2022: March
Greetings and Happy Spring to our supporters, prayer warriors and community. We hope this finds you well and we are forever thankful for your support.
On March 7th, Jordanna and family received the news that Jordanna’s mom has breast cancer. Carolyn has undergone two surgeries and will begin treatments in a few weeks. Praise the Lord the cyst was small and caught early. Jordanna and the children will fly back to Virginia April 2nd to help Nana with treatments and enjoy a spring season in the States for three months. We can see God’s hand all over this as He freed up our calendars more often than usual and brought us another missionary named Jenna who is willing to step up and teach the bible study classes and offer support for NOW Costa Rica families while we are gone. We decided in January to homeschool River for first grade. School years start here in January and so we are thankful that we are not disrupting his school schedule. Both children will actually be enrolled in a private Christian school in Tappahannock called Light of the World Academy. We are delighted to be able to spend quality time with Nana during this season and seek your prayers for a full, cancer-free recovery. Pepper will remain in Costa Rica but has booked flights in May and June to spend Mother’s Day and Father’s Day with us. He too will help run portions of NOW Costa Rica while remaining in Herradura including youth group, transportation for teens and Fun Day rewards. Please pray for Pepper as he remains in country without his family day-to-day. He has several fishing tournaments and a few more troop events this season. We are also launching our 2022 NOW Costa Rica Video update to be released next month.
While the girls, boys and families are sad to see Jordanna and kids leave for a period of time, it has been a good month. A Reel Difference donated 20 diarios (food baskets) for our girls groups. Jenna taught on the value of nutrition and we intentionally chose items that help provide vitamins, proteins and nutrition in these diarios. We brainstormed recipe ideas and challenged the teens to give 10% of what they received to someone else in need.
Jordanna has enjoyed partnering more and more with the Herradura church in Cristo Rey community. Pastor Miguel and his wife Nelly have a heart for seeing change in the shanti-town area and are eager to have more NOW Costa Rica groups, English classes and mission teams come alongside their congregation. We are delighted to see growth in those who attend classes weekly and we ask for your prayers over the Cristo Rey community. There have been drug related killings, violence and despair regularly within the Barrio. But we know through Christ, your prayers and our efforts we can see hope.
We are excited to announce that Brooke Dunn of Manassas Baptist Church has made the decision to move to Costa Rica for one year serving as our first intern for NOW Costa Rica. We are so excited to have such a well-educated, strong Christian young woman coming to help us. What a privilege it will be to host Brooke and see the teens respond to her leading and teachings. Brooke has been on mission trips to Guatemala, Kenya and most recently spent a week serving over Christmas here in our community. Please pray for Brooke as she prepares to raise support for language school, airline tickets, health insurance, monthly expenses and ministry funds. If you would like to directly support Brooke, please read more here and click the green DONATE NOW button. Be sure to choose “Brooke Dunn’s Mission” for your donation from the drop-down menu. https://www.nowcr.org/brooke
Please be in prayer for the various speaking engagements and churches Jordanna will be partnering with in Virginia during her three-month stay. If you do not see your church on the list and would like for Jordanna to come share about the ministry, please feel free to reach her at jordannaailor@gmail.com.
Manassas Baptist Church
Beale Memorial Baptist Church
Smyrna Christian Church
Howerton’s Baptist Church
Mt. Zion Baptist Church
First Church of God of Staunton
Ephesus Baptist Church/Light of the World Academy
Please also be in prayer for three mission teams coming upon our return to Costa Rica.
August – Ricker Family Mission
September – Howerton’s Baptist Church Vision Team
October – Beale Memorial Baptist Church Women’s Mission Team
“And may the peace that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:6