So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41: 10, 13

We want to end this year with this verse, we have really seen each of his promises fulfilled for us. Thank God Sophie finished school and is already going to 3rd grade; some years ago Sophie passed one of the most difficult trials at school, which caused her a trauma and by the time we started 2nd grade she could not read or write, so for the first 4 months I had to pay for a a Psychopedagogue (very expensive), but as God knew what was going to happen, He also gave her an excellent teacher that helped, motivated and worked very hard with her. It is incredible to look back and see how with God's help and working together, we overcame obstacles, and today to read and write for her is so much easier; we learned a lot together!

These months have been active, as you know, we have been aligning ourselves as a ministry in the mobilization in the mission of God, and the work is not easy. The awakening of the Church in Costa Rica in this area is difficult but not impossible, we gave ourselves as a team to the task, of going to Nicaragua and participate in a Mobilization Congress. About 400 people from Nicaragua and from different parts of Central America were challenged, and also us as OM, to continue working in this area. For some team members it was their first time in an outreach and God worked with them in many ways.

We continue to mobilize Costa Ricans to get involved in the mission of God, through our programs and our long and short-term trips. This is the case of Agata, a volunteer working with us since the ship came a year ago, and in February 2020 she will join the Logos Hope for 2 years; as well as Natalia, who will go to Albania for an exploratory trip. We also have others, Nicole and Jenny, who will serve full time in the office, working in the area of design and administration, they are answered prayers and key people within the ministry.

Brazil, a country where God took me for the second time and reminded me that He would continue to use my life and that I had a call to God's mission no matter what happened. We had the meeting of leaders of OM Latin America, which was a very good time to meditate, evaluate and, above all, celebrate the faithfulness of God this past 10 years, as our leader Roberto Facahna leaves the leadership and a new leader is coming. It will be a challenge, but we don’t doubt that it’s God who is allowing it.

This year, God has allowed me to participate in different trainings, in Costa Rica and abroad, and has allowed me to grow and empower myself more as a leader. I’ve been able  to meet other ministries with which we can work together in the mission of God; such is the case of Crown Financial Concepts, a ministry that trains you in light of the Word to be a better steward financially. As a ministry, we want to help the indigenous of Talamanca, where we have already worked for more than 10 years, and Crown has a Stewardship Program where the theory and practice is taught through sowing. Frank, Crown’s director, visited us for a few days and we traveled together to Talamanca to challenge the leaders, pastors and families there, and we really came home challenged and eager to help them even more.

ETI (Intensive Transcultural Training), the project we have prayed and dreamed for, is finally happening. For 2020 we will have around 12 Costa Ricans being trained in our training center in San Jose and Talamanca. Most of them have been volunteers at OM and have been challenged to take another step to prepare for God's mission. We will have theoretical classes, practical classes, visits to temples and groups of different religions;  God has blessed us with a multicultural team to start with, He is definitely in the midst of everything.

I thank God for a fairly blessed year in many areas of my life, Sophie's life and the ministry; I can safely say "The Lord has been our helper”. Thanks to each one of you who have been a key piece in the mission of God, by praying for us and giving us your financial support  each month to meet needs and continue mobilizing together towards God's mission.

Our support is not complete, I only get around 50% of it. Monthly I need $1200 to cover food expenses, transportation, fuel, Sophie's school, insurance, medications, house rental, clothes, among other things.

If you would like to contribute monthly with $25, $50, $100 or more or with a UNICA offering, follow the steps below; as it is very important for me to get a complete financial support, so I can keep serving in the work of God. At the end of this year there are some  challenges, with new ones coming in 2020. I shared some of them previously, so if you want to financially support me, please do as follows:

I haven’t received a Christmas and New Year bonus for 15 years (OM in Costa Rica don't pay salaries and as you know I have to cover all my needs); and that's why I'm raising $500 as a Christmas bonus, so Sophie and I get to enjoy our holidays.

On the other hand, Sophie is going to 3rd grade and there is a $ 150 school tuition, I have to cover all her uniforms, shoes, supplies and I need about $300 so she can go to school with all her needs met.

In Costa Rica: 

Banco Nacional account # 100-02-107-600147-7 (dolares)

Banco Nacional account #100-01-107-000471-1 (colones)

leave your donation with the description (For Raquel Lopez Murillo, serving in OM in Costa Rica).

