April 2021 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

Time is flying! Last month was like a marathon. In many ways it was a "down and up" kind of month. Unfortunately, there are a few who have stopped attending church regularly. Jeremy has been very diligent in visiting and trying to encourage them and at this point we must leave them in the hands of the Lord. On the upside, there are some new families that have visited and others who have expressed interest in the church. As for our legal IDs, they were delayed once again. Eventually, we were able to get IDs for 4 out of 5 family members... but even one week after that Michelle is still waiting for hers. It appears that there must be some sort of problem and it will require a bit more work to figure out what is going on. With IDs in hand, Jeremy has been able to drive the family around... but Michelle had to keep taking buses and trains to cross the metropolitan area for some ministry commitments. Thankfully, around the end of the month the government finally made an announcement that would allow her to drive even without her ID. Jeremy has been spending time each week discipling a young man who received Christ last year. Jeremy was also given the opportunity to preach in the chapel at a local Christian school. He is also continuing in and increasing evangelistic efforts as much as possible. We also held a family activity at the church and had a decent turnout with about 25 people including several new visitors. We have done a lot of work planning a special service for Resurrection Sunday and many new people have expressed interest in attending. We have also received good news that a couple sent out from the church we began in Nicaragua has now begun a new church there.

As for our family, we have been so busy! Thankfully, school has been going well for the kids. Elijah is now learning more Spanish, which is a big plus! At the end of the March and beginning of April, they had a week off of school for Semana Santa (Holy Week). It has been nice to spend a little extra time with the kids. Michelle was also able to use part of that time to visit some missionary friends with the kids. Although we are not working with other missionaries in the church plant, we try to keep in touch with other missionaries and try to encourage one another when possible. One other piece of family news is that we are planning the baptism of our second daughter, Ellowyn. Last year during the lockdown she placed her faith in Jesus as Savior, but we have not yet been able to schedule her baptism. We have been working on plans and hope to have a special baptism service soon for her and at least one other person.

Last month had its ups and its downs. It had its share of both encouragement and discouragement. In difficult times, we are reminded that church planting is not easy, but Christ is building His church. We are so thankful for all who support our ministry and pray for us. This month, please pray

1. That God will help us to get Michelle's legal ID this month.

2. That God will bless our evangelistic efforts and continue adding to His church those who are saved.

3. That God will provide the funds for us to be able to build our own church building in His timing.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

March 2021 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

Last month was another month of taking a few steps forward. We've kept pushing on with the church activities and evangelism. We saw two people trust in Christ as their Savior. We are now preparing for a baptism service in the near future. We also began a new adult Sunday school class. It has been a bit difficult to have more than one class going simultaneously in the open air building where we are meeting. We are praying that God will work a miracle for us and provide the means for us to have our own church building. Meanwhile, we have completed more of the residency process and should be receiving our legal ID's in late March. In the beginning of March we lost the ability to continue driving on our foreign licenses. At the last moment, the department of immigration allowed for tourists to stay for another three months... however the department of transportation did not make the extension. For a few days we relied upon a combination of walking, taking taxis, buses, and trains to get our children to school and cross the city to fulfill all our of ministry responsibilities. We continued checking the news expecting for the government announcement while Jeremy made plans to fly out and return to renew our ability to drive in case they did not. Finally, the government made an announcement which was not exactly clear who could and could not drive. However, we are going to interpret it in our favor and resume driving again.

Our family is busier than ever, but thankfully we are doing well. Last month, our girls began attending a small Christian school. It is great for them to be in class again... just difficult to manage transportation without being able to drive. Michelle is now teaching English and helping out at another small Christian school for two days each week. Elijah is attending a preschool class during this time. Jeremy was invited to speak in chapel tomorrow and will look forward to preaching a brief message. Last month was one of the first times we were able to spend some time with some missionary friends in quite a while. We also were able to meet up and spend a little with our Central American Director at BIMI and his wife.

As we look forward to the rest of March, we know it will be an unusual month. We are tackling a lot of obstacles, but Lord willing we will make a lot of progress. This month, please pray:

1. That God will guide us through all of the obstacles and difficulties we are facing.

2. That God will strengthen the faith of the Costa Rican believers.

3. That God will continue to build the church here in San Pablo.

4. That God will provide the funds for us to be able to buy or build our own church building.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

February 2021 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

It's hard to believe that it is already February! In January, we hit the ground running and haven't stopped yet! We have begun holding services in our new location and have seen an increased attendance. I believe that it was the right step at the right time. Our in person children's Sunday School has also been a success. By the 3rd or 4th week, we were already at maximum capacity in our home. Last week, we made the transition to holding Sunday School in our new location where we will have more space. It has been a blessing for the kids to learn together and play together. The parents have also enjoyed being able to fellowship during this time. In the coming weeks, we will begin an adult Sunday school class as well. We are also excited to see a small group going out for visitation evangelism every week. Unfortunately, we ran into a few more obstacles in our legal residency process. Thankfully, as of yesterday, we have one more step completed and should be receiving our IDs very soon. We are in a race against the clock to obtain our IDs and obtain Costa Rican driver's licenses before we lose the ability to drive again. We have also seen some more positive developments in the religious association which we are establishing. It is some extra work, but this should provide an open door for future missionaries to serve in Costa Rica as well as legal protection for our future ministries.

