We're back!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that yesterday we arrived safely back to Costa Rica and to our home in Jacó. We are all really tired but are so happy to be back. Of course it is a drastic temperature change from what we experienced while we were in The States so we will begin to adjust to the hotness again! Thank you all for a wonderful visit home! We were so blessed to see all of you and spend time with loved ones. Thanks for all of your prayers---we are feeling them daily! We will blog more and post pictures soon! Off to more unpacking....

Christmas Outreach

As promised, here are the pictures of the Christmas Outreach we did in 2 different barrios in Jacó. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who prayed and gave financially! The outreach was such a blessing to us and to all of the children/families involved! The outreach consisted of clowns, refreshments, the Christmas story and a present for each child. It was wonderful and we look forward to building relationships this next year with many who attended. A few families came to church the day after the outreach and, Praise the Lord, one lady gave her life to Christ right after church!! It was definitely a day of rejoicing! She came over to our house after church for a visit and we were able to talk briefly about the decision she had made! We look forward to getting back to Jaco next week to begin walking alongside Jaquelin and her daughter Angelina. Again, thanks for all of your support for the outreach---it was a tremendous blessing and God was glorified!!

This is Jaqualin (who committed her life to Jesus the Sunday after the outreach)

Home for Christmas

We are so blessed to be able to visit The States for Christmas!!! We are visiting friends and family and have been so encouraged and uplifted with everyone we see! We will not be blogging much until we return to Jaco in January, however, we will blog about the Christmas Outreach soon and post pictures. We just want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! We love you and thank you for your support and prayers!!! God bless you all!!

Happenings

Sorry we have not blogged in a few weeks---we have been really busy between hosting our church Thanksgiving Dinner to planning for the big Christmas Outreach and everything in between. We are so blessed daily by all that God is doing here. We continue to meet new people every day and just listening to other's stories and pouring in to them when the opportunity arises has blessed us more than anything! We took a bike ride 2 weeks ago and found a little "barrio" tucked away across a wooden walking bridge. The poverty took our breath away. There were five little makeshift houses and all the people that lived there were a family. The Grandmother has 4 children and each of them has a house. Among the 4 of them there are 13 children. They have no power and dirt floors. They cook over a stove outside, yet many of them are suffering from health problems because of breathing in the smoke all day long. We talked to them for a long time and they really touched our hearts. The boys had a great time playing with all of their dogs and chickens. We went back and visited last week and Thomas and Jacob took the kids some toys to play with. We have prayed and as a family are going to "sponsor" this neighborhood for Christmas. Our boys are really excited about going and buying Christmas gifts for the family. We will also share the Christmas Story with them--similar to what we are doing with our Christmas Outreaches in the other 2 barrios. We are looking forward to developing a relationship with this extended family with the hopes of sharing the love of Jesus with them. Daniel is really praying about how to reconstruct the outdoor stoves (possibly adobe style) in order to help them with their health problems. Join with us in praying about how we can be a part of helping this family.

Below are a few pictures from the Thanksgiving dinner as well as random pictures of daily life.

Our new iguana friend in our back yard...

Park Clean Up

What an AWESOME day we had yesterday! Daniel led a team of men from the church in a "clean up the park" day in the barrio where we do kid's club on Saturdays. The little playground was falling apart, the soccer field was grown over and there was trash everywhere. The men did a wonderful job and the kids were soooo excited! Many of them were right there watching and helping as the men worked. We were entertaining the rest of the kids in an empty field beside the park with water games and races. It was such a blessing to the kids and to the community and as soon as the men were done there were kids playing soccer again and others climbing all over the play equipment! What a joy it was to be a part of this special day! Below are a few pictures of the day.

Soccer field before

Soccer field after

rope ladder before

rope ladder after

clean park at last!!!

CORE Groups and Christmas Outreach preparations

Wow, we have been extremely busy but having so much fun! We just kicked off CORE groups with the church--one in English and one in Spanish. They are basically home fellowship groups and we are studying through the Book of James. Daniel is leading one of the groups and we are having a lot of fun! It is a great way for us to go deeper in the Word with those in the church as well as develop relationships to a deeper level. We are excited about what the Lord is going to do through these groups!

We are also gearing up for our big Christmas Outreach this year. We are having 2 separate outreaches this year in 2 of the poorest "barrios" (neighborhoods) in Jacó. We are sharing the Christmas story, serving refreshments, having clowns lead games, and giving each child a gift. We are getting people in our church here as well as people in The States to "sponsor" a child for only $10 which will pay for the gift. The gift will include clothing, a toy, a Gospel coloring book, crayons and candy. We are SOOOO excited about being a part of blessing these precious families this Christmas! It will definitely bless us more than it blesses any of them for sure!

Below are a few pictures of our Kid's Club kids that will be participating in the Christmas Outreach! Please join us in praying for these families now--that their lives will be forever changed by hearing the truth of Jesus' love!

"Banana Picking" and Special Visitors

Here are a few pictures of Daniel and Thomas cutting bananas down at Warren's house. (Warren attends our church) Thomas thought this was sooo much fun!! There are also a few pictures of us with Carolyn and Ashley who came to visit us over their Fall Break from Palm Beach Atlantic Univ. Carolyn was in our youth group at Calvary Chapel in Lexington and Ashley is her roommate in college. We had so much fun with them and they were a true blessing and help to us while they were here!