Costa Rica--2009 Wednesday

Last night's visit with the Louderbacks and Tresa was so sweet. David and I enjoyed it so much. Their house is adorable and Tina is so organized. Tim beat David at wii golf---fun! And Tina made the best banana bread! Saying bye is hard for me anyway so you know this was especially hard--even though I will be back in June.


Your prayers were felt today. I have never taken my ring off in about 24 years so when they told me to leave it I wasn't really scared but i was apprehensive.
But God was there with us and today was awesome.

David and I love kids--obviously and to get to just love on kids who are so neglected is great for us. Mark and Meg and their daughter Melinda have a discipleship ministry in La Carpia which is the poorest, "baddest" section of San Jose. They do a wonderful job of forming relationships, sharing the gospel and then following through with discipleship groups for this families. The kids really love them.

We spent a couple of hours then walking through La Carpia. It is unbelievably poor.
Tin houses, raw sewage running in the street down to the river that runs through it. There is no sanitation so the trash is everywhere. This is such a hard life but it is all these people know. One precious family that had accepted Christ and the 11 year old was baptized a month ago--they live in a little bitty place downstairs so narrow that you have to turn sideways to fit down the stairs. There are two tiny rooms for about 10 people. It is unreal unless you see it for yourselves.
Mark said they might get 1 meal a day and it would just be rice. Can you imagine???
The crime rate is high---as you would think---if you leave something out it is gone.
Last week a 6 yr old was kidnapped as she and her mother walked to school.
Gangs fight with guns as other children walk home from school. To get food people sell themselves or the children or they sell drugs.

Their hope is in Jesus and their reward is in Heaven. It is gutwrenching to see this but God sent us here. We saw smiling faces even in the midst of all this mess.

Please pray for the people of La Carpia and the work that the Kasdas family is doing here. Pray for Brook and Matt and Ron and Meredith who work with this family. They are all with Christian Light Foundation. After seeing what is going on here it makes me proud to be a part of CLF.

Tomorrow we spend the day finding the person to help us with the vitamin program here. The children are going to be fed and the vitamins will be in addition to the food.

God commanded us to go----what is your answer to HIM????