We live in the community of Los Guido in Desamparados, Costa Rica.

What is something you like to do in your spare time?

In our spare time we enjoy spending time with friends, watching movies, reading, and spending time with the children and youth of Los Guido. We also enjoy music, sports, and our daughter Hanukka loves ballet.

Why did you decide to join the SI team?

We love serving and learning from people. In Students International we found a way to serve our community while helping people transform their lives.

Describe the site where you’ll work with SI:

The plan is for Luis Diego to work with the youth of Los Guido in the area of sports.  He will use soccer and other sports to build relationships with the youth and to teach biblical values while providing them healthy ways to spend their time.

The plan is for Cindy to work in a micro business site with women, helping them to develop business plans and apply for small business loans. The goal is to then walk alongside these women as they carry out their business plans in the hope that these women might be able to provide for their families.

What is one thing you are looking forward to in your future ministry with SI?

We are hoping that God touches the lives of those we will work with, both students and the poor. We are praying God will touch women’s lives as they learn about his heart for them and that they’ll be able to provide for their families. We are praying God will touch the hearts of young people through sports, and that because of that they will leave the life of drugs and violence behind.

Do you have a favorite verse? What is it?

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” plus Psalm 1 and Psalm 8.

God continues to work and to move in mighty ways in and through SI-Costa Rica. The last few months have been eventful. In May as we were preparing to welcome our first team of the summer our office was broken into, and then in June our woodshop was also robbed. Through both events the Lord’s protection and faithfulness were clearly evident as the losses could have been and should have been much greater than they were. The Lord has also brought many new relationships about due to the robberies. In the midst of trial God has proven faithful and used what the enemy meant for evil for good.

New Beginnings

On a more positive note we are excited about welcoming our first Costa Ricans to our staff team. Luis Diego Soto and Cindy Arias officially began working with SI-Costa Rica on August 2nd. Also, in May we opened our new Woodshop. The first few months of work in the shop have gone better than expected. Most of our sessions are full of 12 – 18 year old young men wanting a safe place to hang out and to learn some basic woodworking skills. God is providing many opportunities to speak into the lives of those coming into the shop.

Photography Site

Also in this past week the first prints were developed in our darkroom! Some of our teams this summer have helped us build a darkroom, and while still needing a few adjustments, it is operational. We are planning to launch our photo classes in September. The classes will be targeted at teenagers with the hopes of helping them discover their Creator as they discover their own creativity through photography.

Feedback from Students

We have been privileged to host teams of high school students, college students, and young adults from across the States this summer. It has been a joy to watch God move in the students’ lives and to watch them dive into serving at the various ministry sites. On more than one occasion I have heard a student exclaim, “I can do things just like I am doing here back at home!” That is one vision we pray our students catch during their time with us. It doesn’t matter where we are God wants to use the gifts, talents, and abilities he has given us to further his kingdom. Our job is to simply be obedient and available.

For Our Partners in Prayer

Please continue to pray for us as we seek to be available and obedient to our King. Please pray for the shop as we select the first few participants in our apprenticeship program, please pray for the photo studio as we launch our first classes, please pray for the tutoring center as we seek to offer the best quality of service possible to the myriad of learning needs that come our way, please pray for the social services site as we seek to be a light and make a difference in many dark circumstances.

I would also like to remind you of our annual banquet coming up September 18th in Visalia. If you can make it please contact the office for details.

Dave

Psalm 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.”

Dave

In April two of our staff, Rudy and Yajairia, were married here at the SI base. We pray blessings on Rudy and Yajairia as they continue to serve SI together.

In April we also took our staff to Haiti to help in one of the tent communities of Port-au-Prince that has developed since the earthquake. This was a great experience for each one of us to step out of our comfort zone, to be reminded what it is like for the teams we host when they come to the DR, and to minister to those who had lost so much in the earthquake. It is amazing that as we serve, God uses what we give and He multiples it over and over again to bless others. Thanks again for your support and investment into the lives of so many here in the Dominican Republic.

