Hello all!
We are so grateful to have such great partners like you and we hope you are having a happy Thanksgiving and Christmas season with all your loved ones! We are excited to share with you about what has happened within certain individuals' lives this past month and pray you find encouragement in what God is doing amidst this busy season 🙂 God bless!
First off “La conferencia de Levanta”! This is what we reached out to you about not too long ago regarding sponsorship for some of our young adults. This conference was absolutely amazing! The main focus was on codependency in relationships of all types and the young adults were truly challenged and impacted as much of the information was relatable and applicable in their personal lives. They were also grateful to have others sponsor them and cannot wait to share more details of the impact in a video that will be coming soon!
This month we also had a discipleship retreat for those who have put their faith in Jesus and have been consistent with their discipleship, or as we call them, the fruit bearers! During this retreat we had four main teachings and four breakout sessions regarding the nature of God as the liberator, who we are, spiritual warfare, open doors, and how to live in freedom. We addressed past abuse, hurts, and hang-ups that lead to “open doors” and what those were. We specifically focused on four categories, which were generational curses, sin, occultism, and emotional wounds. Through these topics we were able to also teach the importance of repentance, confession and forgiveness, and the ability to find freedom and deliverance. We had a time of ministry in which we did one-on-one interviews with each disciple and had the opportunity to pray over them and specific areas that they needed healing in. This was such a beautiful time together as many lives were touched and they found deeper freedom in Christ. During the retreat we also had the opportunity to baptize one of the youth boys and one of the young adult girls. We feel that one of the most rewarding and honoring things we get to do as followers of Jesus is baptize other disciples, and this occasion was extremely special as these two were personally two that we have discipled consistently throughout this year.Â
Last but not least we had to renew our visas so we were able to return to the United States for a short trip and celebrate Thanksgiving while also having a mini gender reveal with our family! We are excited to announce we are having a little baby girl. She will be called Eliana Grace Pinedo. Eliana means “(my) God has answered.” We cannot wait to welcome this little one into the world as we have also decided to return to the USA for the birth of the baby due to certain concerns with the medical systems in place here in Costa Rica. We plan on returning to Costa Rica to continue serving as soon as possible after the birth of Eliana. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We always love hearing from our partners.
Thank you for taking the time to read and stay in contact with us from afar. We cannot express our gratitude enough each month let alone each day! Something we would love to hear about as we ponder future family traditions is what are some of your family traditions during the holidays or throughout the year that have stuck? We cannot wait to hear from you!
PRAISE REPORTS:
- Two baptisms at the discipleship retreat!
- Lives set free from unforgiveness, past abuse, and new beginnings in relationships
- A young adult mentioned that she feels like she can actually read and understand the bible now on her own
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Wisdom for leadership team navigating decisions
- Christmas end of the year activity
- Youth camp in January
- Healthy transition for us becoming parents
- Safety in travels and a healthy pregnancy and birth
- Wisdom walking alongside one of the youth girls during her pregnancy