Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year too!!
Our trip to Costa Rica in October was such a blessing and great fun as well and we want to thank y’all for praying and forgiving. The Ignite Pastors Conference in Guanacaste was extremely well attended. There were about 100 people there including pastors, their wives some church workers and some CLF missionaries who are moving to the Villa Real area. Alex Taylor, the director of a bible school in Panama with 10 of his students attended as well as Danny White the director of another bible school close to San Jose. We gave each of the pastors’ wives the book Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerich. (if you’ve never read it before we highly recommend it!) The pastors received the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. On behalf of the team ….. Rick and Linda Gail Shepherd, Donald and Stephanie Shott, Mike and Mikey Lewis, Thomas Holden Danny and Heather Nelson and us, we thank you all for being a part of the trip with us through your prayer and support. The name of the Lord was lifted up, his servants encouraged and further equipped for the ministry and battle that lay before them!
The day after Thanksgiving we went to Smithville, Tenn. with Faith in Action (the ministry that was so involved in developing the facilities of El Faro in Mexico) We joined them in volunteering at Lighthouse Christian Camp. It’s an amazing camp where children between the ages of 5 – 12 are given the opportunity to go to camp for free. They are referred to the camp thru a social worker, teacher or policeman. This week Faith in Action prepared for the annual Christmas parties, built a pole barn, finished out some bathroom remodeling and completed miscellaneous jobs. Everything came together right on time and God covered the grounds with a beautiful blanket of snow on the morning of the Christmas party. It was great for us to catch up with dear friends and work alongside them again! If you’d like to know more about Lighthouse Christian Camp Ministries you can check them out at www.lighthousechristiancamp.
They are in need of all sorts of volunteers all year round and especially counselors during the summer.
North Carolina - We planned to visit Javier in North Carolina before returning to Jacksonville but in talking with his mom discovered that he had returned to Mexico a couple of months earlier. Instead we went to Raleigh where some dear friends of ours (Jimmy Beverly Carroll) had the privilege of baptizing their 18 year old son, Austin. We were so happy to be able to share that day with them!!
Mexico – we will be returning to Mexico for a visit to catch up with our family …. meet new babies J and basically to just love on our “kids” encourage them in their journey with the Lord …… that they can continue to walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Panama – We will be traveling to Panama with Danny Nelson, Mike Lewis and a team the Lord has put together to build some meeting areas for the pastors that Alex Taylor works with in the mountains of Panama. Please pray for our family as Karen and I are gone more frequently, that each of us can be diligent to do and be what the Lord has asked of us during this season of our lives. The kids are all still in college and working. Sean and Sarah-beth are working at a Mexican restaurant and loving it!
Thank you for serving with us!
Peace in this New Year,
David and Karen
