tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34004281926138580412023-11-15T23:53:24.690-08:00The Wutka Family Serving the people of Costa RicaThe Wutka Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11692656739904141386noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-14609612076997476652017-02-19T18:48:00.000-08:002017-02-19T18:48:00.761-08:00February 2017 update<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello friends.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going for the Wutka family and also for 6:8 Ministries. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-46ce1474-5967-fb69-cc4c-ef68c8dbcd75" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wutka family:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The kids loved being back among their cousins and friends and spent the summer catching up on sleepovers and playdates.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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!</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6:8 Ministries</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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!!</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Serving Him,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rob Wutka</span></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-61158529878055745032016-10-14T07:49:00.000-07:002016-10-14T07:49:21.411-07:00Video that explains the vision of 6:8 Ministries and the Living Waters Children's RanchPlease take a look at this video to understand what we are doing in Costa Rica.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyKUbxYaxHCA_pc3JYS1pJyCkOwdP5XVHTy3JW0d-Z30Q9txdnV7hAuAHntq-VNnatdEGCb_kDcOzTWT77CUg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-17247783222610372972016-06-21T06:59:00.000-07:002016-06-21T06:59:23.897-07:00Back to Connecticut!!<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello friends.</div>
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It is with mixed emotions that I tell you we are moving back to our home in East Hartland CT this week. While we are sad to leave Costa Rica, we are excited about being back among our family and friends in Connecticut. We fly home this Friday June 24th. Here is an excerpt from a recent letter that we sent to our regular financial donors. It gives a good summary of what we have been a part of accomplishing in the past two years.</div>
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Thank you!! Thank you
for your faithful support of our ministry here.
Thank you for your generous donations over the past two years. Thank you for your prayers for our family,
our ministry, and the people we are serving here in Costa Rica. We literally could not be doing what we are
doing without your sacrifice. It has
been such an affirming journey as we have watched God provide for our needs
each and every month. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Since some of you may not be aware of what God has asked us
to do since we moved to Costa Rica, I wanted to include a summary of what God
has allowed us to accomplish to date.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I often get asked how many children are currently living at
the Ranch. It is a fair question. I answer that question by explaining how much
infrastructure is required when starting from scratch. After two years of preparing the property we
are now focusing on the family houses.
God willing we will be ready to take in the first child this winter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was two years ago (May 2014) that the ministry
received local approval to start construction.
Here is a quick list of our accomplishments, with more details on the
website. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Security fence installed along the road<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Electricity and water lines were run to the
buildings<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->600 foot road and small bridge installed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Men’s and women’s bunkroom constructed (capacity
of 28 people)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Kitchen and staff room building constructed
(Wutka family lived here for 1 year)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->2 Bedroom cabin constructed (currently used to
bless Miriam in her retirement)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Large garage constructed (houses tractor, tools,
building materials)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Chapel/Kitchen constructed (used for visiting
mission teams)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Architectural approval and permits have been
obtained for the whole project (10 family homes and large courtyard chapel and
playground for the kids and families)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Joshua 1:9 cabin constructed (3 bedroom cabin
that Wutka family currently lives in)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->First large family house was started (this home
will house a missionary family and take in the first Costa Rican foster
child. Scheduled for completion in
Fall 2016)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->6 acres of our 17 acre jungle has been tamed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Some great relationships with the local
community have been established<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
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When we first partnered with 6:8 Ministries we said we would
commit for two years and then re-evaluate where God wanted us. After much prayer and discussion, we have decided
that it is best for our family to move back to Connecticut on June 24<sup>th</sup>
of this year, sort of…..We still feel that God wants to use our skills and
abilities to complete the Living Waters Children’s Ranch, and to give a loving,
Godly home to 80 children. How can we
move home and still serve God in Costa Rica?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since our construction model at the Ranch is to use mission
teams, God has made it clear that I don’t have to be living full time in Costa
Rica to oversee this. Over the past 2
years I have developed a network of contacts and suppliers that I can still
maintain a relationship with via phone and email. As teams come down to work on large projects,
I can coordinate the delivery of materials and then fly down and manage their
work. I anticipate needing to make 8 to
10 trips to Costa Rica per year. God has
already provided another family to live on the Ranch and to take care of the
daily tasks and to continue to build relationships into the community. </div>
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Another huge need of the Ranch is for funding. This proposed model would allow me to spend a
significant portion of my time educating the Northeast about what we are
doing. By seeking out churches and other
service-focused organizations, I hope to find additional mission teams and
funding for the Ranch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just as God lined everything up for our move down to Costa
Rica, He appears to be opening the doors necessary for this change. I would like to commit to this model for one
year and I humbly ask that you consider continuing your support during this
time. Yvonne is currently searching for
a full time job in her field of Marriage and Family therapy. As many of you know, supporting a family of 6
in Connecticut is very costly. In order
to take care of the needs of my family and to know how much time I will be able
to devote to this ministry, I need to have an idea of what support we can
expect. To be clear…all support will be
used to pay for my travel and to allow me to ‘work’ part-time so I can focus on
growing the ministry in the Northeast. Please
pray about how you can continue to support our ministry through your
gifts. If you can continue at the same
amount, great. If you need to reduce the
amount, that is okay. If you prefer to
stop your support then I would sincerely thank you for what you have been able
to give over the past 24 months. <b>It would be very helpful if you could
contact me and let me know your decision.</b>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns
about this transition. As always, you
can visit our blog (<a href="http://www.wutkamissions.com/">www.wutkamissions.com</a>)
to find more detailed information about what we have accomplished during our
time here. More general information
about 6:8 Ministries can be found at <a href="http://www.68ministries.com/">www.68ministries.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Serving Him,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Robert Wutka<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="mailto:rwutka@gmail.com">rwutka@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
(860)844-8773<o:p></o:p></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-32300973780393895492016-03-19T18:38:00.000-07:002016-03-19T18:38:38.047-07:00Spring update.Hello friends.<br />
<br />
It has been a very busy three months since our Christmas update. <br />
It was a very enjoyable Christmas time without a lot of the hustle and bustle that we are used to in the States. Simple presents, time relaxing with our family, and remembering why we are here and who we are serving.<br />
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<br />
In early January we had the privilege of hosting our home church Valley Brook Community church from Connecticut. It was a special time, connecting with some old friends and making new ones. It was great to be able to actually show them what we are doing here and let them experience it for themselves. They spent 3 days serving seniors and children in the community of Alajuelita and 4 days working hard at the Children's ranch. We even got to catch a soccer game at the national stadium during their visit. We mixed 50 bags of concrete and poured a large cement pad and erected the wall and roof frame for our new team chapel and dining area.<br />
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<br />
On the day before Valley Brook went home, my sister Sue and two of her boys came down for a week long visit. Elise and Yvonne knew about the trip but is was a complete surprise for Mara, Jonathan & Abby. It was an awesome week watching the cousins play together out here in the beautiful nature. It was also neat to have them experience one of our feeding centers and meet the staff.<br />
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<br />
In mid February, another of our favorite churches came for visit. This time it was Copiague Christian church from Long Island. Yvonne's uncle Paul is the pastor and they brought a great crew for their second year in a row. They also brought a special surprise guest with them......Brenda Ryan!! Yvonne's sister was able to fill in at the last minute for someone that could not make the trip. We had no clue. As the team was unloading from the bus and we were saying hello to everyone, all of a sudden Brenda was standing there. It took a couple seconds for this to register with me but Yvonne's face lit up immediately. It was such a beautiful occasion and we really enjoyed having her stay with us for the week. The team worked so hard as we laid tile in the new chapel and dining area, processed so much lumber into finished wood, and installed aluminum studs and cement boards in the walls of a new cabin.<br />
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As soon as Copiague left, we had two back to back teams from Jacksonville Florida. These two teams were part of the J1:9 group. This is a group of churches coming together to be Strong and Courageous, as instructed in Joshua 1:9. This group had a fund raiser and was able to fund the construction of a three bedroom cabin that we built right next to Miriam's cabin. We worked non stop for two weeks trying to complete this build. Finished wall studs and cement board exterior, stucco, paint, insulation, drywall, mud, ceramic tile, electric, plumbing. At the end of their two weeks, we were in a great position. Mauricio and I have spend the past two weeks continuing the finishing touches and my family is set to move into this new cabin by Tuesday March 22nd.<br />
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<br />
The whole family is excited about the move but also a little sad. It will be great to move from one 400 square foot open room into a place with three bedrooms, a living/dining room, and our own kitchen. But in a surprising way, we have rather enjoyed our cramped living space for the past 13 months.<br />
<br />
If anyone is interested in more details on the projects we have worked on at the ranch over the past year, please check out the ranch page on our ministries website, which I just updated this week. Here is the link:<br />
http://68ministries.org/our-mission/living-waters-childrens-ranch/tractor-fundraiser/<br />
<br />
We also have some exciting news about our future after this summer. I will write another blog entry soon giving more details on those changes. <br />
<br />
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and also for those that have been supporting us financially. We cannot do this without all of you. As always, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you. <br />
<br />
In Christ,<br />
Rob Wutka<br />
rob@68ministries.comRob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-84211333075126232412015-12-25T18:14:00.001-08:002015-12-25T18:14:31.038-08:00Feliz Navidad 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
Merry Christmas to all our Family and Friends!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My heart is full and overflowing with contentment this
Christmas season. As I mentioned in a Facebook post, this is both my and Rob’s
first Christmas ever away from our families. I have to admit that I wasn’t really
looking forward to it and it seemed that the kids weren’t looking forward to it
either since they wouldn’t tell me what they wanted for Christmas. In past
years, that has always been an easy question and some of them would have a list
that took up a full page. Not this year, every time I asked, they would have a
blank stare or just plain ignore me. Finally, one of the kids said, “Well, we
really don’t NEED anything so why don’t you just tell our grandparents to make
a donation to the Children’s Ranch or something.” What? Wow! Huh. Every once in
a while, your kids just melt your heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
A couple of weeks ago, we decided to give a gift to a friend
of ours who has been helping us build at the ranch for the last year. We wrapped
it up in typical Christmas wrapping paper with a bow so that looked pretty and
presented it to him. It was a small package about the size and shape of a book.
When he saw the gift that we were presenting to him, he teared up. He said that
he has never received a Christmas gift in 43 years. (He is 43 years old). He
then said that Christmas is when they get their clothes that they need for next
year and that is all. They aren’t wrapped. So, even though the gift was
something as small as a book, he knew it couldn’t possibly be clothes or
something ‘practical.’ I had always heard that it is better to give than to
receive but this moment really made me realize the true joy in giving. It was a
very impactful moments for our whole family.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Two of our neighbors came over this week and dropped off tamales.
This is what everyone here eats for Christmas, it is a very special meal that
takes a lot of time and effort to prepare. We were honored to be included in
this tradition and we enjoyed eating the tamales today for our Christmas dinner,
since we had the ‘American ham dinner’ on Christmas Eve. They were delicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Vc-ShREGF8WB-sN4W4W9IAxnkG4rqS8rk1kbdJLYjQrL_m6sBOVBWKHrvRWhTZaFNOUSZZLtXikt67W_fu__gk8u5xzMKFCf3Z8eFXC2S97VidVE7JQnb5Jy9q8k0aLXHGD9Q1yWQH69/s1600/2015-12-25+12.38.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Vc-ShREGF8WB-sN4W4W9IAxnkG4rqS8rk1kbdJLYjQrL_m6sBOVBWKHrvRWhTZaFNOUSZZLtXikt67W_fu__gk8u5xzMKFCf3Z8eFXC2S97VidVE7JQnb5Jy9q8k0aLXHGD9Q1yWQH69/s320/2015-12-25+12.38.16.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan enjoying the tamale at our 'casual attire' Christmas dinner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These gifts of tamales prompted us to give away the cinnamon swirl bread (that
we made for French toast Christmas morning) as a gift to our neighbors. It was
fun to wrap them up in shiny tin foil and tie them with ribbons. The neighbors
seemed happy to receive these gifts as well.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is a
tradition in my Norwegian family to open all of our gifts to each other on
Christmas Eve after our evening dinner. Well, as soon as the kids woke up, our
youngest asked, “Are we opening presents now?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I replied
with, “No sweetie, we open gifts after dinner so not until it gets dark.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
About an
hour later she asks, “How much longer until we open gifts.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Again, “not
until it gets dark.” A while later she asks what time does it get dark? And finally
when she started to ask how much longer until it gets dark I lost it and told
her, “If you talk about opening presents one more time today, we will not open
them at all! Let’s enjoy our company while they are here!” Grrrr. We were not looking forward to a Christmas
alone so we invited a couple in our ministry to share Christmas with us. They
came over for the day on Christmas Eve and we had the ham dinner with them. It
was so much fun to play games and share some time with our ‘new’ family here in
Costa Rica. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our friends left and I announced that it was time to
exchange gifts, my sweet little baby said, “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see
everyone open the gifts that I got for them.” Stab me with a dagger right in
the heart. So that’s why she couldn’t wait for us to open gifts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I read back over these different experiences that we have
had in the last week, GIVING seems to be the theme for our family this 2015
Christmas. We don’t consider ourselves anyone special. We are just a regular American family who
happens to be living in another country as our way of serving God. We always have food and clean water. We have a clean, safe, comfortable place to
live. We often bicker and argue like
everyone else. In spite of us, God is
working in our hearts to give us a perspective that we probably would not have
found back home. Knowing that is what fills my heart this Christmas
season. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you God for giving us the greatest gift of all. Jesus.
