News from Judith and Alekcey: Showers of Blessings

Hello everyone,

We know the holiday season is always a busy time, but for us, this year was especially busy and FULL of blessings. We had all the intentions of this being the year we were going to send out Christmas cards, but alas, it was not to be. Here is some of our news since our last blog:

In mid-December, we were able to host another dental clinic in Paso Marcos for the community, with great response, along with our bimonthly "thriftstore" of donated items run so smoothly by Alekcey's mom, Desiree, this time accompanied by her niece, Olivia. We continue to be blessed by the Hospital Clinica Biblica's continuing to provide the dentists and equipment to run this program. This year, we will be starting something new by going to some of the local schools for education and dental care.

This Christmas was especially wonderful, as we were able to share it in Paso Marcos with Alekcey's mom and most of Judith's family (for a total of 19 people in Paso Marcos). We were so blessed to have that rare time with family together, sharing the celebration of the birth of our Saviour. We had wonderful weather, which was especially conducive to activities like tubing down the river and a bonfire.

We were then joined by a team from our church in San Antonio, TX - Village Parkway Baptist Church. This is the third time the church has sent a team for end-of-the-year activities -- and, thanks to a planning session earlier in the year with Ron Sweet, this was the most ambitious short-term team trip, yet.

During the team's 8 days with us, they helped us with painting and repairing the health outpost in a nearby indigenous community; gave classes to the community in haircutting, crotchet, business basics, and music; did a Backyard Bible Club with children in the community; hosted a community New Year's Eve party; hosted a community New Year's Day Carnival for the purpose of raising funds for school supplies for local children (and provide some good, clean fun and relationship building time); AND took the local children on a field trip to the Children's Museum in San Jose. With God's leading and guidance throughout, it was all a success, and the team found themselves forming new and deeper relationships with members of the community. We were also blessed to see people come to the activities who had never stepped foot on the property in Paso Marcos before.

We were especially blessed to be able to share two important messages to the children of the community: First, that God has a purpose for their lives that starts now (even in childhood - based on the story of God calling Samuel as a child), and second, that God will give them the strength and tools for whatever he calls them to do (based on the story of David and Goliath). Every child that came to the Backyard Bible Club memorized and recited Jeremiah 29:11 as their memory verse. This is such an important message for these kids, because many have dealt with abandonment by a parent, physical and verbal abuse, and have had little to hope for. The eagerness to learn was evident in all, and they soaked up the love given them by the group.

It was a particularly blessed time for us, because it gave us a venue to deepen our relationship with members of the community in a different setting. Many times our interaction with community members is within the context of helping the community with a project or providing professional aid through medical or dental care. The opportunity to share with the people in a more relaxed setting was really wonderful.

We were also blessed to have the help of the Friedly family from the local side of things. They are just starting their last trimester of language school in San Jose, and will be moving out to Paso Marcos permanently at the end of April. They will be a tremendous help to us in many aspects, and our hope (along with them) is that they start a community youth program - eventually with a Youth Center.

Another blessing was Ron Sweet's business basics class, out of which has come the pilot program (with Giovanni as the first subject) for the microbanking program that has been on Ron's heart for a long time for this area. Ron's plan of involving his finance students at University of Texas, San Antonio, sounds exciting, and we look forward to seeing how this program develops.

Even in the face of all these blessings, the challenge of bringing transformational development to the communities around us can be daunting - especially when we hear story after story of resources being poured into this area (particularly the indigenous reserve) with no or little positive change. A couple of days ago, during one of these moments of feeling overwhelmed by the people's needs, the Lord showed us Isaiah 46, with emphasis on verse 13a: "I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed." The answer is in Christ alone.

Thanks again to you all for your continued support and prayers.

With love and by His grace,

Judith and Alekcey