In the USA: Through the OM office in the USA.  https://my.omusa.org/give

Paypall with the following link:  pay.pal.me/YeimyLopez

If you are in another country: Locate the OM office in your country, leave your donation with the description (For Raquel Lopez Murillo, serving in OM in Costa Rica).

Thanks again for all the support, with God’s help we will continue to share even more things this 2020.

Merry Christmas and remember that the best gift is that Jesus was born, and invite him to enter your heart.

With love

Rachel & Sophie

2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

 The time is going very fast, I' ve a year in the leadership of OMCR, the journey has not been easy, there have been difficulties, along the way I've shed tears and many times I felt unable to believe that I'm not worthy to be in this role. I identify many times with Gideon, who was a man who even had speech problems, but even so, God was with him, I know that this is my time, I know that God wants me to be a leader and I simply obey him and my prayer is that every day He fills me with his wisdom to guide the ministry.

Last year was a year of adjustments with the new OM’S vision, aligning the ministries, encouraging the team to pray to see what God wants, some team members left, donors stopped blessing the ministry, even a bank fraud, we lost many dollars, but still we do not desist from continuing with the task of serving the Lord despite the proof.
 
God allowed me to be in the Logos Hope Ship in Dominican Republic, I was blessed to be sharing with the crew, in meetings with the different departments, and I was part of a training because the Boat will be 2 years in Latin America, but, the most beautiful thing was to share with hundreds of Dominican women where I shared my testimony of how to be women with a character like Ruth, today I understand even more that God wants to mold our lives and that allows us to go through different situations to encourage and encourage others, what I did on the ship those weeks.  

Around 40 women in Talamanca were discipled and challenged throughout the year to continue loving Jesus despite the circumstances, we were able to finish with a beautiful coffee and all together giving thanks to God, thus also dismissing our Dutch friend Benthe who she was supporting the women in Talamanca some years.

In Talamanca, elderly people are very neglected and devalued and this is the case of Don Natalio, a man over 70 years old who had always dreamed of having his home and spending his last years of life, thanks to the help of many people They donated, their house became possible and currently lives with their family, and above all, they rest in a decent house.

Despite the financial loss we had, God gave us the opportunity to blessed 2 organizations that work with teenagers and young people at social risk in areas of high violence in Costa Rica, each of these guys left their area of comfort even though their cities are very risky, but in the end they understood that there are others in worse conditions than them, that there are young people, in other parts of the world who are waiting for someone to talk about Jesus.

Some Costa Rican families went out to the mission fields such as the Paniagua(Alex-Julie-Keyla-Emma), who are serving in the Logos Hope Ship, they are working mobilizing Latinos to the less reached through the Ship.

Marco and Lorena are a couple that departed to make a tour of South America, by car, they have already passed through Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and now they are in Peru, we have seen how the hand of God has been with them at all times and they have not had any need.

It was beautiful to end the year with a special dinner for the families in Talamanca, we usually had 13 years doing “Festival de Sonrisas” that we did not this year, we decided to make a dinner, thanking them for every help, support that they had with OM and for each program, groups, churches that came to give some help, training and experiences.

 Sophie and I had a good rest time on our vacations, we went to the beach and received the year with many strengths and  we  renewed our energies.

 







We had a time as a team for 3 days, we were challenged to work even more together and see more Latinos going out to the less reached. This year, beautiful things come for OMCR and as a team, we are asking God to be the one who guides us in all areas, that we can together mobilize, train and send more workers, our focus areas these coming years are the mobilization of the church , the preparation of national and foreign workers so they will have a cross-cultural experience and increase the passion about the UNREACHED, we are working with being a self-sustaining ministry through our Pura Vida 506 Hostel www.puravida506.com
we offer accommodation, food and a place to arrange meetings, all with the purpose of being able to raise finances to cover operational expenses, send to projects of unreached countries. Join the cause! ...

Sophie traveled with me to Nicaragua to participate with our friends from MOVIDA in a conference called CIMA 2018, in this conference young people from all Central America joined to obey the call to be witnesses to the end of the earth, it’s beautiful to see a new generation that is rising up Take the challenge and go to the Unreached peoples, please do not get tired of PRAYING for this Generation.

