The Barretts in Costa Rica

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Feliz Dia de Independencia Costa Rica!!

We celebrated Costa Rica's Independence Day on Sunday and it was tons of fun!!! Both of the boys, Thomas and Jacob, were in the parade with their school and they had a blast! As a church we did a community outreach/evangelism day and it was great! We handed out free bottles of water and tracts and ministered the Gospel to many people on the streets during the parade. It was a huge success and we had so much fun serving as a church body!!

Getting set up to minister!!

Ready to roll!!

Jacob

Thomas

Micah and his best bud, Mikayla

2nd location of water distrubution

Josh McDowell at Horizon Church

What a privilege it was to have Josh McDowell with us a few weeks ago to share on a Sunday morning! He is good friends with a couple who attend our church, and he graciously agreed to come and share with our church body while he was in country. He and his son, Sean, both shared and it was AMAZING! What an incredibly humble man he is! We had so much fun visiting with him during his time here! Here are a few pictures from the service:

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Mission Team: Faith Baptist Church

We were MORE than blessed to host Faith Baptist Church from Bartlet, TN this past week!! The 11 person team came and served and gave and loved and served some more---all in the name of Jesus! They were an amazing group and we are so blessed to know them and to have served alongside them! They built an outdoor rancho, built a small sidewalk bridge, built walls in a home, lead kids clubs, shared testimonies at Bible Studies, did street evangelism, etc...this team was incredible! Thank you, Faith Baptist Church, for planting seeds here in Jaco...we are forever blessed!!

One of our youth, Cristian, working at the woodshop. He works here weekly to learn woodworking skills.

Bible Study Women were blessed by Eleanor's testimony and even enjoyed making a craft.

Bible markers that the team brought for the women to do

Fun girl's night!!

Picture day at Kids Club!!

The women of the group with Dale and me. Love these girls!!

Building the rancho for Seeds of Hope

Completed rancho...a place for the girls to pray and meditate...the team even left money to buy hammocks and such...what a blessing!!!

The team plus a few...

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

As many of you know, we have been planning this "Human Trafficking Awareness Day" for about 2 months now. We did one in May for our church to begin to create awareness as to what is going on all around us in regards to Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. After doing so, a member of the OIJ (the local FBI) asked us to duplicate this same program for the local gov't and local organizations. We feel like this was a HUGE open door from the Lord as nothing else like this has been done here in town. After much planning and prayer, we held the Awareness Day on Wednesday and it was more than a success! We showed the movie "Nefarious-Merchant of Souls" and we shared a short video that we filmed of a lady we minister to who was trafficked and is now out and free. A local Costa Rican friend who attends our church was the spokesperson and did a wonderful presentation about the reality of this in our country and in our town. It was so well received because she was a local speaking to her own "countrymen". We had over 100 in attendance and there were many tears and many who are ready to help however they can. God was truly glorified as scripture was shared and the video shared how Jesus is truly the only answer. As I sat there I had a moment of "wow, I can't believe this is really happening" and I know it is because we serve an amazing God who wants this country back!!! PLEASE continue to pray as we move forward. We don't know what the next step is for us and we know God will show us in His timing. I will share that we had a meeting a few days later and though I can't disclose anything due to safety/protection, God is MOVING and AMAZING things are happening!! Thanks so much for your continued prayers!!!!! We love you!!!