that is a ton truck sold in Honduras, that is still small enough to fit the small streets and would be a daily driver. In reality I need a truck for materials and another to do the logistical planning for projects, and I pray someday the Lord provides that, but at this time I feel this is where He has lead me. The Toyota Land Cruiser Truck is $55,000. I know that seems like a lot cause it is, but this is a truck that is proven to last and I believe this truck will last me 10 years for everyday use and after be a great material truck. This is versus the other light duty trucks that I don't believe would last more than 4 years with this type of work load, and still cost between $35,000-$40,000. So over the course of 10 years this option would actually be over double the cost. What about importing you ask? Well at this point the mission does not have its tax exempt status in Honduras, and has been in the process to get this for 4 years so not sure when it will actually happen. First the vehicle must be under 7 years old, and more importantly Honduras determines the value of the vehicle. Then we have to pay a very high import tax after that. So with that being said bringing something like a F350 that cost $25,000 used in the states could end up being $50,000 for a used truck. So that makes up $85,000 I would like to use another $15,000 for big one time purchase tools, such as a concretes mixer, a generator that is strong enough to run a welder at full power, a welder, and materials to build a flat bed trailer used to haul material to large for the ladder rack or truck bed. The remaining $70,000 would be used to buy material and hire local helpers to do the service projects that I believe will allow me to begin to build relationships with the men of villages. This plan will be enough to do 165 days of work which is on average 4 days a week, leaving the rest of my time doing follow up and discipleship with the men that I work with. This would be doing 40 floors, replacing the entire roof wood and metal on 20 homes, and just the metal on 30 cause there is sometimes a need just for the metal to be changed, 5 complete homes 12x16, and 1 open air terraza 30x24 with a concrete pad and metal roof this is typically built at a school that is in need of a dry rec area for the children. Now some of these numbers will change if a team comes to work and they buy tools and materials, but it is hard to rely on that it is an unknown, and all honesty I believe God called me to do this work even if no one else comes to help. So there it is the task at hand and ahead of me and everyone that God has surrounded me with, I have been really blessed with some very gifted folks that are coming to the table and offering their skill sets and gifts that God has given them to serve, and this is something I wanna ask you what talent has God given you to help. I am seeing that others can do a much better job at raising support and awareness to the needs, mainly cause they are in front of the people I have yet to meet on a daily basis. It has become very obvious to me that people need to be reminded of the need, this is a hard task when you live 3500 miles away from most the people able to to help. Life happens and they forget about you, that is where I need your help please pray about this opportunity to be part of what God is doing.
      Another huge thing that is going on in my life as some of you know that could use prayer is that I am getting married. This adds a whole other aspect to what is and will be going on in the future. I don't think that God could have brought a better person in my life than Morgan, she has such a heart for ministry and helping people which is perfect for being missionaries. The thing is though the Bible calls me to be a follower of God, then a leader of my family, and then ministry. Serving on the field there is a constant need and opportunity to serve. It is not uncommon to see this pattern get flipped on end, that is why I would ask you to begin to pray now over this cause I wanna do my very best and honor God with all He has entrusted me with. Also this is a very easy place for the enemy to creep in and begin to drive the wedge, always hard to see when you get things out of order if they are good things that become sinful only because of you putting them in the wrong order. Pray also that I continue to grow in patience, peace and kindness toward her and others, this is an area that I have always struggled with in my life. I know she has a huge heart if she said yes to forever with me and I wanna honor and guard that trust and love, not break it. Also we will be directly on the mission field so that in its self will offer some unique challenges to all fronts of life.

      Now to some what of lighter topics, I was blessed to have spent over a month in Honduras working with various types of ministry. I had planned to do my visa trip in September, and it happened to land on the week that the Houston Men's team from FairField Baptist Church were their to serve. These men were such a blessing and continue to be, they were the team last year that I worked with when God really opened my eyes to how construction could be a real door opener to getting into the lives of the men in the villages. This year with them was no different, their love for the Lord and willingness to serve is such a boost of encouragement and a real refresher to be around. They are such a dynamic team, they really bring so much. they have a group of guys that go into the elementary school and does a building Biblical series the whole week, they bring a group that goes out and server the local farming community threw veterinary, and this year they had two groups of construction teams. I was privileged to work with some of the same guys as last year and it was absolutely awesome. This was the first house that we got to work on the roof was pretty much non existent, and they were using the round part of sawed pine trees as their wall forms for rock and adobe brick in the future.