As mom I started a huge challenge with Sophie, this year she starts Elementary School, , as every new mom I have been with much expectation of what this stage will be like, it really scares me, as every day I ask God to be a balanced woman in all areas, but in the Mom´s area is the one I most desire  to be balanced,  it is not easy to carry all the responsibility, in my family and ministry, but as I said at the beginning of this letter, I wish to have the heart and character of Ruth to carry all, The expenses that I have for the school of Sophie are high, monthly I must pay $ 375 (this to cover, food, fuel, and the monthly fee), anyone would tell me that it is a luxury to have her in a private bilingual and Christian school, but I don’t see in that way, I see it as a long-term investment and also a need that, because of my OMCR work  I do not have the option of having her in a public school, I would like to invite you to be part of our team, how? , We need sponsors who wish to support Sophie every month, with an offering, $20, $25, $50, $100 come and join! If you are interested, you can send the money to the Banco Nacional account,#  200-02-000-709303-4 account SINPE 15100020027093036 ced # 110380704 correo raquel.lopez@om.org if you are in the USA at the address , OM USA - Finance Department P.O. Box 444 Tyrone, GA 30290-0444 O email: auto.giving.us@om.org with the office OM in your country (you only have to specify that it is for Raquel Lopez / Sophie's School) or via PayPal to the following address https://www.paypal.me/YeimyLopez , in exchange you will receive news of Sophie and her progress, as well as messages, drawings, and invitations to share with us, drink something maybe an ice cream and many other things.

Sophie and I thank each one of you who follow us through social networks, through messages, calls and taking their time to pray and offer, as always  I say, only by his grace we are still standing , because we have an excellent support team, YOU ARE ONE OF THEM !!! ....

This Monday, February 19, I will be go to South Africa to the annual meeting of OM leaders, it is my first time traveling to Africa, please pray so that my flights are good, do not have health problems, Sophie will be ok without her mother (it is the hardest part for me, but I have peace that I am doing God's will).

With love

Raquel & Sophie

2 Timoteo 1:7 

 Pues Dios no nos ha dado un espíritu de timidez,

 sino de poder, de amor y de dominio propio.

 

El tiempo va muy rápido, ya cumplí un año de estar como líder de OMCR, el camino no ha sido fácil, ha habido pruebas, durante el camino he derramado lágrimas y muchas veces me sentí incapaz y de creer que no soy merecedora de estar en este rol. Me identifico muchas veces con Gedeón que era un hombre que hasta problemas de habla tuvo, pero, aun así, Dios estuvo con El, se que este es mi tiempo, se que Dios quiere que este como líder y yo simplemente obedezco y mi oración es que cada día El me llene de su sabiduría para guiar el ministerio.

El año pasado fue un aῆo de ajustes con la nueva visión, alineando los ministerios, desafiando al equipo a que oráramos para ver que Dios quería, algunos miembros del equipo salieron, donantes dejaron de bendecir al ministerio, hasta una estafa bancaria tuvimos donde perdimos muchos dólares, pero aun así no desistimos de continuar con la tarea de servir al Señor a pesar de la prueba. 

Dios me permitió estar en el Barco Logos Hope que estuvo en República Dominicana, tuve la bendición de estar compartiendo con la tripulación, en reuniones con los diferentes departamentos, esto, como parte de un entrenamiento ya que el Barco estará 2 años en Latinoamérica pero, lo más hermoso fue compartir con cientos de mujeres dominicanas donde les compartí mi testimonio de como ser mujeres con un Carácter como Ruth, hoy entiendo aun mas que Dios desea moldear nuestras vidas y que nos permite pasar por diversas situaciones para alentar y animar a otros, lo que hice en el Barco esas semanas.

Alrededor de 40 mujeres en Talamanca fueron discipuladas y desafiadas durante todo el año a continuar amando a Jesús a pesar de las circunstancias, pudimos culminar con un hermoso café y todas juntas dando gracias a Dios, de esta forma también despedidos a nuestra anima holandesa Benthe quien estuvo apoyando a las mujeres en Talamanca algunos años.

En Talamanca a las personas ancianas las tienen bien descuidadas y desvalorizadas y es el caso de Don Natalio, un hombre de más de 70 años que siempre había sonado con tener su casa y pasar sus últimos anos de vida, gracias a la ayuda de muchas personas que donaron, su casa se hizo posible y actualmente vive con su familia, y por sobre todo descansar en una casa digna.