I now have a glimpse of the joy you must feel whenever a person humbly and gratefully
accepts that gift. I love you. Amen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yvonne<o:p></o:p></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-38576473793117374642015-12-22T08:43:00.000-08:002015-12-22T12:38:22.756-08:00Pictures at the Living Waters Children's RanchHere are a bunch of pictures that represent our past year. God has been very good.<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXrf3WNOkI9h9lDyIo8lNOQ_VamyvYrM2CgHodJp3s3doMCRVFNwF-F6C7_KMzYn9dY9vjRxBf5IALo2ccGnOVOm7yYQEXhS8ocy3QL6gTUN604OKKYB2hwAK_339yd3jfXXKMEpdVw1J/s1600/2015-08-05+13.35.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXrf3WNOkI9h9lDyIo8lNOQ_VamyvYrM2CgHodJp3s3doMCRVFNwF-F6C7_KMzYn9dY9vjRxBf5IALo2ccGnOVOm7yYQEXhS8ocy3QL6gTUN604OKKYB2hwAK_339yd3jfXXKMEpdVw1J/s400/2015-08-05+13.35.54.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baptisms in the river are awesome!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEL_xv1POV7JWNdqEoNOf5OA1TsXwaYbgekY_esrCAOF5acGbV-8wQbhbnw3U4sY7LwE4CXzTwxh92-UZEM5uXdSZ_yW3OTgnAlGi2axLDbEzftS4Uk1-cwUUE3kQKe2vFTtsgVttRXmjU/s1600/2015-07-29+16.35.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEL_xv1POV7JWNdqEoNOf5OA1TsXwaYbgekY_esrCAOF5acGbV-8wQbhbnw3U4sY7LwE4CXzTwxh92-UZEM5uXdSZ_yW3OTgnAlGi2axLDbEzftS4Uk1-cwUUE3kQKe2vFTtsgVttRXmjU/s400/2015-07-29+16.35.44.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The garage.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
L<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZGxIKZ-1sCfpw7Lmhg_qQky34j8XmsXcSIHsYpD-Dp9IcgSa6jko8lGQll72kmQkLUytmqfPo_pgqNLZScJJzqLqP3sapa3clk2wtZJqkgR1FAX82Bn8CDvfgBkFSUrP4BsBSxhvK4ZZ/s1600/2015-10-18+17.40.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZGxIKZ-1sCfpw7Lmhg_qQky34j8XmsXcSIHsYpD-Dp9IcgSa6jko8lGQll72kmQkLUytmqfPo_pgqNLZScJJzqLqP3sapa3clk2wtZJqkgR1FAX82Bn8CDvfgBkFSUrP4BsBSxhvK4ZZ/s400/2015-10-18+17.40.40.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy 19th!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyxD37-HcsstbRWgbRl-hCANetivPjYQ_s1SsnXOWhEQAd0BabwuyGeYpcArrvKZQVxDu1QSob4rEmKj_6p5pvUGL0lcANXFfbpDrjf9BpJCqeCFzb3Ws-LI2i6pXHhHXXuaD0u2FIp1T2/s1600/2015-08-22+10.34.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyxD37-HcsstbRWgbRl-hCANetivPjYQ_s1SsnXOWhEQAd0BabwuyGeYpcArrvKZQVxDu1QSob4rEmKj_6p5pvUGL0lcANXFfbpDrjf9BpJCqeCFzb3Ws-LI2i6pXHhHXXuaD0u2FIp1T2/s400/2015-08-22+10.34.04.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doing nails is serious business.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQCCEAh9NObhMPItIJK461wAllyrlD02_EPqrX8fuJ_421YADlRlzOn2g13z4gv8sFswIFF62FXac7nqNJUEzyCQ183ma7mhCbgVQ3NCFKm-vNApM_H0Chb_sducBOBq4gTZDIl5NdlNE/s1600/2015-09-21+08.06.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQCCEAh9NObhMPItIJK461wAllyrlD02_EPqrX8fuJ_421YADlRlzOn2g13z4gv8sFswIFF62FXac7nqNJUEzyCQ183ma7mhCbgVQ3NCFKm-vNApM_H0Chb_sducBOBq4gTZDIl5NdlNE/s400/2015-09-21+08.06.55.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We love when young people come down so our kids can make friends.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0AWwfX2xlDjOsUlZskguJgCGQ_FiATBZyCO_WXnSLPgKFGTBLpB4bWTtNZTxjeAGqquwRHpDHmmWYT3WdnL2t66eF3V0yJVkfvx4aeQLfPYpYtWAOoyb9jpfUjbEUbgljtkRaOhJ0bun/s1600/2015-08-22+10.44.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0AWwfX2xlDjOsUlZskguJgCGQ_FiATBZyCO_WXnSLPgKFGTBLpB4bWTtNZTxjeAGqquwRHpDHmmWYT3WdnL2t66eF3V0yJVkfvx4aeQLfPYpYtWAOoyb9jpfUjbEUbgljtkRaOhJ0bun/s400/2015-08-22+10.44.37.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan playing with friends in Verbena</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZy96LjVyYraXuFPUx87VDMA-6-bP-cTD1XrHbnNt4HYgb_ACxL5ot1vHLYC9yVodDdZEJT910_Y39Xn7TtTxoGFHxTvq5yOEzW6jQslKZHV9WFmdidn__-nWkMzBxE5Tz8QdBoV8sF4v/s1600/2015-08-23+11.18.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZy96LjVyYraXuFPUx87VDMA-6-bP-cTD1XrHbnNt4HYgb_ACxL5ot1vHLYC9yVodDdZEJT910_Y39Xn7TtTxoGFHxTvq5yOEzW6jQslKZHV9WFmdidn__-nWkMzBxE5Tz8QdBoV8sF4v/s400/2015-08-23+11.18.58.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mara and Jonathan working hard for lolly pop money.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kjm6xBaORqVkMcrahE9z-chypueZNZAJmR-8_4EOAcrp_8MzfVL48XIGLG20jubNNuzkI0gZXVRh4WY44wJpm4_6JHmlRBy39fqSrFp2yPSZ8t3Diw6woGxQPq9p-4w9FGBRkovhwKv6/s1600/2015-09-07+07.47.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kjm6xBaORqVkMcrahE9z-chypueZNZAJmR-8_4EOAcrp_8MzfVL48XIGLG20jubNNuzkI0gZXVRh4WY44wJpm4_6JHmlRBy39fqSrFp2yPSZ8t3Diw6woGxQPq9p-4w9FGBRkovhwKv6/s400/2015-09-07+07.47.29.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cone of shame.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOzWf9Z2rIsEkrIBCT2sk-B8tbzGTKV9eZlHZUIKuYz6OaAAfe-0mKRBh1SaJdTpCHQXFCEXLFDhGg-bmxzKeh5qS9dL90OnEzGb_mPQIQpk3TKQpYdr7tPHXG1zaIMq2Er6CBjHC7y90P/s1600/2015-11-05+09.20.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOzWf9Z2rIsEkrIBCT2sk-B8tbzGTKV9eZlHZUIKuYz6OaAAfe-0mKRBh1SaJdTpCHQXFCEXLFDhGg-bmxzKeh5qS9dL90OnEzGb_mPQIQpk3TKQpYdr7tPHXG1zaIMq2Er6CBjHC7y90P/s400/2015-11-05+09.20.39.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun day at La Paz waterfalls (no waterfalls were harmed in the taking of this picture)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9OEB-vM3Kk5uV_radwqb24piIIrHf9Ye7Axftv9U7iMewm7dwkYAku-cTv6XWhdVpbK7XKDHupVtUf1tHkmALgMB3XM8uGLC8Vac-AtlZ5pXF6S6Z49DpvJWr1E4eUlKGixj5aC-ySmE/s1600/2015-09-26+10.19.48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9OEB-vM3Kk5uV_radwqb24piIIrHf9Ye7Axftv9U7iMewm7dwkYAku-cTv6XWhdVpbK7XKDHupVtUf1tHkmALgMB3XM8uGLC8Vac-AtlZ5pXF6S6Z49DpvJWr1E4eUlKGixj5aC-ySmE/s400/2015-09-26+10.19.48.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our new greenhouse.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXt_XF8WDFn9TKertzKVMT6s7YrfoW_dnMZUVBPY3ahfinER_aTtJRdcwenfO56pdQTm2LNm73gR4lmTn-2xkKQzu86W8W2UyfXN-VjWiFHQBZXigulmQ33a6IwrUk9_A_8ZVB9M8VLSr/s1600/2015-10-11+14.59.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXt_XF8WDFn9TKertzKVMT6s7YrfoW_dnMZUVBPY3ahfinER_aTtJRdcwenfO56pdQTm2LNm73gR4lmTn-2xkKQzu86W8W2UyfXN-VjWiFHQBZXigulmQ33a6IwrUk9_A_8ZVB9M8VLSr/s400/2015-10-11+14.59.19.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Jonathan enjoying the river.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJuHIvbiITTJmv4vsriqR-T5cPuM3YDrIJzAF56IE8yevN55YoJ1cLelYZ8Kj4jj67mNZEGQPuNpKVZjx0ZVKeomLVzBv1AkO9CEyrJC6Uyzies5bLNZP4TlDWkpkHKpsjLn5EjQTtbzE/s1600/2015-10-12+05.48.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJuHIvbiITTJmv4vsriqR-T5cPuM3YDrIJzAF56IE8yevN55YoJ1cLelYZ8Kj4jj67mNZEGQPuNpKVZjx0ZVKeomLVzBv1AkO9CEyrJC6Uyzies5bLNZP4TlDWkpkHKpsjLn5EjQTtbzE/s400/2015-10-12+05.48.55.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical Costa Rican clothing.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_i4Y2lkpj45YyKIZQD6ev__FzjBwE4jFDcxQPK5ja4V4ywGKAy6x6rx3-NCnA4aGQOKzz0ewTS75-E89ovn18XcqzxECu0rFhEwFpSyNGOdA_KZZ1K94AUjVZI-aqsSbTgH9cL_o50L4d/s1600/2015-10-13+15.02.03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_i4Y2lkpj45YyKIZQD6ev__FzjBwE4jFDcxQPK5ja4V4ywGKAy6x6rx3-NCnA4aGQOKzz0ewTS75-E89ovn18XcqzxECu0rFhEwFpSyNGOdA_KZZ1K94AUjVZI-aqsSbTgH9cL_o50L4d/s400/2015-10-13+15.02.03.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first large family house is under construction.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMJQDFROCgW8umguiKBDuZ3hTo62bGro6T75vTgJFATMmTUe91AGOU2osRYnLqXBqGGgLriO0eAkx5gop7NPcRV2TjC1RrKFByHbZYgs6MVqmRatrVEzx_EPQ1icn08vZv1ZyHcvmzry8/s1600/2015-10-19+06.55.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMJQDFROCgW8umguiKBDuZ3hTo62bGro6T75vTgJFATMmTUe91AGOU2osRYnLqXBqGGgLriO0eAkx5gop7NPcRV2TjC1RrKFByHbZYgs6MVqmRatrVEzx_EPQ1icn08vZv1ZyHcvmzry8/s400/2015-10-19+06.55.34.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan got the perfect can from one of his sisters.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OqtU8aaG_e2cHPBDwnMgDmneb_tWcqO-PLJvt_VbVsA1bUFtP7he5lk8YjfL1j118vyfmLiOtL4QrqPjxUaVi4YIa6-f-eilvJIfZLC7P9nbbz5nU0M9dKCewi4zCo6hSR5poUYneWBH/s1600/2015-10-19+10.12.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OqtU8aaG_e2cHPBDwnMgDmneb_tWcqO-PLJvt_VbVsA1bUFtP7he5lk8YjfL1j118vyfmLiOtL4QrqPjxUaVi4YIa6-f-eilvJIfZLC7P9nbbz5nU0M9dKCewi4zCo6hSR5poUYneWBH/s400/2015-10-19+10.12.14.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snorkeling fun in Panama.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxY3OU1ERCrmizRi_1vGuxopBo7jn_KgKV1v45AaRtNEE1r7LlxeDmJARnXFqqwageV9uarCAGio6cIveBI3VlJGFY0kUNBWOC3SCrBUFYBqc2RM4PSmP6BdDJ6ECkTE77SLmp6UzXe470/s1600/2015-10-20+08.57.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxY3OU1ERCrmizRi_1vGuxopBo7jn_KgKV1v45AaRtNEE1r7LlxeDmJARnXFqqwageV9uarCAGio6cIveBI3VlJGFY0kUNBWOC3SCrBUFYBqc2RM4PSmP6BdDJ6ECkTE77SLmp6UzXe470/s400/2015-10-20+08.57.37.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisters having fun at starfish beach.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirA_BkojPZ-RC9UoZwpz0tE-5EqJc0_bUKvYdnA12ag8c6F1x3oJZiUlbuO29SPLTvy-Hj52OkefhH3PSK-KgNtg4zBcgM6URXIqr1sVhV7oNRf5ZoLhnpstpwcCbNv_JtKy1_WkHpLeq7/s1600/2015-10-20+11.11.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirA_BkojPZ-RC9UoZwpz0tE-5EqJc0_bUKvYdnA12ag8c6F1x3oJZiUlbuO29SPLTvy-Hj52OkefhH3PSK-KgNtg4zBcgM6URXIqr1sVhV7oNRf5ZoLhnpstpwcCbNv_JtKy1_WkHpLeq7/s400/2015-10-20+11.11.45.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hola amigo.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdw4UhzHxmQOSQ5JIDwAiJMKE-clqleYKkyphzPASw80IfP6xI022Id5XKpnjB0qt6-97InarL8f0Bz3XlNX8ZGzWGYtGQnibsZAmfwcKIuCGSa4NnBVFfzIgU9rzqX-W-0AXvlNXm2GW/s1600/2015-10-22+16.36.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdw4UhzHxmQOSQ5JIDwAiJMKE-clqleYKkyphzPASw80IfP6xI022Id5XKpnjB0qt6-97InarL8f0Bz3XlNX8ZGzWGYtGQnibsZAmfwcKIuCGSa4NnBVFfzIgU9rzqX-W-0AXvlNXm2GW/s400/2015-10-22+16.36.01.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first step to making chocolate.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsu9nC0BC5LAPOheLDCYeSMnz6JJmluv-3m_xa0OP-e9rHPMa6MVSUYsnOWy1aCgOfQPtinG-1Edy6LWTlbyPsrJGYTCKaxm8_ELfAGqBMGMOGmwjpt2zlh81X01icaewvxVO3pUY0Rtts/s1600/2015-11-12+15.41.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsu9nC0BC5LAPOheLDCYeSMnz6JJmluv-3m_xa0OP-e9rHPMa6MVSUYsnOWy1aCgOfQPtinG-1Edy6LWTlbyPsrJGYTCKaxm8_ELfAGqBMGMOGmwjpt2zlh81X01icaewvxVO3pUY0Rtts/s400/2015-11-12+15.41.53.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crushing the cocoa beans.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkHUBn2jAzKSwSB5HRKK6A-yVR-h-EawtrvsWC5bkZ-aOCr1VeTk_CDDmucfyNnfXMN03pySzquo-tj0sEtNnCtRJuS0n4Tquuq1wJhtyAfWy2x2pe75tCOF7bSfVEOYy5C_doZDxtYoB/s1600/2015-11-12+16.10.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkHUBn2jAzKSwSB5HRKK6A-yVR-h-EawtrvsWC5bkZ-aOCr1VeTk_CDDmucfyNnfXMN03pySzquo-tj0sEtNnCtRJuS0n4Tquuq1wJhtyAfWy2x2pe75tCOF7bSfVEOYy5C_doZDxtYoB/s400/2015-11-12+16.10.21.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Grinding the cocoa beans.<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMxQzdP9Tt8Pc4eWkqNt0lxmVJooXUrUGibRnFMTHhoacl1MycUvaXWG4NTa9NksgQamo82SsUIYhIJk2UEcoNv0DyCbnmAoCVbUY26VELYS7xB3VCprf4SZARS0qgvhQZRtQCIclqMBc/s1600/2015-11-12+16.35.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMxQzdP9Tt8Pc4eWkqNt0lxmVJooXUrUGibRnFMTHhoacl1MycUvaXWG4NTa9NksgQamo82SsUIYhIJk2UEcoNv0DyCbnmAoCVbUY26VELYS7xB3VCprf4SZARS0qgvhQZRtQCIclqMBc/s400/2015-11-12+16.35.59.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Jonathan doing the final mashing with a rock.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl14dS77bWnJxd8fDuc9ybZ5javouFbDkX9YxoG0uIThHuQ_Espa5bqJE7EQqjH9qSBN2YKF3ZRx7ZLlKmCBnUeO0gx6mjADK9IqpNyHImle4kfO-uKMrvI2muTpwf9r7gMBBDlEm5bvVr/s1600/2015-11-12+16.55.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl14dS77bWnJxd8fDuc9ybZ5javouFbDkX9YxoG0uIThHuQ_Espa5bqJE7EQqjH9qSBN2YKF3ZRx7ZLlKmCBnUeO0gx6mjADK9IqpNyHImle4kfO-uKMrvI2muTpwf9r7gMBBDlEm5bvVr/s400/2015-11-12+16.55.52.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasting the final product.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzMFZ89LpWtUBl7sGzuvwGmGIPlT5gTtiF04i1ki0MHHrFRX5LFIv9nKDkQImi0G8Jz2BaayknlVsjvWERpzJ0228xxQ4Wkotdodzvk7q1Xs4zU0LTLVEl49IZDQYI1qiHTlNBYT2gZes/s1600/2015-11-29+11.34.