Almost Christmas!

The directors of the three Costa Rica Bases

It has been very hard to watch the news over the last few days and we mourn with all those that have lost loved ones. Here in Costa Rica the last few weeks have been pretty packed as the year draws to a close. One of the most exciting things that happened has been the coming together of the YWAM Costa Rica community. Here in Costa Rica there are three different bases operating. The base That has been here the longest is located in the hills north of San Jose in a town called Heredia another is in Nicoya which is close to the coast in the northwest corner of the country,  and of course the location that we serve at in the heart of San Jose. This year has seen a huge movement in the three bases to start working in unity. Three weekends ago Karen and I joined with the other leaders and their spouses from all three locations for a time of fellowship and meetings. It was incredible to see how much God has done for us

and for the nation over the twenty years that YWAM has been in Costa Rica. Thousands of people both here in Costa Rica and around the globe have been ministered to though the work of these three bases and the faithful men and women that serve through them. This last weekend we headed out again for an annual all YWAM Costa Rica fellowship in Nicoya. All three bases came together to take Bibles house to house in a small community near the YWAM base and to fellowship together. It was an amazing time and lots of fun for the boys. 

Here in San Jose the base has been growing rapidly and a large part of what Karen and I do is to help direct and channel that growth. One of the goals of our base is be a training center for the nations where people can come and be disciple. But unfortunately training centers don’t happen by themselves and there are lots of details that need to be worked out. It is a lot of work and a lot of meetings but we are excited for what God will do in this next season of our YWAM base.

Marianela and Jose

A key part of that training center is, of course, the Bible school. We are now in week eleven of twelve in our fifth school and the end is in sight. Everyone is getting excited to be done and celebrate Christmas including our family. Two of the students that I have worked most closely with are Jose and Marianela a Costa Rican couple that have been wanting to do the Bible

Ready for Bible Distribution

Our good friends Jake and Michelle

school for a couple of years. They came into the school so hungry for more of God and his word and it has been wonderful to see them dive into it with all their strength. They will be leading the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is coming up in January and we are very excited to see their hard work start to bear fruit in the lives of the next group of students. They also have been praying for a while about getting pregnant and have just received the good news that Marianela is expecting.  The Bible school is becoming known as the school to take if you want to get pregnant. We have only had three couples and two have been blessed with pregnancies during the school. Our next Bible school will not start until July so we have a bit of breathing room before the next one starts. 

Fun with FIRE!!!!!!

 We are in the midst of planning our trip back to
the States and are getting excited to see you all. We

Reading with Grandpa

have tentative dates planned for the 6^th of February through the 8^th of April. The boys are praying for snow and we are excited to spend time with family and friends. We have enough mileage saved up from the last few years that we have three of the four tickets covered but we are in need of some extra funds to cover the fourth. As well we have several end of the year expenses to cover including our residency renewal and our car registration.

Between the ticket, residency and car registration we need right around $2000. We would ask that you pray about making a donation to help with the extra costs. It is always a bit stressful when we don’t see where the money will come from but we have learned in

We got to MC our  friends wedding last weekend.

the last 6 years here in Costa Rica that God always brings it from some place unexpected. We arrived here in January of 2007 with about $400 dollars in monthly support and just our rent was $500 but every month God has provided for our needs and we have alwayshad enough. He has been so faithful to us and we are incredibly thankful both for him and for each of you that has help to make all this possible. If you would like to make a donation, just click on the “Make a donation” button above. 

Many blessings,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah