Raquel & Sophie



God is the greatest giver of dreams

As you read in my last letter, God put in my heart the country of Romania, and that dream came true. God allowed me to go to Romania. One of the 10 poorest countries in Europe.  It was a totally adventure and a real challenge. I had the blessing of taking with me a group of 15 Costa Rican people. Were nine months of preparation and we see the child born. During the 3 weeks we spend in Romania, there were days for me just to be quiet and calm, watching, praying… but most of all, talking to God about my life, as they were 10 years of serving with OMCR. The days passed… and I got the chance to share with the kids of Bod and Paduren. Actually, OM Romania is working in these two zones. Each day we had kids in the programs, at the beginning the language was kind of hard, but not impossible.

Many of them had never been heard, accepted, and loved by their own families. Lots of them had a very bad behavior and even one of them bit me during the teaching. Daniel, I will never forget him, in each class he didn’t allow us to give the learning, but there was a moment were I only stroked his head, and after that we did a craft together… and I realized that many of those kids had never been heard, or even received any kind of caress. After that time with Daniel, he told me that I was his friend, his best friend. 

Flor, mother of 2 children…

One of them with renal failure and without a kidney. The doctors said he could only be operated abroad, but she doesn’t have the money for that. Her second child with Down syndrome, 13 years old but as a kid of 5 years old, unable to walk and being treated like a baby. What I remember about this woman, was watching her coming into the church with a smile in her face. At the end she said to me: “He is my hope”.

I want to be like her, that even in the midst of hard things I will never forget that He is my hope.

So, I have more stories like those. God used that trip to Romania to remind me that I was called to missions, and sometimes I forget how I started. But it also was time were He showed me again his faithfulness, his love, his support, his care, and his love for me and for my daughter, even tough she didn’t go with me.

After Romania, I’ve been through many changes on a personal level. I was asking God what else could I do for Him and He answered. I was invited by the actual leader of OMCR to take the challenge of being the new leader of OMCR, starting February 2017, “wow”. It wasn’t the first time I was invited, I had previously asked for the position, at that time I had lots of questions, fears and a lot of more things. But I believe in God’s timing and I have no doubt that this is the perfect time. I take the challenge not thinking that I have more than 10 years working for OM, but instead thinking that my desire is to obey the Lord, to do his will and longing to see more things in and out the ministry. As I’m going to be the leader what strategies I’m going to implement, with who I’m going to serve and for whom I’ll do it. Maybe I have all these things in my head, but the only thing that I’m doing right now is asking God for wisdom, I want to be sensitive to him, I want to do His will and I want to be a blessing for others and be part of the transformation of lives and communities.

Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God is with you in every step you take!

I am currently in leadership training. I went to Atlanta a couple of weeks ago to training in order to mobilize churches into missions. We were about 27 people, among them: field leaders, country leaders, Latin American mobilizers. It was a time that I used to see people that I met a long time ago; but I hadn’t the chance to see them because of the VISA. God arranged everything, it was beautiful to remember all the experiences that I had at the beginning of my journey with OM with all the people I met.

Our work with OM continues this year. We received around 7 groups coming from the USA, each of these groups has a common purpose, and it’s the desire to serve others. Some are complemented in Arts, others in construction of buildings, décor, painting, but the main purpose is to see Talamanca Transformed. God is doing wonderful things in the indigenous zone. We are about to open a children’s dining room for 150 kids so they can eat twice a day per week to start. We need around $65,000 in order to see this dream come true.

The program with women “Pearl Process” has moved to Talamanca to join the mission of OM: to reach the unreached. Every time we get to go to Talamanca or we take groups with us, we can see more women getting even closer to Jesus, and a need for their lives to be changed.

These and many other amazing things God is allowing us to do. And, definitely just with His help we can make them possible. The journey is not essay, but I have no doubt that He called me to do this. Now I assume this challenge of being the new OMCR leader. (Of course, this does not mean that my salary will increase). Now I have even more responsibility to raise my support and my team’s as well. In fact, 3 weeks ago 3 donors failed with their time of giving, but I’m not going to be discouraged, because I know that God is the one who sustains us.

If you want to be part of my givers or prayer team, please let me know!

Prayer Points

1. ·         That God gives me wisdom in this new roll, I want his grace, I want to listen to Him and I want to do his will.
2. ·         For my relationship with Sophie, that we can a have a more balanced mother and daughter relationship, and that our priority is our relationship not the ministry.
3. ·         And for the team of OMCR, some of them their commitment is about to end, so that they can commit to God first and then with OMCR.
4. ·         For the beautiful things God is doing with the women in Talamanca, and that we can see their lives changed.
5. ·         For our next congress of OM Arts “Escala 35:31” (we are going to have more than 100 participants coming from outside and inside the country).
6. ·         For our finances, (We need a support of $1800 per month (Sophie and me)) for me to cover all our personal expenses, like trips, trainings and English classes. (URGENT!).
7. ·     For the meeting of Latin American leaders we are going to have next month (from 15 to 24 of September) in Paraguay, that we can hear His voice and be prepared for the things He has for us. 

Rachel & Sophie

Serving with OM Costa Rica

If you want to support me financially write to:

 raquel.lopez @ om.org 

or Contact your local office of OM (if you are out of Costa Rica)

In Costa Rica, deposit at National Bank

$: 100-02-107-600147-7 or

¢: 100-01-107-000471-1

 (Detail  it is an offering for Raquel Lopez in OM Costa Rica)