Thomas's Birthday and Other Pictures

Here are a few pictures of Thomas's Birthday Party.  It is so hard to believe he is 7 years old!  Our sweet friend, Chris, hosted the party at her condo---such a "wonderland" for the kids.  We were all so blessed!!

Birthday Cake our good friend, Cecilia, made for Thomas

I could not resist posting these pictures.  We have been having flooding problems again in our house and Daniel is determined to find the problem and fix it.  (I am very thankful for his persistence :))  I came outside to him "digging" for the problem and he eventually unclogged a drain full of disgusting items...it was quite comical to watch him in action!!  So funny!!

Youth Group

When we arrived here 3 1/2 years ago, we knew the Lord would use us somehow to reach the youth in this town since we are gifted in that area and have such a heart for them.  The Lord had us wait a while to start a group and now it is going strong.  It has been an awesome way to bridge the older kids clubbers out and into their own group.  They have never been a part of a youth group before so everything is new and exciting!  God is really working through Daniel, giving him the words to teach, as he teaches these kids in Spanish, and most are actually respectful and receptive.  We are just praying that the seeds of God's Word would take root in their lives and begin to grow.  We are also praying for continued opportunities to pour into their lives during the week.  We spend a lot of time over in INVU, the neighborhood where the majority of the kids live, and we take time to talk and hang out with these youth.  Lately we have seen so clearly that these are the next generation of Jaco and we are working hard to keep them from even entering into the lifestyles that so many choose here (ie- prostitution, drug use/selling, etc).  So while we spend time ministering to those already in these lifestyles we are also seeing so clearly the need to minister to these kids before they choose to even enter them.  Please pray along with us---these kids need Jesus in a major way to survive in this town!!!

To The States

Please pray for us as we will be headed to The States on Tuesday, March 27th for 3 weeks for furlough. Pray that it will be a time of refreshment, relaxation, divine appointments and sweet fellowship with family and friends. We are looking forward to seeing many of you while we are there!! We are speaking at 3 churches on the following dates:

Calvary Chapel Lexington-- Wednesday, March 28th 7:00PM

Calvary Chapel Augusta-- Sunday, April 1st 10:30AM

Calvary Chapel Aiken-- Sunday, April 15th 10:30AM

We would love to share all that God is doing here in Jaco with you so hope to see you at one of these services!!

God bless you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and prayers---we love you!!!!

True Point Church Mission Team--Part Two

Here are a few more pictures from our week with the True Point Church Mission Team. They were a joy to have as they served so selflessly all week in all that they did. They installed a door into the home of Rosa and Jose, members of our church who live in INVU. They built a little bridge across the sewage ditch in front of another home in INVU. They built a bed for a family in INVU--their 5 children attend our kids club and the mom attends our INVU Bible Study. There are 8 living in the home and sleeping on 2 beds so Daniel designed a trundle bed for the team to build and the family was super thankful. They also painted the speed bumpsin INVU and painted classrooms in a church in Quepos. Here are some pictures from their work days...thanks to all of you for serving with us this last week!!

Roas and Jose --the couple who received a new doorThe kids loved their new bed!!

True Point Church Mission Team--Part One

We are blessed to have a mission team from True Point Church in South Florida working with us this week. They have been a blessing to the community already through VBS, small work projects, and a family movie night. Here are a few pictures from the VBS days. They have more work projects this week including serving in Quepos at the rehab center there. More pictures are to come later. There is also a picture of our Kids Club Group here with their new kids club shirts!!!! We LOVE them and so do the kids!!! They were so proud to wear them and theylooked just adorable!!! Enjoy!

Rosaura's baby

Rosaura, a lady who attends our Bible Study in INVU, had her baby this week. We prayed over Rosaura on Saturday because she was extremely nervous about this delivery. The c-section was scheduled for Thursday, but Amorette decided to come naturally in the middle of the night on Tuesday. All is well and Rosaura attributes it all to the Lord and the prayers we prayed with her. We have spent some time with her lately and I feel like God is really doing something in her heart. I am excited as to what the future holds. Please pray for Rosaura and baby Amorette!!

School and other pix

School is in full swing for the boys and they are LOVING it! We are so excited for both of them and how much they look forward to going each morning. Daniel is also in school again. He is taking a spanish conversation class 2 days a week to go even deeper in his Spanish learning. When we were praying about what to do with the boys for school this year, I felt guilty at certain moments because I was not homeschooling them and have never truly felt called to homeschool them. I prayed for literally months about what the Lord would have us do and He made it very clear that we were to put them in school. Not only do they love it, but even in just 4 short weeks this year we have connected with new parents, teachers, etc that we might not have met otherwise. We are looking at it as even more ministry opportunity---a chance to love more people with the love of Christ. We had Thomas's teacher over for dinner last week and she wants to come to church with us. Who knows what the Lord will do through us and the boys this year but we are committed to being available and intentional!!! Not to mention the fact that I am now "tutoring" a few of the girls (Violeta and Fanny) from INVU and helping them with their homework each day---I guess I am doing some schooling at home after all:). It has been such a blessing to be available to love on these girls as well.

Here are a few pictures of the girls...

VioletaFanny

Micah is growing! He is trying to sit on his own..

Here areour kids and David and Eva's kids (missionary friends) at a local carnival that came through town last week

Here are John, Sheila, their 2 kids, Mandy and Michael and their niece, Katie...John is a youth pastor from Indiana and is on sabbatical for a few months with his family here in Costa Rica. We have been so blessed by their company. They had us for dinner and a swim last week and we had a wonderful time getting to know them!! Thanks guys for blessing us!!!