“Hola,” from Costa Rica to all of my family, friends, and supporters! I hope this finds you well. I am unconditionally grateful for your help in making it to this beautiful country to serve the Lord and people of this community for a year.
July 12 of 2022, I moved to my new home for a year in Herradura, Costa Rica. As many of you know, I came to serve as an intern for Neighbors Outreach Worldwide Costa Rica, or NOW CR. This organization works with young people and families of Herradura and the neighboring town, Jaco, to combat the lure of the popular, normalized, and legal sex trade. I am interning directly under the director of NOW Costa Rica, Jordanna Ailor, and am living with her, her husband, Pepper, and two children, River and Windsor. I joined the amazing NOW CR staff of 11 missionaries, cooks, and translators who coordinate and lead outreach in the community. Please be in prayer for our team by name as you can see their roles and service to the community below.
11 Current Staff and Volunteers:
Jordanna Ailor, Director
Jenna, Ministry Support & Older Girls Teacher
Brooke Dunn, Year-long Intern & Younger Girls Teacher
Cristian, Teen Boys Teacher
Pepper, Youth Group Transport/Support, Website Management
Kerly, Cook & Resources Support
Rita, Cook & Translation/Ministry Support
Merary, Marketing, Translation & Cook Assistant
Sofia, Interpreter
Thomas, Interpreter
Jacob, Interpreter
Our team works to complete our mission statement by teaching Godly living, targeting the mind, body, and spirit. Our current programs include three Bible study groups for teen boys, teen girls, and pre-teen girls, hosting mission teams, and partnering with local churches.
Although I haven’t been here for the whole month of July, the past 2-3 weeks have been an amazing opportunity to get adjusted to the “pura vida” (pure life) culture here, get plugged in, and explore the community. I quickly became involved in teaching Sunday school classes, tutoring young girls in the NOW CR programs, mentoring teachers and helping teach English and Spanish. I have been serving in locations such as a local school, Bible studies at Horizon Church, and, of course, enjoying volleyball and workout classes within the community. Because of God’s provision, I have been able to establish relationships with many people here and I am excited to continue to grow in those relationships. Through all of this, it is evident that the manifest presence of the Lord is here in Jaco and Herradura!
Most recently, the NOW CR staff participated in a 24-hour staff retreat where we focused on casting vision for this upcoming season of ministry, growing closer to one another, and filling ourselves with God’s Word through worship and mindfulness in exercise. After this retreat, it is clear that God is divinely intervening in the work of NOW Costa Rica. We are on the verge of witnessing and being a part of something amazing here in Herradura. This fall and upcoming year of 2023, NOW CR will be purchasing a plot of land in the heart of Herradura that the Lord has provided in order to build a mission house and common space for the programs of NOW Costa Rica. God has orchestrated a special relationship between the Ailor family and the land owners and has provided a timeline for signing for the land in November! We are praying that it is God’s will to break ground on the land in January of 2023! With the new land and resources, we are also planning to start new programs, like English and job readiness classes, as well as health and wellness classes. Your prayers and support of my mission here will be heavily aligned with these new opportunities to continue to spread the love of Jesus to this community. Additionally, as all of you with children are ramping up to start a new school year in the United States, we are also getting ready to start new sessions and book studies with our current teen boys, teen girls, and pre-teen girls groups.
Prayers
Please pray for the families affected by the flood that took place about a week ago.
Please pray for 11-year old Emilyeda as I tutor her in Spanish reading and the English language.
Please pray for Jordanna and Jenna as they will soon start online training to become a certified Revelation Wellness instructor with the intention to teach these classes in Spanish. Here is a link to learn more about Revelation Wellness: https://www.revelationwellness.org/
Please pray for me as I continue to study Spanish online before attending The Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica at the end of August in order to increase my ability to share the Gospel to the people here in their native language.
Please pray for the upcoming mission teams that we will be hosting, Howerton’s Baptist Church (5 person team) September 21-26 and Beale Memorial Baptist Church (6 person team) October 10-17, and their work.
Please pray for the local school, Pequeños Angelitos, that is trying to instill Christian values in their schooling and in the children they are reaching. The director, Yendri, and I are also praying and working together to plan a bilingual Spanish and English class for children ages 6-12.
Please pray for the land we are purchasing in Herradura if it is God’s plan that the purchase goes through.
Please pray for the Lord’s hand to be over the young girls and boys as we start a new book study with the book, A Purpose Driven Life.
Thank you to all of my prayer partners and supporters! I miss my family and future family that are back in the United States, but I am so encouraged by their faith in Jesus and their support of my mission, even when it means that I am far from them. I pray that every person reading this feels the presence of God in their lives right now as I do here!
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13
Dios Bendiga,
Brooke
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