"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.  For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil. 1:3-6

We wanted to update you on some recent happenings, prayer requests, and answered prayers.  

*Jamie and Micah are settling in as freshmen at their respective schools.

*We rejoice in answered prayer for healing for family members and ask you to continue to pray.

*Costa Rican friends Judith and Pastor Xinia were here in August and were impressed by the hospitality of the American Baptist Women, both in Green Lake and in the Northwest, then were spoiled by the people of First Baptist Church of Port Angeles, Washington.

They were surprised by God's people on two of many occasions: one in that a young Costa Rican architect donated her time and talent to draw the building plans for the Centro de Transformación Mariposa (a family life program geared toward the prevention of sexual exploitation and human trafficking) and the other in that the candles made by the women of their church and community were given as gifts to those who donated toward their project and they were able to take home $1000 to be used to break ground on a new building for the center.

*Currently David Gonzalez is staying with us and enjoying time with us, the natural beauty of Washington and the wonderful strangeness of gringo culture. We brought David here to celebrate the completion of his high school equivalency and to bring Mylinda's walking buddies our dogs, Misty and Allie.  

*The church in Alajuelita (pastored by David's father) is moving forward with their building project with help from other churches of the Baptist Federation.  The church has been blessed by the work groups, funds and prayers of several teams from the Great Rivers Region of ABCUSA.

*We thank God for all of your financial and prayer support and are praying for generous giving to the World Mission Offering.

*We were blessed by our re-entry retreat with our IM colleagues.  We worshiped together, prayed together, and learned some new skills.  Jamie and Micah were blessed by the ministry of MK Care Uncle Tim Moore as they shared life with other Missionary Kids.

*The World Mission Conference in Medford, OR was inspiring.  We were moved by the positive responses of so many people. We got to reconnect with some Oregon friends with whom we go way back.  We also made some great new contacts and met people from California, Idaho, Washington and Arizona.

*Please pray for our upcoming trips to Oregon, Illinois and Western Washington.

*We would love to have the opportunity to share with your churches personally about what God is up to in Costa Rica while we are on US/Puerto Rico assignment this year. Our schedule is filling quickly, but we do still have open spaces in 2009 until May.  Contact us through e-mail to arrange a possible visit.   

Thanks and blessings

 Mylinda and Gary