After we finished this roof I got to translate for the guys, and someone asked the man of the home why he thought we were there? He answered he did not know why we came but was great full for what we had done for his family, which by the way was his wife and four kids in this house. Then it was awesome to share the reason we had come. The following day we had a chance to reframe and an replace the metal on, and also build a door and two shutter style windows. This was a cool job because the house was the home of a elderly man, that is raising his two grandchildren, because the grandmother died a few months ago and both their parents had died a few years ago. He was not there the morning that we got started, but showed up at lunch time. I asked him where he had been? He replied "I was a school learning to read so that I can better raise my grandchildren!" Keep in mind this a man living in a dirt home that had to be at least 70. I tell you this was a huge boost for me to push threw and finish my Spanish school. The little girl had touched the heart of a team that had come a few months earlier. They had paid for her to get a day at the salon to get her hair cut and learn about personal hygiene, they said that it seemed she had not bathed in quite some time very sad. They bought her clothes and a uniform to attend school, and also a bed of her own. The staff said she was a completely different little girl from what she was before. That is the power of love to change a persons direction in life. Which is really what we are doing from what ever angle we can. Share with them that they have worth and that the God that created us also created them and He longs to be with them. The third day was by far the coolest experience I have had to date on the mission field. We drive down this beaten path that is like only 4x4, we get to the road leading to the property and turn to go down it. It becomes obvious that this is a cow trail not a road. We come to a house that a team had worked on the same time they help the little girl, the family greeted us warmly as we passed. then we found ourselves at this large green pasture with cows staked to the ground with 10ft leads around there neck to allow them to feed in certain areas. So we navigate threw the cows and pull up to a banana grove, Juan Louis was like OK we are here. There was nothing haha, he honked the horn and about five minutes later this little man comes out of the woods.

 He leads us up a goat trail to the property where we were going to build a home for a man that had very bad hernia and was not able to work. This day is to hard to explain in words, literally we start digging corner post holes and it is like digging in granite. After a bit I realize that we forgot the string line and line level on the other job, which would have been no less than an hour to get to. So we start pulling out old school techniques to square up this house. By lunch time we had a rough frame, and Sam had brought us lunch from the other job site. He was like wow you guys have really got a lot done. Also remember this is all hand cut and hand nailed work, I was not really aware of what we had got done with all the set backs we had that morning. Well after lunch Freddy and I got started on the roof system, while the other guys started the siding. Not thirty min later a rain storm came like I've never been in before, you could have gotten less wet by pouring water out of a bucket. This did not deter us we were bound and determined to build this house. We slopped around in the mud till about 6. Sure as I speak to you now we finished that house in one day, and it was within a 1/4 square and 1/8 level. If the Holy Spirit was not present that day then none of that would have taken place. One of the coolest things when doing a project like that is that everyone is so chill. Trust me I know what attitudes look like on a job site, when pride runs rampant just another thing I love about these guys such humble servants. We finished off the week with two more projects, and it was just so awesome to get to be part of what God is doing. I got also finish a project that I had started back in July when I was in Honduras last, which was the first of our projects for the new mission compound. It was a real blessing to be able to work with a group of older men from Franklington, Louisiana. We built the metal trusses and screwed down all the nailers for the metal roof, we also built a shed style roof off the back for the bus parking. This was a true test of patience, because the roof material was a product no one had ever worked with and we ran into problem after problem. To the glory of the Lord we finished the roof, and we were also able to pour the concrete floor as well.

 
         I returned to Costa Rica for my last bit of schooling the first week of October. I found that I had more time on my hands since I was doing one on one tutoring instead of regular class. So I went out looking for local projects to be part of. I partnered with some folks here in Costa Rica to help dig some ditches to run what and power. Their ministry is a large childcare facility and also a orphanage with around 60 children and the day program sees over 300 per day. They are also a church on the weekends that all social groups attend from the rich to the poor. The location of the project is located between a wealthy neighbor hood and one of the poorest communities in Costa Rica. I was also able to build some bunk beds for two little boys that had been sleeping on the floor for some time. This was such a cool experience right before my time here is done.

 Yes you heard right it is almost over here and the next adventure begins. Will you pray about being a part of it in any way you can. I will be returning to the states November 9th I would love to meet with you personally or share with your small group, or church. I will also have coffee for sale again and this year I will have Costa Rican and Honduran. If you are interested in my needs and how you can help or need more info email me please. coy@ignitemissions.org This is a link to my ministry page if you have not liked it please do and will you please share not only my ministry page on your wall but my blog as well. www.facebook.com/coydavishonduras I have a huge task in front of me and can not achieve it with out the work of the saints to create a work of the body of Christ, I feel that I have and continue to do my part that the Lord has called me to, what is he calling you to allow the Spirit to move in your heart. I guarantee that if you have the faith to give God will bless you in ways you have never imagined, but you have to take that step out on the water just as I have.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

Two thirds of the way done!

     That's right I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here in Costa Rica. It has been a great experience and I have learned so much more that just a language. Although with that being said I am ready for the next stage of my journey. There is not much to tell about this last month, I finished up classes a couple of weeks ago and have been on break between the trimesters. A lot of goodbyes took place that is one thing that has been very real in this process. Never come in thinking about it but it is a difficult position cause you know that you will more than likely never see these people again, but you just can't help but to become friends learn about their journey where they are from and where they are going, invest in their children and become somewhat normal feeling for a change in such a sometimes uncomfortable environment. I have to say playing uncle to some of these kids has really helped me not miss the little ones back home so much. I often wonder what Grayce, Gabby and Seyha think about me, I wonder if they think I have forgot about them, or if they feel I care about the people here more than them? Guess I have to focus on the positive and hope that they glean something from this as they grow and mature and see that there is much need in the world and until people step up and step out it will never get done.
     Well I can proudly say that I have completed another trimester and yes I got all A's again, who would have thought it out of me? Not me! Well I am very happy with where my Spanish has made it still not fluent as in regards to there are no words or topics I can not say or talk about, but I can definitely hold my own in a conversation. Also I have been able to practice translating as we have been making the new student transition. I was able to play big brother one more time to a new student that came in, and it really shows you how far you have came since when you where sitting in that chair in the kitchen and the Tica mom is just going on and on in Spanish and you have no earthly idea what she is saying. It is also a good chance to be an encouragar which I could use some growth in cause it does help to have someone sit across from you and say hey I was there in that very chair crying just like you going oh God what have I got myself into this is going to be horrible. I was also part of the new student orientation, I will be serving as one of the two chaplains this trimester. Which consist of giving a message once a week and really just trying to encourage and remind everyone what it is we are doing here and have them focus on the future. It is a nice break from class to come in and hear the word restore life back into you. This final trimester I am going to be doing something a little bit different for my classes. I am actually volunteering with the maintenance guy Louis Fernando during the day and doing one on one tutoring in the afternoons. One because I'm not sure I can do regular classes again the struggle is real for me and I am going to be headed to Honduras for over a month to work with construction teams that are coming down. So when I return in October it would be very difficult for me to enter back in with my classmates because of how much material they will cover in that month, but I will be speaking Spanish and translating while in Honduras so I will be getting good real world experience and I will have a good idea of what I need to come back and work on. Also working with Louis I feel will be a great opportunity to really grow me speaking nothing but Spanish for hours everyday will be really great and it will be more real world practice and problem solving in areas that I have yet tried to use my Spanish in.
    I know there was not like an action packed this is what is happening in this post, but one thing I wanted to touch on is that my time is coming to an end here, and I am not going to have a lot of time back in the States before I move to Honduras in 2016. I have some very large funding needs coming up and I am very excited to see how God works it all out. If you are reading this maybe you are part of the how. I have really been trying to get men in my corner and come along side me in what God is doing and it is happening I have a few advocates in my corner that actually go above and beyond just supporting me but they share my needs with others and help me raise my support base. Are you one of those people that would reach out and help me grow my monthly support base? God provided for my year in Costa Rica but my first year in Honduras will be a lot more think of it as starting a small business out of the gate there are so many needs. If you feel lead to head up something like this in your area weather it be hosting a dinner for me to share at or reaching out to your church or Sunday school class please send me an email at coy@ignitemissions.org so that I can share specific needs and get an idea of a date to visit with you and your group. I want to thank all the people who have and are supporting me in this life it is you that keeps me going thank you for your faith in what God has planned.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

Another 4th of July away from home.

