New Covenant Church

We started our journey to Costa Rica early this morning!  Thank you for your support and prayers. We know God is going to do incredible things this week as we step out in faith!

We are excited to serve alongside of you this week!  We know that God has great things in store!

We made it safely to Costa Rica, ate lunch, and are settling in at the church where we will be sleeping all week!  

There is no better way to start the week than by prayer!

We met Pastor Edgar for the first time today!  We can already tell that he is an amazing man of God. 

Our construction project for the week is to help rebuild Pastor Edgar's house.  We were standing in Pastor's house while he told us about the plans for this week. 

We are ready and excited to meet everyone at church this morning. Tyler will be preaching, and two students will be sharing their testimonies. We will also be running the children's and youth classes!

Even when there is no electricity we will still worship Jesus!  The presence of Jesus crosses over cultural and language barriers...even electricity barriers!

We are loving getting to know these precious children at the church. We played games, served cereal, and shared the joy of the Lord with them all!

This week we hope to help encourage the youth to follow Jesus no matter what the circumstances!

Tyler shared a great word this morning about how God calls us.  He used the story of Moses as well as his own testimony.  Ashley and Christian also shared their testimonies of God's grace in their lives. 

This afternoon we spent time hearing the testimonies, dreams, and visions of Pastor and Pastora.  God has been rewarding their faithfulness, and we are so grateful to be able to partner with them and their church this week.  It was an honor to pray over them and bless their ministry!

This afternoon went to the store to purchase enough food to fill 20 bags that we will distribute to families in need over the week.  We know God has great things in store!

Nothing says Costa Rica like playing soccer (fútbol) in the afternoon!

Tonight we spent time worshipping Jesus, the reason we are here in Costa Rica!  We also studied the Word together.  We love what God was teaching us and showing us as we studied Acts 9. 

Today there is a lot of activity surrounding the Pastor's house. We are tearing down walls, sanding, painting, and doing general clean up around the church property.  Pastora was watching the walls come down and said in Spanish, "this is a dream!"

Everyone is getting dirty today.  Here we are digging drainage ditches. 

This morning a group of us went to 6 homes that Pastor Edgar handpicked to receive the blessing of a bag of groceries. It was a great chance to meet families in the community, pray with them, and invite them to the activities at the church this week. 

Phoebe made some new friends today!

We continued to work all day to help rebuild Pastor's house!  It's a blessing to work alongside Pastor to see this dream become a reality. 

Even more kids and teenagers showed up to play soccer with us today!  We pray that they show up tonight for the movie night and tomorrow as VBS begins. 

We had a great time watching the movie "The Incredibles" (Los Incredibles) with people from the church and community, complete with popcorn and juice!

Ashley and Michael both shared after the movie relating the movie to what God has done in their lives. They both did a great job!

Tonight we had a sweet time in the presence of the Lord worshipping together. God is surely touching our hearts and causing us to become more like Jesus!  

The joy of the Lord is our strength as we sand and paint the doors for Pastor's house. 

Rob is taking the lead installing the electric system in the new house. 

We enjoyed praying over and sharing experiences with local families this morning. 

We are continuing to frame the house. Pastor is so excited about the fast progress being made. Each person has been working hard (even doing work that we have never done before)!

We had an amazingly start to our VBS with about 50 kids attending (and a lot of parents as well)!  This week we are teaching about the Armor of God and how we can be superheroes for Jesus!

This morning we are getting a different view of Costa Rica from the tree tops!  What an amazing experience we are having flying through the sky!

We are all smiles today as we continue another day of VBS with these precious children.   Today we are learning about the "shoes of the Gospel of peace" and the "shield of faith."

We love seeing Pastor Edgar serving alongside of us at VBS. We keep pointing everyone back to Jesus and to Pastor Edgar's church!

Amie made a friend at VBS today!

It's an exciting day as we are now installing the walls in Pastor's house!

We did Food Distribution today on foot and put in a lot of kilometers. 

Slowly but surely we are helping to make Pastor Edgar's dream become a reality by investing in the older generation.  Today we received a great blessing by getting to know this sweet couple. 

It's our final day of VBS. Today we teaching about the "helmet of salvation" and the "sword of the spirit."

Saying goodbye is so hard.  These children have quickly stolen our hearts!

We worked super hard today!  What a difference a few days of teamwork makes!

Tonight we had our "see you later" service.  After sharing testimonies of what God did this week, Tyler presented Pastor's family with a bag full of gifts. 

The local church showed their thankfulness for us coming to serve with them this week.  We each were honored with a Costa Rica souvenir to show their appreciation. 

Our "see you later" service needed as the local church prayed for each of us. It was a powerful moment followed by a flood of tears!

Our recreation day started off with 6 baptisms in the Pacific Ocean!  It's a day to celebrate as Cole, Sarah, Emma, Melissa, Oliver, and Maddy made their public confession of faith to follow Jesus Christ!

We spent our last full day in Costa  Rica at Tamarindo Beach enjoying the amazing beach and shopping for souvenirs to help us remember the incredible week we have had!