We´ve had 2 weeks of visitors which has been so much fun! First, Emily´s mom and sister came for 10 days. Highlights included Krista getting to meet her sponsored child at one of Roblealto´s child care centers, taking mom and Krista to our Spanish-speaking church for Easter, being on a white-sand beach (the nicest we´ve seen yet in Costa Rica) and doing the canopy where we did 8 zip lines through the rainforest and mom didn´t even scream!
The day after mom and Krista left, Emily´s college friends Becki and Liz came. Emily enjoyed spending time with the girls and taking them to Arenal volcano and the hot springs while Mark stayed home and worked - sorry honey, but I needed some girl time!
We were lucky to be able to take time off to host our visitors and now we are back to work! We are continuing a project to get more churches involved with Roblealto and researching to find possible churches online. Our goal is 500 new church contacts for Roblealto. We also continue to pray for positive responses from the foundations we have looked into and hoping that they will sense God's leading to become involved in the Los Guido Child Care Center.
We actually have a lot of prayer requests right now and would appreciate continued prayers from you. We lost our renters for our condo back home due to some family emergencies they had and although we've been earnestly seeking for new renters, we haven't had any luck yet. This is an unplanned financial strain for us and we pray that we can find new short-term renters so we are not paying our rent and mortgage at the same time. We are also beginning the interview process for a new church for when we return to the states at the end of July. Mark has an interview tomorrow night with a church in Wisconsin. We are praying for God's leading to a new church which will share our vision of ministry and be a great place for us to live for the next 10-15 years. It's a very big deal! We appreciate your prayers for opportunities for Mark to interview and for God's leading to be clear as we make these important decisions.
As always, thank you for your prayers and love. We definitely feel them from here and ask that you don't stop as we continue our time here at Roblealto! Much love!
Mark and Emily, You have no idea what a blessing you have been to me personally as you have walked the walk to do the things you do in CR. Your enthusiasm as you planned, your adjustments as things have changed (that always seems to happen, diesn't it), your caring hearts, the way you write so encouragingly, your delight in each other and the people who surround you..... I thank God daily for you and the calling He has in your lives. Thank you for being who you are!
ReplyDeleteWith deep affection from Mike and Kathy
I will compliment you on something much less holy. Emily, I LOVE your sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteIt's true.
Had no idea about the rental situation back home, job option in Wisconsin, etc. Will be praying fervently that the Lord guides clearly and provides more than abundantly for you guys.