Well this has been an exciting month here in Costa Rica, some good and bad things have happened since the last time I posted. Start off with some positive vibes haha, couple of weeks ago I got to be part of something really cool, the reason I have a place to stay in the house I am is because the oldest son moved to Germany to marry and be with his new wife. Well getting a ride from the airport to our neighborhood by taxi is about $35-$45 depending on traffic and the process on the bus with bags is literally impossible, so I told the lady that I live with that I would ask my friends if they didn't mind allowing me to use there car and just put gas in it. Well they are super kind people with hearts as big as a house and Courtney was like well lets just all go, there is a place that has this lemonade near the airport that I love. So I had the flight time and company name, so I thought we got to the airport and I start getting messages from the mom asking if his plane had landed and such and I was looking at the flight board and the flight I was told he was on was no where on the board, well there was one but it was like at one in the morning not 7:30pm haha. So about thirty min later she messaged me again and was like oh no I'm so sorry he was on another airline, she had read his message wrong then she sent me a photo. So I am walking around the exit of the airport looking at my phone looking for this dude. All's well that ends well we found him went on to get that lemonade and sat and practiced our Spanish on him. The funny thing was he had been only hearing speaking German and a little English since November. So he was like so weird to see gringos, but hear them speaking Spanish, Not real sure what that says about our progress in Spanish. The best part of the whole adventure was to see his moms reaction when he walked threw the door, its one of the best parts about returning home from being gone I believe my moms reaction will be similar in December when I return. Pedro and I had some great conversations during his time here, I did not get to tell him goodbye because I had a very early departure for Honduras, but hey who knows maybe I'll go to Germany to greet him at an airport haha. Speaking of Honduras that is what I have spent the majority of my month doing.  I was there for 10 days and was on the move from the second that I landed. I was greeted at the airport by the director of the mission Sam and after grabbing a quick bite to eat we were off to buy crayons, scissors, glue sticks, dry erase makers and erasers, and other classroom materials that the team that was there wanted to bless the teacher with, she literally had nothing. I worked with this team last year while I was there and it was cool to see some of them that had returned and to meet the new people that they had brought down with them. There approach is so cool and I really believe that it is effective and really beginning to produce fruit and there model is a model that a lot of our teams are starting to adopt. This group has been focused on two small villages for 7 years now, when they first begin to go they said there was such a dark presence in the village. like literally the first year they day after they had there first ministry day in the village that night the people converted the little school into a dance party/brothel upon arriving the next day to work at the school they were taken back at what they found, and being Honduras that can sometimes be difficult. They only fueled their passion that much more and stuck in there. Every year they bring a women's, men's, children, construction, medical, dental, and veterinary team. They have also adopted one of our pastors and his family to minister to these two villages. through there persistent work there are now two home churches that meet regularly. This is the team that I really saw the need to find away to reach the men other than just inviting them to church.

They where also the team that I did some of my first construction with on the ground last year.The next day I was able to get my hands dirty and do a little building. We where replacing a roof that was just destroyed by termites from where the "teja" terracotta shingles had been broken and allowed rain to runs down the rafters causing them to rot and termites just destroyed it. It was good to see I had not forgotten everything I knew about building, though doing the roof system with a house that turned out to be about 7 inches out of square and from what I could tell the walls where about a foot out of level. Regardless the end result was a house that the rain no longer poured into. Funny how in the states we have gotten so far away from practical this was a 20x12 house where five people lived and from what I could tell where very thankful for what they had, I do not think it would hurt us to bad to adopt a mind set like that. Before this team left the country I was already working logistics for the team that was coming. I was in the country to renew my visa, but choose to do a longer trip because this team was breaking ground on the new property.  Some of the local men lead by one of my good Honduran friends Ruben had already dug the footers for the foundation to the "bodega" storage building. We are building it first so that we can begin the process of moving our stuff once we have a secure building on the property. They do things a hair different when it comes to footers in Honduras mostly cause there is an abundance of rock and the labor is very cheap. The first time I did footers this way I honestly was like this is stupid, there is such a easier way to do this. After living there and working there I am really beginning to adopt a very different heart which I encourage our team members to have as well and that is, it is not wrong it is just different and if you just give it a chance and not judge it you will see that you end up with the same result. A solid base to build on top of, but basically you lay a inch of mortar and begin to set the largest rocks you can find in the trench and after filling small gaps with smaller stones trying to keep a level work, then fill the remaining cavities with mortar then do the process all over again till you have filled the footer, like I said the end result is a solid base to build off of.

