Hello friends.
I wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going for the Wutka family and also for 6:8 Ministries.
Wutka family:
- We moved back to CT at the end of June 2016. My parents coordinated getting our house in order after our tenants moved out. Yvonne’s parents also sold their home about a month before me moved home so they moved into our house in East Hartland until their apartment was finished. They lived with us for about 2 months after we returned and it was really a great experience. We missed them during our two years in Costa Rica as they were not able to visit due to some health issues. Getting to spend a couple months under the same roof was really a wonderful time of catching up.
- The kids loved being back among their cousins and friends and spent the summer catching up on sleepovers and playdates.
- I had a 36 hour adventure getting our two Costa Rican dogs back to CT, but we all made it safe and sound. They never saw snow before but have really loved playing in it recently.
- Everyone (Yvonne and I included) loved having them back in public school and they were all able to reinsert themselves without any issues. Mara, Jonathan and Abby all returned to their school in East Hartland and Elise started her sophomore year at Granby High.
- Yvonne found a Marriage and Family Therapy position at a Christian counseling and has steadily been building up her client base and has really enjoyed helping them.
- I helped my parents at their apple orchard while I also continued to travel back and forth to Costa Rica to continue building at the Children’s ranch.
- At the end of November I started my own Home Improvement business which has enabled me to help support the family and also have flexibility to travel.
- God has been awesome in providing for our financial needs and also our spiritual needs. He seems to have affirmed that our decision to move home was a good one. We are still receiving support from some amazing people and churches and that money is being used for my travel and expenses at the ranch. God is so good!
6:8 Ministries
- Progress continues at the Living Waters Children’s ranch. The first large family house is almost complete (I know, I have been saying that for a while now but if you have ever built something big on a part time basis you will understand).
- I am currently on my 4th trip to work at the ranch since moving home last June. My home church (Valley Brook) sent a team down in January of this year and got to experience what we are all about. They are excited to continue to partner with the ministry.
- We rented a storefront in town and will be opening a community center in March of this year. A young lady named Colleen has been serving with the ministry full time for a couple months and will be running the center. It will include before and after school time for kids to get a snack and hand out in a safe and Godly environment. We will also be running English classes at the center and that will be a huge draw for the local people. Both of these will offer great opportunities to share about God and His love for the people here.
- The national electric company contacted us and they recently installed a transformer at the end of our driveway which has solved out electrical issues. Before this transformer, our power was often weak and fluctuated a great deal. This was a big issue for the ranch and our future growth and was going to be very costly to fix. It turns out that the electric company heard of what we were building and they donated the transformer and install at no cost!!
- We have had some great meetings with Pani, which is the Costa Rican department of children and families. They approve of what we are doing and we continue to move forward towards getting children here. There are certain key items that we are actively getting checked off the list before this can happen. Some of the items, like residency for the house parents, can take a long time.
- We have a lot of teams booked through August of this year so it will be a very busy time and we hope to get a lot accomplished.
Please continue to be in prayer for the ministry as we continue to seek God’s will in all that we do. We are humbled by the fact that God’s timing is not always in line with our plans but it is always the best course of action. If you have any questions about how you can support the ministry, please get in touch with me.
Serving Him,
Rob Wutka
