Monday, February 25, 2013

Seeds of Hope

Over these last 2 months we have had the privilege of getting to know a few very special people who are starting "Seeds of Hope"--a ministry of rehabilitation, education and safety for sexually exploited children.  The 4 that are running this ministry are members of our church here and their ministry is located about 20 minutes south of us in Parrita.  Around the same time that they found our church the Lord began speaking to us in different ways about how He wants us to be more involved in fighting sex trafficking, helping to rescue girls, working to get laws changed in this country to outlaw prostitution, etc.  And then these precious people arrived!!  It has been exciting to see the vision the Lord gave them come to fruition. They have asked that Horizon Church be their spiritual covering, and we are excited about serving them in many areas.  Yesterday, one of the local restaurants (the owner attends our church) asked to host a brunch and donate 50% of the earnings to a ministry.  We had a blast fellowshipping with our church body and all the proceeds went to Seeds of Hope.  Also, Penny and Holly brought the jewelry that the girls make in the program to sell at the brunch and it was a great success!

If you are interested in learning more about Seeds of Hope, please check out their website:

www.SeedsofHopeHome.com

You can also find them on Facebook.  I know they are raising support at this moment as they have gotten approval from the Costa Rican Government and Social Services to open immediately.  There are already girls waiting to move in.  (This is the 1st home in Costa Rica for sexually exploited/sex trafficked girls.)

PLEASE join with us in praying for this ministry as it gets going!!!  We will continue to update you on what the Lord is doing in and through them!  We are excited about our partnership with them going forward!!!

Here are a few pictures from the day:







Andrea and Gloriana, owners of the restaurant








Friday, February 8, 2013

Serving at a local school

Since the end of last school year, the Lord has really impressed upon my heart to get more involved with the local schools---to be a support to the staff and teachers and to love on the children.  As we prayed about it, we decided to start with Las Nubes School, the bilingual school where our boys attend.  We met with the Director and asked if we could bring them a snack or meal during their meetings before school started.  We also wanted to share with them our desire as Horizon Church and Iglesia Radical to be a support for them and their students/families.  We explained how we desired to serve them and we also invited them to church and offered free counseling, computer services, etc if any of this was ever a need.  At the end, we gave each of them a little gift and then we were able to pray over them as a group.  It was such an AMAZING time of pouring in to them and they were so blessed--many of them teary--as they thanked us for "the little things that mean so much."  We had a lot of fun and have already begun talking to the other schools about duplicating this same idea there.  In addition, with some of our church volunteers we hope to get into the classrooms for special workshops that address who they are in Christ, fighting against child abuse/child trafficking that is so prevalent here.  We have been praying for the Lord's direction here and someone brought us just this week a 6-week course on this exact topic for children!  Please pray with us as we are guided by the Lord in the steps we take in all that we do.  Pray, also, that teachers at these schools would be drawn to the Lord like never before this year!  Eph 3:20  "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can hope or imagine according to His POWER within us, to Him be the glory..." Amen!






sweet ladies from the church volunteering their time to bless the school!!!