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzMFZ89LpWtUBl7sGzuvwGmGIPlT5gTtiF04i1ki0MHHrFRX5LFIv9nKDkQImi0G8Jz2BaayknlVsjvWERpzJ0228xxQ4Wkotdodzvk7q1Xs4zU0LTLVEl49IZDQYI1qiHTlNBYT2gZes/s400/2015-11-29+11.34.35.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Elise holding Mauricio's grand daughter.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhinEfua8GBSCuv6eioXGwXeZXi2cqz3TAFbjeoRf_-IqCKwnL7vM3R3Di9KgcOXClULBz-s5Nmr8RbzgqYt4SnHzbHVVOsx6bNYe3nW7wcQu-2L0Fz6_BvzcngN92yRE6ioFVYVWpjRw2Z/s1600/2015-10-27+18.41.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhinEfua8GBSCuv6eioXGwXeZXi2cqz3TAFbjeoRf_-IqCKwnL7vM3R3Di9KgcOXClULBz-s5Nmr8RbzgqYt4SnHzbHVVOsx6bNYe3nW7wcQu-2L0Fz6_BvzcngN92yRE6ioFVYVWpjRw2Z/s400/2015-10-27+18.41.47.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing moon rise.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr-215EQCa3sKk8OoQdS1C7emSODM0R0UujhVc8mX0h9ivf1tYKwbwc5g8E0OE2ZKfqkNnUeBsrMSRZVILBZg_fnL_iR_PwSILN8ydPrzVdLjavAcD1QkyK_fSJx18NNwbSrFOocvXTtT/s1600/2015-10-30+14.31.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr-215EQCa3sKk8OoQdS1C7emSODM0R0UujhVc8mX0h9ivf1tYKwbwc5g8E0OE2ZKfqkNnUeBsrMSRZVILBZg_fnL_iR_PwSILN8ydPrzVdLjavAcD1QkyK_fSJx18NNwbSrFOocvXTtT/s400/2015-10-30+14.31.35.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Jonathan teaching Miriam a new game.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCB_X_uZ2spL7R0tbnKRkFDGEvRdfJ-ZBbqcPfNMDmyXkCv_7Wky77E4lid5c-eKMDJdIlh2lSXpSzMCTwVvdMAb9Y8d4J_4OHBaow8EWfUsRBnFWaP1IM9FMYNDKd__u0ywmrbCRahZj/s1600/2015-11-02+11.24.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCB_X_uZ2spL7R0tbnKRkFDGEvRdfJ-ZBbqcPfNMDmyXkCv_7Wky77E4lid5c-eKMDJdIlh2lSXpSzMCTwVvdMAb9Y8d4J_4OHBaow8EWfUsRBnFWaP1IM9FMYNDKd__u0ywmrbCRahZj/s400/2015-11-02+11.24.15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halloween fun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ol9syn9kcbVlfMWnXV-CpApsM7SmY6Vuc_5o3CHdFzy1MhhJRnqK6gASLWVsXDKR0qj1ZvMBwhgUSPGDnEjhH-nQSTB3fXD_3n7LDevn0q-2s5nOW_d9yfaZE4YtBDptzY9QvcFZAyip/s1600/2015-11-04+18.43.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ol9syn9kcbVlfMWnXV-CpApsM7SmY6Vuc_5o3CHdFzy1MhhJRnqK6gASLWVsXDKR0qj1ZvMBwhgUSPGDnEjhH-nQSTB3fXD_3n7LDevn0q-2s5nOW_d9yfaZE4YtBDptzY9QvcFZAyip/s400/2015-11-04+18.43.47.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby just might follow in Aunt Katie's footsteps.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
j</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-60898068049894889962015-09-05T12:36:00.000-07:002015-09-05T12:36:06.481-07:00September 2015 update<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello friends. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow. It has been a very busy
summer between hosting teams, travelling home to CT for visit and of course,
building, building, building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBQzOwl1NHWgu01TLSMlxwGGIieAC9HY0uw-x9gnXwyPsw3tCsryrEuc-FbY8ef6VlgvJpHL0WvE4H-WuUwYhrWak_7c-0SIw8K3F8i1Ukh32hHyaCdGOT7rmHTBfsG93Httzw0NwKYwT/s1600/FB_IMG_1441481260369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBQzOwl1NHWgu01TLSMlxwGGIieAC9HY0uw-x9gnXwyPsw3tCsryrEuc-FbY8ef6VlgvJpHL0WvE4H-WuUwYhrWak_7c-0SIw8K3F8i1Ukh32hHyaCdGOT7rmHTBfsG93Httzw0NwKYwT/s320/FB_IMG_1441481260369.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The family is doing very well. The kids are enjoying school and are all
actually doing amazingly well, considering that most of the teaching is in
Spanish. Elise has made a lot of friends
and loves going to learn and socialize.
Mara, Jonathan & Abby are a little less excited about school and
would much rather be huddling together on the couch playing mine craft. Yvonne has hit a good routine of taking care
of all of us, spending time in her bible and with Rosetta Stone. She enjoys helping to host teams when they
come out to the Ranch and has started to garden and make the place look
great. And best of all, we are all
blessed to have Miriam living out here.
She is so patient and loving to all of us and a great example of
trusting in and living to serve Jesus. I
am having a great time as we are into full blown construction mode on our
house.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This first house is about 200 square meters (2,000 square
feet) and will be the model home for the rest of the construction we will be
doing here at the Children’s Ranch. Each
house will have the capacity for 8 children and one ‘Mom & Dad’ set of
foster parents. If we can quickly raise
the necessary funds to continue construction, I hope to be able to move into
the house by the end of this October. We
still need about $40,000 to finish this first house. As of this writing, I do not have any more
funds to order the next batch of materials. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ElFRgVmp6IbJyESDaRCPWZDkOwvjUdX_Flztyz9ejbZVj_bTPAdpHeCBMVRujXHRiRXbs7wrHhEDtF7u04Ba7DKnK-HVYEjywoE9_wFN3VvwOkBaWkm4LpaZH0eJEFMqGS86A47muEkx/s1600/2015-09-04+15.01.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ElFRgVmp6IbJyESDaRCPWZDkOwvjUdX_Flztyz9ejbZVj_bTPAdpHeCBMVRujXHRiRXbs7wrHhEDtF7u04Ba7DKnK-HVYEjywoE9_wFN3VvwOkBaWkm4LpaZH0eJEFMqGS86A47muEkx/s320/2015-09-04+15.01.21.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMnabr5npUUKXcMJxO9fWJy1cuucfoU-8q2tnhjBwqXXggMai8UMznCVw8sO8tIq2lz3546vEESvszrWpWEEzJ6Bl5CiAJiVYKz8iIgRhSz_WWHCndW2LhShrL7zRyauECsHXpMwGg__y/s1600/2015-09-01+17.14.02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMnabr5npUUKXcMJxO9fWJy1cuucfoU-8q2tnhjBwqXXggMai8UMznCVw8sO8tIq2lz3546vEESvszrWpWEEzJ6Bl5CiAJiVYKz8iIgRhSz_WWHCndW2LhShrL7zRyauECsHXpMwGg__y/s320/2015-09-01+17.14.02.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am certain that this project is part of God’s plan for some of His
most special children here in Costa Rica.
I am also certain that God’s timing is far superior to my plans. Either He is telling me to take some time off
from construction to focus on my family and making more relationships in the
local community, or He is looking for me to completely trust in His
provision. I have about 2 weeks worth of
work that I can do on the house without spending much more money, at the end of
which I will have to determine how to proceed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our family has been extremely blessed by the generosity of
our family and friends and churches and we have had enough money every months
to pay our bills and continue with our ministry. We hope that everyone knows how appreciative
we are for that support and how much we recognize the sacrifice that this is
for each of our donors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would like to issue a challenge to everyone that reads this
blog. Please consider how you might be
able to help support this very worthy project.
Perhaps you have the resources to personally send our ministry a tax-deductible
donation to continue construction.
Perhaps you feel compelled to band together with a group of folks and
try to raise some money to help. Every
bit helps and every bit is needed. I
have a page on the ministry website that breaks down the cost of building one
of these houses. Please visit <a href="http://68ministries.org/our-mission/living-waters-childrens-ranch/promo-video/">http://68ministries.org/our-mission/living-waters-childrens-ranch/promo-video/</a>
to see this detail and much more information about the Ranch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The leaders of our ministry have met and we have decided
that we should have at least two families, preferably three, living in homes at
the Ranch before we start taking in children.
We can build a house in 4 months if we have the funds. How amazing would it be for us to raise the
$160,000 that we will need to get to that point to start radically blessing
these children?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you have any questions or comments please send me an
email to <a href="mailto:rob@68ministries.com">rob@68ministries.com</a> I would love to hear from you and perhaps
discuss how you can come down and check out what we are going first hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happily Serving,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rob Wutka<o:p></o:p></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-52640309580084503132015-06-13T08:45:00.000-07:002015-06-13T08:45:22.070-07:00We are coming home for a visit!!<div class="MsoNormal">
I was just reviewing our blog to see how much we need to
fill you all in on with our work here in Costa Rica. Have we really not blogged
in over 2 months?? We are so sorry. I usually blog on things of a more personal
nature and Rob usually blogs about the Ranch so this time you are going to get
a mixture of both of us blogging. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First off, we would like to let everyone know that we have
generously been gifted with plane tickets to come home to CT on June 25<sup>th</sup>.
We need to do yet another visa reset trip and since the kids have a few weeks
off from school at that time we decided that this would be a great opportunity
to travel to the States. This is, however, a very busy time for the ministry
since many people are on summer vacation and willing to do some mission work.
We have several building teams coming down to help out at the Children’s Ranch
so Rob will only be in the States for one week. The rest of us have the
blessing of being able to stay until July 23<sup>rd</sup>. We are hoping to
have the opportunity to meet with all of our supporting churches and
individuals while we are here so PLEASE CONTACT US via email or this blog to
let us know when you’d like to get together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon after we booked our plane tickets, we were taking yet
another one and a half hour trip from our apartment in the city to the ranch
and the kids started talking about the things that they miss from the United
States. Here are some of the things that were mentioned: our cousins, my
friends, bestamore’s strawberry jam, ice cream at Nana’s every hour, Pop pop’s
French toast, Norwegian foods, ice cream (it’s just not the same here), our
house, our front porch, having my own room, my stuffed animals, my games that
we didn’t bring, TV in English, School in English, gymnastics, horseback
riding, basketball, baseball, getting to walk down the street without an adult,
shopping at the mall with friends and no adult, riding my bike/scooter, cold
weather, hot showers, reliable internet, a reliable car that doesn’t break down
every 2 weeks, being able to order food and have the waitress understand us,
good service at restaurants, being able to pay the bills on line or through the
mail…then it got quiet. We were all lost in what we had before we moved to
Costa Rica. Then one of the kids said, “Wow! We were really spoiled in the
United States weren’t we?” Then someone else said, “Yeah, but we’re doing fine
without all that stuff.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Music to a parent’s ears. The realization that we really had
much more than we needed and that material things aren’t really as important as
we thought they were in the moment. The conversation then changed to all the
stories we will have to tell like…the tucans that ate from the papaya tree
outside the team house, scarlet macaws flying over at school, the sloth that
hung out at school, the gigantic frogs, giant iguanas, snake eggs that look
like jelly beans, swimming in the river, our dog Sadie that just showed up at
our house and never left, playing with the kids at the feeding center, learning
Spanish in a Spanish speaking school, the herd of horses that grazed in our
yard and tried to get into our house, living in one room has helped us to do
more stuff together, all the different people that we’ve met from mission teams
that come down, being encouraged by those teams, prayer walks through town,
stopping at a stranger’s house to pray for them and being invited in to have
fresco y arroz con leche (fresh squeezed fruit juice and rice pudding),
discovering that my problems are nothing in comparison, the smile on Miriam’s
face when she moved into the cabin we built for her, playing games on Miriam’s
front porch, Miriam’s homemade popsicles!
You get the point. We all love that Miriam has moved onto the ranch with
us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwu8yqDVfqYoT2BA2w8xHzJ1xvw1AnpxDNJy3UxnnBQl8j8X3HZBQZQIfB4RY-87MuVLjrhxNxIJGENmse1vlarPrydfNrWtiCwlzs_F9MKcH6aiqZCn5jrpD61b3e76p_gkdSL8POv-8/s1600/20150611_140953+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwu8yqDVfqYoT2BA2w8xHzJ1xvw1AnpxDNJy3UxnnBQl8j8X3HZBQZQIfB4RY-87MuVLjrhxNxIJGENmse1vlarPrydfNrWtiCwlzs_F9MKcH6aiqZCn5jrpD61b3e76p_gkdSL8POv-8/s320/20150611_140953+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As much as we miss Connecticut, we have really had a very
enriching experience here in Costa Rica. We have been so busy at the Ranch. We
finished the temporary shed that we mentioned in our “God’s Abundant Love”
blog. Then we started on a cabin for Miriam. She is a Costa Rican woman who has
been cooking and cleaning with our ministry since it was founded and another
mission organization before that. She retired about a year ago, but because of her amazing servant heart, she continues to help us out when teams come down. We promised her
that we would take care of her in her retirement so we built her a cabin to
live in at the Ranch. She will be the Ranch ‘Abuela’ for all the children that
we have living here. She has already made quite an impact on our kids in the 3
weeks she has been living here. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU41gzxvwlyKRfMTfivaNTNiAj6tcJ6HeF1TGfFu-sBBW618VBGhVIEl0V8iFbFL66vara5s7Tx1OL-t8k4e1w4vRne5mym1J1tNR2Ra4TQi8whEuya4F_rVcO7JB8krj6TTaYe914xQo/s1600/20150612_064053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcU41gzxvwlyKRfMTfivaNTNiAj6tcJ6HeF1TGfFu-sBBW618VBGhVIEl0V8iFbFL66vara5s7Tx1OL-t8k4e1w4vRne5mym1J1tNR2Ra4TQi8whEuya4F_rVcO7JB8krj6TTaYe914xQo/s320/20150612_064053.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We are in the process of building a barn/shed
for the tractor that the ministry recently raised all the funds for.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxWxek9rI3lhmcEHxOL-OYInnbqaGVm58FKae-r82NF7cJTTt1z0cnChXVBDKyduw4uThHWFlH3VTGhpJRwWaxgSxIn7lCxRLKUOut0Tzfg2ztlhC8Y6NhKdFdt8Y9_G7V0sWgoCVwZew/s1600/metal+garage+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxWxek9rI3lhmcEHxOL-OYInnbqaGVm58FKae-r82NF7cJTTt1z0cnChXVBDKyduw4uThHWFlH3VTGhpJRwWaxgSxIn7lCxRLKUOut0Tzfg2ztlhC8Y6NhKdFdt8Y9_G7V0sWgoCVwZew/s320/metal+garage+%25282%2529.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
We are so
excited to soon have this machine that will help us greatly in construction and also in taming the jungle. We hope to break
ground on the first family house (Our House!) in about 2 weeks. There has been
a lot of red tape with getting approvals with the town and raising funds from
the States. We are stepping out in faith that God will provide all that we need
for the next project. This has certainly been a year of discovering that God’s
timing truly is perfect and that he really does provide exactly what we need
not a moment sooner than we need it.Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-36993887463065825922015-03-31T09:09:00.002-07:002015-03-31T09:10:52.764-07:00Semana Santa, Holy Week<div class="MsoNormal">
Semana Santa, Holy Week<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who knew that a morning of exploring Panama’s coast and
waterways for wildlife, turtles, and manatees would be a perfect reminder of
why we celebrate Semana Santa.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Our residency was supposed to go through by the end of last
week so that we would no longer have to leave the country for a 3 day visa
reset trip. It didn’t go through so we found ourselves planning a last minute
trip to Panama. The trip down to Panama was uneventful and amazingly beautiful
as we had not been to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica yet. The road to Panama traveled along the
Caribbean Ocean and the thousands of acres of banana plantations. It was beautiful. Crossing the border was
much easier since we had done a border crossing before and know a bit more
Spanish this time. We have also gotten used to scary, rickety bridges in Costa
Rica, so walking over a bridge that had holes in it big enough for Abby to fall
through wasn’t quite as concerning.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcPeF3yl2JHxXl-MLIqjBUDPJgvZud1cIYiqMjAzyUC8eeT7BmX2HqZNblnRAUHypHPSD24vM6f7HW_aPA94RMVNEha2RA8InptNStNFIuKO_5kGAiNt5WNTAM5fK7Ozxq3EVcWO_gqKm/s1600/20150330_143529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcPeF3yl2JHxXl-MLIqjBUDPJgvZud1cIYiqMjAzyUC8eeT7BmX2HqZNblnRAUHypHPSD24vM6f7HW_aPA94RMVNEha2RA8InptNStNFIuKO_5kGAiNt5WNTAM5fK7Ozxq3EVcWO_gqKm/s1600/20150330_143529.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqU-Wfhd-hRxB91IgAR18YakpEYe5T19OZ2n6pptMBJDCL3RadJJH9zG2DmeB9VFKJOALTcythfH-Qmaw1_pTjfsMNLHIjolhMdOgxL9LoS1qVf4xJ4wf2V3QW2Asu2cd6oZshSRk5dnl0/s1600/20150330_141837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqU-Wfhd-hRxB91IgAR18YakpEYe5T19OZ2n6pptMBJDCL3RadJJH9zG2DmeB9VFKJOALTcythfH-Qmaw1_pTjfsMNLHIjolhMdOgxL9LoS1qVf4xJ4wf2V3QW2Asu2cd6oZshSRk5dnl0/s1600/20150330_141837.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><br />
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Our first full day in Panama, we decided to do something
that we would never be able to do in Connecticut. We went on a tour to see
manatees and turtles. We took a boat ride out to the manatee ‘blind’ but before
we got there we stopped by to say hello to the sloths. They were difficult to
get a good picture of but that was very cool to see. We have a picture of the
‘blind’ or like one of the kids said, “Cool! A tree fort,” where we observed
the manatees. When we arrived, we unloaded our cooler with lunches packed and
watched below as a man tied up banana leaves and a hand of bananas which hung
just at the surface of the water. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygviBWUnPvyt4-EzW02kxU5rfCORoTV0447DZVwJYpchE_1_lMuGy1vlFaLdqy4VFIYrKGuwYMSR2wIUjbQBKMgkxBs9U1hMdfMbezuZBUL4mF9JnLuGsF3FHrYu_Lcd1uaJoefDVDIjG/s1600/20150330_102015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygviBWUnPvyt4-EzW02kxU5rfCORoTV0447DZVwJYpchE_1_lMuGy1vlFaLdqy4VFIYrKGuwYMSR2wIUjbQBKMgkxBs9U1hMdfMbezuZBUL4mF9JnLuGsF3FHrYu_Lcd1uaJoefDVDIjG/s1600/20150330_102015.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScc577MuK77nHPlllr9x-5egndyyEEZsGz36QM8zKIxTOybHBTP_xmhIAZMEoSfYyhwLV94PfsyvVH2ol1zvvfugZv_hBbWgc0VmPb08FhrHwFZjpevxYL-xzsXczuCyMnofn5QIbsrze/s1600/20150330_102415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScc577MuK77nHPlllr9x-5egndyyEEZsGz36QM8zKIxTOybHBTP_xmhIAZMEoSfYyhwLV94PfsyvVH2ol1zvvfugZv_hBbWgc0VmPb08FhrHwFZjpevxYL-xzsXczuCyMnofn5QIbsrze/s1600/20150330_102415.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging the bananas and leaves.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then we waited… and waited..and waited. The
kids wondered how long it would take. “Well, the brochure said the tour is
about 5 hours and since it took us 30 minutes to get to the tree fort, my guess
is about 4 hours.”<br />
<br />
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“What!?!?!?!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh, did we forget to tell you that part?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTlLOSchj8fp9Aa8jx2HAKiVKq0Nb1oNliKrLGaPJyq7KNEar8CZOSzPk0pZgLLSPodXNbclmjNadWNMUMNFjQSsoT1Msr6WDcUpt_bYFMhfnUEjQrDxjMxQ9daAimCq2r8xqKMSbD5Vh/s1600/20150330_111347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghTlLOSchj8fp9Aa8jx2HAKiVKq0Nb1oNliKrLGaPJyq7KNEar8CZOSzPk0pZgLLSPodXNbclmjNadWNMUMNFjQSsoT1Msr6WDcUpt_bYFMhfnUEjQrDxjMxQ9daAimCq2r8xqKMSbD5Vh/s1600/20150330_111347.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laying around waiting.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYiqLLku9vxylfxc_9f2lujSML6F3DpCFxuepzVEvtKzcjiw0OLQcWlepgQk7wXEHoLFkxjjogmB0udFmOxIpL1SaRvVxwh1arBzjdCAur3-jQ-Eaaxpwd-ZiMC53s17H-x5PwMTQE5zf/s1600/20150330_113214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYiqLLku9vxylfxc_9f2lujSML6F3DpCFxuepzVEvtKzcjiw0OLQcWlepgQk7wXEHoLFkxjjogmB0udFmOxIpL1SaRvVxwh1arBzjdCAur3-jQ-Eaaxpwd-ZiMC53s17H-x5PwMTQE5zf/s1600/20150330_113214.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the Manatees.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZ-CioHvHBQQQ9nebS5-UY7auPxA3ZGY0IkNPFw-jyp1u8qZoWdJ6QKb9DU3vuiA21o4NSx3c4mdpwa42oxupdyvIo_0y083WI8NShJRpGnMsB8-VseOUJr-G_Qkx9-ntcQgbz0mLXFmm/s1600/20150330_113127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZ-CioHvHBQQQ9nebS5-UY7auPxA3ZGY0IkNPFw-jyp1u8qZoWdJ6QKb9DU3vuiA21o4NSx3c4mdpwa42oxupdyvIo_0y083WI8NShJRpGnMsB8-VseOUJr-G_Qkx9-ntcQgbz0mLXFmm/s1600/20150330_113127.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ground when Rob got up. It was very hot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBYsjGULBBXEMJLP2P17KdZ06MV_pZg5iXujArA5_tCGu_Ok_uyLXB-59L9mxpQxbdI_nEhu2VRXyZ0kRVT1rmYdg_6I6T1iuzF6pNWm2f9MA7WxM2C3FbWYTHF5W8o1UdarRS-CH4okK/s1600/20150330_125249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBYsjGULBBXEMJLP2P17KdZ06MV_pZg5iXujArA5_tCGu_Ok_uyLXB-59L9mxpQxbdI_nEhu2VRXyZ0kRVT1rmYdg_6I6T1iuzF6pNWm2f9MA7WxM2C3FbWYTHF5W8o1UdarRS-CH4okK/s1600/20150330_125249.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCotzU0RHFqkDvSrVwHvBujxnHyuGFNh_OO_3u2klcWPSLKWR1JV1UeWpQ5hnwVluOoyTo3UZypEQRmOBJlwgFGrd1EfcXf7VSd5S5k8rFSY6nBlR-XySnQB7fFkYXGfNehDf_jZPRBMN/s1600/20150330_105121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCotzU0RHFqkDvSrVwHvBujxnHyuGFNh_OO_3u2klcWPSLKWR1JV1UeWpQ5hnwVluOoyTo3UZypEQRmOBJlwgFGrd1EfcXf7VSd5S5k8rFSY6nBlR-XySnQB7fFkYXGfNehDf_jZPRBMN/s1600/20150330_105121.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>So, the kids sat and watched the water for a while. Then
they went to the back side and watched the trees for interesting birds, then
started scrolling through pictures on ipod touches and phones. Anything to pass
the time quietly. Finally, after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, everyone seemed
to succumb to the waiting. The restlessness dissolved and everyone became very
quiet, laying on the platform, and listening to the beautiful sounds of nature.
I enjoyed about 15 minutes of this silence until we heard the crunch of a
manatee nibbling on a banana leaf. Coolest thing ever to watch these huge
mammals gracefully move around underwater cautiously poking their noses out of
the water before eating the snack we left out for them. The smallest noise
would startle them and cause a big splash. Mara and I even saw a turtle swim by
but didn’t have our cameras ready to get a picture.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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The experience of waiting for manatees reminded me of our
relationship with God. We want to hear Him speak to us. And we think that we
are “waiting” to hear from God and in the process we are keeping ourselves busy
or distracted to help the time go by more bearably and yet nothing
happens. He is silent. It isn’t until we
succumb to the waiting and become totally quiet and still before Him that we get
what we are waiting for, a sense of His presence and to hear Him speak to us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhE3DLIMl_5Rs7k2aTZ-XVTR3LGxiOQLC9TzN16dl-zma_Kf6sfMLHkC9n1mvL9DmxMczoKZ2Cdn9q_nK6I8XMdAp0AiBevHwFFTUX8yvg7Ov16nliUQol5mTPA_8Btsgq31YYoX8Y7qb/s1600/20150330_132003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhE3DLIMl_5Rs7k2aTZ-XVTR3LGxiOQLC9TzN16dl-zma_Kf6sfMLHkC9n1mvL9DmxMczoKZ2Cdn9q_nK6I8XMdAp0AiBevHwFFTUX8yvg7Ov16nliUQol5mTPA_8Btsgq31YYoX8Y7qb/s1600/20150330_132003.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSsS7ESYIf_KKHHei4Ru-TedHa6YCHKl6tHhyphenhyphengYQlqkjUzcisNPZS_CQBYn_4HdAm20sl1hWw-rMB39yjaxYAGcIofKAA3D41dDCG5dmD3E2z2W_5QStn55hfTB75Q3nB-lDNcgPaGPvT/s1600/20150330_131902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSsS7ESYIf_KKHHei4Ru-TedHa6YCHKl6tHhyphenhyphengYQlqkjUzcisNPZS_CQBYn_4HdAm20sl1hWw-rMB39yjaxYAGcIofKAA3D41dDCG5dmD3E2z2W_5QStn55hfTB75Q3nB-lDNcgPaGPvT/s1600/20150330_131902.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool kids.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Right now we are celebrating Semana Santa, Holy Week, a time
to remember. In Costa Rica, the children are off from school and many
businesses are closed. This is a full week of celebrating and partying. My
understanding is that it is mostly a week of partying and the true reason for
the holiday has been lost. Remembering the last week of Christ’s life. The week
where he was welcomed into Jerusalem with palm branches and praises as he
entered riding a donkey and it ended with his betrayal and crucifixion. He went
to temple and drove out the money changers and began teaching every day.Each
day the Pharisees, Sadducees, and chief priests tried to trap Jesus with their
questions and each day Jesus outwitted them with his answers. Jesus was very
bold in his preaching knowing that it would lead to his torture and crucifixion
by the end of the week. Yet He still did it because of his obedience to God and
His great love for us. What an amazing Gift He has given us.The chance at a
personal relationship with him. The least we can do is take some time this week
to remember all that He has done for us. I would love to challenge each of you
to take some time this week to remember exactly what it is we are celebrating
this Easter.Maybe read the last 6 chapters of Luke, or watch one of the many
movies about the Passion of Christ, attending many of your church’s services or
activities that have been planned, or maybe taking time in your “manatee blind”
to get quiet and still before the Lord and listen to Him speak to you. Whatever
you decide to do, our prayer for you this Easter season is that you experience
a closeness to our Savior like you have never experienced before.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_mbFYxQ1lMPRYFF5gzgMIulFmQU0QG9HZ75VMxCFsp7EAeDyx0-IyTdAA3yDlgMOwVaF2j73o7C9G4L6laJPJIpicT-xtjKcGIpQQlWzA5UFJ17ZLVPvgVDTGwRg5Az0e4lRfKQamDdtc/s1600/20150330_130843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_mbFYxQ1lMPRYFF5gzgMIulFmQU0QG9HZ75VMxCFsp7EAeDyx0-IyTdAA3yDlgMOwVaF2j73o7C9G4L6laJPJIpicT-xtjKcGIpQQlWzA5UFJ17ZLVPvgVDTGwRg5Az0e4lRfKQamDdtc/s1600/20150330_130843.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle egg huts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7cTbOVA4X4VUTceMPiqg8Clcc5mK1ZFE6ibqXX4K-BEIk2FwKVIGlQeF5ZlR7UYXxzMojVJevcXFofYIsJpnle3rl7uNXNoIOQ3K0UE4AB1hJpv-E3ph6AJdRVA-E2hAHL_LpqEe9JxW/s1600/20150330_131844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7cTbOVA4X4VUTceMPiqg8Clcc5mK1ZFE6ibqXX4K-BEIk2FwKVIGlQeF5ZlR7UYXxzMojVJevcXFofYIsJpnle3rl7uNXNoIOQ3K0UE4AB1hJpv-E3ph6AJdRVA-E2hAHL_LpqEe9JxW/s1600/20150330_131844.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing in the ocean near the turtle tracks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After our unexpected time of tranquility with the
manatees, we headed out to the beach and we saw where the turtles had laid some
eggs. The conservationists put protective netting around the eggs to keep wild
animals away. They had another lookout spot there where you could camp out all
night and hope that some turtles showed up to lay eggs but we felt that we
pushed our luck with the kids already once today and wouldn’t try an all-nighter,
waiting for turtles. We got to see turtle tracks and the spots where they laid
the eggs. Good enough. They will be
hatching in 2 months. Maybe we’ll try it then.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bTmkmtbyFh15LmRqDUD8WOXrySXHc4QzRF0qJopUE3zaOUyNjivuFTHAEyb0SgOoExnIj-iPqtoN6wdTF69RhgYkfq9ahC2XpZxD8GZKAiU4Jsss7tL_6JDtqyNblvuPwbzLZ3PvbccC/s1600/20150330_134147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bTmkmtbyFh15LmRqDUD8WOXrySXHc4QzRF0qJopUE3zaOUyNjivuFTHAEyb0SgOoExnIj-iPqtoN6wdTF69RhgYkfq9ahC2XpZxD8GZKAiU4Jsss7tL_6JDtqyNblvuPwbzLZ3PvbccC/s1600/20150330_134147.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crabs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the way back we saw many types of birds, some crabs, as
well as some very cool vegetation and beautiful flowers. I’ve had a lot of fun
walking around and taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers. One more full
day in Panama, and then we head back to celebrate Easter with our 6:8 Family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have a Happy Easter everyone!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God Bless,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS0W7hi2ICZOHHQnZv1HLFTqGudr93I4DZ3J6Y_NF77VbuRO1Ufyr7EgBKl8znzmYx_BdTO0kVyNoTErWmFMBtaI0QLAMHA4nzDp7zLCxpK1IHyAEN8ZhAW1vtrQJpCXC-g0X5Gom4u0ND/s1600/20150330_144018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
Yvonne<br />
<br />
Cool Trees...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTOGD8evzU3oMwgszLZ-yHO7JKuxqsjzlqzDn4JmAriC1kCfDlOaLlFzNwScwdlAbU0WvELEeGhtAl5Ux8EXjOpRyOM_v_ybZ6XikXUgzFfn-72d10IqswYkZ3vT31HF06bOlj8lgfi9_/s1600/20150330_144854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTOGD8evzU3oMwgszLZ-yHO7JKuxqsjzlqzDn4JmAriC1kCfDlOaLlFzNwScwdlAbU0WvELEeGhtAl5Ux8EXjOpRyOM_v_ybZ6XikXUgzFfn-72d10IqswYkZ3vT31HF06bOlj8lgfi9_/s1600/20150330_144854.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passion flower: named after the passion of Christ.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many of you have heard that we brought Rob into the
Emergency room on Sunday evening due to some severe headaches that he had been
having. Since we thought it was sinus related, he self-medicated with antibiotics.
Since that did nothing to relieve the pressure, we brought him to the hospital.
The doctor was very concerned with the vomiting and this being “the worst
headache of his life.” She took a cat scan that came back completely normal but
his blood tests showed unusually high white blood cell count which indicated
meningitis which is swelling of the brain and spinal fluid. They took a spinal
tap to confirm this but admitted him to the hospital until they could confirm
if it was viral or bacterial. Because of taking antibiotics, the doctors were
concerned that it was skewing the test results to show it as a viral infection
instead of bacterial. After three days the doctor was confident that it was
only a viral infection and released him Wednesday morning. Rob is feeling a lot
better and the rest of the family is well. The doctor indicated that this was
likely caused by the stomach bug that the family has been passing around the
last couple of weeks. He said it manifests itself differently in everyone and
it just happened to make its way to Rob’s brain. He had no concerns about the
health of the rest of the family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are so thankful for your prayers and notes of encouragement.
We would like continued prayer as we deal with getting reimbursed by our
international insurance company for Rob’s 3 day “spa getaway.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Once again, God’s amazing grace and provision has been
evident. On Friday, we set out for our 2 hour drive back to the city through
the winding roads of the rain-forest where there are no gas stations for over 50
kilometers. The 24 year old SUV started acting up and stalling out whenever we
shifted gears. We nursed it along praying that we could make it home to our
mechanic but it stalled out and wouldn't restart when we were very close to
home. Rob was able to let it coast onto a side road where it died. The oil gauge
indicated no oil. Fortunately, there was a man selling trinkets at that corner
who happened to speak some English. He was very helpful in directing Rob to a
location where he could get oil. While he ran the 2 miles to get oil, I sat in
the car with the kids and dog and a couple of nice men offered to push the car
to a location out of the way of traffic and took a look at the engine. The man didn't
see how oil was the issue but unable to communicate with me, he went on his
way. Rob came back with the oil, filled her up, she started and we made it back
to the condo with plans on bringing it to the mechanic in the morning. Come
morning, she would not start so some Tico friends gave him a tow to the
mechanic. That means a strap tied from their truck hitch to our SUV. Hmmmmm.
Terrifying. The mechanic fixed a $24 part in the electrical system. Nothing to
do with the oil. It should have never started up for us after Rob added oil but
God was helping us out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all was settled with the Vehicle, Rob’s headache
started ramping up. We were supposed to start back to the Ranch on Sunday
afternoon around 3pm but decided to let Rob try to sleep it off and leave at
5am Monday to get the kids to school on time. God gave us that wisdom so that we
were able to get him to the near bye hospital which happened to be the best in
the country. God made sure that we had a functioning vehicle to bring him there
and he provided us with a built in babysitter with Jaylyn staying with us for
the weekend at our condo. It gave us peace of mind to know that there was an
adult home with the kids and there was no rush for me to leave Rob at the
hospital. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Through it all, Rob’s workers were able to continue to get
work done at the ranch while he was laid up and we now have the ranch houses
wired with enough power to install the oven and dryer. We have decided to stay
at the ranch this weekend to prepare for the team that is arriving on Monday,
and hopefully have some relaxing family time. Please pray for Rob to continue
to build his strength and not to overdo it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In His grip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yvonne</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-57241324697159315822015-03-02T19:41:00.000-08:002015-03-02T20:09:37.604-08:00God's abundant Love<div class="MsoNormal">
This afternoon I brought the kids up the river a little ways
to a spot where there is small alcove where the water pools up and it is very
calm and safe for swimming. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I sat on the edge of the river I thought of how
many thousands of gallons of water rush past Living Waters Children’s Ranch
each day and how there seems to be no end to the water supply. It reminded me
of a song that I learned as a child from the musical “I am God’s Project”. The
Lyrics to the song go like this…<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Give your candy bar to me<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>That’s the last of it you’ll see<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Love is just the opposite<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>You can’t give too much of it.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>G.L.Y.S.D.I God Loves You And So Do I<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Pass it around it will come back to you.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The river is an excellent reminder of God’s abundant love
for us and how through Him we too have an abundance of love to share with
others. This is what we strive to do
here at 6:8 Ministries and what we have begun doing here at the Children’s
Ranch. We moved onto the Ranch almost full time the first week of
February. We live there on weekdays and
travel back to the city on weekends to help with the Saturday feeding center
and anything else they need our help with. The children started school at Green
Valley Bi-Lingual School on February 9<sup>th</sup>, the first day of the
school year in Costa Rica. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a rough first couple of weeks since Spanish
is spoken 80 percent of the time. They
have begun to make some friends and are getting used to the rapid Spanish that
is spoken all day long. The kids are learning new words and phrases every day
and I am a little jealous that they will be fluent in Spanish before long. I
have to say that we are quite proud of the kids for sticking with it and really
trying their best to follow along and achieve. Thank you all for your prayers.
We feel them and are encouraged by them.<br />
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<br /></div>
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Last week was a very exciting week for us with 4 visitors
from Connecticut. Jaylyn, from our home church Valley Brook Community Church
began interning for us here at 6:8 Ministries. <o:p></o:p></div>
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She just finished up a 6 month training in Costa Rica with YWAM and
decided to spend 2 months serving with us before going back to CT and preparing
for College. We are so excited and blessed to have her. Our friend Ellie, from
our home town has been serving with YWAM in Costa Rica for the last 18 months,
came to visit us with her father, Kevin.<br />
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It was so great to see old friends and
reminisce. Abby’s grandmother, Judy, also visited with us for the week. <br />
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We have
been looking forward to this visit since she booked the tickets last Summer. It
looks like she picked the perfect time with record low temperatures and record high
snowfalls in Connecticut this winter. While it was a vacation for her relaxing
in the river and soaking up the sun, she also spent a lot of time helping us
out with staining trim boards, cooking meals, and spending time with her
granddaughter. We really appreciated her visit and Abby especially enjoyed the
special time she got to spend with her Grandma. <br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two weeks ago we began laying the foundation for a building
that we will first use as a much needed shed since all of our tools, and
supplies were stored in the kitchen. This building will eventually serve as a
guard house for security once the Ranch is up and running. Thanks to our Tico workers
and our CT friends, we are amazed to say that we completed the building last
Thursday and moved all of the tools, lawnmower, weed wackers, wood, etc. out of
the kitchen and into the shed. Yay God! The
kitchen staff will be so excited when they see it!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God has been so good! We continue to be amazed and blessed
to see how God provides exactly what we need in the moment that we need it. Our
latest little God moment happened last Monday morning when we woke up to
yelping outside. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We went out to find a puppy on our porch. Nobody knows where
it came from and none of our neighbors admit to dropping her off. The puppy
appears to be a mix of German Shepherd and an unknown other breed. The God
thing is that Rob and I have been promising the kids a dog for years and said
once we move onto the Ranch we will get one. Well, last weekend we decided to
seriously start looking for a large dog that would serve as a guard dog and we
specifically mentioned a German Shepherd. It looks like this puppy made our
search easy. She found us and she seems to be a perfect fit. She has shown her
protective characteristics, by barking and letting us know when people come
onto the property but is very patient and gentle with the kids. She stuck
around all week so we decided to take her home to the city with us over the
weekend and bring her to a Vet. Sadie is now on a vaccination schedule and we
are claiming her as our own.<br />
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<br /></div>
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Prayer requests:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Please continue to pray for the kids and their adjustment to
a mainly Spanish speaking school. Pray that God would give them a supernatural
understanding of the language. Rob and I could use a little of that prayer too<span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></li>
<li>Please also pray for us as we move forward with construction
on the Ranch. Much prayer is needed as
we continue to work with the municipality and try to get through the red tape
in order to get the permits necessary for building the family houses that will
eventually house the foster/orphan children and their host families.</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Praise:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>God’s abundant love.</li>
<li>That the kids are adjusting remarkably well to their new
school.</li>
<li>For our visitors from Connecticut.</li>
<li>For the completion of our much needed shed!!!</li>
<li>For all the stars in the sky that are now appearing at the ranch (see post from September 29, 2014)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Serving Him.</div>
<div>
Yvonne</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-80243665445223044152015-01-25T07:28:00.000-08:002015-01-25T07:28:23.395-08:00December and January recap<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello friends. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sorry
it has been so long between blog posts.
It is not for lack of exciting things to talk about. Let me do my best to catch you all up on the
last 2 months.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christmas – We were not planning on going back to the states
for Christmas this year. Between the
cost of flights and all the preparations we needed to do down here to get ready
or the first mission teams in January, it did not seem possible. It turns out that most of the Costa Rica
shuts down for much of December and airfare dropped significantly at the last
minute. We also confirmed that our
application for residency is going slower than promised so we would need to
reset our visas in the first week of January anyway. Taking all that into consideration, and a 2x4
upside the head by the Holy Spirit saying that I needed to give the kids and
Yvonne some much needed time with family, I booked tickets and we made a ‘surprise’
trip home on December 18<sup>th</sup>.
We were home for 10 days and it was wonderful. Relaxing, full of family and friends, and
most importantly - completely unplugged from home schooling!! The kids got to surprise many of their
cousins when they got off the school bus on Friday the 19<sup>th</sup>. Hartland school is also awesome. Yvonne contacted the principle prior to our
arrival and they invited all the kids in to spend a day with their friends at
school just before the Christmas break.
We stayed with Yvonne’s parents and got to attend Valley Brook for both
Sundays that we were home. We also were
able to hit some of the Christmas parties and events from church which allowed
us to catch up with many of our brothers and sisters in Christ. I have to give a huge thanks to my folks who
helped significantly with our airfare.
To sum it all up, it was a perfect trip to end our first 6 months on the
mission field.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Residency – We have officially started the process but it is
a very slow one indeed. We are applying as
officers of a corporation. Our mission
organization does business under two different names down here. Everything is done correctly, but we need to
go through the process of combining both entities under one name. Once that happens, it should be smooth
sailing for our residency. It was
necessary to reset our visas again in early January so that was one of the
factors that had us take a Christmas trip to Connecticut.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ranch Progress & Move – The two team houses at the ranch
are now complete!! We have enough room
to comfortable host groups of 30 people at one time. We have also been creative in the layout and
have found a way for my family to move into one of the three ‘bunk rooms’, and
still have room to host our scheduled teams this spring. We are planning to move out to the ranch by
the end of January. We will stay there
during the week and come back to Alajuelita on most weekends to help with
ministry. We have also finally had
success in finding an architect that sees our vision and is working well with
us. Over the next few weeks we hope to
have the blueprints on the family houses and to get permits to start
construction. We decided that I needed
to be out there full time in order to keep things moving smoothly and to also
provide security. Most theft and crime
is down here is one of opportunity. Just
having activity and my family onsite should be a huge deterrent to anyone
thinking of breaking in and stealing stuff from the team houses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Teams – After several months off from teams we have hosted
our first 2 in January already. And they
have been awesome! Copiague Christian
Church from Long Island NY brought a team of 14 down for their inaugural visit
to Costa Rica and 6:8 Ministries. This church
is led by Paul Vaccaro, who happens to be Yvonne’s uncle. This church is also one of our family’s
supporting churches and we were so honored to have them come and check out the
ministry. It was an absolutely amazing
and Spirit filled week of playing with kids and working hard at the ranch. This team was exactly what we needed, not
only for their help with the ministry but also for their encouragement of the
staff and our family. (And remember,
although there is an ‘i’ in Copiague, there is no ‘I’ in them). We are also about to say goodbye to an 8
person team from Mandarin Presbyterian Church from Jacksonville FL. This has been another awesome team full of
encouragement and complete dedication to serving the kids and the building
process.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
School – After 6 often trying months of home schooling we
have decided to enroll the kids in a local school at by the ranch. This has been a difficult subject because the
local schools are 100% Spanish speaking and we know that would have been very
difficult and scary for the kids.
Through God’s provision, we found a bi-lingual school about 15 minutes
away from the ranch that all 4 kids can attend.
I say God’s provision because we had heard a rumor of such a school but
could not find it. Last week when we
were about to leave for the ranch there was a large land slide that closed our
normal route over the mountain. We
decided to go anyway and took the 3 hour trip north around the mountain. It turns out that this alternate route
brought us right past the very secluded entrance to this school! I stopped in and met with a teacher and the
director and they were excited to have a missionary family join their small
school. We also discussed if there were
any projects in the community that mission teams would help out with in order
to bless the people. There are
several!! (this was another task on our
list after moving out to ranch). I am
bringing the whole family in on Thursday 1/29 to meet with the principle and
officially sign up. School starts on Feb
9<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Birthday – we are in the middle of preparing for Mara’s 11<sup>th</sup>
Birthday party which will happen on Tuesday this week. Instead of the usual sledding party that she
likes to have we are having a pool party;-)
We have been blessed with making friends with several families down here
so they are all invited, along with the great staff we work with. It should be a fun day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In closing let me say again.
We love you all and appreciate all your prayers and support more than
you can know. Please continue to pray
for each of the topics in this post. It
is such an honor and blessing to be able to serve the Lord in this way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Serving Him,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rob, Yvonne, Elise, Mara, Jonathan & Abby<o:p></o:p></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-88178651711538973702014-11-18T18:41:00.003-08:002014-11-18T18:41:49.879-08:00November update (Residency, parental visit, Children's Ranch)<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello friends. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here
is my November summary. It has been a
busy and productive month. We have been
blessed by so many people and my prayer is that we would pay that blessing
forward in huge ways.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Application for Residency:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in September I met with a local immigration lawyer to
determine what it would take for our family to get temporary residency status
in Costa Rica. Getting this status would
allow us to stay in the country and not have to leave every 90 days to reset
our tourist visas. It will also allow us
to open a local bank account, which will give us more flexibility with paying
bills as we will not have to do everything in cash.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After talking with the lawyer I discovered why no other
missionaries from 6:8 had ever followed through and applied for residency. The cost is prohibitive and gathering the
necessary paperwork is difficult, if not impossible, to do from here. I am blessed to have the mother that I
do. Ginny/Nana/Mom offered to do all the
leg work and get new copies of most of our birth certificates and a new copy of
our marriage license. She then had to
bring all of these to the CT secretary of state’s office to have them ‘Apostilled’. This certification is required by Costa Rica
in order for them to accept our documentation.
We also had to get our fingerprints taken and sent to the FBI for a
background check. Assuming that comes
back clean ;-) then my mom will have to get those papers Apostilled and sent
down here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lawyer’s usual fee + the Costa Rican application fee is
usually close to $2000 per person for this process. The lawyer is familiar with what our ministry
does in Costa Rica, so he cut his fee almost in half. That still left us with $1,050 per person to
come up with. We prayed about it and
decided that should God want us to stay here long term then it was something that
we needed to do. I had never heard
specifically of GoFundMe.com until about 1 week before we made the decision to
go for residency. I wrote up the details
describing why we needed help with this funding and created a campaign. I really thought that we might get a small
portion of the money in which would help as we tried to come up with the
rest. Did I mention how blessed we are
by family and friends who are supporting us in many ways? In exactly 1 week we surpassed the goal of
$6,300!! Thank you to everyone who
donated, wrote an encouraging word, prayed for or shared our cause. I met with the lawyer last week and gave him
the bulk of the paperwork and he is confident that we will not have to leave in
January to once again reset our visa.
Praise God!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visit from my mom and dad:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My folks came down on November 1<sup>st</sup> for a week-long
visit. It was great to have them here
and to have them experience a little of what we have been called to do down
here. They also brought 6 suit cases
full of great stuff. 2 of the cases were
for other missionary friends from Hartland and Simsbury CT, who are also
serving in Costa Rica. The other 4
contained treasures for us. Some
Christmas presents, some personal items that we did not have room for back in
July, and 4 puzzles! I have really
missed my puzzle collection so it was great to have a chance to work on several
of them during the week with my dad. We
got to bring my parents out to Campamento Roblealto in Heredia, where Yvonne
and I first heard God’s calling back in 2011.
We also got to travel out to the Children’s Ranch and stay overnight in
one of the ‘almost finished’ team houses.
It was really cool to show them the property and let them see first-hand
what I have been focusing on for the last 4 months and where my family will move in 2015. Their visit ended all too quickly, but we
know there will be more in the future and we hope to visit the Estados Unidos
in spring or summer of 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Children's Ranch:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are making steady progress on this project every
week. I have been coming out with 3 or 4
Ticos every week for a day or two at a time to work. I am actually sitting on the front porch of
the first team house writing this blog.
Victor and I spent the day crawling under the 2 houses installing all the
drain pipes to complete the plumbing in the 7 bathrooms. Tomorrow we will install the water line and
the drain to the new kitchen sink. There
are 3 other guys with us this week working on the drywall. We have our first team of the new year coming
to stay and work at the ranch in January.
This group is from Copiague Christian Church in Long Island. We are super excited about this team because it
contains Yvonne’s Uncle and Aunt and 2 of her cousins. This will be the first missionary group that
will fully use the new team houses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have also met with a professor of architecture and 22 of
his students and they are in the process of creating a master plan for the
ranch. This process has been going
slower than I would have liked, but that is normal for down here. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are also very close to actually getting 2 shipping
containers delivered out to the ranch.
These were purchased back in April but they could not get over the river
until the dry season. We are in that
season now, so we will try again.
If/when we get these containers delivered we will turn them into 2
secure storage rooms with a large covered area between them. This space will be used to park our tractor
and any other equipment we acquire. We
have held off on purchasing a much needed tractor due to the fact that we
currently do not have a secure place to park it. Please keep this project in prayer as we are
relying on God for everything. (funding,
construction, house families and ultimately the children).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We love and appreciate you all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Humbly His, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rob</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-29190302906796546002014-10-24T08:59:00.000-07:002014-10-24T08:59:41.722-07:00October update<div class="MsoNormal">
I would like to thank you all for your prayers over the last
few weeks. After my last blog post we
could feel your prayers which were very encouraging. Three weeks ago we went on our 90 day border
run to reset our visas. We left at 4am
for Nicaragua and the stars were out.
That was an answer to prayer for me.
Now I know when the stars are out.
Just before sunrise.
Unfortunately, I am not terribly motivated to get up that early to look
for stars. I think that just knowing
that they are there will have to be enough for me. We know that many of you were praying for us
as we crossed the border. We have heard
horror stories of it taking 8 hours to get across the border so we were very
nervous. God heard your prayers and He
went before us and prepared a smooth ride North to the border. We met a man at the border who spoke English
and guided us (for a tip) through the 4-6 different stations for baggage check,
passport stamps, and border fees. The
most amazing part was that there were no lines at any of these stations when we
arrived. Upon leaving each line there, was
at least a dozen people waiting behind us and quite often the lines would be
out the door. We would have never made
it without our guide, as the various stations where spread out by a muddy 100
yard path. We would have had no idea
where to go next. Yay God!!! Nicaragua was very beautiful and it was a
wonderful 3 days of much needed family time.
We have included some of our pictures from the Nicaraguan beach on the
Pacific Ocean.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We have begun the process of establishing temporary
residency here in Costa Rica. Residency
would enable us to stay in this country indefinitely without having to leave
every 90 days on the expensive visa reset trips. Rob’s mother has graciously located our
marriage and birth certificates in our storage in CT and brought them to get an
apostille (a verification required by Costa rica) stamp at the CT secretary of
state’s office. They will be bringing
these documents to Costa Rica with them when they come to visit on November 1<sup>st</sup>. We got finger printed for the FBI to do a
background check and left a copy of our prints at the police station in San
Jose. We believe that now all we have to
do is wait for approval. We have learned
that the initial fees for residency is very expensive, costing about $1000.00
per person. (We have a family of 6) We have started this process on faith that God
will provide as he has done all along. Please stay tuned for a notification of a
fundraiser to help us raise these funds.
If any of you have ideas of a fundraiser that we can do from a remote
location, please let us know. We are
open to all ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Sunday, we had our first 6:8 Ministries staff worship
service. Elise and I had the opportunity
to lead the worship music and it went very well. It felt good to use some of the talents that
God has prepared us with. It was very
special to worship together as an intimate group of 13 and we know that this
will be a wonderful unity building time for us.
Please pray that staff unity continues to build and our relationships
grow so that we will become even more effective as we serve the people in this
community.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are currently hosting a church group from Atlanta,
Georgia. This is the last church group
that we have scheduled until after Christmas.
The church groups that come down to serve tend to be very encouraging to
us as a staff so we will need a lot of prayer over the next couple of months,
especially as we will be missing family during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Please consider putting together a mission
group from your area to come down and serve.
We hope to begin construction soon on our house out at the ranch and
would love to have several groups come down this winter to help get it
done. The two team houses at the ranch are
finally up and functional so we are ready to have teams come and have a dry,
comfortable place to stay with indoor plumbing;-) We are so excited! We are coming into the dry season which is an
absolutely beautiful time of year to schedule your mission trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We love you all. God is good!!</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-49405367183471981012014-09-29T20:44:00.002-07:002014-09-29T20:44:41.271-07:00Clouds - they can't keep out the Son.So, we have been living in Costa Rica for 12 weeks and I haven't seen a single star. (If you haven't been following our blog since June, I recommend you scrolling down to my blog post titled Hot Tub Time dated June 20th. It will give you some background as to why seeing the stars is so important to me.) I have really been struggling with the lack of stars here in the city. It is usually cloudy and rainy in the evenings since it is the rainy season. Even if it isn't raining, the lights from the city make it difficult to see any stars. I am praying that we will be able to see stars out at the ranch where there aren't any street lights. You see, sitting out under the stars in the evening is where I would go to talk to God. I usually talk to him any time all day long but there are certain times that we need to set aside to just be quiet and listen to him. Sitting out under the stars was my place in nature where I could be quiet with God. I need to find a new place. I sadly admit that I'm having trouble finding that place. I'm having a hard time finding a quiet place in nature here in the city, or a quiet uninterrupted place inside my home. I used to be able to either get up early before the family or stay up late after the kids go to bed but now it seems that I still have kids young enough to like getting up before 6am and some kids old enough that stay up later than I can keep my eyes open. I am home schooling now so I can no longer get that time after putting the kids on the bus for school. Don't get me wrong, I am still in the Word, reading the Bible on a daily basis and I am participating in a great weekly Bible Study but I haven't been finding those uninterrupted quiet moments when I can hear God speaking.<br />
<br />
For the first time, I can see a direct correlation of being able to hear God speak to me and my mood. I became irritable and sad. I was having doubts about God's purpose for my life and doubts about the gifts and talents that He has given me. Even though 4 months ago I was certain about all of those things. A book that I am reading has helped me to see that this is Satan's handy work. Satan is very sneaky and sly, slowly working his way into our lives and waiting for the slightest crack in the armor to slither in and start spreading a dark cloud over our soul. Satan will put doubts in our mind and tell us lies that distort and twist God's truths. We usually don't even realize that it's him. And eventually, once his darkness has steeped long enough to blind us completely, he makes his move turning these thoughts of doubts and sorrow into prideful entitlement. This is when those deep regrettable sins begin to take root. It reminds me of the Steven King Novel "Under the Dome" where the alien children are treating all the people trapped under the dome as puppets. Getting inside their heads and manipulating their circumstances to see how much it will take to make them finally crack and succumb to the temptation. That is where I felt like I was, making my self vulnerable to satan himself. The good news is, Jesus has already conquered satan and through the power of Jesus Christ, who lives in me, I too can overcome satan. I just need to call upon the name of the Lord, <i>Jehovah-Nissi. "</i>The Lord is my Banner" and victor over our enemy. In my Bible Study, I am learning the different names of the Lord and how to use them when praying. It is very powerful. This has given me power over the sadness and doubts that I was having but I know that satan won't give up easily. He does not want us here in Costa Rica. He does not want us to build an orphanage that will raise godly men. Satan has a stronghold here in Alajuelita and he will not give that up without a fight. We must be on our guard even more than ever before and we need your prayers to help us with that. Please call upon the name of the Lord, Jehovah-Nissi, and ask for the Holy Spirit to move in this city and to overcome satan. Please pray for all of the missionaries and staff members involved with 6:8 ministries to remain faithful to studying the Word, spending time in prayer, and seeking God daily. (You can find their names at www.68ministries.org and click on the 6:8 staff tab) And please pray that I will again find that quiet place before the Lord, <i>Adonai</i>. (My Lord and Master. The unconditional lover of my soul.)<br />
<br />
We are so thankful for all of your prayers and support.<br />
<br />
In Christ,<br />
YvonneRob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-73965813485948150532014-09-17T17:54:00.000-07:002014-09-17T17:54:14.456-07:00Busy Busy BusyI cannot believe how fast time is going and that it has been 6 weeks since my last blog post. Let me try to catch you up on what is going on with us down in Costa Rica.<br />
