Where to start?

So much has happened...and I am so behind in posting...hopefully I can catch up.

We celebrated with the kids in Bible Club last week with pinatas, a craft and cupcakes. It was great fun and we are thankful that Doug and Karen were with us to celebrate with the kids.

Saturday we all headed to San Jose, Doug and Karen, all of us, and our friend Cruz, who had several doctor's appointments on Monday. After dropping off Cruz to meet her friends, we headed to the Mission house to drop off all of our stuff and change into warm clothes- it was freezing in San Jose! Then we headed to La Finca to celebrate Fabi's graduation from high school. It was a great party and so GREAT to see all the kids and our friends again. The new building is amazing! God is so good!

Sunday we were able to go to church in Tejarcillos in the morning. It was wonderful to see Rogelio and Neris and their kids again and familiar faces in the church, along with many new faces. It was good to worship with them. Then we headed to Los Guido, lunch and then church. What a joy to reunite with the church again.

Two days of Rosa's cooking was a huge blessing!! YUMMY! And serving with Meg again was just plain fun! :)

Monday was our day to accomplish our list of errands. We did get most things on the list taken care of, but everything took so long. We were unfortunately not able to see a couple friends we had planned to see due to the time it took to get everything done. Hopefully next time. We were reminded of why the Lord blessed us with country living and took us out of city life. After just a few minutes in the city limits, Matt was clutching the steering wheel.

We enjoyed oiur time in the city though, and especially at La Finca. The Lord has done and is doing and will continue His mighty work there. I enjoyed catching up with several of the girls there and with Rosa and Hazel and Panchita. It didn't take long for the belly laughs to come with Rosa and Hazel hanging out in the kitchen with them. Sweet times. Also, sweet memories with Thalia and Michelle and remembering the first time we met.

Now, back at home, we fell right into the swing of things with the women's outreach Tuesday night. I unfortunately came back with a chest and head cold and only made it through part of the evening Tuesday. Over 80 women were present however. The gospel was shared and women came to the feet of Jesus that night- Praise God!

Last night, we had our final night of PFK and the kids presented their program to the parents who came. It was so cool to see their hard work pay off as the program was without a hitch.

 A BIG THANK YOU to HICKORY GROVE CHURCH whose generous offering supplied food bags, gifts, cupcakes and ice cream to the kids and parents in attendance. Even a small $2 gift of a bag of silly bands and a jump rope or a bag of marbles is enough to bring smiles to the faces of kids some of whom most likely won't receive anything thie year for Christmas. Thank you, Hickpry Grove, for providing food to meet the physical needs of  these families on a night where the local church met their spiritual needs though sharing the gospel and months of sharing and teaching about who Jesus is and what He has done for them to the kids in the famnilies.

It was a very special time of sharing with the moms and some dads. One mom shared with me the difference she has seen in her son over the past few months. She thanked me many times for the time we have put into the kids.

This morning I reflect on God's goodness in bringing us here for this specific purpose to pour into these specific kids, many of who this community looks at as losers or worthless. But I don't. I look at them as precious children of God, who are created in His image, saved by faith in Jesus, created to do good works that He has prepared for them. They have purpose in Christ. They have value and worth in His eyes, and in mine.

We thank all of you who sacrifice so we can serve here and minister to these awesome kids.

Pictures to come soon!