Clean Slate

This is one of the rooms in the new children's center

Kitchen with cleaning supplies.

Blessing of Cleaning Supplies

Recently we had a team from Martins burg, WV that came and helped us clean the new children's center. Not only did they bless us with their cleaning abilities, they also blessed us by purchasing cleaning supplies.

Trying Times

Greetings,

Since our last newsletter, we have had some more attacks on our ministry. It seems like we would just defuse one situation and then another one would pop up. In fact, we can honestly say that these last six weeks have been our hardest times since arriving in Costa Rica thirty-one months ago.

These difficult times started with the break ins that we wrote about in last month's newsletter. Just as they seemed to settle down, we then had some problems with some of the boys very inappropriate behavior. We were now confronted with the task of explaining why their behavior was wrong, showing them that there are consequences for your actions, and still loving them at the same time. Of course, this was something that would have been very difficult to handle in English, but now we are having to handle it in Spanish. As if those problems were not enough, we also had some additional problems with our landlord at the children's center.

The problems with our landlord have been ongoing for sometime now, but got even worse when she changed her mind about giving us a discount on the rent. We were going to build a roof in the backyard where we meet so we would have protection from the rain and the sun. However, just two days before we were to start this project she changed her mind and said that she would not lower the rent. That she needed our money to build a room in the backyard. She was not building a room for us to use, but for herself. This room would take up a lot of the space so we would now be renting an even smaller space. So if the space was smaller, we reasoned that we should pay less. She said no that she had to have our money to build what she wanted. So this confirmed for us that she was only using us for the money. At this moment we decided that we must find another place to rent.

Finding a place to rent in the area where we minister is not an easy thing. We asked our local volunteer if there were any more places to rent and she said "no" that the area is small, and that any that might be available were expensive or they didn't want kids. We then talked to another local lady and she said that she knew someone who rented houses right at the end of the same street and that she would talk to her. She was willing to rent us a house, and it was only $60 more a month. The great thing about this house is that it has tile floors instead of dirt floors. We also have a bigger yard space for the children to play in. We are so thankful to God for providing us with this miracle. When it seemed like there was no other way, He showed up in a great way and provided us with a miracle.

The sad part about this story is that our old landlord is extremely mad at us. She is mad because we will no longer be paying her rent. In fact, when we said that we would be leaving when our month was up she got even madder. She is now trying to get more money out of us. We have receipts to prove that we paid and that our rent was not due again until July 17, but she is still very angry with us. Instead of waiting until our rent was up we decided that it was best for all to move into the new place ahead of schedule. Our new landlord was very willing to work with us, and she wants to help us.

Please pray for our previous landlord that she will see that we did not owe her any money. Also please pray that our new landlord would continue to want to help us.

Group from Martinsburg, WV

During this time of confusion, we had a group from a church in Martinsburg, WV come to help us. The reason they were helping us was because our missionary friends Paul and Vicky Young knew that we needed help, so they scheduled the group to do some work with us. This group was actually going to build the roof in our old children's center. This group got to experience how our lives can change at a moment's notice here and had to be rescheduled to work somewhere else. The group was able to minister to the children on a Saturday and then they gave up their free day to help us clean the new children's center.

Moving Forward

After all of the ups and downs in our ministry these past weeks we have had to learn to press into God even that much more. We had to learn to turn our sadness into joy and to truly expect miracles to happen in our lives. When we changed our attitudes from sadness to expectation, we found that we were able to hear Him clearly on what He wants us to do. This also let Him work the miracle that we so desperately needed.

You may be asking what does all this mean for the future? God has spoken very clearly to both us and told us that we should not settle and that it is now time to buy land and get a more permenant home for the children's center. Also, we have begun the process of obtaining a non-profit status here in Costa Rica. This status will give us protection over finances and will allow us to buy land.

We have done a little research on the cost of building and the price of land and now know that we will need a minimum of $80,000-$100,000 to obtain this goal. In fact, in the middle of finding a new place to rent for the children God showed us that there were other land options to buy. In the past we thought that there was only this one suitable piece of land but found out that there is another option that could be more suitable. This land has two houses on it while the other land does not. One house is livable (we would move into this house) but needs some minor work and the other house needs some major work. There is plenty of space to have a small soccer field, additional place for the children to play, a community garden space, and even some additional projects could be possible. We are thinking that this could be a better option for us as we could eliminate the cost of hooking up water and electricity, putting in a septic system and building permits. Plus, the lengthy process of building would be eliminated. However, we are open to whatever option God has for us.

We are believing God for another miracle of great proportions, and that is for the financial provision to buy one of these properties. We have around $1000 raised so far, so you can see that we have a long way to go, but we feel that God will provide for this because He is saying now is the time.

We are asking for your prayers and ask that you agree for this miracle to happen. If you would like to give towards the purchase of a property please click here and mark that you want your donation to go towards land. If you prefer to mail a check, you can send the check to Wellspring Fellowship and the address is at the bottom of this email.

Some people have asked us how they can help so we are asking you to pray about helping us raise the money needed. It is very hard for us to raise money from here, so we really need people to help us in this way. We would like you to pray about holding a fundraiser. You can even speak to your local church and ask them if they would like to help you with your fundraiser. We are putting together a video now that you can use to present to your church or use at your fundraising event. Please pray and ask God if He would like you to be a part of this team. If so, please send us an email.

We are excited with anticipation as we watch God perform yet another miracle in our ministry.
We would love to hear from you. So if you have any thoughts, words of encouragement or if you have prayer requests please email them to us
We want to thank you for your continued love, prayers and support. We really would love to hear from you and to hear how we can pray for you.

WIth God ALL things are possible. Matt 19:26.

Lots of love and Blessings,
John & Cindy

Children new room for the first time.

The children are using one of the new rooms for the first time. They were so excited to have a place to play that had tile floors.

A few of our girls outside of the new children's center. They love to use Cindy's phone to take photos of themselves and others.

Praise Reports

Our son sold his house
Finding the new children's center
That we did not spend money on a new roof and then find out that we were going to have to find a new place.

Prayer Request

Financial provision for the new property for the children's center
Protection over the new property and that we will not have any break ins
That we will not have any more attacks on our ministry here.