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<li><b>Home schooling</b> - Yvonne and the kids have settled into a nice rhythm and most days work pretty well. There are some occasional rough spots, but overall things are progressing nicely. I am very impressed with Abby's progress in reading and math and Mara and Jonathan have figured out that taking their time the first time through a lesson will yield a good result and they will not have to retake lessons. Elise is plowing along at a great pace and it excelling as usual. She is also helping with Abby as needed!! All of the kids are missing the social aspect of school and we want to have them make friends. Please continue to pray for the whole schooling situation and for discernment on whether we should enroll the kids in public school for February 2015. If we were to enroll the kids we would probably do that in the rural school out near the Children's ranch.</li>
<li><b>Children's ranch</b> - It has been a fun couple of months as I have had the privilege of bringing missionary teams out to the ranch site to continue construction of the 2 team houses. Besides 4 or 5 single day trips, I have led 2 week long work teams at the ranch. A crew of 4 guys came down in early August and we laid almost 3,500 square feet of ceramic tile in just 4 days. I just got back this past Friday from a full week with another team of 8 where we installed the ceilings in both houses as well as 7 ceiling fans. We have made several 'staff' only day trips to continue the work as we have entered the slow season for mission teams. All the bathroom fixtures are installed and the electricity is installed and fully functional. The last step is to bring in the gravel for the septic tanks and turn on the water. This will complete the early phase of the ranch and will allow us to host missionary teams of up to 30 people in the two houses.</li>
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<li>I have been researching and working with several architects to come up with the overall layout and function of the ranch. The architecture work is typically a huge expense here in Costa Rica as an architect needs to be involved in most stages of the design and build process. I have discovered that you need to use an architect to pull a permit or even order an inspection. I have also been reminded that we serve a huge and awesome God! Through an uncomfortable situation I was forced to deal with, I was introduced to a gentleman who happens to be on the national board of architects for Costa Rica and he is a professor at a college for architects near San Jose. After I told him about the ranch and he counseled me on how the architectural process typically works, he asked if he could pitch our ranch project to his class at the University. The class is very excited and I will be bringing them out to see the site in the next week or two. I also gave them a write up on what the vision and purpose is for the ranch. From this class we should be getting several full blown options to choose from. This will include site plans, blueprints for the various buildings and full renderings of what the final project could look like. This work would normally cost between $30,000 - $50,000 and we may get it for no charge, as this project would benefit the students who need a project for their graduation. We may also be able to leverage some of these 'new' architects for our future needs (permits, construction over-site, etc.) Or course, I would love to have your prayers for wisdom and direction as I try to keep this project moving along in a quick, affordable, God-honoring way. Please feel free to get creative in asking God to show himself in various ways as all the pieces fall together.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uTg6WXZW9hm8poCxP6UgOzp909HcQrnHXcR7gDtixoy8mX5P37dny6zU6EuyWC3hSYkqLnqFNqei7-0OEtFR-SxJp9KOpZv3hSWVaNMxMQ1KvpS_mLSZLpi7XM0MvAV7GCXXQP0Y0zg1/s1600/River+on+East+side+of+Ranch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uTg6WXZW9hm8poCxP6UgOzp909HcQrnHXcR7gDtixoy8mX5P37dny6zU6EuyWC3hSYkqLnqFNqei7-0OEtFR-SxJp9KOpZv3hSWVaNMxMQ1KvpS_mLSZLpi7XM0MvAV7GCXXQP0Y0zg1/s1600/River+on+East+side+of+Ranch.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River on East side of ranch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliDml7laT6iPzcIB80FcZ0oGS9d47QDqeQ5Om-TjY9FbbWiezbPJHMhw9IUWs4FfWQSG35HJaoQo6O2ssM5JJMV6qbuF2UDcls-6ncdSH7aBDw5eOv5g_jmQI2NdCAZNpFmmIh5hlAIw2/s1600/Team+house+at+the+ranch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliDml7laT6iPzcIB80FcZ0oGS9d47QDqeQ5Om-TjY9FbbWiezbPJHMhw9IUWs4FfWQSG35HJaoQo6O2ssM5JJMV6qbuF2UDcls-6ncdSH7aBDw5eOv5g_jmQI2NdCAZNpFmmIh5hlAIw2/s1600/Team+house+at+the+ranch.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the team houses at the ranch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6LupAR92dPBgJOmsVRNnV_A0JLSDuziB-9sMMuHoN3YfkjVwSdDw0z4xQ_E5ab0JCW-aROuHKd3q9GBssDNpNeuro0r8vqHPoFEATiRlBJvwMTg3hyRdyG_LMOTdSlQ2CPbV2w8l1all/s1600/The+future+main+road+for+the+ranch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6LupAR92dPBgJOmsVRNnV_A0JLSDuziB-9sMMuHoN3YfkjVwSdDw0z4xQ_E5ab0JCW-aROuHKd3q9GBssDNpNeuro0r8vqHPoFEATiRlBJvwMTg3hyRdyG_LMOTdSlQ2CPbV2w8l1all/s1600/The+future+main+road+for+the+ranch.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The future main road leading to the family houses at the ranch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3UCpFsL6AIi_cmpDm7nHcdRd7HmGFwSVjMpyEMTeAy0Yc-w-i6Z3ruLzoIVUILWh8WV55HttYo5IcAK2r8hkmP6QAFKCqifcKVgiXsieDKrHBlq1Er3gmxXgZSMHG43DfP8AcX-vXLtB/s1600/Tiles+on+the+bedroom+floor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3UCpFsL6AIi_cmpDm7nHcdRd7HmGFwSVjMpyEMTeAy0Yc-w-i6Z3ruLzoIVUILWh8WV55HttYo5IcAK2r8hkmP6QAFKCqifcKVgiXsieDKrHBlq1Er3gmxXgZSMHG43DfP8AcX-vXLtB/s1600/Tiles+on+the+bedroom+floor.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ceramic tiles in the team house.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Local Ministry</b> - Our family continues to serve at a feeding in Verbena every Saturday morning. We are starting to develop relationships with some of the kids and the ladies that run the center. Elise, Mara, Yvonne and I have also gone to the special needs orphanage several times. The pure joy that comes out of these kids is great. We also got to go to a neighborhood called Juan Pablo about 10 days ago and hand out shoes to the children. It was a really cool afternoon because we read them the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and made sure that they understood the story. Then the team brought out a big wash basin and washed the feet of each of the children before they got to pick out their 'new' shoes. It was a special day.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG2bAusrjuHzmyKL9XXuFmNzbe8r1YfoFffpnxxowS0A7oXC53ZGlpkCQm0EyhaWDbEr4bOWsH7yr3Q5S1RPxDEz3tG_0CYqU09hdt7KEbIg_lGYYjqN-vhSmVDOw0MALUizYPE25m_b-/s1600/2014-08-23+11.11.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG2bAusrjuHzmyKL9XXuFmNzbe8r1YfoFffpnxxowS0A7oXC53ZGlpkCQm0EyhaWDbEr4bOWsH7yr3Q5S1RPxDEz3tG_0CYqU09hdt7KEbIg_lGYYjqN-vhSmVDOw0MALUizYPE25m_b-/s1600/2014-08-23+11.11.05.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yvonne holding McKenzie in Verbena</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</li>
<li><b>Good Friends</b> - God has blessed us with a great family that lives in our condo complex. They have a boy Jonathan's age and a girl Abby's age. The kids are best friends and are always playing together either at our house or their's. Yvonne and I also get along well with the parents. Two weekends ago we brought the kids rock climbing with them and this past weekend they invited us to join them at the beach in Guanacaste for the long Independence day weekend. I am looking forward to soon being able to return the favor and invite them to spend a day or two out at the ranch.</li>
<li><b>Prayer and Praises </b>- </li>
<ul>
<li>Prayer that we would not let 'life' occupy all of our life and that we would be available and willing to get uncomfortable to share the love of Christ with the people here.</li>
<li>Praise for success in home schooling and prayers for wisdom for the future.</li>
<li>Praise for such great progress on the ranch and prayer for wisdom and resources to keep moving forward.</li>
<li>Prayer for more teams to come down between now and early summer.</li>
<li>Prayer that our ministry puts Christ in everything that we strive to do.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
We are so appreciative and thankful for the prayers and the financial support from our friends and family. May God bless you all as you work on your own mission field each day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love in Christ,</div>
<div>
Rob</div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-19769885323541680922014-08-04T17:32:00.000-07:002014-08-04T17:32:15.151-07:00Prayer Warriors<div class="MsoNormal">
We have a fantastic team of prayer warriors with 6:8 this
week. Today we went to the neighborhood
of Tiribi. At the bus stop they noticed
a young woman in distress and asked her if they could pray for her. It turns out that this 20 year old had just
found out today that she has cancer.
Another man who saw us praying for her came over and asked if we would
pray for him to overcome his addictions.
We continued on our way to Tiribi and went on a prayer walk in the
neighborhood. We met a young man who
just found out that he is going to be a father and needs a job. Another woman revealed that her mother just
passed away this morning and would like some prayer for the whole family. What started out as a day to go play with
kids turned into a prayer walk where this small team of 8 had a huge impact on
several individual’s lives… and it is only Monday! God sent this team out today to pray for these
individuals who needed to know that God cares for them enough that he sent
these Gringos from Denver, CO. to pray for them and encourage them in their
desperation. I can’t wait to see how God
uses them the rest of this week. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This team has also blessed the 6:8 staff, and our family specifically.
They did this through brushing out tangled hair (for hours), teaching them how
to make beautiful bracelets out of cross stitching thread, holding their hands
to cross a street, and just spending
time with them and making them feel special.
I thank God for each and every team that comes down with its own unique
skills that God needs to serve the population of Alajuelita as well as encourage
the Staff of 6:8 ministries. The busy
season of teams available in the summer months is coming to a close and we will
be looking for teams to come on down during September through Spring. (What a great
way to break up the winter<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>)
The experience will change your world
view forever. Please consider getting a
group together to come and serve and support our ministry. God can use people of all kinds because he
has gifted each of you with a unique ability to help others. Feel free to contact us and we will get you
plugged in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“…God loves a
cheerful giver.” II Corinthians 9:7.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Yvonne<o:p></o:p></div>
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Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-53479617815788570952014-07-30T07:23:00.003-07:002014-07-30T07:23:58.771-07:00God is moving in Costa RicaHello friends.<br />
I am sorry that we have not posted in almost 2 weeks. Time is moving really fast down here as we are quickly adjusting to our new lives and the changes to the ministry. The director of operations that was in place when we arrived is moving back to the States with his family on Friday. After a lot of prayer and discussion, it has been decided that the overwhelming responsibilities of the director role will now be spread over several individuals. I have been tasked with being the director of finances for the operations based here in Alajuelita Costa Rica. It is an exciting time for the ministry as I believe we have the right people in the right roles and everyone has the singular desire to glorify God in everything that we do.<br />
<br />
Our biggest personal prayer request right now is for the home schooling. This is a new thing for all of us and we are trying to accelerate the program to give ourselves the most flexibility down the road in case the children have the opportunity to enroll in the local school system which begins the year in February.<br />
<br />
Now onto the really exciting news!! The children's ranch project is moving along better than I would have imagined. Through some generous donations, several mission teams bringing project money and their labor, and an awesome group of Ticos (Costa Rican people), the project is really starting to take shape. There are two team houses that are completely framed and under roof. Each of these houses are 24' x 48'. One will have a full kitchen and living space for the cooks, as well as a bunk room with a capacity of 10 people. The other house will have 2 bunk rooms that can each accommodate 10 people.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46c4T1cqaQELKc7Q627vh_dCQzm6hXMt0deZYtixrgJvVllF_cOfQZ5FQ7F2A1_rcrz6uFfBCsrgQsYpP8QFRBSkrbYWZVAISX2niBjiaNvR-PovPX1a7vNcjk3yNx302KyBPh-bAB0nb/s1600/2014-07-24+12.53.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46c4T1cqaQELKc7Q627vh_dCQzm6hXMt0deZYtixrgJvVllF_cOfQZ5FQ7F2A1_rcrz6uFfBCsrgQsYpP8QFRBSkrbYWZVAISX2niBjiaNvR-PovPX1a7vNcjk3yNx302KyBPh-bAB0nb/s1600/2014-07-24+12.53.33.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZNm7X-mPhIKifTah0quydlb3JR4ikj4TSAC0EOb-sx4xjfyyqzKDKizFTyZ8w9pS4x8W0TUV0R_vGzTZOHGoK-86htFFD0YbuiPBA7l739fQU9HG8h9wo8b61O9C7cpvHsHT4C6ysxS2/s1600/2014-07-24+12.53.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZNm7X-mPhIKifTah0quydlb3JR4ikj4TSAC0EOb-sx4xjfyyqzKDKizFTyZ8w9pS4x8W0TUV0R_vGzTZOHGoK-86htFFD0YbuiPBA7l739fQU9HG8h9wo8b61O9C7cpvHsHT4C6ysxS2/s1600/2014-07-24+12.53.21.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
We have another team of 30+ young people going to the ranch property tomorrow to continue work on these two buildings and some paths around the property. It is the rainy season right now and it can pour for hours at a time, so needless to say, the ground can get pretty soggy and muddy. <br />
<br />
Within the next three weeks, there will be at least 2 other teams going to work at the ranch. Our hope and prayer is that by the end of August, the two buildings will be complete enough to comfortably house the next group of teams that are coming down to start construction on the houses that the children will eventually live in. Please pray for safety for the teams as they work and for God's protection of the supplies and tools while people are not there. Another big prayer request is that the money continues to flow in so that we can continue to make progress on this great extension of serving the Costa Rican people.<br />
<br />
Again, we thank everyone for their prayers, support and encouragement. If anyone is interested in coming down to serve, please let me know asap so we can look at availability. The prime spots for 2015 are almost booked. A great time to come is between September and April, as that is usually our slower months with the most capacity.<br />
<br />
Serving Him,<br />
RobRob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-75391099701706723352014-07-16T18:21:00.001-07:002014-07-16T18:21:37.929-07:00Time to get to work!<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived in Alajuelita, Costa Rica on July 6, 2014. For the last 10 days we have been setting up
house and adjusting to our new home. We
were blessed by friends and fellow missionaries who greeted us at the airport
and brought us to our unfurnished condominium after having already bought us
mattresses to sleep on for our first night.
We have spent the last 10 days getting the landlord to put in the
appliances he promised, getting our cell phones up and running with Costa Rica
cell service, purchasing minimal necessary furniture, and getting the internet installed
for the children’s on line schooling. It
has been an adventure grocery shopping and learning the new Spanish names for
various products. God blessed me with
meeting a neighbor on our second day in the condo who offered to drive me
around town to show me all the best places to find vegetables, meats, gluten
free foods (I have to eat gluten free), paper goods and kitchen wares as well
as places to pay different bills and where the banks are. Of course all these things are found in
different parts of town. She gave me an
overview of the city and after our day together, I felt that I had a bird’s eye
view of the city and would be confident in finding my way around. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There have been some challenges with communication causing
us to become frustrated with ourselves for not learning more Spanish before the
move. We've had to remind ourselves that
the purpose of the first 6 months in the city was to learn the language while
building relationships so the expectation wasn't for us to be fluent right off
the bat. A funny example of one communication issue
was getting our internet installed. The
internet guys were supposed to come out on Monday morning the 14<sup>th</sup>
to install the cable/internet. We got a
phone call stating that they were at the gate so Rob went out to the gate but
there were no cable guys. Turns out that
because there really are no addresses in this area, they were at the wrong
condo complex. Not a big surprise. The only problem is that they needed
directions. We didn't know where they
were and we didn't know enough Spanish to be able to communicate with them
directions to where to find us. Sadly,
another day went with no internet to begin schooling or to be able to post on
our blog. Miracle of miracles, they
showed up first thing on Tuesday morning without us ever having to give
directions. I guess God decided to give us a break.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have done a lot of waiting around the condo because we
were having appliances delivered, internet hookup, etc. The kids and I were getting stir crazy so
today we decided that we were done with this adjustment period of setting up
house and wanted to get out and serve.