What a great week with the folks from  Cypress Baptist church also my second time working with some of these folks. The cool thing is this team has some young guys on it, not to common to find young men with a heart for God, and the things of God. I believe this to be one of the factors to be almost a cancer to the body of Christ, I think that as believers we are missing a huge part of our responsibility. Just like in Titus chapter 2 giving instruction of mature men and women walking with and teaching young men and women, I believe this to be a huge part missing from the body. For example growing up I had a lot of friends who's families went to church every Sunday, but there was no example of Christ the other 6 days a week and today the majority of them do not attend Church because of the false and almost fake example laid before them as children. I faired rather well with my Spanish as well, which was a huge blessing I was able to talk to people that last year was like the awkward three or four word conversations. Also I was able to do basic translating between the team and the locals. I will say there where times when I had no clue what was being said "campo Spanish" country Spanish is very difficult to understand, very little phonetics and education in general basically what ever the parents or grandparents equipped them with is what they have. So you find words that really are just slang made up words for tools and other things, I will only learn this from being with them on a daily basis. As I said to start this month has been exciting good and bad, well the bad is I witnessed a woman being strong armed robbed, I wanted to do something but here is the sad part traffic was so heavy I could not cross the four lane with a center divider to help her. Traffic was so heavy and no one stopped to help her or anything, they beat her up pretty good and stole her purse, although she walked away from it loosing all the cash she had, they got her phone, and she will have to deal with the card canceling and disputing charges process. In reality it will take her a year to recover financially from such an attack. Then just last weekend as a group of us where walking back to our side of the neighborhood we see this man get hit by a car, but one of the locals was like wait don't rush to help, then sure enough his buddy came out of the bushes and helped him to there house like 30 yards away. Turns out its common way to rob people at night, they get the car to stop then a guy comes from out of the bushes with a gun and robs them. Guess the driver that hit him has had this done to him before, and he hit the guy going like 10-15 miles an hour it was only after slowing down and trying to dodge the guy which was very drunk or had been on some serious drugs all day. That's life here though these things happen on a daily basis very common a new intensive student was robbed at gun point just two days ago by three men in a local park. Danger of living the I believe it is all the more reason that we should be here and other places trying to spread light into a dark world. I am a few weeks away from being 2/3 done with my schooling which is exciting, but also very nerve racking because all the planning for the future sets in. Some of this planning is when I return to the states from December 20 till February 15 a very short time with all that I need to get done before hitting the ground running in Honduras. If you are reading this please please please please hear my plea for your help, I would love the oppurtunity to share my needs with as many people face to face in this time as I can. I live 100% on support of other people giving to the cause and well in reality if no one gives then I am not able to do what it is that I feel God is calling me to do. Come next February I will have some very large needs as soon as I step of that plane in Honduras and not that I want be going if the needs are not 100% met but there are somethings that will have to happen. As the time draws nearer I will be post more specific with figures my needs and where I stand. For now please help by sharing these links and post with friends, I am willing to speak with anyone interested my email is coy@ignitemissions.org my facebook is public Coy Houston Davis and I just created a ministry page for folks to follow https://www.facebook.com/coydavishonduras also at the bottom of this page are ways to share please share on facebook or email or google plus it to all your contacts. It doesn't take much to imagine the stress of moving out of your country of origin and trying to survive in a culture much different than the one you spent your life in, then on top of that trying to reach out to people and share the hope of Christ in your second language. I am happy to do this for I know it is the will of the Lord in my life, but with that being said it is much easier when you have people reaching out and letting you know they support what you are doing and they are joining in on what what you are doing. If you do support give and reach out thank you so much you are truly the life blood of my Ministry.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

