Earthquake in Costa Rica

We thank God that our LATN team is doing fine and that as far as we know, there has been no damage to our offices as the result of Thursday's 6.2 earthquake. The epicenter was less than 30 miles away! The earthquake struck at 1:21 pm and our building shook back and forth for about 20 seconds. Over 1500 aftershocks were reported as of yesterday. The death toll last night was at 15 but there are still 100s of people missing, so we're not sure what the final count will be. As far as churches are concerned, many of the churches with which we have contact were far enough away from the epicenter to have suffered damage. I am still waiting to hear from a Free Church pastor regarding the dozen or so churches he works with. We are looking at various options were we as a team can help out (it may be giving donations through one of the local churches), but for the most part, the government and the Red Cross are the ones handling rescue operations. We would certainly appreciate your prayers.

Christmas and New Years!

Christmas and New Years are always special moments of the year, and this year was no different! New Years in Latin America is unforgettable. This year we watched fireworks from the balcony of our house - spectacular! As you can see from one of the many pictures we took, we were treated to a beautiful 20 minute demonstration of colors and sounds in the sky so typical of Latin America!

And for Christmas we were able to take advantage of some bargain airfares to Ft. Lauderdale to be with Gregory, his fiancé, his future in-laws, friends and supporters. We also did some paperwork on our resident visas for Costa Rica, although less than what we had wanted. The picture to the left shows Judy, Gregory, Alexandra (his fiance) and Doris (her mother) making Venezuelan hallacas much like the Central American tamales. Making " hallacas is a tradition at Christmas time and we were thrilled that even during our short visit we were able to make over 50 of the banana leaf - wrapped delicacies!