Greetings from Los Anonos, Costa Rica!!
As we look out at Los Anonos and it’s makeshift dwellings of tin sitting on the side of a very steep hill, we wonder how they have not been swept away during this heavy rain season. Each morning, as daylight comes, we look to see if everything is still in place. At this point in time, there are one to three homes that have been affected, one completely destroyed. Several others are on the verge of collapsing.
One of the walkways that leads up the hill has also been damaged, making it very difficult for both mothers and their children to go to their homes.
Coming back to wondering how many of these homes have been spared from disaster, the answer is prayer. Gods grace has kept these homes from sliding. As I was sitting this morning looking out at Los Anonos, I could hear in my heart the prayers of the single mom’s living in these tiny tin shacks. I could hear them say, “Por favor, el Dios, nos protege y nos mantiene seguros.” (“Please, God, protect us and keep us safe.”) Simple prayers ---- and once again this morning, God has answered their prayers.
As it is in any place in our world, there are needs. Here in Los Anonos, true conversion, that manifests transformed lives is what we want to see. Our prayer is to see this transformation in our time.
A prayer: Lord, just as you’ve heard the cry of the people for protection from the heavy rains, hear the sigh in their hearts for a better tomorrow, for a hope for a future, so that they too can be involved in you Kingdom here on earth and be a part of your Kingdom for eternity. Set the captives free, bring freedom! Amen!
Here in Los Anonos, it has been good working with La Viña, Escazu, helping with their Wednesday afternoon program. With the help of some donations from generous people, we were able to install lighting for the gym, which is where we meet with about 100 children, 20 young adults and 20 mothers.. Having lights there has been great for the whole community. It will help with the work that we would like to do in the future. The lights have made the gym a safer place to gather, as well. God is on the move and we are looking forward to what He is going to do!
It’s wonderful to have a church here like our own church at home to work with. Some of the ladies from the church have been getting together with the mothers in the gym once a week for a doll-making project. The mothers then stay on to hear the Word. It has been a great opportunity to build friendships.
Marsha just started teaching English 2 days a week at the kindergarten in Los Anonos. We hope to develop more English teaching classes in the future. There are two more long term girls who are coming to stay with us. One of them has training and a lot of experience teaching English as a second language.
Now that the rainy season is coming to an end, we have been doing a lot of cleaning around the house, and getting ready for the next teams. We have the Mechanic Falls team coming at the beginning of December and from that time on, it looks like we will have teams until the end of March. Then we have two more teams in the summer.
Right now, we are looking to fill in a few more weeks with teams. We now have an extra week in February to fill.
Lately, we have been having some problems with our twelve passenger van. Finding a good, honest mechanic has been difficult. Being North Americans, a lot of times they assume that we have lots of money, which isn’t the truth.
We appreciate all of your support, both prayerfully and financially, especially because we are seeing the Kingdom being advanced, here in Los Anonos and other communities.
We love you all!
Rodney and Cindy
