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