Focus on why I am here

     Psalm 118;24 This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.  I am attempting to live this scripture on a daily basis.  My time has come to the half way point and it definitely has its days.  Some people think that Costa Rica equals sitting on a beach under an umbrella drinking pina coladas all day, kinda exactly the opposite for me this is defiantly not a beach trip.  I will admit that my frustration at times gets to a point where I just want to throw it all down, pack my bags and go back to the life that I had before answering the call that God has put on my life.  Then I think back to a conversation that I had just after being here for a few weeks. The conversation was with Elgien a Nicaraguan that pastors the church La Amastad that I attend here in Costa Rica. Elgien was an architect when God called him to ministry, then laid it on his heart to be a missionary to Costa Rica where he has lived for the past 24 years. As we sat and struggled threw the language barrier which happened and still happens at times. I was able to really track what he was saying to me which in its self was a huge boast in confidence in its self, but what he began to speak about was when the Spanish conquistadors came to Latin America, and when they landed the leader knew if they where to run into trouble or hard times that all the men would just turn and run back to the ships. So his way to make sure the mission went forward was that after they landed the leader burnt the ships that they came on only leaving them the path in front of them to go with. He explained to me that his boat that had to be set ablaze was the idea of returning to his promising career and even his home country of Nicaragua, that if he was gonna fulfill what it was that God was telling him to do that he must take the temptations out of his thought pattern. Then the obvious happened he turned to me and asked "Coy what is it in your past that you need to set fire to? What is the boat that is docked waiting for you?" What an eye opening question and honestly a am I really in this thing or not. I was very honest with him and my self, I told him I do miss being home in my comforts having a car to drive whenever I want, having my own home that I don't share with five other people, I miss having the money just to do what I want with and if need be having the ability to go and make more, I miss work the filling of success and fulfilment that it brought me finishing a house and looking at it going man looks good its done moving on to the next one, having my boss say man thanks for what you do for my company and thank you for being part of it, I miss getting away on the side of a mountain with the Lord and just relaxing hiking the trails back home, I miss bonfires at my house with my buddies, I miss mowing my lawn for three hours. I know that I could go home and have a very comfortable life probably not wanting for anything or going without, I could be the top guy at a company or even start my own company. The thing is the resounding thought in my mind and heart is what is the Lord saying to me which is what Elgien asked me as well, and above that what does the word say about it. With that being said I have set ablaze the thoughts and ideas of going back and I have been pushing forward with this life and my studies of the language. Like I preached in chapel last week to often I think we miss the part in the Bible where it says that there will be lose and there will be suffering. Not that always but not limited to physical lose or suffering, but can even mean something as simple as not being able to just hang out with your best friends around a bonfire. I suffer the things and I believe Gods word says we should suffer these things for the sake of the message, because what else will set us apart from the world. More than missing comforts of home for those that know me personally taking me off the job site and putting me in a classroom is defiantly suffering haha, and I am very thankful that its only a year and that God has given me some natural ability to to obtain the language.
     With that being said I would like to give and update on some things that have been going on. I was given the opportunity to preach in our chapel time again last week. Out of the two times that I have been able to share I really feel that the lord has given me a word for my fellow students and that someone if only one is taking something from it. Also I am growing that is not the easiest crowd to speak in front of I mean these are all missionaries and some of them are here after pastoring a church or leading a successful ministry, meaning all have a set theology of what they believe and why. So its been more on encouraging to continue through the struggle and keep your eye on the prize, which for me is a weaker area encouraging, but that is usually where God shows up in our weakness to make Himself known and to grow us. I am hopeful that I will be one of the chaplains next trimester which I think will be good for me as I start to make my transition from student back into leading after I leave here. Also a few weeks ago I was invited by some good friends I have made here Jay and Courtney Nelson to go with there church and love on some kiddos in a ghetto housing project. It reminded me of last year in Honduras I am not a huge kids ministry guy, but I love playing games with kids and I have been playing a good bit of soccer here so it was fun to practice my skills on the kids only to find that I am still getting schooled by 10 year old boys haha oh well. It was a great day and really helps keep that fire kindled.

This area I called Los Guidos and is a typical ghetto where the government relocated a group of people that used to live in shanties down in the valley near this area. The people where mostly Nicaraguans that fled their country during the civil war

 or people coming to work the coffee and sugar cane crop, much like in the states when the migrant workers come and work the crops cause we say the work is to hard and the pay is to little, but to them its better than where they where coming from. Although just like in the states when we hand people free housing and other assistance typically it does not help it just causes more problems which is what we found here in this place. A lot of thugs and drug dealers and there was a large number of mix children which is a common sign of prostitution here. There was also visual signs of violence in the areal for example right beside where we where playing with the kids there was a car on blocks stripped and burnt to the ground and tags all over the street and walls of the apartments. There was light though this church goes there often and a lot of the small children could recite verses from memory, like in all things the absence of adults will mean that it will be a long slow road to change, but it is not a reason to give up it should be what pushes us forward.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

