News from Judith and Alekcey: Of Weddings and Water

Dear friends and family,

We are grateful to be able to share with you the many happenings in our lives and in Paso Marcos in the last few months.

The word is out: Paso Marcos is the next hotspot for destination weddings. Since our last blog update, we have been privileged to be a part of Giovanni and Iris’s wedding at the Centro Emanuel. On June 27th of this year, after 25 years of making their home together, Giovanni and Iris pledged their love to one another in front of approximately 150 people from the surrounding community. We were so blessed to have the Pastor Steve and the team from Village Parkway Baptist Church (VPBC-San Antonio) to help with the preparations and ceremony. A highlight of the ceremony was when Giovanni had the opportunity the share his testimony in front of the community before taking his vows. The whole event was beautiful, and a blessing to all those who were able to attend. (Disclaimer: As I was finishing editing this blog entry, I lost all the wedding photos I had uploaded. I left the CD with these photos in San Jose -- we are currently in Paso Marcos. So as not to delay any further this belated entry, I will post these photos in a separate entry when we return to San Jose next week.)

The same week as the wedding, the VPBC team also was able to participate in teaching games and crafts to children in Tsipiri during one of our dental outreaches, as well as help to build a Cabécar shelter in that same community. We were also blessed to have the board members and sponsors from ICDI (our new non-profit: Indigenous Community Development International) visit the farms and talk with our partners in the Agribusiness Partnership Program. It was a precious time of connecting with the partners and deepening the understanding of the value of this type of program in this area.

We have been blessed to have a variety of summer volunteers and visitors come through the Centro Emanuel in the last couple of months. We especially cherished the weekend of fellowship we had with Bjorn, Evelyn, and David – two med students and a new MD, who share a passion with us for serving the underserved in love while avoiding paternalism. We also thank Michelle for sharing her master gardening skills with us as she helped us put in a garden at the Centro Emanuel (they say the third time’s a charm). We enjoyed getting to spend some time with Lori’s daughter, Robin, and son-in-law, Jonathan (architect), as they made a quick visit to help Dan and Lori with drawing up plans for the building of their home on their new coffee and banana farm.

We continue to be thankful and encouraged by Dan and Lori’s faith, as they move forward in establishing their home in Paso Marcos. Although currently in the US, they will be returning in a couple of weeks to start the Youth Program in Paso Marcos, starting with English classes. It is great to have them on our team.

A little over a week ago, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Cabécar community of Sarkli with our ministry partner, Phillip Jones. Some of you may remember that we had visited this community earlier this year in February on a scouting trip for community needs. At that time, the community stated that their priority was reliable access to potable water. God blessed us by putting us into contact with Fernando Sánchez, a Costa Rican expert in rural aqueduct systems, who volunteered his time and energy to assess the water situation in Sarkli. This was no small commitment, since it involved more than 25 hrs of hiking over a 3 day period. Considering his busy schedule, our initial expectations were that his involvement would be limited to helping with the design, but during the trip he shared his desire to see this project through to its execution! Dr. Adriana Aguilar, whose work for the government’s Ministry of Health includes assessing potable water access, also accompanied us. This was a big deal, since many public workers find it difficult to leave the comfort of their desk job to do something like this. What a wonderful blessing to work with local professionals of this caliber who desire to give of their time and talents out of love for God and for others.

Also accompanying us on our trip were local missionaries Mark and Marge Long (working in San José); a couple from the U.S., Tommy and Kim Clark; Miguel Sánchez (one of the pastors of our church in San José and brother to Fernando), and Emily Jones, Phillip’s 10 year old daughter. This wonderfully eclectic group of people was a prime example of what the body of Christ looks like when working in harmony.

As is usual, this update is just the tip of the iceberg with regards to all the things going on here and in our lives personally. We continue to be humbled and encouraged by your support and prayers. Below is a brief prayer list for specific things we are facing that we didn’t touch on in this update.

By His grace,

Alekcey and Judith

Prayer needs:
1. Prayer for the new workers God is bringing to His field in Paso Marcos.
2. Starting an art mentorship program with indigenous adolescent girls (plans to start in Sept.)
3. Wisdom and discernment in dealing with moving forward with the change in the government healthcare model (have had some doors closed recently, although windows are being opened)
4. The continued process of building a bridge in the Cabecar community of Nimari