August 17, 2010

Dear Friends,

Greetings from a very rainy Costa Rica.  We are in the middle of one of the wettest rainy seasons in recent history.  It has rained almost every day since late April and we still have a couple months to go.  If you are planning to visit here, an umbrella, a good raincoat and some waterproof shoes is a must since everything is pretty soggy.

In the last newsletter, I mentioned that our January schools would be going on outreach in April.  Well, the DTS went to Nicaragua where they worked with a local pastor.  They even got to build a couple water cisterns, which they learned how to make in their school.  The EARS school split up into two groups.  One group went to work at an orphanage on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua.  They did organic gardening and ministered to the kids there.  After their time in Nicaragua, the went to Haiti  and  did some earthquake relief work where they taught health and hygiene in the refugee camps.  The other team went to Kenya to work with Don and Nancy Richards doing environmental education.  In June, everyone traveled back to Costa Rica for their graduation.

In July our summer teams began to arrive.  The first team came from a church in Alberta, Canada.  They have come down every summer for several years and have established some good relationships in a poor community they have chosen to work in.  Three years ago, they took on a construction project, which was to build an annex to the community center to serve as an education center.  The project should be completed by next year.  We appreciate the long-term commitment they have made to bring lasting change to this community.

The week after our summer teams left, we celebrated YWAM's 50th Anniversary at the San Jose base with our founders Loren and Darlene Cunningham.  There were about 300 people in attendance from all over Central America.  After the three day celebrations, we had two days of meetings for all the base leaders of Central America.  It was a  good week, but also a very exhausting one.

We began the July DTS with four wonderful students.  We realized that the quality in them is far more important than the number of students we receive.  This DTS has a Creative focus, so they want to use creativity of all kinds to share the Gospel.  They are praying about possibly going to India for their outreach, but I will have more on that later.

There is so much more I could share, but will save some of that for another letter.  We are still going through one of the most difficult years we have faced.  We desperately need your prayers and your financial support.   Please pray about being a partner with us in what God is doing.  If you would like to know what some of the specific needs are at this time, please contact us at the email below.  May God bless as we labor together to see His Kingdom established on the earth.

Yours in Christ,

Terry L. Keith

Base Director - YWAM Heredia