A pesar de la perdida financiera que tuvimos, Dios nos dio la oportunidad de ser de bendición para 2 organizaciones que trabajan con adolescentes y jóvenes en riesgo social en zonas de alta violencia en Costa Rica, cada unos de estos chicos y chicas salieron de su zona de confort a pesar de que sus ciudades son de algo riesgo, pero al final lograron entender que hay otros en peores condiciones que ellos, que hay jóvenes, en otras partes del mundo que están esperando que alguien les hable de Jesús.

Fue hermoso finalizar el año con una cena especial para las familias de Talamanca, normalmente llevábamos maso menos 13 años haciendo Festival de Sonrisas que este ano no lo hicimos, decidimos hacer la cena, agradeciéndoles por cada ayuda, apoyo, que tuvieron para con OM y para cada programa, grupos, iglesias que llegaron a dar alguna ayuda, entrenamiento, experiencia.

Algunas Familias Ticas salieron al campo como son los Paniagua, Alex- Julie -Keyla – Emma, que están sirviendo en el Barco Logos Hope, ellos están con la tarea de movilizar latinos hacia los menos alcanzados a través del Barco.

Marco y Lorena es una pareja que salió hacer un recorrido por Sudamérica, en carro, ya han pasado por Panamá, Colombia, Ecuador y actualmente están en Perú, hemos visto como la mano de Dios ha estado con ellos en todo momento y no les ha faltado nada.

Sophie y yo tuvimos un buen tiempo de descanso en nuestras vacaciones, fuimos a la playa y recibimos el ano con muchas fuerzas y más renovadas.

Tuvimos un tiempo como equipo por 3 días donde fuimos retados para trabajar aun mas juntos y así ver más latinos saliendo a los menos alcanzados. 

Este año  vienen cosas hermosas para OMCR y como equipo, estamos pidiendo a Dios que sea EL quien nos guie en todas las áreas, que podamos juntos movilizar, entrenar y enviar más obreros, nuestras áreas de enfoque estos próximos años es la movilización de la iglesia, la preparación de obreros nacionales y extranjeros para que tengan una experiencia transcultural y se apasionen por los NO ALCANZADOS, estamos trabajando con ser un ministerio autosostenible a través de nuestra casa de Hospedaje Pura Vida 506 www.puravida506.com donde ofrecemos alojamiento, alimentación y un lugar para realizar reuniones, todo con el fin de poder levantar finanzas para cubrir gastos operacionales, enviar a proyectos de países no alcanzados. ¡Únete a la causa!... 

Sophie viajo conmigo a Nicaragua para participar con nuestros amigos de MOVIDA en un congreso llamado CIMA 2018, jóvenes de todo Centroamérica se unieron para responder al llamado de ser testigos hasta lo último de la tierra, es hermoso ver una nueva generación que se esta levantando para tomar el reto e ir a los pueblos No Alcanzados, no nos cansemos de ORAR por esta Generación.

Como mama he comenzado con uno de los retos con Sophie, este ano comenzó Escuela, Primer Grado, como toda mama primeriza he estado con mucha expectativa de cómo será esta etapa, realmente me asusta, como cada día le pido a Dios ser una mujer balanceada en todas las áreas, pero en la de mama es la que mas deseo, no es fácil llevar toda la responsabilidad, familiar y de un ministerio pero como dije al inicio de esta carta, deseo tener el corazón y el carácter de Ruth para sobre llevar todo. Los gastos que tengo para la escuela de Sophie son altos, mensualmente debo cancelar $375 (esto para cubrir, alimentación, combustible, y el pago mensual), cualquiera me diría que es un lujo tenerla en una escuela privada, bilingüe y cristiana, pero yo no lo veo así, yo lo veo como una inversión a largo plazo y también una necesidad que tengo ya que por mi trabajo con OMCR no tengo opción de tenerla en una escuela pública, me gustaría invitarte a que seas parte de nuestro equipo, cómo?, Necesitamos padrinos que deseen apoyar mes a mes a Sophie, con una ofrenda ya sea de $20, $25, $50, $100,  ven y únete!, si estas interesado/a puedes hacer llegar el dinero a la cuenta del Banco Nacional #  200-02-000-709303-4 cuenta SINPE 15100020027093036 cedula 110380704 correo raquel.lopez@om.org Si estas en USA a la dirección, OM USA - Finance Department P.O. Box 444 Tyrone, GA 30290-0444 O email: auto.giving.us@om.org / con la oficina de OM en tu país (solo debes especificar que es para Raquel Lopez / Escuela de Sophie) o vía paypal a la siguiente dirección:  https://www.paypal.me/YeimyLopez Usted a cambio recibirá noticias de Sophie y su avance, así como mensajes, dibujos, e invitaciones para compartir con nosotras, ya sea a comer, tomar un helado y muchas cosas más.