January to May have been very busy months for SI/DR. We’ve hosted nine different outreaches, which have been a blessing to both us at Students International and to the surrounding communities here in the Dominican Republic. Our first team was from Greenville College in southern Illinois. From this team we had several people commit to serve here in the DR this summer as interns and two students signed up to be a part of our fall semester program.

In February we hosted a women’s outreach team. While here, God laid on the heart of one of the ladies to raise the money to purchase four new treadle (non-electric) sewing machines for our social work sites. Two will be placed in our social work site in El Callejon and two in our women’s center in Los Higos. This visionary, a former home-economics teacher, will be coming this month to train the leaders of these sites how to use the machines. What a blessing this will be! Another one of the ladies that came as a participant on the women’s team has now signed up to bring a group of women from Indiana to the DR next February.

In March a team from Taylor University brought hundreds of pairs of shoes with them to be distributed to the people in the communities of our ministry sites. Before you could receive a pair of shoes, Team Victory washed each child’s feet and prayed for them. You can imagine the excitement of all those who were blessed with a brand new pair of shoes!

Also in March, along with our regular teams, we hosted a vision tour lead by the President of SI, Dave Hansen. The response from this group was a great encouragement to us. In this group was a couple from Hume Lake in California that leads the Joshua Wilderness Institute. After visiting here they signed up to bring a group of around 70 for a two-week outreach in January. We also hosted several people from a Church in Sturgis, Michigan who decided to bring a team in June.

These are some of the ways that the fruits of our labor have blessed us. I wish you could hear or that I could share all the testimonies of people who have come and left a part of their heart here in Jarabacoa. Again, we praise God for His faithfulness!

-For Dustin Woida as he learns Spanish

-For the development and funding of the new workshop and apprenticeship program

-For the approval of our non-profit association by the Costa Rican government

-For quality Costa Rican staff members who are called to work with SI-Costa Rica

Dave and Janice Hansen

This past month I visited SI Costa Rica while on a “vision tour” with professors representing nine colleges or universities from the states.  All are interested in partnering with Students International for semester programs.  It is exciting to report that Costa Rica will be offering semester programs similar to the spring Guatemala term and the fall term in the Dominican Republic. Jeff Dixon, country director, and Darin Mather, who has been instrumental in developing curriculum for all of the programs, are crafting a unique program that will include an SI partnership with the University of Costa Rica. Several Christian Universities are excited about the partnership that would allow science majors to study abroad without falling behind in their required class and lab work. The program would also include an emphasis on learning the Spanish language and offer time to work alongside our staff at the ministry sites.

The current semester programs in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic have served as great models, yet each country and culture is unique. The Costa Rica program looks as if it will begin spring of 2011. Students spending a semester in a country while pursuing their course of study and serving at the ministry sites have been a blessing to the work of Students International.  Furthermore, the semester programs encapsulate our mission and vision statement:

Mission
Bringing students and the poor together cross-culturally to encounter God, share the Good News, disciple and serve others in occupational ministries.

Vision
Seeing students and the poor transformed into the likeness of Christ and discover their true calling.

Blessings,
Dave

Cailah Pritchard

Cailah was one of our first staff members here in Costa Rica. She grew up in Hanford, California and graduated from Biola University with a degree in Intercultural Studies. Before college Cailah spent time serving in Chile with YWAM where she learned Spanish and developed a love of Latin culture. Throughout her college years Cailah was anxious to graduate and to put her degree into practice. It was clear God was leading her into overseas missions. It was not a question of “if,” but rather “when” and “where.” Cailah says, “Through a combination of the right timing and connections, God confirmed that SI Costa Rica was the place for her at this time.”  As Cailah works in the community of Las Fuentes at the Community Development Site she constantly strives to bring a level of excellence to her work and to incorporate the community members into the decision making process. “And although we may not always see the kind of results we anticipate, it’s clear that God is at work in the people of Las Fuentes through the continual building of relationships and the enthusiasm of the people for the projects at work there.”