April 2024 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope that you had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday. Last month was a pretty encouraging month for us. Apart from the resurrection themed messages, Jeremy has been preaching through Genesis. On Tuesday nights, he is teaching doctrines. Michelle teaches the children’s class and is now preparing several teenagers and adults to serve in the children’s ministry. We now have a faithful man who is helping us with the transportation ministry. This helps to free up Jeremy before and after the church services. We have stayed busy in evangelism. Each week, we average about 8-10 people going out to share the gospel. The day before Resurrection Sunday we handed out nearly 700 gospel tracts. Last month, there were two individuals who professed faith in Christ as their Savior. We also received two new families and one individual as members. On Resurrection Sunday, we had nearly 50 people attend. We held the Lord’s supper and it has been encouraging to see the church grow in faith and obedience. The teenagers also gave a presentation of Christ’s last days and resurrection. Slowly, but surely, the Lord is growing His church. We are now filling up our current location and as we look to the future, we know that it will eventually become necessary to move to a bigger location.

This April now marks 10 full years since we first came to Central America. It is hard to believe how quickly the time flies! Our family has really come a long way since we arrived. Our children are all bilingual and last month came home with straight A’s on their report cards. We are proud of them for all of their hard work and dedication to adapt to whatever challenges come their way. Last month, Michelle and I celebrated our 15^th anniversary. We took a short trip to the Poas Volcano area and enjoyed our time there. Near the end of the month, the kids had a week off of school, so it was nice to slow down a little bit and spend more time together.

As we begin April, we know that we have many big decisions ahead of us. The church is growing and expanding in many ways. It is very important for us to follow the Lord’s guidance every step of the way. This month, please pray:

1. For the Lord to give us wisdom to make good decisions for our family and for the church.

2. For the Lord to continue to save souls and strengthen the church in San Pablo.

3. For the Lord to provide the means for us to either buy or build a permanent building for the church.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

March 2024 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope that you are doing well. Last month was an exciting month. We have continued in our evangelistic efforts and have averaged 6-10 people witnessing to others at the park each week. Jeremy was able to lead one woman named Carolina to the Lord. There were some others who also professed faith in Christ. We have had several new families attending the church. Last Sunday, our Central American director with BIMI, Bro. Terry Jones, preached our Sunday message. We had 9 first time visitors and 2 returning visitors that day. Because of the recent growth, we have bought a few extra chairs. In February, we received 5 new members at the church. We also have a few more who should be joining in March. Our Tuesday night Bible studies have also grown to the point where we will need to change the format a bit to be able to accommodate everybody. Because of the recent growth, we will be enlisting the help of a few more ladies to help with children’s ministry. Apart from the church, Jeremy was also able to preach the spiritual emphasis week messages at the language school.

February was a month of many blessings, but it was also very busy for the family. Unfortunately, we have had more sicknesses than usual. Please pray for the health of our family. The kids have been studying a bit more than normal as they are taking the standardized tests for Costa Rica. From what we understand, if they do not pass the tests they will have to repeat the grade that they are in. Thankfully, all of the scores that we have seen have been excellent. They have done very well to conquer any challenges that they face. They have also been helping out on our weekly evangelism, which is nice and probably encouraging to others to see children carrying the faith to the next generation. Later, in July, we will be taking a trip to Nicaragua to be part of the 9^th anniversary of the church we started with Pastor Berner in San Marcos, Nicaragua. Over the years, the church has continued to grow and send out missionaries who have started other churches. God is good! Our son, Elijah, was born in Nicaragua but he has no memory of the country. He is looking forward to seeing the place where he was born.

This month, please pray for the following:

1. That the Lord will help us to stay healthy and able to do all that we have to do.

2. That the Lord will continue to save souls and build up His church in San Pablo.

3. That the Lord will guide us and provide future needs for us to one day have our own church building.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

February 2024 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

This month, we are sending out our letter a little ahead of time. We have continued to push forward in the ministry here in San Pablo, Costa Rica. We continue to preach the Gospel throughout the San Pablo and Heredia area. In recent weeks, we have had between 6-8 people sharing the Gospel in both door-to-door visitation and public park evangelism. Last week, while witnessing in the park, there were two individuals who professed faith in Christ for salvation. On Sundays, Jeremy has been preaching from the book of Joshua. On Tuesdays, we have been studying the topic of Apostasy and what the Bible says about those who reject the faith that they once proclaimed to posess. Michelle and a lady named Silvia have been teaching the kid's class. We have continued to emphasize the importance of church membership and last week three more people joined the church. We have several others that we will likely receive in February. We have had several visitors in our Sunday and Tuesday night services. Two new families have recently begun attending very faithfully. We also were glad to see one couple return to attend faithfully after not seeing them for a while.

In many ways, the month of January was an opportunity to get back to our normal routine. Jeremy has been able to get caught up on some of the things that were still a little bit behind. The kids are back in school. During December we took regular walks together as a family to spend time together and get a little exercise. So far, we have been able to continue that habit. Unfortunately, we had a few different sicknesses run through the family over the last few weeks. As of this morning, Elijah had ear pain due to a possible ear infection. Lord willing, we will all be in the clear again soon. Last week, we participated in a special family day at the school where our kids attend. It was good to spend a little time together with the other families and lend a hand where we could. We also were able to meet up with a few members of a supporting church from PA. We don’t get to take a furlough very often, so it is good to see friends and family when they are able to come here!

This month, please pray for the following:

1. That God will help us to see more souls saved and added unto the church.

2. That God will continue to strengthen the church in the faith.

3. That God will expand the ministries of the church.

4. That our church plant in San Pablo will honor and glorify God in all that we do!

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

January 2024 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

I hope that this letter finds you doing well and that you have had a great start to the new year. Last month was a pretty good month. We always enjoy singing the Christmas hymns and preaching on the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Jeremy preached on several prophecies of Christ’s birth in the book of Isaiah. We had a special Christmas fellowship with about 50 people. Attendance goes up and down, but we have seen the church growing both spiritually and numerically. We have had several new visitors including a family who has been very faithful. The father studied in a Bible Institute under another BIMI missionary, so we believe that they will likely be a good fit. The last couple weeks have seen a significant increase in attendance on Tuesdays, so that it is also great. Michelle stays busy teaching the children and our teen Sunday School teacher, Alberto, has been teaching the teens how to share the faith with others. We should be receiving some new members in the coming weeks. In our weekly evangelism, one man named Alvaro called upon the Lord for salvation.

December was a good opportunity for our family to slow down a little and spend time together as a family. We did not do any traveling, but Michelle’s parents were able to come down and visit us for a few weeks. We were able to spend time together, visit a nearby mountain, and celebrate Christmas together. The kids enjoyed having a few weeks with no classes. We took advantage of the opportunity to finally get some new family pictures taken. Jeremy was also invited to preach the messages for a Spiritual Emphasis Week next month at the language school. We hope that the Lord can use him to encourage and challenge those who are training to serve the Lord in missions. At the end of the break, our kids were ready to get back to school. Lila was excited as there is a new missionary girl in one of her classes. She always tries to befriend them and help them to adapt to any changes.

We are thankful for all of God’s blessings. He has provided for our new van and we are putting it to good use for the work of the Lord. Another blessing is that we were contacted by the pastor of a church we visited in the past. They are planning to begin supporting us this year. God is good and is faithful to provide. This month, please pray…

1. For a lady at the church named Liliam. Recently, she has been improving. Keep praying!

2. For God to continue to strengthen the church and grow the believers in their faith.

3. For God’s guidance to lead us as we keep pushing forward.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz