After having a successful Shoe Drive at our local church in December  and because of our recent relationship with a small team that wants to aid the orphaned in Costa Rica, our Shoe Drive 2013 has taken shape. The concept is simple , give a pair of new shoes from sizes 4 (child) to 6 (adult) , we ship those to Costa Rica, and distribute them among the most needy. You may have heard from our previous posts about the Lady Gladys Education Center in Alajuelita  and also about Efrain who wants to start an orphanage  .So in connection with both ministries and local churches we (as a body , includes you!) want to distribute these shoes this “winter” (winter is backwards in Costa Rica, except it only rains).

How to participate:

1. give us a call  (469) 999- 3301 or in spanish   (214) 545-8496 or send us an email gro.modeerftnadnubanull@evirdeohs
3. Schedule a pick up (looking to make this easy online also)
4. go to any shoe store of your choosing and purchase shoes for Girls or boys (shoes from sizes 4 (child) to 6 (adult))  (remember there are more orphaned boys)
5. write a small note and place it in the shoe, we will make sure to translate
6. wait for pick

We are hoping to share the blessing of this giveway with all of our donors,  Be blessed and remember to  share, help and give , abundantly.

Efrain wants to build a christian governed orphanage that is independent of government control. We aren’t sure how easily this can be done as orphaned children are responsibility of the country but after helping with the halfway house we know that part of the collateral damage almost always in the drug-addicted are the life’s of their children. While they battle for their lives and trying to get back (and many don’t) their children go through life without parents and some with drug addictions they were born into .

Efrain has been doing work for Christ since the late 70′s and he we are looking at him closely as a good candidate for this partnership. Let’s pray for fruit.

The halfway house leaders had their minds & hearts full deciding on what to do with the specific needs women had in the halfway house. However, God makes things easy. The halfway house in Barrio Naciones Unidas is full and with more men knocking on the door it was a simple matter of finding a new home for the location. The men’s group has become self sufficient enough that they can cover housing and living expenses, and so the Barrio Naciones Unidas House was left to be used pursposefully. Women now have a safe haven where the leaders are working on a more customized version of a halfway house for them. Thank you God!

Well the halfway house has been a huge success, and it has been decided they need more space. They have found a house in Tibas which has been deemed acceptable. Pictures below, blessings!

Pastor Derek from our connection church Mundo de Fe Costa Rica has sent us an email recently speaking about a possibly new ministry to help out . It looks to us like someone that the Lord has been using as a great weapon against the fight in preventative measures with drug addiction, a  children’s ministry.

Just visited the new halfway house that we are moving from the  apartments into a new  house! Glory to God. The house is next to the Mundo de Fe Costa Rica Church  which of course makes it easier to have the half house benefactors not have an excuse to come in for the 24 hours in Christ program.

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Abundant Freedom – why fight drug addiction in Costa Rica

Handouts to print out

Abundant Freedom – Handout

Abundant freedom – Handout (español)

The Lady Gladys Fundation is an amazing place. Founding out of the sheer love of one couple for the children of Alajuelita, the school has been privated funded for years. It is in trouble now though as the funds have run out and they continue to operate helping with 11 classrooms and 3 different levels of school. The entire premise here is amazing: The government didn’t want to build more schools in this zone because the zone is too poor, and because of that about 100-200 children were growing up illiterate or uneducated.  You can read a little more about the problems in this canton of Costa Rica.

So John Hawker took it upon himself to fix the problem. He started the project  and man, he finished it. In his mind it isn’t done yet (still 2 buildings not completed yet). Below are some pictures of his work.