Sophie y yo agradecemos a cada uno de ustedes que nos siguen por redes sociales, a través de mensajes, llamadas y que sacan de su tiempo para orar y ofrendar, hasta hoy siempre lo digo, solo por la gracia seguimos en pie y porque contamos con un excelente equipo de apoyo, USTED ES UNO DE ELLOS!!!....

Este lunes 19 de febrero estaré viajando a Sudáfrica a la reunión anual de lideres de OM, es mi primera vez viajando a África, por favor oren para que mis vuelos sean buenos, no tenga problemas de salud, Sophie este bien en ausencia de mama (es la parte más difícil para mí, pero tengo paz que estoy haciendo la voluntad de Dios).

Con mucho cariño

Raquel & Sophie

 

 

Proyectos Personales

Raquel & Sophie

Sirviendo con OMCR

Proyecto # 1 *Soporte personal*

Actualmente nuestro soporte es de $690.00 mensual

Para poder cubrir todas nuestras necesidades durante todo el ano, necesitamos $21.000 anuales, esto es teniendo un soporte de $1750.00 mensuales.

Proyecto # 2 *Carro*

Tengo la necesidad de un carro, ahora como lider, me es de utilidad ahora en mi roll como lider de OMCR, el tener un carro me facilitaria el poder trasladar a Sophie a su escuela cada dia y tambien, para uso del ministerio. El costo del carro serian de $5.500 (incluyendo las clases de manejo, el traspaso del carro)

Cilindrada	1,000 cc
Estilo	Sedán
Combustible	Gasolina
Transmisión	Manual
Estado	Muy Bueno
Kilometraje	153,000 km
Placa	Termina en 6
Color exterior	BEIGE
Color interior	NEGRO

Proyecto # 3 *Escuela para Sophie *

 El tiempo pasa y al ver a Sophie que ya el proximo ano inicia formalmente su tiempo de escuela eso me hace pensar en una mejor educacion para ella. En Costa Rica existen escuela publicas buenas, pero por el roll que desempeno como lider de OMCR, esto me hace pensar y buscar una escuela donde Sophie tenga un horario de 7:00 am  a 4:00 pm, lo que una escuela publica no tiene, eso por eso que necesito $350 mensuales para el pago de una escuela aproiada en educacion, en horario y asi de esta manera podre desempenar mejor mi funcion como lider. Anualmente serian $4.200.

 Proyecto # 4 * Clases de Ingles *

Debido a mi responsabilidad como lider de OMCR, para poder desempenar aun mejor mi servicio en el ministerio debo tomar clases de ingles. Actualmente voy 2 dias a la semana 3 horas, mi profesora es america. El costo mensual es de $120. El curso dura 2 anos siendo un total de $2.880.

 Proyecto # 5 * La Cuba, un pueblo menos alcanzado*

Estamos saliendo a Cuba en noviembre del 12 al 18, llevaremos un grupo de costarricenses, capacitados y con la pasion de llevar la palabra de Dios a este pais inalcanzado. Estamos reuniendonos una vez al mes para orar, levantar recursos finanzacieros, ver el programa a desarrollar con una iglesia en Cuba. Los costos para este viaje donde iremos Sophie y yo sera de $1.750 (esto nos permitira pagar pasajes de avion, impuestos de salida, hospedaje, alimentacion, transporte interno,  dar una ofrenda especial a la iglesia en Cuba).

Te pido que tomes el tiempo para orar a Dios por nosotras y por cada uno de estos proyectos y que sea El quien ponga en tu corazon de que forma deseas apoyarnos.

Despues de haber orado, escribe a: raquel.lopez@om.org  e indicanos en que proyecto deseas apoyarnos.

Si estas en Costa Rica, puedes depositar a la cuenta del:

Banco Nacional,

Cuenta en dolares $ 200-02-000-709303-4 
Cuenta Cliente: 15100020027093036

Cuenta en Colones ¢ 200-01-208-117033-1
Cuenta Cliente: 15120820011170333

Si estas en el extranjero: 
Contacta tu oficina local de OM, menciona que deseas dar una ofrenda para (Raquel Lopez en OM Costa Rica). O yo podria decirme como hacerlo.

Gracias por su apoyo en oracion