Christ the Light of the World!

God gave us many opportunities to see his light shinning around us this Christmas Season! Bob had a couple of weeks off from school and responded to a request to install windows in a home of a brother of a friend who had just had surgery after being beaten up. Chicho's house only had openings for windows which meant for a draft that was dangerous to his healing. His home is a very small, simply constructed house that had tin panels over the windows. What a blessing to be able to share the light of Christ's love with this family who had just received Christ into their hearts the week before!

We shared the light of Christ when we held a Woman's Christmas Coffee in Los Guido for about 35 women. We had coffee and pastry together as we talked about the real meaning of Christmas. This was meant as an invitation to join us in the new year for a Bible Study in which we will take a look at the issues the women face and what God's Word has to say about them.

We shared the light of Christ when B served at the children's party given for some 130 children from the slum in Los Guido. We had food, clowns and a gift for each child.The clown with the help of some adults shared the Christmas story.

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Their faces were precious as they enjoyed the excitement of the day.

We finished our Christmas holiday with a trip to California to see our boys and Bethany.
Bethany got tickets to see the Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Catheral, which was a beautiful production complete with flying angles! She is now looking very pregnant and we are so excited to greet our first grandchild!

Christmas must be here it's Windy!

This has been a busy fall! We have not been able to get our Costa Rica Visas and so every 3 months we must leave the country or pay a fine and maybe be asked not to return for 10 years! So, earlier this month we drove to the border and walked across to Nicaragua to visit my nephew Adam and his wife Rachel and their two beautiful daughters. Bob took the opportunity to practice being a grandfather! I think he's going to make a good one! ( the latest pictures of our soon to be grandchild were amazing!)We also got to visit our good friends, The Sharpes, in Managua who were in language school with us.

We have been taking some training from some new friends on how CHE (Community Health Evangelism) works. It is a method of Christian development that seeks to give dignity and hope to the people you are working with. Ted and Graciela Quiocho are CHE trainers and we had the opportunity to be a part of the first level training that was held here in Costa Rica. They are now starting to work in a small rural community about 1 1/2 hours form the city. It is an approach of community development and evangelism that we find to be very practical and allows the community itself to be the center of the vision for their own community.

Ted And Graciela Quiocho

Panamanian Indigenous Indians

We had an opportunity to go to the mountains this weekend and as they are all around the city it is easy to get there. We visited some of the small towns and were able to connect with the Indigenous peoples who were there getting ready to work in the coffee harvest. We had fun speaking with the women who were a bit shy but loved inter acting with us. What a tough life they live.
Though the Quiocho's we have found a church plant that we have been attending this fall. The pastors are from Honduras and are a fun couple who have a real heart to reach the lost. We meet every Saturday night at their home for a service and then dinner and fellowship.

Carlos and Gladys Gomez

I would love to send along pictures of the precious girls in the prison! Below is the team that I work with. There is still have 5 women in one area and a single gal in another. I have had a friend from school help out with the young gal that is in the other building. Two of the women I work with have applied to be transferred back to their own country and the paper work is in progress.
One great story is one of the women had a birthday recently and the other girls surprised her with a bucket of warm water that they had boiled so she could take a warm shower! The nights here get cold and in the morning a cold shower is very hard to take,especially as there is no glass in the windows, so it was a real blessing! They are a wonderful bunch who are seeking to get life straight, which is a big job after having to admit the mistakes you have made and then suffer the consequences for those mistakes.

Prison ministry Team

In the community of Los Guido, the slum that I have been working in all fall, another woman and I will be putting on a woman's coffee for a time of fellowship and introducing the concept of having a Bible Study in their community. the local pastor has warned us that this is area is a very hard one to get into as thsy are living in such sub- normal conditions that all they seemed interested in are hand outs. We are praying that God will open a door to their hearts, thanks for joining us in that prayer.
This is the season of many Christmas parties for children that would other wise not recieve anything for Christmas. Would you be interested in helping us with the several children's events coming up? As well I want to get Christmas presents for the women that I have been working with in the prison. You get information on our mission agency, CTEN, using the link on our Blog, it is located on the right side.
Thanks for being part of our team here in Costa Rica!