March 3: God's Timing

We have a huge praise to share with you in connection to Casa de Amor, the men's rehab center that we have gotten involved with here.  We spent a few hours there today like we do every other Sunday afternoon and evening.  It is where we have sensed the greatest community here and our whole family looks forward to our visits there.

Because of the huge blessing it has been to us, we were very disappointed when our friend Laura told us a couple of weeks ago it would likely be closing down at the end of February because she could not find anyone else to take over the administrative part of the ministry.  Laura and her husband, Kim (who's in the States working right now), started the ministry seven years ago and it has impacted the lives of hundreds of men over the years.  Last week Monday, she met with our pastor from church and informed him they would be having a graduation ceremony for guys who are finishing the 9 month program on March 10 and then would be closing down the home.  Laura had also earlier met with Jimmy, the program director, informing him of the difficult decision that had been made to close Casa de Amor.  They worked it out that some of the newest arrivals at the home could be transferred to similar programs elsewhere.

An hour after Laura met with the pastor to talk about the plans to close Casa de Amor, she received a phone call from David in Jacó (about an hour away), who said he would like to talk to her about the needs of Casa de Amor.  The end result.......Casa de Amor is not closing!!!  In God's perfect timing, He provided new people who are interested and passionate about continuing the ministry of Casa de Amor.  We are thrilled with this news and we look forward to continuing our bi-weekly visits there with Laura and other church members who come each time to fellowship and worship with the guys.

Please pray that the time of transition will go smoothly in these next few weeks as Laura finishes up her role as 'President' of the association on March 15.  Pray too for Alfredo and Mumfred who are almost finished with the nine month program.  While it is exciting to see them complete the program, we know that transitioning out of the home and returning back to society can be very challenging and difficult.  Please pray they'll find the support network they need to ensure they won't backtrack on all the progress they've experienced while at Casa de Amor.