2nd Tri Rep Here

Hey guys just a quick update as to what is going on down here in Costa Rica.  I have survived my first trimester of class, and amazingly enough did rather well.  The first four months here really just have flown by, and my Spanish is progressing very well.  Here is some proof that I have been working very hard and not just being a beach bum here in this beautiful country.  I want to say how much of a blessing it was to have some a amazing professors for my first trimester.  They all did a very good job in pushing me to be the best I could be.  I had a Chilean lady named Laura for my grammar class which was two hours a day, she also was my one on one tutor two hours a week. Where I was able to really expand my Spanish as we just talked about the past, current topics and future plans, all things that really helped me grow, language and spiritually she is the daughter of missionaries so she can really relate to the struggle and life that we live here. After chapel which also has been a super blessing getting to fellowship and be in the word and worship often really helps to keep you grounded here.  I had Oscar for language which is verbal and it was by far my favorite time.  We were a class of all men, and really grew a strong relationship with all those men, it was a time to just joke around and fell somewhat normal.  Although we were cutting up and carrying on we were still learning, because he really challenged us to use only Spanish.  I am also very excited because I have him again this coming trimester although two of my classmates have left.  Lastly was the hardest class for me phonetics was like pulling teeth, literally just practicing sounds and pronunciation of letters and words for four months straight, but I will say this I learned a lot about why certain things in Spanish are the way they are in that class.  Our professor was Ana Silvia and at first I will admit we butted heads a lot haha but as the days went by we found common ground, and by the end we shared some great laughs and memories I will keep for a very long time.  If you are wondering what the title of this post means, well I was voted in as the representative for our class this trimester.  Who would have ever thought that haha, but already I have been able to be part of some pretty cool stuff that I hope will make ILE a better place to learn Spanish.  There are not really that many duties involved with it but still gives me some more things to fill my time here while I learn.  I'm also excited to announce that I will have the privileged to preach at our first chapel of the trimester which I'm excited about and would really appreciate prays for.  Speaking of prayer please continue to pray for this whole process so far so good, but there are things like funding for next year and even rounding out the end of this year that need to be addressed, some of you may know I have two properties that I rent in the states and you can imagine how some times that an be a real pain in the butt to deal with, like coming up my good friend is taking a job in NY and will be moving out so getting someone moved in and settled not being in the states is going to be a new challenge. So just extra prayer would be so appreciated for all these things, also I want to announce that I possibly already have two of my very own teams coming to Honduras next year which is very exciting and if your interested in joining one of these teams or possibly leading your own team of men please contact me I would love to share the need the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few coy@ignitemissions.org is my email.  Lastly on this update I wanted to share that I was privileged to host my sweet mother and aunt during my break.  It was an awesome time it was the first time my mother has flown on a plane, left the country seen the pacific ocean, zip lined, saw a volcano, rappelled down a mountain, rode a horse in a jungle, seen a monkey in the wild, and most importantly heard her son translate Spanish for her.  It was such a blessing to be able to spend some time with family it has been four months since I've seen any of my family and sometimes that is tough.  I am very thankful for my aunt and how very generous she was during this time to not only help my mom, but also come and spend her time with me as well. Having them here really helped me see how far in four months my Spanish has come and they where amazed which was a super huge boost of confidence for me.  Also another thing was the reminder that people need to come and see and experience for them selves I believe my mothers eyes where open to just how good we live in America and even though Costa Rica is a beautiful place there is great poverty and need here, and Honduras where I will be serving is way worse off than here. Just a look at Gods handy work we enjoyed during there time here.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.

Its been a while!

