Over the last number of months we have been reminded over and over again of how we have seen God move in great ways. As we led this last Discipleship Training School our students came, encountered God, fell more in love with Him, found freedom from their past, got a hunger to read the Bible, and then went to the nations to share among many who have never heard. As one of our teams went to Thailand and Indonesia, they gave out 300 gospel tracks, approximately 50 Bibles, shared the Gospel with approximately 1900 people, and saw 88 people give their lives to Jesus! What an honor it is to be used by the Lord. Sure, that did not come without challenges of language, food, money, culture, sickness, and hard days, but in the end, it is all worth it. As Cory visited one of the teams he came home quite sick with Dengue Fever (a tropical illness). He was sick for about one month but seems to be close to normal now.
As a family we are reminded of our trip last summer when we took the bold leap to go to Costa Rica just as a family to do outreach for 6 weeks. It was sure one of the favorite things we have ever done. We spent the majority of our time serving meals and loving on some poor families in downtown San Jose. We were able to serve them for almost the whole time we were there. Can you say, “Rice and Beans?!” Thankfully we like eating this food. Another focus of our ministry was going door to door to visit families, pray for them, and deliver Bibles. Many of you were a part of this project raising money for Bibles and we were able to visit approximately 300 homes! What a privilege that was to hear the families’ stories and to pray with them!
We also got to be a part of another home-build for a family living in poverty in the slums of San Jose. Over a weekend we worked with another team to construct a home as well as help to fill it with beds, a table with chairs, a stove for cooking, and some dry goods to get this family started. This is always an incredible privilege! We ended our time in Costa Rica serving and preparing for a Youth With A Mission conference where we packed the welcome bags together as a family for over 700 people. It was our heart to serve TOGETHER and to do missions TOGETHER on this trip and we were able to do this. Hopefully we will continue to see fruit from these 6 weeks months, maybe even years, down the road- in our own family too!
This last year, however, has not come without its challenges... we’ve had sickness, moving three times over a two-month period, and close friends moving away. We have shed many tears but we continue to go back to the Lord and thank Him for all He has done and all that He wants to do in and through us. We are so grateful for all of your love and support. We have felt your prayers and know that we couldn’t do this on our own. You mean so much to us!