Dear Harvest Hand’s Friends,

Spring is just around the corner in the States and it is almost “winter” here in Costa Rica. We have about one more month of the dry season. Then the rains will come again and make everything greener again.

This month we received a wonderful gift in the visit of Rodney’s family, including his 85 year old dad. What a blessing it was for us to have them here for over a week!

Our present team from Mechanic Falls, Maine, just left this morning for a much needed R & R at the beach, after spending 5 days painting two coats of “Salsa” red on our Harvest Hands house. They also painted much of the trim and the huge wall in the front! What a blessing to have that accomplished so very quickly.
Here are a couple of photos of our new entry, our back patio and a few team members hard at work!



















Our weekly schedule of our groups in Los Anonos looks like this:

Tuesday evenings: Women’s group.
Wednesday evenings: Life group in the Quebrada
Life group in the “Mangos”
Thursday evenings: Teen girl’s group
Amigos de Dios (Friends of God), our addicts group
Friday evenings: Our young people’s meeting

The life group mentioned above that takes place in the “Mangos”, which is in the upper part of the hill on the other side of the river, was just started two weeks ago. It is at the home of David and Maria, who have three children. This is the family who received a yellow house back in January. They are excited about this life group being in their home. Already we have found out that everyone who is a part of the life group, who live in the “Mangos”, want help in getting their high school diploma. What a benefit this will be for them.

Also, in our Amigos de Dios group (the guys who struggle with addictions), several of them have asked Rodney if they can get help to learn how to read and write (in Spanish). Many of these are not able to read or write. What a wonderful way to be able to spend time with them!

Prayer requests: That more would come to know and follow Jesus.
That we would find a place large enough for everyone to meet together.
That the chains that bind the addicts would be broken.
Pray for health for us. Cindy is having some stomach issues.


We thank you for your prayer and financial support. If you would like to give to our ministry, here is the address:
Harvest Hands
Vineyard Christian Church
P.O. Box 55
Mechanic Falls, Maine 04256

February 2010 Newsletter

Dear Harvest Hands,

Much is being accomplished with your help and we thank you. As you recently read in our last newsletter, a team from Michigan came to build a yellow house for a family. Also, a team from Virginia came to teach the men and women here in Anonos and at the men’s and women’s rehab in Alajuelita, which is part of the CCA Church.

This past Wednesday, we said good-bye to a team from the New Life Church in Gahanna, Ohio, who came to build a yellow house. This house was built for a family of nine people! Some of you may know Lester, who leads worship here in Los Anonos. His father passed away in October, which left his mother a widow. So, because of the nine people and because the team was able, they built a home a little larger than usual. What a blessing to move a family into a lovely house, with indoor plumbing and more space. Most of the yellow houses do not have plumbing inside… maybe only to a kitchen sink.

Also, there were two women on this team who came to teach on starting home businesses, the Ten Commandments and conflict resolution. They also did some crafts to show the ladies how easy it is to produce something to sell for little money. They made great connections with the women in Los Anonos. These two ladies also helped to paint the yellow house that the men built. Thank you to all from New Life, who helped with this project.

One of the things that we are working on is helping families that are presently unemployed to find ways to make a living. You’ll hear more about this in the future. As this is something that we feel God is stirring our hearts towards…. helping those in need.
We have all heard the expression, “You can give a man a fish or you can teach him how to fish.” We can also equip him with the proper necessities to fish.

For those of you who would like to read a wonderful description of a week of serving God in Los Anonos, I am going to direct you to New Life’s blog. This was written by the pastor, Brian Robertson, who came with them and others. The last day was written by all of the team members about how the trip impacted them. As in all blogs, you will have to go back ten days to start at the beginning of the trip. The blog address is: http://newlifeincostarica.blogspot.com/

Here’s the New Life team in front of the house they built.



We will have a little break before our next team from Mechanic Falls comes in March. Rodney’s family will be visiting us this month, which will be wonderful.

We are still in need of a building for a church. Please pray about this. The possibility of getting the kindergarten building is not looking good. God has the perfect place for us to meet.

As we move forward as a church, we are in the process of raising leaders and establishing a leadership team. Please keep this in prayer, as well. You will hear more about this in the future.

Once again, we would like to thank all of you for your support. If you would like to financially support Harvest Hands, checks can be made out to Harvest Hands and sent to:

Harvest Hands
c/o Vineyard Church
P.O. Box 55
Mechanic Falls, Maine 04256