Hearts for Jaco visitors!

We have been super blessed to have our friends, The Hueys and The Chavous's, serving alongside us for the past week!  The Hueys were here 4 years ago when the Lord stirred their hearts to begin the ministry, Hearts for Jaco, the academic sponsorship program for those students who need help finishing their education.  The vision of the program is so much more, but it is already changing lives as we have 7 who are currently studying through Hearts for Jaco.  We are super excited about what the future holds for this ministry and all of the ideas that The Hueys and their Stateside team have!!  We have a wonderful couple, David and Pam Sanders, who live here full time and Pam tutors the students on a weekly basis.  She also helps me with the financial side on this end.  They are a true asset to the ministry!

While here, these families had a lunch and pool party for the students to celebrate their hard work and to encourage them in the Lord.  We had a great week meeting, brainstorming and enjoying time with these special people.  Look forward to their return in October!!!

Scott, Melissa, Bailey, Cassidy, Lyndsey, HB, Pam, David, and one of our special students, Cristian

Students enjoying lunch!!

Lyndsey and HB serving lunch

The boys :)

Jurielka, Maria and Emely

Best friends!!

 

Centro Prenatal (Prenatal Center) in Tarcoles

We are so blessed to have a Kris and Kathleen Kidwell as part of our team here in Jaco ministering to those in need of Jesus!  They work with Beautiful Feet International and have opened two pregnancy centers, one in Jaco and one in Tarcoles.  They are active members of Horizon Church and we are able to support the work they are doing here.  It is pretty amazing!  I spent some time with Kathleen in Tarcoles last week and met more of her staff there.  They work with all moms who are pregnant or who need help with the children they already have.  They offer parenting classes that cover a variety of topics, all while sharing the Gospel and giving these girls hope in their future.  As the girls attend classes, they earn "dollars" that they can use to trade in and "purchase" items for their little ones.  They also offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.  Their ministry really is to the whole family and shows these girls that God has created them and their babies for a purpose.  We are so blessed to be a part of what God is doing here through Centro Prenatal!!  Here are a few photos...

Yard at the Center in Tarcoles where they have events to minister to the local community

Precious, Jazmin, a local volunteer

Outside the front gate

Inside the office/store

Jazmin teaching a private class to a local girl who is pregnant

watching a pregnancy DVD as part of their lesson for the day

We bought a house!

I don't even think it has really registered with us because God opened doors so quickly, but we are excited to announce that we BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!  We never knew how this would ever be possible as homes in Central Jaco are so expensive.  But, God is bigger than that and He opened a door for us to be able to buy a bank owned home at a very low price and our offer was approved!  We signed for the house on Monday and got the keys!!  We are official homeowners here in Jaco--praise the Lord!  We are super excited!!  We have a TON of work to do as it has been abandoned since October, but we are excited about hiring local friends to help us, and a few mission teams have already offered to help as well!!  Thanks to ALL who made this possible---we are SO grateful to the Lord and to you for praying and helping us with this!!!

Our attorney with Daniel

Front of the house

Back of the house

Back of the house with more growth

Back yard after it has been cleared

Stateside Visit

We had a wonderful time in The States for 3 weeks visiting family and friends from Virginia to North Carolina to South Carolina to Georgia.  It was a sweet time of refreshment and recharging, yet we are SO excited to be home.  Jaco has truly become our home and we love it and the people so much!  Thank you for praying for us as we traveled!! 

New Church Building and Celebration Dinner

We are finally in our new church building and we are excited!  We had a wonderful celebration dinner as a church where we talked about our mission and vision as a church body here in Jaco.  We are excited about what God is doing in and through our church and know the God's plans for the future are amazing!