Fear, death and hope

We learned that this weekend one of our Jane Jones Beca Students, Marlon lost his little brother. Carlos was 16 years old and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was killed when a bullet from battling neighborhood thugs went his way. He was struck in the chest and died quickly.
Marlon is grieving, scared, and weighing the decision to go to Nicaragua, where part of his family is living. Please continue to pray for Marlon, his family, the situation, and the decisions that need to be made. Missions Impossible International helped pay for burial costs for his brother, which, in a poor family like his, is over a month's wages.
Thanks for your support. Without it, we could not financially support those in need in times of crisis, like Marlon's.

Streetwalking

Can Justice exist without Truth? It occurred to me today while I was walking with friends in Los Angeles that while Truth seems to have many faces, the one feature it must be is blind.

While we happened to be walking and talking about social justice and specifically how to help end human trafficking, it occurred to me that for this to happen at all there must be blind eyes involved.

Let me not be blinded to the injustices that are all around me, just beneath the surface.

Volunteers!

We love it when volunteers come to Costa Rica!

Thank you Brendan and Sarai McCastle from Michigan for helping out this summer at our youth camp!

And a big thanks to Juliana and Alison from California, and Amy from New York for all of their help!

Anyone else for a tropical vacation? :)

Free Infant Care Classes

Volunteers from Clinica Biblica Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica gave free infant massage classes to women in the community of Los Triangulos this summer.

We love giving away free things...like knowledge and skills!

A trip to the dentist

This summer the Jane Jones Beca students took a trip to see the dentist. Not just any dentist, but one of the premier dentists in San Jose, Costa Rica.

They learned about the dental arts as a vocation and also about proper dental care. All of our scholarship students are also getting their teeth cleaned for free by the staff at Meza Dental!

(I like going to this dentist just for the view while sitting in the office--3 stories above the rainforest canopy!) It relaxes me instantaneously...

Anyway, check out these photos and the Meza Dental website...I gotta go floss!

Missions Impossible International held a fundraiser in Los Angeles the first week of April.

Our friend Lory had a milestone birthday, and instead of gifts, she requested that donations be made to Missions Impossible International.

We raised over $500 and tons of awareness of our Mission to reach out and empower the underserved all over the world. AND we had fun doing it!
Mr. Jones performed, Lory's mom served up some delicious homecooked Vietnamese dishes, and friends from near and far came to help celebrate Missions, and Lory!

Health Education workshops

Clinica Biblica of San Jose, Costa Rica, along with leaders of Missions Impossible International held a free educational health class last week in Los Triangulos. Topics covering different health issues such as HIV awareness and disease prevention were presented.

Spring renovations at the rancho!

New artwork and a new partnership with Acción Social de Clínica Bíblica has begun!

The Jane Jones Community Center can once again begin to help promote health and healing in the community of Los Triangulos. Medical professionals along with people trained in social services from Clinica Biblica have offered to help out by volunteering their time and services to all individuals, regardless of their ability to pay.

Christmas in Costa Rica

New photos are here! See them below and in our slideshow at right! Thank you to everyone who donated time, money or both to help make it happen!

Fixed and ready to go! Christmas Miracle Number 1

We found a mechanic to fix the van (thanks for the answered prayer!)
...and now our volunteer army (the only one allowed in Costa Rica) is busy wrapping, sorting, and loading the gifts. Tomorrow morning is GO!

One small community. Hundreds of gifts. Small alleys to navigate filled with cats, dogs, and the occasional chicken. Hope someone takes pictures!

Pray for us!

Our wonderful 15 passenger van broke down...it has a leak!

Not only could it cost us a lot of money to repair it, but also it could very well not get fixed quickly...right before Christmas!

The van was a gift years ago from a very generous and beloved friend of ours, which has served us well. We depend on it so much, from transporting the Beca students to running to the precario, to now, in this Christmas season, delivering presents!

We need a master mechanic to fix it, and fix it quickly! Pray that it gets fixed...faster than Christmas is coming!

Christmas/End of School Year Party for the Beca Students

The Jane Jones Beca students had a great time at their end of school year/Christmas party on December 18th. The students enjoyed good food, games, and presents for all, along with a memento/photo of the late Jane Jones, for which the scholarship is named. She loved to celebrate with family and friends at occasions like these.

At right, our top three winners of the English language exam (our own exam, not the school's!) are shown. Tatiana took first prize. Juan Carlos took second prize, and Marlon took third prize. They got to choose between mp3 players and a cd player, but the real prize was learning....how sneaky of us!

Christmas Shopping!

The Christmas countdown in Costa Rica has begun! That means a flurry of activity...parties to attend (to give away gifts, play and bring JOY!) and presents to deliver.

Some of the presents are already pre-bought...patrons of stores like Cemaco in Costa Rica and also patrons of local small businesses like Leon Chiropractica in Moravia, Costa Rica had trees with children's names on the branches. Then patrons picked a name and could donate a toy to that child for Christmas.

Other presents came from the states, like the ones that came from California and from Georgia in suitcases!

Other presents are bought there in Costa Rica and wrapped and delivered....

over 1500 presents are this years goal, and it takes a small army of volunteers! Thanks donors, and thanks volunteers!

The Countdown to Christmas begins!

Regalos (Gifts) for over 1,000 boys and girls have started to trickle in to our headquarters. Help us give them away!
We need donations for gifts to give away as well as volunteers to help us give them out! Write to us at bnfcostarica@yahoo.com if you can do either, or both!

Reading is fun!

More photos from the first day of reading class.

Learning to read

Here are photos from the first day of reading classes that were hosted in the Jane Jones community center in Los Triangulos de Solidaridad in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The class was open to any and all residents of this small community. 4 women attended. It was the first attempt at learning to read (in Spanish, of course) for them.

Phil goes to Costa Rica

I am getting ready for another exciting time in Costa Rica of pouring into the lives who live in Latin America. I will be there Sept. 29th thru Oct. 12th.

Community Cookout in Los Triangulos, Costa Rica

Here are some photos of our most recent cookout in Costa Rica. Missions Impossible Team members Pablo and Jessica Garro led the grilling.

As you can see, the Jane Jones Community Center got a new paint job thanks to visiting team members from Norton Shores Gospel Tabernacle in August 2008.