We joined the team from Atlanta, GA currently here at 6:8 ministries and
helped them run a VBS this morning in the very poor and rough neighborhood of
Verbena. Our kids did great. Almost immediately they adjusted to the surroundings and had fun and local kids. Jonathan was part of the skit where we told the story of Joseph and his brothers. Mara, Elise and Abby had a constant stream of little kids (mostly girls) surrounding them for most of the time. Rob and I were proud of each of them as they stepped out their normal and opened up to the kids of the neighborhood. The big guy in red in Neil, he is one of the missionaries on staff here. He brought us through the neighborhood knocking on doors to let the kids know that we were here to play with them. At the end of the morning, the team handed out about 70 Spanish/English bibles. They wrote the children's name in each one and told them to bring their bibles back tomorrow when they have another bible lesson.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are exhausted from the 30 minute walk in each direction and the energy spent playing with kids for a couple hours. We appreciate all the prayers and encouragement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God is good!! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-70476657390248281782014-07-11T07:56:00.000-07:002014-07-11T07:56:13.422-07:00We made it!!Hola amigos.<br />
We still do not have internet in our new place (should be set up in the next 2-30 days;-).<br />
Yvonne's cell phone is good enough that we are using it as a mobile hot spot for now.<br />
<br />
Here is a quick summary of trip so far:<br />
We got up at 3:30am on Sunday July 6th and left for the airport. I had packed my brothers pickup and my parents van night before so all we had to do was jump in and head to the airport. There was absolutely no one in the United line when we got there. We found a porter to help move our 12 suitcases/crates, our portable keyboard, Yvonne's guitar, our 4 other smaller suitcases and our 6 backpacks. God blessed us by having a friend from church (Matt M.) working the check in counter and then at the gate. There were 4 workers at the check in that all jumped in to help process our luggage.<br />
When we got to security screening, they had just opened a new line that we quickly overwhelmed. We had no issues at all and to our knowledge did not leave anything behind;-) The flight to Washington DC was uneventful, as was the transfer to the next flight to San Jose Costa Rica. We landed and easily passed through Immigration. We then found a porter standing next to our mountain of luggage at the baggage claim area. He grabbed another porter, we rounded up a couple stray bags and then I looked around for our friend Dan, who was due to arrive 10 minutes after us. We quickly found Dan, and the 9 of us (Wutka 6, Dan, 2 porters) went through the customs screening and found a place outside to unload all of our luggage. Within minutes, the bus that I had lined up to transport us arrived, as did 6 of our friends from the ministry (Spencer, Alix, Chipper, Neil, Dan & Karen). We piled all our stuff into the bus and headed to our new home.<br />
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Of course we were very hungry since we arrived at noon (2pm Eastern) so we stopped off at a local eatery on the way to our condo. (It was a subway;-).<br />
We got to the condo and it took no time for us to unload everything since we had so many helpers. The condo was completely empty except for 6 mattresses that our friends had delivered a couple days before our arrival.<br />
We have spent the last 5 days exploring the area and setting up house. I will try to create another post later today or tomorrow with the excitement and adventures of the first week on the ground.<br />
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We love you all and appreciate all your prayers and support.<br />
<br />
God is GOOD!!<br />
<br />
-robRob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-84109688129098557192014-06-20T18:48:00.000-07:002014-06-20T18:48:22.877-07:00Hot tub time<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the last
12 years I have been spoiled rotten with a therapeutic spa that sits on our
deck 3 steps outside the sliding glass door.
We initially bought it as a place to relax and have found that it has
been a blessing in so many more ways than that.
I quickly learned that it is a great place to thaw out during the cold
Connecticut winter months. When I’m
feeling chilled to the bone I just sit in the hot tub until I’ve given myself a
nice fever of 101°F. Sometimes I’ve done
that 2-3 times in one day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Occasionally,
Rob will come in with me and we’ll have a little ‘mini-date’ as we talk about
our day but mainly, I have gotten into the habit of putting the kids to bed and
heading out to the Hot tub to get some alone time and relaxation. As I sink into the warmth of the water and
begin to feel the jets soothe the aches of the day, I look up at the sky and
the plethora of stars. I am always
filled with awe at the vastness of the universe and the Greatness of God who
created it all. I easily pick out my favorite
constellations and am amazed at how the stars always stay in their spots and
more amazing yet, the North Star sits above the old oak tree in our back yard
in the exact same spot every night. The
rest of the constellations rotate around the sky but the North Star never
moves. I very often find myself
compelled to sing praise songs to the Creator of our Universe. Over the years, my “Hot Tub Time” has become
a time of prayer and worship. I can’t
help but feel so small in the scheme of things and yet God cares about me. He
shows me this night after night. After
I’ve spilled my heart out to Him, I am quiet.
It is in these moments that He whispers to my soul. He lets me know that while we are each very
small in this universe, we are very significant to God. He has created each one of us with a purpose
and in these quiet moments, He reveals his purpose for ME. Sometimes it is in big ways, like his desire
for us to do foreign missions, but mostly it’s in small ways. He will put a thought in my mind of someone
who needs a phone call or to send a note the next day. Sometimes an apology needs to be said or I
get the feeling that I need to say yes to volunteering to help out at the
school or church when earlier in the day I felt too overwhelmed to say,
“Yes.” Whatever the case, I have learned
that whenever I listen to these promptings, I am always blessed with an
opportunity to share Jesus’s love with someone which confirms for me that it
was indeed God speaking those thoughts into my soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Last night
was the last time I get to sit in the Hot Tub with God for a long while. Today we are shutting it down as we will be
moving out of the house tomorrow. I was
so sad at first since this has become a special time in my day for not only
physical renewal but spiritual renewal as well.
God gently reminded me that there will be plenty of stars in Costa
Rica. I wondered if I’d be able to see
the North Star from near the equator and if I would have to learn new
constellations. (OK. So I admit that sometimes my conversations
with Him are very basic and childlike)
He quickly steered my thoughts back to Him and how he will make sure
that I’ll be able to see the magnificence of His creation every day that I seek
Him no matter where I am. We will be
able to have our moments of Prayer and Worship and Silence, so that we can
continue to have the little conversations that I have grown to crave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What started
out as a completely selfish and indulgent purchase, God has used to draw closer
to me. Thank you Jesus for loving me and
caring enough to use a hot tub for your glory.
My prayer for all of you is that you will each find your “hot tub.” The thing that is going to draw you in to an
intimate relationship with God because there is nothing better than sitting in
the presence of Jesus and feeling his love and warmth wrapped around you in a
great big hug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yvonne</span></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-63539132447618841082014-06-11T04:06:00.001-07:002014-06-11T04:06:36.396-07:00Commissioning and Prayer from our home church!Hello friends.<br />
I wanted to share an opportunity with everyone. On Sunday June 29th, 2014 our home church, Valley Brook Community Church in Granby, will be taking some time during the service to pray over my family and to 'Commission' us to go to Costa Rica as missionaries.<br />
<br />
We would love to share this moment with anyone that is in the area and would like to attend. Church starts at 9:30am and we meet in the Granby High School auditorium. (see <a href="http://www.valleybrook.cc/">www.valleybrook.cc</a> for more info and directions).<br />
<br />
I would also like to say that if there is anyone that does not have a church home where they are being taught God's truth from the Bible, please give Valley Brook a try. We are simply a group of folks that love God and love people and seek to impact our community in a positive way.<br />
<br />
Gracias Amigos!<br />
Rob<br />
<br />Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-19088605141995964562014-05-23T15:34:00.001-07:002014-05-24T05:33:46.981-07:00Being the hands and feet (and body) of ChristThe visit to Costa Rica that I just returned from on Wednesday was full of a lot of things. <br />
I was able to find a safe, affordable place for my family to live when we move down on July 6th.<br />
I was able to take possession of a used car that I bought and drive around to get familiar with the car and the crazy roads and rules.<br />
I was able to meet and reconnect with some old friends and make a bunch of new ones.<br />
But above all else, I was able to literally be the hands and feet and shoulders and head of Jesus to some of His most precious children. Some of the communities that we serve in can only be described as hellish. These precious kids are living in tiny shacks that are filthy, crowded, dangerous and spiritually very dark. There is just a sense of hopelessness and despair hanging in the air. Most of these communities have one way in and out. It might be a broken road or a rickety bridge that separates and isolates them from the rest of the society and the world. <br />
Through a boldness and confidence that can only come from God, 6:8 ministries has been bringing teams of people into these places for years. Many of the locations are completely isolated and the police will not even go into them. However, if there are children there, we will go. When the kids see us coming, the bold ones will make their way out of the little structures that they live in. Once we start to play with them, then we are soon over run by many more kids. We are not there to give them tangible stuff. We give them an unconditional love that may very well be the only positive thing that some of them experience. It is hard to choose which child to pick up and spin around and put on your shoulders when there are 10 hands reaching up for you. We stay until they have had their fill of hugs and laughter. We sing songs with hand motions and they try to follow along even though we speak different languages. We break out paper and some old markers and they immediately sit patiently and wait to get a chance to color. We sit and color with them and tell that that we love them. We tell them that Jesus loves them even more. There are a few moms watching on the perimeter. Some even sheepishly join our gathering and sit and color with us. The kids love to smile for our cameras, and so do the moms that have joined us. There are almost never dads there. <br />
It is likely that the kids that will end up at the Children's Ranch will come from this community. It is an awesome feeling to think that one of these kids might someday call me dad if I am blessed to raise them at the ranch. It is an awful feeling to know that most will be left behind to grow up in these hopeless places.<br />
<br />
Please pray for these kids. Please pray for their parents. Please pray for 6:8 ministries and the weekly mission teams as they show the love of Christ to these people. Please pray for the staff of 6:8 (my family included) so that they can persevere and somehow shine bright in this darkness.<br />
<br />
Through all this we are certain of one thing. God is good!<br />
<br />
-rob<br />
<br />
<br />Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-37293194865732305792014-05-18T05:03:00.001-07:002014-05-18T05:10:17.225-07:00Random stuff from Rob's setup trip<br /><br />Friday 5/16 - We are currently somewhere over the Western Caribbean as I approach Costa Rica for the 6th time in the last 32 months. It seems like just yesterday that Yvonne and I first set foot in this beautiful country. With every visit it feels more and more like home and I see the people less as strangers and more as the family that God wants me to serve. I am eager to land and get picked up by two guys that I consider brothers. Josh and Spencer will move their families out to the Ranch along with us Wutkas. I look forward to the community that we will form out there. It is an awesome feeling to know that we are in this together. I have recently been thinking about what issues and problems that the orphan and foster kids will bring with them to the Ranch. I imagine that there will be some very hard times and decisions that will have to be made. While this would normally be a cause for concern, I know that we serve an Awesome loving God who wants nothing but the best for His children. I do not question God when I see the hurt and pain that is everywhere in this world. This present world is sinful and fallen and there are consequences to that sin. I also recognize that God is gracious and wants us all to seek Him. My new job is to love these people (especially the kids) and to show and teach them about the love that God has for them. Talk about a promotion!<br /><br /><br /> Saturday 5/17 - I looked at 6 or 7 rental places today. There were several good choices, but I finally found one that met all the 'requirements' that I had outlined to the realtor. It is very secure, with lots of grass outside for the kids to run around and less than a mile from another missionary family that we will work with.<br /><br />I also got to meet a team of high school seniors from Georgia that were finishing up their week here in Alajuelita. It was great to talk to them and their leaders and hear how some of these 'kids' were changed by what they saw and experienced while they served here this week. It was a privelege to pray over this group just before they left for the airport at 9pm. To know that they are about to embark into adulthood after having just experienced God so powerfully during their week is a cool thing.<br /><br /><br /> Sunday 5/18 - Had a lovely wakeup call around 3am by several dogs outside in the street. Looking forward to breakfast in a couple hours with another team that arrived yesterday and then we will attend church together. I am missing Yvonne and the kids and look forward to when we are down here together.<br /><br /><br /> God Bless!<br /><br />RobRob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400428192613858041.post-1055900900343514502014-05-05T08:31:00.001-07:002014-05-05T08:31:33.956-07:002 Months until our July 6th move!<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been one year since we made the decision to follow
God’s leading to move our family to Costa Rica.
I have been reflecting on the last year and the rollercoaster of
emotions that I have gone through. Last
summer was a time of great excitement and planning. Last fall began a period of loneliness for me. As we were preparing for our last year in
Connecticut, I began feeling like I hadn’t made enough of an impact right here
in the lives of others in my own town and state so how is God going to use me
in a foreign country where I barely speak the language? Who is going to want to send us?</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the last several months, God has shown
me how good He is and how much He cares.
He has done this through all of you.
Rob and I have been humbled by all of the love that you have shown us
through your donations and pledges to support us financially and with
prayer. So many of you have sent us
notes sharing with us how we have touched your lives personally. You don’t know how encouraging those notes have
been and your prayers mean so much to us.
We are so blessed to have the whole community rallying around us in
support of what we are doing. We are sad
to leave you, our friends and family, but look forward to how God is going to
use us in Costa Rica. And thanks to
modern technology, we know that we will be able to keep in close contact with
all of you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Rob will be traveling to Costa Rica on May 16<sup>th</sup>
through 21<sup>st</sup>. He will be
finalizing the purchase of a vehicle as well as looking for housing for us while
we live and serve near the capital city of San Jose. He also plans to travel out to the Ranch
property with the president of 6:8 Ministries to make some preparations for the
initial construction project which will start at the end of May! We would appreciate your prayers for safe
travel and wisdom in decision making.
Please also pray for the teams that will soon be coming down to build
the ranch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We would also like to update you as to our progress of fund
raising. God has used all of you to raise
well over 100% of our initial costs for moving in July and we have commitments
for about 50% of our monthly expenses. We
plan to use the excess contributions from our launch fund to supplement
whatever shortfall we have in our monthly expenses. We are still seeking more partners to
prayerfully consider committing to a monthly donation. We know that God is able to take even the
smallest amount and multiply it tenfold.
Every little bit helps. (for
details on how to donate, please see the ‘Support us’ link on the right side of
our blog).<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is also a space on the top right side of our blog that
will allow you to enter your email address.
By doing so, you will be notified of every new blog entry. Simply enter the email address, hit
subscribe, and you should get a little popup page that ask you to verify the
secret code. This will then send an
email to the address you just entered to confirm that it is really you. Click on the link in the confirmation email
and follow the instructions. You will
then be set up to receive an email notification every time we post.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Love,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Yvonne<o:p></o:p></div>
Rob Wutkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01744603239565090585noreply@blogger.com0