Dear Friends,

Please excuse the delay in our blog updates. Time has gotten away with us and the daily happenings in our world have taken its priority. We will try to make amends!

This last December we decided to travel to the States to spend Christmas with our kids, since it had been 9 years since we had been able to do that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a special treat for us and also for Jason and his wife Yohana to join us this time. Yohana had never been to the States, or experienced winter, so it was a lot of firsts for her.   Sadly we didn’t see a lot of snow, but it was very cold, (below 0* F.) for many days, so we had to find extra clothes, gloves, snow boots, etc to feel comfortable, since we weren’t prepared for all that. It was fun to watch Yohana walk on the frozen lake and watch her experience that! Quick prayer request for them: They are trying to have a baby, so please pray that this would happen, (and we can have a grandchild here in Costa Rica)!!   🙂

When we got back home we began our Environment and Resource Stewardship School, which is designed to train missionaries how to do development in a sustainable way in rural communities. We teach them how to address important issues such as water, health and hygiene. We have 7 students that come from 5 nations; the United States, Columbia, Finland, El Salvador, and men from the Embera and Waonan tribes of Panama. Currently this team is working in an Indian village in Southern Panama. After that, they will be headed to Kenya to work with our friends there.

Our September 2013 DTS team came back from their outreach in February. They had been to Peru, Panama and places in Costa Rica. At their graduation, one of the girls shared how she didn’t even want to come do the school, but her parents forced her. She went on to share how during the lectures, God began to touch her and heal her from the inside out. Now her life has completely turned around and she is so glad she came. This was really encouraging for us, because this is why we are doing what we are doing because we want to see people’s lives transformed!

We have shared previously about our national goal of putting a Bible in every home in Costa Rica. In March we hosted YWAM’ers, churches and volunteers; 120 in all – for a 3-day distribution in our area of Heredia. By the end of it, we had put Bibles in 1700+ homes. If you or your church would like to be involved in this project, we need teams and we need Bibles. The cost per Bible is $3.00, which is really inexpensive, so just let us know if you would like to get involved!!

Next week we begin our RescueNet training with 12 students. It is a very intense 2 week course to prepare YWAM’ers to respond to natural disasters, so please pray for all the staff & students who will be participating in this seminar. Some of these students have had trouble coming up with the tuition for this, but we have received a generous donation for them which was a tremendous blessing. As you can see from the news reports that earthquakes are common for us here in Latin America. In the past month there have been major earthquakes in Chile, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Thankfully not major damage or loss of life has resulted from these disasters, but it is only a matter of time and there will be another one, so we want to be ready to respond.

On a personal note, Donna has been struggling since last year with low back pain that has steadily gotten worse. She has tried physical therapists, chiropractors and medication, but nothing seems to help. Around June of last year, she saw an Orthopedic Surgeon and he says that she has degeneration in her vertebra, specifically in the 4th & 5th lumbar region, which is putting pressure on the nerves. At times she can barely walk. He says she will probably need surgery so he ordered an MRI to be done. Her next appointment is May 20th, when he will make a decision about the surgery. For now, she is staying home and taking medication, but the wait is hard for her.

We live in a 2-story cabin with all the bedrooms upstairs, which is hard for her to climb every day, so we are in the process of remodeling a downstairs room into a bedroom, (which we’ve been using for storage and our dogs). We’ve put a new roof on our shed, so now more things can go there, like our saddles and odds & ends. This room needs tile, (which we’ve already purchased), painting, a new window, curtains, and an orthopedic mattress. April 16th was her birthday and the YWAM family here generously donated to buy her a lounge chair that was a wonderful gift for her! Any donations toward this work would be a great help and continued prayers for Donna as well!

Below are pictures of the room we want to remodel and a picture of Donna’s birthday gift of the lounge chair!  Many thanks to all of you who gave and may God bless everyone in this year 2014!

In the service of our Lord,

Terry & Donna Keith

PS:  More ministry pictures will be posted in a gallery format, along with updated photos of finished bedroom!  Check our Needs & Prayer Request area for giving information!