Happy End to 2024 from us here in Costa Rica. We pray this year has been fruitful and full of joy and peace as we enter yet another new year. The Ailors will celebrate five years in Costa Rica on January 6th! We had no clue what the Lord had in store for us here and we’re delighted to carry on serving according to His will, but we have missed being with the family in Virginia for the holidays.
The children participated in a “Welcome Here Christmas” time at their former day care where we often still volunteer and connect with teachers. It was a joyful way to open the month of December and we always love seeing the joy of Christmas in Jaco!
This year we were blessed to receive a matching grant during Giving Tuesday for up to $10,000 of matching funds. Not only did over 30 supporters join in to help us get the match, but we raised far beyond the goal ending with $38,600. Thank you to everyone who helped us end the year strong, finalizing details for the Casita project and shifting to plans for the sports facility. We are optimistic that the Lord has continued provision to see the sports portion of the project through soon and eventually a stage for lectures, teaching and worship. For now we are enjoying the kitchen space, bathrooms and storage the casita offers and using the upstairs bedrooms as bible study class spaces.
River Point Baptist Church was kind enough to donate 30 English books and 30 Biblical Reproductive Health books for our current intensive courses. In Costa Rica, “summer break” is mid December until early February so we have had classes for women, girls and boys every Monday and Thursday with about 30 students on average. We are delighted to have Cristian, Doneira and other local leaders teaching this next generation while Jordanna and a great local friend Trina, focus on teaching mothers. Thank you to many of you who responded to our Facebook message needing more bibles. We are always in awe at the immediate response to meet the need and in January all students will have a bilingual bible. English classes continue to be a motivator for our students to show up and hear about Godly living, and the skills better equip them for dignified jobs in tourism. Please pray for strength for teachers and open hearts for students. They are also doing a New Disciple study called A New Life in Christ. We are praying for transformation.
While at times, five years of ministry seems lengthy, other occasions we feel like we blink and our girls are teenagers. Amanda has been with us since she was 8 years old, consistently attending classes, loyal to the local church, discipling girls in her school. This month Amanda became a teenager as we celebrated her 13th birthday. Here she is with Chanel, another committed student we are raising up to be a translator one day, who is 11 now and River not far behind who will turn 10 in the new year. What a joy it has been for our family to walk alongside other families, girls and parents as they navigate raising a family in Costa Rica. May God bless these families and continue to strengthen our relationships and example to others.
For Christmas, the children were in many church performances and plays. Windsor got to be an Angel, River was a leader in the children’s choir for Christmas Eve, and River organized friends for a White Elephant gift exchange on the beach. Windsor’s toothless grin brings smiles everywhere she goes and River continues to have endless energy, which we are putting to good use in ministry, sports and friendships here.
We were blessed on Dec 21st to partner with Little Star Light Foundation to make a Christmas Event Wish come true for one of the matriarchs in the neighborhood we serve named Marielos. She had a dream that we could feed 500 children and families that were most in need and Little Star Light Foundation came alongside NOW Costa Rica to help Marielos cook 100 hot meals for children, give away 100 large food baskets for shut-ins and single mothers and 200 goodie bags for the children. It is tradition in Costa Rica to give grapes and apples to children at Christmas along with “arroz con leche”, rice with milk. What a joy it was to give the gift of Christmas to Cristo Rey Community through Marielos. We hope to continue more community outreach events and we are very thankful for the full financial support Little Star Light Foundation gave to fund the experience!
Even though the Ailors were not able to make it to the US for the holiday season, we were still able to go to the mall in the city to see Santa, take pictures and send you a Christmas Card (see below). We hope you’ll enjoy the smiles of our children and we invite you to follow us on Facebook for more ongoing pictures of the students in our program, the development of the property and upcoming needs.
Please pray for impact in our current groups, for funds in the new year to launch the sports complex, for God’s will to be done through various teams coming in the New Year and for our travel plans to the US this summer. If you, your church community or family would like to host a fundraiser or speaking event in the summer of 2025, please let Jordanna know. She is happy to also partner with your local youth teaching about the importance of internet safety, appropriate and Godly relationships and reproductive health education. We are thankful for church partners who help break down barriers around the taboos associated with teaching reproductive health education. We continue to see amazing progress and cannot do this without you. We hope you have a wonderful New Year and may God bless you in your pursuits in 2025.
Sincerely,Jordanna, fam & team
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