As you all have probably heard through word of mouth or from our cover photo on this month's blog post, we are expecting a little cutie on the way! This was quite the surprise to add to our crazy month but such a blessing from the Lord. We cannot wait to keep you all updated on this whole process and are looking forward to hearing from you all if you have any questions, thoughts or wisdom. We are excited about the beautiful changes that are on the way as our family of two will grow to three!
To start off our month with a bang, we had our first in-house young adult gathering! We had a total of 6 young adults and a family of 3 who were our guest speakers for the day. It was such a sweet time of fellowship, worship, and vulnerability. Our friends from our church beautifully shared how they met Jesus and how He turned their marriage and family around amidst abuse, infidelity, and a path headed to destruction. This truly resonated with the young adults and birthed so many deep and fruitful conversations afterwards. We cannot thank God enough for this day and how He moved in the lives that were present.
On July 3rd, I (Hannah) was discipling two girls while addressing the topic of insecurity. This particular day, however, we did an exercise regarding our thoughts. I had them each draw a mirror on a piece of paper and decorate it. Then, they wrote down every thought that came to mind when they saw themselves in the mirror. Along with this came a long and hard conversation processing such thoughts as well as changing the way we think, renewing our mind and taking every thought captive the moment it enters our mind. Although taking our thoughts captive seems like a simple task, it can be quite daunting at times to address a thought pattern that has been reinforced for decades. Please keep both of these young ladies in your prayers as we are studying the book of Lamentations as an example of how to mourn within the body of Christ and that it is truly biblical to mourn and process emotions as there is a time for everything and a season for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3).
Those in school had two weeks of vacation this month so we planned some fun evangelistic activities for the kids. One of those was a soccer camp with an old professional soccer player and a missionary friend of ours. The kids had a blast! Additionally, we cooked an American breakfast for the kids two Wednesday mornings with eggs, bacon, pancakes and all the fixings! Something else we usually do each year is have a park day at La Sabana. It is a huge park in Costa Rica with plenty of soccer fields and room to run and play. Having said that, the kids played soccer all day, ate pizza, fellowshipped and another missionary shared about the kingdom of God utilizing the parable of the unleavened bread and yeast (Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21).
This month we also had another leaders meeting where I (Hannah) got to lead the devotional about spiritual warfare and deliverance as we are about to begin teaching on the Holy Spirit and see such a need for freedom with these youth and young adults. This was an edifying time for our team as we are continuing in prayer over our next steps and lesson planning. During this time we also had a week with Christopher’s brother for his 18th birthday which was so fun to spend alongside him. We had many great conversations and laughs as well as the fun experience of our car breaking down in the mountains without any cell signal (we made it home safe eventually don't worry)! Nonetheless, God has been so faithful through this process of repairing our car while we search for another to purchase in the near future.
Thank you again for your support and prayers from afar. We truly appreciate each and every one of you! Needless to say….What a month!
Prayer Requests:
- Continued growth and spiritual maturity of our team and new believers
- Recent abuse case within a marriage in La Carpio
- Wisdom with buying a car and selling our old one
- Wisdom for us and our team to make sound decisions together
- Hannah will be preaching this Sunday in Spanish at our church
- A healthy and whole baby Pinedo on the way!