March has been an amazing month for our family and NOW Costa Rica as a whole. We are counting our blessings and thankful for each of you who continue to amaze us with your support. Thank you!
Girls Bible Study: The 7 girls and 2 moms from The Birds, the Bees & Jesus group have become quite bonded! Each have shared their life map story with the group, are continuing to memorize scripture and are becoming more confident praying aloud as well. We have completed 4 lessons on the reproductive system including female and male anatomy, human reproduction, purity, and STD Awareness all within the lens of the gospel message. This Saturday we will welcome my mom Carolyn and her dear friend Ernie to the country. They will be teaching a lesson that helps the girls reflect upon how they see God and how God sees them. They will do an experiment about how Jesus could be dead but alive involving a craft. Mom and Ernie will be bringing a Spanish Study bible for each girl/mom and our next book series: Every Young Woman’s Battle by Shannon Ethridge which we will start in April!
THE VAN! We are pleased to announce that we finalized our purchase of our first NOW Costa Rica van. It was an exhausting endeavor that took several weeks, but we’re delighted to be more mobile now, accessing the community at large and providing transportation to the girls and moms in the group for various discipleship opportunities. Of course, last Saturday we just had to take it for a spin to the nearby ice cream parlor to celebrate God’s amazing provision! It was neat to see the girls pray for this, and then now to see our ministry have wheels. They are excited in a few months, to bring the messages they are learning to the rural surrounding villages. We are working hard to raise up leaders within the local culture to have their voices be spoken for Jesus. It’s exciting work! A special thanks to Gus and Laurie Sareyka who personally funded over half of the expenses for the purchase of the van. What a legacy you have left in this place for His glory! It means so much!
Herradura Church Connection: We have met with one pastor and his wife from The Apostolic Church of Faith in Jesus Christ in Herrardura village and they are excited to partner with us in allowing the teaching of NOW Costa Rica in their building. Please pray with us for Pastor Rosalio and Pastor Miguel that our partnership will be fruitful in reaching more girls, women and families in the village.
Support Groups Back Home:
- We are so fortunate to have the partnerships of many churches in Virginia: Manassas Baptist Church, Beale Memorial Baptist Church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Howertons Baptist Church as well as several Christian networks and businesses such as Omega Health Services and Northstar Church Network. Through these partnerships, we have been able to rely on consistent prayer and financial support. As we plan for our return trip home in May, please let us know if we can share more about the work God has called us to do here within your churches or organizations.
- We still need at least 6 more families to join our Monthly Support Team to reach full funding. We are praying that we meet our budget upon completion of language school August 6th. Please pray alongside us as we seek to find these 6 more families. We know that when we can fully launch our programming efforts, we will see greater things happen in the lives of these women, girls and families.
- Thank you to Wayne and Karina Chan for spearheading our Manassas Barnabas Team. This team of dedicated prayer warriors has met every month to pray over our girls by name, our needs and the work of the ministry. This has been an invaluable support! Thank you Manassas Team!
- Thank you to Jami Carneal for spearheading our Tappahannock Barnabas Team of women who also have met each month without fail to pray by name for the group. They have also recently funded the purchase of all 9 Spanish study bibles and small gifts coming Friday with Mom and Ernie. Thank you for your love!
- Shout out to our newly formed Girls Teen Group in Virginia comprised of 9 teen girls from Manassas and Tappahannock who are gathering on zoom with me every Thursday to learn about the work of the Lord here on earth and specifically here in Herrardura. We are hoping to get some language buddy partnerships going between the girls of Costa Rica and the girls of Virginia soon. Pray this partnership will be fruitful. I’m so proud of my Virginia girls from my youth groups past, who are reading their bibles daily with me and commenting on youversion about their faith in these times. Way to go Abby, Bella, Chloe, Quanetta, Candy, Lexie, Anne Lee, Payton & Kylie!!!!
We have booked tickets to come to the States May 16th. Please pray for God to ordain our steps for our annual, month-long trip home. We know it will be rewarding for our children to be back on their familiar home country soil and for us to unite with grandparents, aunties, uncles and friends. If you want to book time with us, please know that we are available to meet with you, your family or church organization. We want more people to know what we see here in this place and the potential for making great impact. We appreciate you joining this fight and we look forward to updating you once again in April. Please share with the Ailor family an update via email when you are able, so we too can pray for you, your family and community.