January 12, 2009

 As you may know, last Thursday Costa Rica suffered a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, located barely twenty miles north of San Jose.  At this time, there are 14 persons confirmed dead, 20 persons missing, and thousands more whose homes and businesses were affected.  Please be in prayer for all those who are grieving, those who are missing, those who are searching, and those who are helping with the work of cleaning up.  Thank you for joining us in prayer for Costa Rica at this time of great need.   

December 15, 2008

(below is the text of our recent Christmas letter)

 Merry Christmas in the name of Christ, who comes as God's great gift to the world!  We've just wrapped up our fourth year of living in Costa Rica, and we're back in the States for a few weeks to visit family, friends and churches.  Our Christmas card photo (found on the Recent Photos 2008 page) is of some of the children we work with each Saturday in Los Guido, a marginal area south of San Jose.  The name of our small clubhouse if the "Light of Hope Child Development Center," and recently we've been thinking about the role of hope in our lives, especially at this time of year.  Hope exists in Los Guido on many levels.  The children are certainly in need of hope; this year, gang violence has increased in the community, and many of the children live in desperate poverty.  As a response, what we try to offer them each week is a bit of hope, through songs, Bible stories and crafts.  Yet there's an even deeper level of hope in Los Guido: these children themselves represent the constant presence of hope in the midst of hopelessness, of light in the midst of darkness.  Their joy, their openness to God's love, their willingness to love one another - all of these are signs of hope, and it is our privilege to serve them each week and to see that hope grow.  A great truth right now is that many people around the world, from Los Guido to the US, are in need of a bit of hope.  The even greater truth, however, is that Christ has come into the world to offer us that hope, to literally be that hope, and He did so by being born as a child in a poor community, just like the children of Los Guido.  We pray you may know this hope in your life.

This past year, we have certainly seen many of our hopes realized with God's help.  The ministries we began last year have continued to develop, while other new projects have begun.  Will's work at the Methodist Seminary continues to grow, with many new students joining this year.  In addition to the regular monthly classes, he also taught a course on liturgy at the regional level, as well as an Old Testament course at the Methodist University.  Our weekly ministry in Los Guido continues to bless us, as we become more invested in these children's lives.  In the spring, we painted the rusty tin walls of the clubhouse a bright blue, creating a more joyful space for worship and play.  We also began a new tradition of monthly birthday parties, celebrating each child by singing and letting them choose a small gift from the "treasure chest."  Our last Saturday of the year was a "birthday party for Jesus," with pizza, games and a gift bag for all one hundred children.  One of the most exciting new things for us this year was the chance to host work teams from churches in the States, some to work at the Seminary and others to work on the Children's Home.  They were fun, hard-working groups, and we are so grateful for all they accomplished.  The Methodist Children's Home project continues to move forward.  This year was spent working on exterior walls and renovating the caretakers' house, while at the same time trying to finalize building permits.  Our goal for 2009 is to complete the first residential home and the multi-purpose building, and we thank God for the churches and teams He is raising up to partner with us in this great project.

We are also so thankful for another great year of work God has given us, and for the faithful group of friends and family who support us with your prayers and gifts.  You are truly partners in this ministry.  Above all, we are thankful for the gift of Christ born into the world.  We pray His spirit of joy and peace, and especially hope, would fill your heart this season.

September 18, 2008

 Hello from Costa Rica!  Now that our busy summer schedule has finished, we wanted to share some of what we're doing as we head into the final stretch of our work this year.  Our Los Guido kid's club continues to be a blessing to us each week.  We've just moved into a series on the life of Moses, and there are many episodes that are connecting with the children's own experiences.  We've also just organized a new set of women from the local church to take turns helping us out, and we look forward to working (and singing, and dancing, and making crafts...) with these new ladies.  

The work of the Seminary continues at its usual pace.  We were glad to see four new students begin in August; this means we should finish the year with an average of 30-35 students each month.  Also, starting next week, Will will be teaching an Old Testament class in the Theology department of the Methodist University.  He's looking forward to the challenge of a new setting and new students.

On the Children's Home front, our partners Ray and Lidia just hosted the last work team of the year, so the property will be a little calmer until next February.  The project itself is still moving ahead though, and we hope with God's help to submit all the plans for final permits by the first week of December.  This should allow us to finally begin construction when the first team arrives next February.  Also, we've just been blessed by a wonderful trip to Birmingham, Michigan to visit the First United Methodist Church there.  The great people of that church, in addition to sending teams down to work on the project next year, have also pledged to raise the support needed to build one of the houses!  We are so grateful for their help, and we pray for other individuals and churches to share the passion they have.

On a personal note, yesterday (the 17th) was the fourth anniversary of our arrival in Costa Rica.  We could never have expected all that the Lord has shown and done since that day, and we have been so blessed by all that He has unfolded before us.  Only He knows what lies in store for us in this wonderful country, and we are grateful to continue to be a part of this adventure.  A great big "Gracias!" to all of you who support us in so many ways, in the past, present, and future. 

July 16, 2008
Greetings from Costa Rica! 

The past few months have been full of activity, and we wanted to let you know what we’ve been up to.

Our Saturday kid’s club in Los Guido continues to grow, especially in the last couple of months as we’ve seen several new children attend for the first time.  In May we were able to paint the inside walls of the club a bright turquoise, thanks to a donation from a church in Florida.  It’s a much nicer atmosphere now, and the walls are a great backdrop for the picture posters and Bible verses (check out "Recent Pictures" to the left).  Since Easter we’ve had a series of lessons about important Biblical figures, and the kids have enjoyed learning these stories and seeing how the stories connect to their own lives.  Please continue to pray for Los Guido, though, as the violence and gang activity have definitely increased in the last couple of months.  Pray for God to protect these children daily. 

Will’s work at the Methodist Seminary is keeping its normal pace, although his scheduled June class on Christian Ethics was postponed because many students could not attend due to flooding from a recent tropical storm.  He’s looking forward to the New Testament class in August/September, though, when he will get a first chance to work with the many new students who have been able to join this year.  One big change is the absence of our dean, Steve Gober, who left last month for a one-year course of study in the US.  Please pray that God will use the remaining faculty to keep the Seminary growing in Steve’s absence.  A new blessing for us was the arrival of a church team from Farwell, Texas last month to do some work at the Seminary.  The youth and their leaders did a great job painting the walls and the roof of the Seminary housing, as well as doing some interior structural work.  They were the first team that we officially organized and hosted in Costa Rica, and we thank God that He guided everything so well. 

In the midst of all this activity, the biggest news has to do with the Methodist Children’s Home project.  We are excited to report that work has now begun inside the property!  Although we are still waiting for permits for the first home, we have been able to start work on the block walls along the sides of the property.  We were excited to host two great teams earlier this month: a youth team from Dallas, Texas and a mixed-ages team from Will’s home church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  These teams, each with over thirty members, did lots of work every morning at the Children’s Home and then visited local churches in the afternoon to put on Vacation Bible School activities for children.  Both teams were a blessing to us and to others, and we’re thankful for their hard work on behalf of this project.  Follow the "Recent Pictures" link to see photos and learn more about each team.

As you can see, the Lord is keeping us busy, and that’s a blessing.  Please continue to pray for our health and protection, and for constant communion with the God who has placed us here to work.  We ask you to pray especially for our desire to buy our first home.  After years of renting, and with a rising cost of living here in Costa Rica, we feel we could better use our resources if we owned our own home.  So please pray that God would guide us towards the right house and the best method of financing, all according to His will.  As always, thank you for your love and concern for us and, by extension, for the people and the church in Costa Rica.