Whew! What a whirlwind!!!
WE have been going and traveling and now catching up and moving ahead. After 2 months in California visiting friends, family and churches we returned to Costa Rica for a month before heading to Florida for more partner raising. We had a great time and met lots of people. THank you to all of you who lodged us, fed us, lent us vehicles, etc.
We are still not fully funded for this year so if you feel called to partner with us to reach Costa Rica for Christ please click on https://give.fmcusa.org/leon
Now that we are back in Esterillos and have established a rhythm here again we want to share some cool stuff that is happening with a little story.
Sometimes loving people even when they are making bad choices can be hard, but when they come back around it was all worth it. That is the case with someone very close to us. Like a prodigal son story he had been coming to church, was involved in bible study and discipleship. But he was young and still wanted to see what the world had to offer. We had not seen him for 2 years, we had heard stories about where he was and what he was doing and none of them good. But he showed up at our house one day. He came in timid and seemed embarassed but Dennis welcomed him in. He was back the next day and the next. Dennis gave him work and he rented a shared room nearby and started coming to church. Over the next few months, we gave him space but were always looking for ways to bless him. He made some bad choices in that time, but he kept on seeking. Slowly he began to open up and talk about the choices he had made, he returned to bible study and we helped him enroll in high school. At the end of his first semester he brought us his grades, highest in the class! It has been a blessing for us to see this transformation and we continue to pray with him as he seeks the Lord and grows in his faith.
Pray:
The church in Esterillos is steady and growing, espeiecally the leadership development classes and small groups
The church in Alajuela has planted another church in a neighboring town which has been meeting in a park, they need a roof now that rainy season has started.
The church in Parrita is growing rapidly, with an amazing children’s program that we hope to transform into a Uno+ program this year.
Uno+ is amazing with more volunteers offering to help and the students excelling in their lives and studies.
The family, we have embarked on a homesteading journey and are loving it, although we are no where near being self sufficient we have made a huge dent in how much we spend at the grocery store with our own milk cow, chickens, geese, talapia and a growing vegetable garden plot that blesses our family as well as the neighbors.