    I want to start by saying sorry, sorry it has been so long since I've posted and update.  The truth is I've been on the move haha.  God has really blown the doors wide open on some awesome opportunities for me as of late.  One of the greatest is that almost every Saturday since I've been here I go to dinner with my Tico brother Ronald, during our time together we have a patterned conversation. Typically it starts off with the usual how has each others week been, what I'm learning in school, what is going on with his girlfriend and such and likewise with me and my relationship.  All these are fun and great things to have in a foriegn environment, but what I enjoy most about our time together is his growing curiosity about God and the reason I would give my life to come and serve a bunch of people that I do not even know, and I want to share that it has and is going great we have made some amazing progress.  This really brings me to a question that I often ponder, and you as my support base could help me with the answer.  What if I only won over one person to Christ, and this was the news that I shared or brought back to y'all would this be something that you would continue to pray for and support? Is not one worth more than the 99 did not the heavens rejoice when the one sinner turned from his past to the loving embrace of a saviour.  Oh how I pray for the age of numbers and statistics be broken from the idea of how well someone is serving God.  Not that I do not desire to assist in the process of bringing many to know the love of God, but lets be honest I'll only be able to do what the Lord has willed for my ministry to do.  I am also fearful to stray from where He leads because that is when you find we begin to do this on our own power and nothing has ever resulted from the work of man alone.  Just a thought that I have often as I make the transition of life into full-time missions.
   This last month I have been able to see some very amazing sites in and around Costa Rica. These photos are from a hike here called the three crosses, very tough hike but like all tough  hikes the reward is always at the top, and on this one there was three treats along the way.

 
 I am so thankful to be in a place of such beauty and have the ability to go and see the country that I am currently living in. I was also able to go with new found friend to Nicaragua for his visa renewal trip.  He has a car and needed to get a new visa to continue to be able to drive, with his wife 8 months pregnant and having two other small children he was going to go it alone. I was game for going seeing how the three day trip would be very cheap and would give me a chance to see another country.  It was quite and interesting trip, my new found amigo was a hippie well still is now just a hippie with the power of the Holy Spirit guiding him. Which was probably the reason he booked us a hostel that was only

 eleven dollars a night haha it was quite the eye opening experience.  Although it really played well into both of our comfort levels with the people that most would never think to speak to or share Christ with.  I also got a chance to

learn how to surf something I was wanting to do since getting here. Muah was the guy in Nicaragua that was my instructor and by the end of the day I had caught a number of waves and it was really and awesome experience, we were able to hang out with a small group of locals on the beach and share with the reason we where there. The border crossing on foot is one of the strangest things that I have ever done in my life. You start by paying and exit fee to the country your leaving then you proceed to about five different little tents set up that keep handing you a randon piece of notebook paper that seems to have no significance to it what so ever till they start asking you for 1$ then you pay another window 4$ then the last is the 11$ entrance fee to the country ten more people look at you passport and then finally you get an entrance stamp walk past this huge gate and that is it your in like flynn. This is a pic of San Juan del sur were we visited this is an image from the Christ statue. During what is know as holy week here in Latin America which is the week leading up to good Friday and resurrection Sunday we were out of School, because all of the Latin America shuts down. So I took the week to go to Honduras and see my lovely girlfriend which I last saw the day I got on the plane to fly to Costa Rica. While I was there I was able to throw a hand on the property that my mission bought last year, and now is begging the building process on.

Here are just a few pics of me Freddy and David getting the chain link fence put up that leads up to 

the new entrance and gate that they built last month. It was so exciting to be there and to work with my brothers. They had so many uplifting and encouraging things to say to me about my progression. It really was a great way to see how far I have come in my time here at school. The time that I got to spend with Morgan was great and very much needed, some of you that have been a long distance relationship can relate to the struggles of it, but it does seem to have an ability to grow us closer to the One that has called us.  This whole year has been such a leap of faith for both of us and I know someday our labor will not be in vain. She has made it to the mission field and has hit the ground running with her ministry, I know the Lord is going to do mighty things in and thru her so proud to have the privilege to call her mine. Upon returning from Honduras I only have three weeks of class left in this trimester, and as my flight went over lake Nicaragua I could not help to think that my life will never be "normal again". Its not a bad thing but there are times that it gets hard not seeing friends and family, then on the other side of the coin friends that I have made here will begin to leave in three weeks, them four months from now. With that being said I would not change it for the world, because I know that this is the path that the Lord has me on and in that He will never leave me nor will He forsake me. As always thank you for you love, prayers and financial support of my efforts I think about the people that allow me to be here on a daily basis.

All support is appreciated as this life's work cannot be done with out God and his support through His people. Prayer support and financial support are always in need. If you are able to support financially please visit http://www.ignitemissions.org/#!contact/c175r this will take you directly to the support link. Simply follow the provided directions and add Coy Houston Davis in the memo line. Thank you for your support emotionally, spiritually, prayerfully, and financially.