Dear Friends and Family,
We trust that this letter finds each of you doing well. Last month, we continued to push forward. Throughout January, Jeremy preached a series on Biblical Priorities. This applies to us both on an individual level and also on a church level. One woman came on a Sunday morning and prayed to receive Christ after the service. As church planting missionaries, we have continued to prioritize evangelism and discipleship. We have continued meeting with the families that attend with us for counseling and discipleship as well as host weekly in-home meetings. Unfortunately, our attendance has been a little lower after the loss of a very faithful family that moved away. However, one couple who has not attended in a while has begun to attend again! Praise God! Another praise is that we have found a great location for our church plant. Not only that, but the owner is a Christian and also desires to help us any way that he can. We are currently applying for permits. If everything goes according to plan, we should have our own location soon! We are also moving forward with the religious association that we have established and now have an accountant who is helping us with the legal/financial side.
As for our family, we have stayed incredibly busy between school and ministry. Our girls have been studying very hard to master their spelling words. Elijah has been making progress in learning Spanish. We will be speaking more Spanish at home to help him to understand it better. Costa Rica is a challenging country for missionaries for many reasons. Unfortunately, we have heard of other missionaries that have recently left or are leaving the country, including 2 families that are friends of ours. It has been sad to see them go, but we trust that the Lord will guide them as they move into the next steps of their ministry. One of them will be selling us a used 12-seater van/microbus that we will be able to use in our ministry. This will be a blessing to our ministry as we will be able to help bring people to and from church. It will also be a blessing for church trips.
Before concluding with prayer requests, we want to thank those who have sent special Christmas offerings. What a blessing! May the Lord bless you above and beyond. This month, there is much to pray for. Please pray:
1. That God will allow for us to obtain the proper permits for the building we seek to rent.
2. That God will bring forth the increase as we continue to sow God's word in the community.
3. That God will strengthen each missionary family and clear any obstacles to ministry here in Costa Rica.
In Christ,
Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz
