It's time for another newsletter! How quickly the months pass! Thank you all so very much for all that you do! We are seeing the fruits!
Baptism!!
We woke up this past Sunday to a beautiful sunny day. What a day for a baptism, a baptism of 14 of our young people from Los Anonos! And the Lord was so faithful to keep the rain away until we were finished!
We held it at our friend Rosa’s property in the mountains, a lovely place with a natural pool, a rancho and the peace and love of God.
Rodney went out early to set up. Rosa’s sister was already there, cooking a typical Costa Rican meal for forty people. The remainder of the people arrived around 10:30.
Our service began with worship, followed by a precious baby dedication that had been requested by several of the young mothers who wanted to dedicate their babies to Jesus. These children were anointed with oil and the mothers were encouraged to raise their children in the ways of God.
After the dedication, 14 young people gave their testimonies about how the Lord has changed their lives and why they wanted to be baptized. Some of these young people have come out of drug addictions and they all still live in very difficult situations. I've attached a photo of one of our young men being baptized. It is such a picture of dying and being resurrected into a new life!
The day ended with a sharing of communion, a great meal and a wild round of mud “futbol”! (Photo attached) Note the “muchacho” on the left…. He is our very own Steve, who is fast becoming a friend to all of these young men.
There is so much happening here that it is difficult to put it in one short letter. Rodney and Jono took a trip to Nicaragua at the end of September to plan a mission trip. They made some awesome connections there, one being a Christian school in the middle of the Managua dump, where about 1,500 people live… yes, they live in the dump. As we will be taking several of our young people from Los Anonos on this trip, please pray for them to be able to raise funds, etc.
Towards the end of this month, a group of pastors and mission directors will be joining us for five days of meetings. We will discuss what the future of Harvest Hands and a new church here in Anonos will look like. These leaders are from the churches that support us in our ministry here. They are wonderful people of God who come from several different churches: Our church, the Vineyard Church of Mechanic Falls, Maine; New Life Church of Gahanna (Columbus); Ohio, Mountain View Community Church of Culpeper, Virginia: The Summit of Madison, Virginia; and Vineyard North of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
We love that we can all work together to advance the Kingdom! I’m reminded of Psalm 133:
1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
It is the joining together of these churches in unity that has been so beneficial to this ministry. God is anointing us and blessing us as we serve here together.
We are in desperate need of a larger facility for our meetings. Please keep this in prayer. Right now, we have our little church divided into many small groups, which has been working out well. But we desire to be able to meet as a body and do not have a space large enough.
Think of how far Los Anonos has come! And it is because of all of your prayers! Thank you!
Bendiciones,
Rodney and Cindy