As we begin February, we will be seeing a lot of new changes. Next week, our girls will be beginning classes at a small Christian school. In order to serve here as missionaries, Costa Rica requires that we come in through the invitation of another legally established ministry. We are thankful for a Christian School that has extended this invitation. Michelle will be helping to teach English for a few hours per week. During this time, Elijah will be attending a preschool where he will make huge strides in learning Spanish. On top of everything else last month, we had about a week or so when we had we had to practice quarantine due to exposure to the COVID virus. Shortly after exposure to a family that was later confirmed positive for COVID, Michelle came down sick. Not only did we have to move some church activities to digital, but we also had to make several changes around the house. After a few days, Michelle was able to get a test. Thankfully, she did not have COVID. We were relieved to return to normal.

For the month of February, could you please pray for the following:

1. That God enable us to finish our residency and get our licenses before losing ability to drive.

2. That God will continue to work in the hearts of those who have heard the Gospel.

3. That God will continue to build His church here in Costa Rica.

4. That God will provide the funds needed for the church here to have their own building.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

January 2021 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

Happy new year! We hope that each of you get a good start to the new year. As difficult as it was this last year, we are thankful for God's faithfulness through it all. This year, we hope to take some big steps forward! We held a small Christmas party for the children's ministry which was a big step in the right direction. Michelle organized a Christmas event for the ladies ministry which also saw positive movement towards in-person services. For our regular services, most still connect online but we are seeing a gradual return to in-person services. Last month we saw several answered prayer requests. First, right before Christmas we finally received the last approval letter from the government for our residency. This means we can now finish the process and resolve many of the legal hurdles we have faced in the ministry. As far as evangelism is concerned, we are seeing others get involved in visitation. We also gained access to visit one more gated neighborhood, which is a blessing. Due to the legal hurdles and COVID regulations, it has been near impossible to find a suitable location to hold services. Ever since the complete ban on church services was lifted in September, Jeremy has been working hard to find a place to hold services. We exhausted nearly every possible option. However, last month Jeremy was able to speak with some local business owners about an idea which could be a blessing for the both of us. it turns out that they are Christians and have great respect for the work of church planting. Not only that, but this plan would end up being highly beneficial for both of us! After a couple weeks of praying and working out the details, we made an arrangement to rent the use of their business location on Sundays to hold services. Beginning in January, we are starting a weekly in-person children's Sunday School class. We are also holding a special service to give thanks to God for his faithfulness this last year and for providing us a suitable place to meet. We also have plans to do a Vacation Bible School near the end of the month.

Last month Elijah was able to get his stitches removed. Unfortunately, they could not remove all of them. We ended up having to schedule another appointment to remove more of the stitches which were quite deep. Thankfully, he is healing up fairly well. During Christmas it was a difficult to be away from our family. Michelle's parents were able to come visit at the end of the month. That was a big blessing.

As we begin the near year, it appears that 2021 will be a year of both great challenges and great opportunities. There is now a second wave of COVID hitting Costa Rica and the government has already announced stricter regulations beginning in January. This month, please pray:

1. That God blesses the in-person children's Sunday School class and the Vacation Bible School.

2. That God will give us a great start at the new meeting location.

3. That God will continue to establish His church and use us to reach even more souls for Christ in 2021.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

December 2020 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family,

Merry early Christmas! We hope that each of you have a wonderful Christmastime celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Although 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year as far as ministry is concerned, we have much to be thankful for. We are still here pushing forward. Despite all of the difficulties, Jesus continues to build His church. At the beginning of last month, after nearly 2 years of waiting, we received notification from the government that they have approved our legal residency. They sent us 4 out of 5 of the approval letters. Something has fallen between the cracks and we have spent the last month trying to get the final letter so that we may go get our legal IDs. Due to COVID, the government offices are closed except for those who have an appointment. The only means of getting an appointment is through email. We have sent several and have yet to receive a response. As you can imagine, it is beyond frustrating. Without our legal IDs, we are still very limited in what we can do. We can rent a building... but we cannot get the legal permits needed to hold church services. We have made our home available for in person services, but have had difficulty in bringing people back to in person services since the pandemic began. We understand that this will be a process. We are planning some Christmas events in December and we believe that will help us to get things moving in the right direction. On the bright side, during our visitation and evangelism, we saw one man profess faith in Christ and call upon His name for salvation.

Last month was a bit more difficult for our family. Due to a government restriction, we were going to lose our ability to drive. This would have been a huge setback for our ministry and ability to care for our family. Jeremy considered flying out and returning the next day to extend the use of his foreign license, but we prayerfully decided to wait and see if the government would make an extension. On the day that we would have lost our ability to drive, the government announced the extension until March. Due to a different restriction, we were not able to drive on Thanksgiving day and had to change plans. Thankfully, we were able to spend Thanksgiving with some neighbors. Near the end of the month, Elijah fell from his bed and cut his head very badly. At the emergency room, he got several stitches. A few days afterwards, we came down sick. We have not yet been tested for COVID. But we must be careful around others so that we don't pass it to others.

We are thankful for all who pray for us. We are praying for you as well. This month, please pray:

1. That we will receive this last letter from the government and be able to finish our legal residency process.

2. That God will help our church plant to take several steps forward towards becoming an established church.

3. That God will bless our evangelism efforts, save souls, and add to His church!

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

November 2020 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends and Family, November 2020

Greetings from Costa Rica! We are still pushing forward in the pandemic. Last month, we took a few steps in the right direction. We have begun holding our services both in person and online. We have seen a few people come to the in person services, but not as many as we would like. We are also facing some opposition here, but we must keep moving on. But as a whole, we are still seeing some slow growth and a gradual return to pre-COVID normal. Last month, Jeremy held our first meeting for our men's ministry. There were about 10 men who attended. Michelle has continued to do ladies meetings and children's classes. Jeremy is also trying to work our visitation and evangelism ministry back to what it was. We will be looking to find a new location in the future.

As for our family, we have been doing pretty well. It is sometimes hard to keep pushing against all things things working against us, but God has been good to keep us going strong. We have been pretty healthy. Our support has held up fairly well. We are very thankful for all who pray for us and sacrifice for us to continue serving here in Costa Rica. We are now approaching the end of the school year here in Costa Rica. We are praying and seeking the Lord for what the Lord would have us to do this next school year. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving this year and we will be celebrating with some missionary friends of ours. As we are writing this, we just received emails from the government which appear to say that both Elijah and Ellowyn are approved for 2 years of legal residency. The strange thing is that we have not yet received letters for the rest of the family. Hopefully, the other letters will arrive soon and we can finish up the final stretch of this very long process (nearly 2 years of waiting!).

This month, we are looking forward to making some more progress in the right direction. Please pray for the following requests:

1. That our residency and religious association processes will soon be approved by the government.

2. That we can help our church plant to take several more steps towards becoming an established church.

2. That God will bless our evangelism efforts, save souls, and add to His church.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz

October 2020 Prayer Letter

 

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope that each of you are doing well! According to the New York Times, Costa Rica has the 9th highest number of new COVID cases in the world per 100,000 residents. Thankfully, there seems to be a slight reduction in new cases over the last few days. Things are gradually opening back up. Unfortunately, until our legal residency process is completed and our religious association is approved, we cannot get permits needed to hold services in a rented building. We have looked for closed church buildings to rent which would already have permits... but to no avail. We have sought after local event halls, but the few that are nearby are all closed. We have even contacted every church that is nearby with the hopes to be able to rent the use of their building on a day when it is not used... all with no success. Instead, we have found that many other established churches are struggling with the same issues. Some have already lost their buildings. Others are unable to meet in the buildings that they have due to lack of permits and increased government enforcement. We then made plans to hold "Bible studies" and "prayer meetings" in our home as we did before the pandemic. We did a trial run service with our family with others attending virtually in Zoom and Facebook live. We did not use a microphone or external speaker beyond the projector. After the service we found out that our neighbor has contacted the neighborhood association and threatened to call the police on us. This was extremely discouraging as it seemed like our last option. Through a highly unusual circumstance, Jeremy was able to speak with the chief of police. After discussing the situation, we learned that it is precisely because we are not yet formally identified as a church that we are able to hold such meetings in our home without the risk of government closure. This last week we held our first "normal" service with Zoom and Facebook integration. Not only did our neighbor NOT call the police as she threatened (to our knowledge), but she has made comments to the neighborhood association that she felt the need to change in some ways. Among other blessings, the work has continued to grow and one man named Alonso prayed to receive Christ as Savior.

Family life has continued to be unusual. School classes has been canceled for the rest of the year. For Lila's 9th birthday we were able to take her to visit a coffee farm. Ellowyn will be turning 7 this month. Where does the time go? Elijah has been making great progress on his Bible verses. He has now memorized Bible verses for the letters A-H. The girls have also been able to receive some tutoring in Spanish which is very helpful during this time when they rarely go out. All in all we are so ready for things to get back to normal.

This month, please pray:

1. That our legal residency and religious association will be approved so that we may get the required permits.

2. That we may keep moving forward and see an even faster expansion of churches being planted.

3. That God will use us to help see more souls saved and disciples made for Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Jeremy, Michelle, Lila, Ellowyn, and Elijah Blanz