by jimmy | Mar 8, 2015 | Blog |
Many of you have shared a desire to help on projects when we found a need. After being here for several months, we have identified two very worthy projects. Join us in serving Granadilla: We would like your help in raising funds for a community center in a small town called Granadilla and to construct a home for a generous Young Lives volunteer. Early one Monday morning I joined the Young Life National Director at a meeting of a few community leaders to discuss the building of a community center in a small town called Granadilla. Young Life has a strong presence in the community and they have been holding club at the current community center for years. The current community center is below. It is hard to explain my thoughts after visiting, but it is basically a tin building built with scrap metal and wood. There are, I believe, two light bulbs that give light to the inside during evening meetings. There are no windows, but some light flowed in through the walls during our morning meeting. The people meeting us do not work for the city. The city would not attend a meeting like this because they have no funds to make improvements. These are citizens. They are like you and me. They care about the lives of kids in the community and want them to have a place to go and things to do other than some of the poorer options available, like drugs and gangs. We are meeting to discuss the building of a community center and trying to confirm that we can start with...
by jimmy | Jan 9, 2015 | Blog |
Happy New Years to you all. We are so grateful for each of you that join us in prayer and support. We have seen some amazing things transpire in 2014 and we look forward to a great 2015. Please let me know how I can be praying for you. Each morning I prayer for as many as I can remember and I would love to be praying for specific things. Our first Work team We just ended our very first work team here in Costa Rica and it was an amazing time. We were asked a few months ago to host a service project for a couple of families coming to CR. They wanted to come on December 26th and after some prayer I felt like the Lord wanted us to grow in some ways so we decided to agree. Like always, when we say yes to what the Lord has for us great things happen and this was no exception. I thought I would recap a bit of what took place over the four days they were here. There were two families of five, the Crawfords and the Mays, with kids from ages 13-19 they were both from Austin and both were very familiar with Young Life. We ended up having many mutual friends and it was great to have visitors in from Austin. Both were great families and we had a wonderful time getting to know them. A couple of the kids organized a clothing drive and they showed up with 6 huge duffel bags full of clothing and shoes. The clothes will go to bless the...
by jimmy | Dec 31, 2014 | Blog |
We sent out an update the week before Christmas sharing some highlights of what we’ve seen here in our first six months! We know for so many of you, a video is another great way to share the same message. So here you go! God has shown us great things so far! We can’t wait to continue sharing all that’s happening here in 2015. Happy New...
by jimmy | Nov 14, 2014 | Blog |
When we got here to Costa Rica we had one car and it was tough. Because it basically means we are together as a unit always. For those of you back in the states just think about that for a second. One car. So if two people need to be in different places at once or heaven forbid three places at once with three kids it is very challenging. Just think through the execution of that in your life. We decided early on a second car is something we should purchase and we did. It was a 1987 Russian Lada Niva. We bought it for a $1000. We spent some money fixing up the motor and the dashboard which was torn up and the lessons the Lord was teaching us began immediately. It was hard to drive at first and on more than one occasion I “battled the russian” like the time I could not find reverse and had to get pushed out of a parking spot by a couple of guys. As I started to roll down the window I pulled off the crank and so I had to just yell “empuje” out one of the side triangle windows. It was humbling from the beginning I had big plans for this little car. I was going to get it painted and get a radio put in and a few other things like some new wheels and such. Nothing too crazy; maybe another $1000. I did my research and I knew that was about the cap for resale so I figured I was good. Then it happened. One morning...
by jimmy | Sep 28, 2014 | Blog |
I’m sitting here on my porch going through some of the things we have to get done this coming week. One of those things includes the car we need to pick up. We recently bought a second car for $1000 and let’s just say it came with some personality and was ‘named’ by its previous owners. More on the Vladi later. But as I sit here pondering how much more we will be able to do now, and how Jeannie and I can be in two places at once, I started to think about whether that meant we were settling in here in Costa Rica. Then I started to wonder, “Is that a good thing?” Is the goal to find some settled feeling that then allows life to move forward as normal again? I thought I wanted that. To be settled into a life where we are moving forward in progress and things are happening with the ministry and kids are meeting Jesus and we are building a camp and friends and family are coming to visit. I want to see club on the East side of San Jose at all these international schools. I want to spend the night at a camp with 100 kids hearing the gospel. I want people to come here and meet people that will change their lives forever. But why? Why do I want these things? To prove that this was all worth it? Or because I get to be part of seeing people get freed? There is nothing settled about being here if I really think about it. I mean, we know...
by jimmy | Sep 14, 2014 | Blog, Videos |
Kids gave us some advice as we headed back to school to learn Spanish.
