Dear Friends,
Greetings from San Jose, Costa Rica!
Exciting Family News!! We are thrilled to announce the birth of our 9th grandchild, Micah Stephen Burgin, born to Stephen and Rachael on July 22nd weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz. Micah’s two big sisters, Leah and Rebekah, are very excited to have a baby brother! Micah decided to come 2 weeks early and surprise all of us! We now have 5 granddaughters and 4 grandsons! We are indeed blessed! All 9 of them are age 6 and under making for pretty exciting family reunions!
We are in the rainy season here, but we always enjoy our morning walk in the sunshine. For the last several days we have been without a kitchen as we live through a minor remodel. We did some remodel work on the house we bought in Bolivia, but finished it all before we moved in. This is our first time living in the mess. Jeanie has done an admirable job of moving a temporary kitchen into our bedroom. (Think microwave burritos!)
We just completed a 3 week/120 hr. course in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). The course we took is not a degree program but rather a certification program. We have been teaching English in various situations here and in Bolivia but we both felt that we needed some more formal training in order to feel more confident in offering classes. We both gained much greater confidence in teaching English and are very excited about using what we have learned in ministry here in San Jose.
The office building where our office is located is a large new building that has literally hundreds of young Costa Rican professionals and is a wide open mission field. Our dream is to offer English classes in our office to these young professionals and then to use these classes as a way to get to know them and share the love of Jesus. We are both very excited about the doors for ministry that this could open for us and the great potential that it has for reaching young professionals for Christ. We appreciate your prayers as we move forward with this ministry opportunity.
Ron here: Jeanie is the guiding force in this effort, and I am the support personnel. With my other responsibilities, she will often be on her own.
We are seeing exciting growth at the Guadalupe Gathering Place, the new church that we have had a part in planting. This past weekend 24 of us gathered to begin a process of practical ministry training called MC2 (Multiplying Church Communities). These first sessions focus on learning the heart of God for reaching lost people and trusting Him to use US in the process. The reaction was phenomenal and, together with my colleagues Sebastian and Andy, we are looking forward to raising up a generation of young leaders.
The training is very interactive, using adult learning styles.
Prayer requests:
- For Ron as he prepares the next generation of Campus Crusade operations/administrative leaders
- For Ron as he team-preaches through Luke with his Costa Rican colleague, Sebastian.
- For the church as we continue to receive new people who don’t know Jesus.
- For our ongoing MC2 training.
- For Jeanie as she seeks God's wisdom for the timing and details of our new English outreach.
Thanks for your faithful support! We love and appreciate you
Your missionaries in Latin America,
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