Short Visit to The States

Well, our short visit to The States was a lot of fun and extremely busy!! We were there for my sister's wedding and it was a magical experience to say the least! The wedding was at my Mom's house so we were busy all week helping them get ready for the big day. It was such a blessing to see all of our extended family and many friends that we have not seen in a long time. Daniel was one of the Pastors officiating the wedding so it was really special. We also met my niece, Anna (my sister Becca's baby), for the first time!! The boys were so happy to meet their baby cousin!!! We had the privilege of sharing at our home church for their Wednesday night service. This, too, was such a blessing and so encouraging as we visited with many of our closest friends. We got back to Jaco yesterday and we are looking forward to a group of 4 ladies (very good friends from Lexington) coming next Saturday to serve alongside us for a week. We are very excited!!!! The following are a few pictures from the wedding.

Our new baby cousin, Anna

First Youth Group

As most of you know, we have a real heart for teenagers and even served the teenagers in our church, Calvary Chapel Lexington, before moving here to Costa Rica. When praying about what the Lord would have for us here, we have continued to remain open to His leading/timing in whatever ministry He would have us take part in. We thought at some point it would be some sort of Youth Ministry since we worked with teenagers for many years in The States but again, wanted to wait on the Lord. Over the last few months our church has really been growing and with more and more families attending there are more and more teenagers coming. We have been praying about starting something for Youth in response to youth and parents asking for something more structured for them. Well, we had our first "official" Youth Group meeting this past Friday night at our home. It was soooo much fun! We ate pizza, played games and Daniel led a Bible Study. We had 4 teenagers there and it was such a blessing to see all of them open up and begin to gel so quickly. The Lord definitely answered our prayers for this night and we look forward to what the Lord has in store here. Please pray for us and for the teens in Jacó. This is an extremely difficult place for a teenager to grow up and very few positive influences exist at all. We desire to see them receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, take ownership of this faith, live it out authentically and as a result draw others to HIM. Here are a few pictures from Friday night...

Staff Retreat

Last week we had the opportunity to go on a staff retreat as a ministry team to Arenal (the Volcano). It was so much fun for all of us and a wonderful time for unity and rest among our team. The kids had a blast swimming, riding horses and running around outside freely without the constant worry of being hit by a car or strange people nearby. It was truly a joyful time and we returned refreshed and ready for all that the Lord has for us over the next few months. I am still waiting on the rest of our pictures but here are a few from the trip...