Life in Costa Rica

The past few months have marked two years since we moved here to Santa Rosa, and one year since we began building our new home. We love looking back over our years in Costa Rica and reflecting on how we have grown and where God has brought us in ministry. Specifically in the Semillas de Vida (Seeds of Life) ministry, we are excited to see so much growth in the people involved and to watch and be part of the expansion of the Church. We are so thankful for the friendships we have formed over the past two years, and for the work that God has been doing both in us and in the people we are serving.  These months have been busy for our little family of three with many friends and family from the States making their way down to be with us and meet little Jackson! We are so thankful that God has provided the means for most of our immediate family to spend some quality time with him within his first few months of life. These seven months have flown by and we love watching Jackson grow and devel

How life has changed since our last ministry update! It has been a big adjustment with our little Jackson joining our family, and we are so thankful for all of the joy he adds to our days. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support during this wonderful time of change.   This month we were very excited to be able to hold a small kids activity with our church. It has been over a year since the shutdown and all the restrictions, so it was so refreshing to be able to have the kids come and participate in games and songs, and hear a meaningful message about obedience to God. We did a one day activity with the kids from our church, and one day with the kids in the town of La Aldea.  We have continued with our study with a few families from the town of La Aldea, and are still working through the Gospel of Mark. Our goal throughout this study is to help equip the people attending with the tools they need to study and understand Scripture on their own. As we go through the important co

Jackson Scott Hoover  Born on April 24, 2021 at 6:48am weight: 3.070kg height: 51cm I am not usually one to share a ton on social media, but over the course of my pregnancy I found that I loved hearing about others birth stories and hospital experiences as I prepared for my own! It was comforting to hear that many of my fears and worries were not uncommon to others, and that every experience is so different, but also similar in many ways. I also am so blessed to be able to share this experience after being told two years ago (when I was diagnosed with lupus) that I might never be able to have a successful pregnancy!  We decided to have our baby here in the public hospital in Costa Rica, which meant I didn’t really have the option to make up my own “birth plan” – I would also need to be prepared for whatever COVID protocols were in place when he decided to come, and to have my Spanish skills prepared for such a high-pressure situation! On Thursday afternoon we headed to my monthly prena

Hi everyone, we are well into 2021, and after a year of living and serving in the midst of a pandemic we are relieved to see things slowly move back to feeling “normal” again. Over the last few months, the number of new covid-19 cases in Costa Rica has been decreasing greatly, allowing officials to remove restrictions and curfews. We are excited to see kids returning to school for the first time since last March, and are thankful for the overall health and safety of our community and church during this past year! Since the completion of the new addition onto our church building, we have begun incorporating an adult Sunday School hour on Sunday mornings. So far, Brandon has led the church through a series on soteriology – the doctrine of salvation. We are now going through a series of lessons on apologetics, where we are learning how to defend what it is that we believe. It is exciting to see people get excited about learning how to bring up conversations about Jesus and salvation in ev