The reason we are there....

I received this email from Jayson. It summarizes the highs and lows of serving God on the mission field, but our call remains unchanged and commitment unwavering....

I am sure most of you have heard about our incident yesterday. There were a few tense moments, but everyone is safe. There were 5 or 6 guys and one of them had a gun. It was obvious that they wanted our bags, and we gave them to them. We lost quite a bit of money, several passports and several cameras, among other personal items. Fabián, who was one of the Costa Ricans escorting us, did his best to protect us. In Spanish he told them over and over, ¨They work for Jesus!¨¨ The US Embassy replaced our passports in under 2 hours. Today, much of our personal items were recovered, less the cash and cameras.

For many of us, this incident has underscored the reason we need to support the church in Pavas. It emphasizes the desperation and lack of hope that exists here. We cannot fix the community, it is far too broken. What we can do is commit to providing hope and opportunity to the children, through our partnership with the ministers here. Without the continued work of the church here, the kids we are helping to feed will become the next thieves or prostitutes. That is not the reason God created them. To the best of our ability, we must offer them hope. The church in Pavas is a beacon of hope.

All of us have worked hard to put together a program for this week. But the real ministry moments come when you least expect it. Carrying babies, weed eating, going over the kids´ english lessons...when someone who speaks no english hugs you HARD and with tears in their eyes struggles to find a way to say ¨thank you¨...these are the important moments. Some guy with a gun can´t change that.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. This has been a hard, but rewarding week. We will see you soon!

With love,

Jayson