Happy New Year from Costa Rica!

We are enjoying our Christmas and New Years celebrations with Cristina's family in Costa Rica (Dec 21- Jan 10).  We're so glad that Erica was able to join us this year during her semester break from Liberty University. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo  2017!

Stu has been working with Chalo (4th from the right) to coordinate a monthly pastors breakfast since May to build relationships and encourage collaboration.  At this breakfast, the men presented an electric wheel chair to Pastor Moises (left, in the middle).

Stu participated in the Camino Global conference in Puebla of 27 team leaders from around the world for a week of training (Oct 24-31).

Leaders of our mission Camino Global met with pastors in Puebla at the end of the week at the Puebla Bible Seminary (Oct 31).

Stu shared a message about "Love and Respect" at a couples dinner at our previous mother church Villa de las Flores in Mexico City (Nov 12).

The Joyas Church that we planted in Mexico City invited Stu to be the speaker for their 6th anniversary celebration.  He shared a challenge to reach out to new families from John 4 (Nov 13)

After the anniversary worship service, we enjoyed a great time of fellowship with the Joyas Church in their freshly painted and decorated expansion of the church building.

Stu continues to maintain contact with the church leaders in Mexico City.  He participated in a weekend men's retreat by the Teotihuacan pyramids near Mexico City (Nov 20-21).

Esteban and Ivana were married last month in Puebla.  They met serving together in the Summer Missionary Project in recent years, and they plan to serve as missionaries with an ethnic group in Oaxaca, south of Puebla (Nov 19).

We have been worshiping with the Eternal Rock church since August exploring possibilities for missions involvement.  We hosted the families of the church leaders in our home, from the right are Pastor Juan Manuel, Delfina and Bernie, Axel and Carol (Nov 20).

We are enjoying getting to know Pastor Juan Manuel and his wife Rocio, who went to Argentina for training with Word of Life (2002-2005), and started the Eternal Rock church in 2008.  Their son Yohanan is finishing his residency as a medical student, and Keila just graduated from her college studies in communications.

We hosted an Appreciation Dinner for the staff and mentors of the Puebla Bible Seminary.  The Seminary director Kevin Bult and his wife (far left) are fellow missionaries with Camino Global (Dec 9)

We invited the Director of the Summer Missionary Project Fernando and his wife Maru and two daughters to attend the Coro Unido Christmas concert of 300 singers from various churches in Puebla (Dec 17 & 18).  Fernando drove 5 hours to Puebla, and invited two of his sisters to attend as well (next to Erica on the left, Dec 16).

The Coro Unido began rehearsals for these Christmas concerts in February to present quality Christian music with an evangelistic message, orchestra, handbells, children's choir and ballerinas.  The concerts were presented in a 3000-seat auditorium on two evenings, as well in the Puebla city square.  Cristina and Daniel participated in the choir practices every other week during this past year (Dec 17)

Where's Waldo?  Can you see Cristina in the alto section of the choir?

Danny sang with the bass section of the Coro Unido (United Chorus).

This is the view from the house of Cristina's parents overlooking the coffee and sugar cane plantation in Juan Viñas, Costa Rica.  We try to visit them every other Christmas for three weeks, and this year we are glad that Erica was able to coordinate her plans to join us during her Christmas vacation from Liberty University (Dec 21-Jan 10).

Cristina is glad to see her dad Santos recuperating well from surgery two years ago to remove his right foot.  He gets around well with his wheel chair and prosthetic foot, and keeps active gardening.  He loves to cut the grass with a machete.

Cristina is enjoying time with her siblings:  from left, her youngest brother Edgar, Cristina, Julio, and her only sister Xinia.  Julio was visiting from the capital San Jose; Edgar and Xinia live in Juan Viñas near their parents.  Not pictured here are three other brothers who live an hour away:  Jorge, Rafael, and Freddy (see below).

Erica and Daniel with their uncle Freddy who came to visit.  They are enjoying time with 6 of their nearby cousins (all boys), grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Since Erica was not able to visit Costa Rica with us in 2015, she hasn't see them for four years.

We built a larger porch on the house of Cristina's parents this week.  This allows space for the whole family to enjoy holiday celebrations--everyone loves to be together!