We hope this letter finds you doing well. It’s a rainy afternoon here at the Coffeehouse. No better time for writing and catching up with you. All is well here with our family. As for the kids, Wolfy started walking a couple of months ago. And Olivia… she in the midst of potty training??? What an interesting life experience for the family. So we have this system where, if Olivia goes to the potty in the toilet, she gets to take a small fist-full of peanut MnMs, from aclear plastic jar we keep next to the toilet. Picture it; Daddy, Mommy and Wolfy all crowded around the toilet giving Olivia hi-fives while saying “yeah kaka” for our smiling daughter. I never in my life imagined I’d be part of such an event… but it does keep life interesting. Anyway…
Stacey continues to co-lead the women’s bible study on Tuesday mornings while also facilitating Mommy Group on Thursday mornings. Both events continue to attract new comers and are going strong (Below- Mommy Group on Olivia's Birthday)
even in the rainy season. Right now, Stacey is leading the women’s bible study through a Beth Moore video/study series on the book of Daniel, and they are having some spiritually rich discussion. Last week, she boasted, “everyone was in tears…”. I’m guessing that was a good thing… right? In addition, Stacey will soon be taking on a ministry on Sunday mornings for mothers of toddlers at church. She has designed a “kid coral” to keep toddlers safe and entertained during church worship. We should have that up and running by the end of October.Café Café-
Interns- It has been our vision at the Café that we would have interns come and serve at the Café in the community, and it has been such a blessing over the past several months to see this vision realized through a number of interns that have served with us. .
Kristina Clark served full time at the Café from April-July. In addition to Café responsibilities, she also served our church community by leading our church’s youth group on several occasions and going on a weeklong mission trip to Nicaragua. Kristina plugged into ministry in on so many other levels that this letter wont permit me to include. In short, we hope to have more interns with a heart like hers in the future.
The North Carolina Crew- During the month of June, the café was blessed with five recent high school graduates
(Morgan, Drew, Laura, Burcu, and Katie) who served in a variety of ways. Collaboratively, they; worked the Café 2-3 days a week, taught art classes at CEPIA (a local organization helping at risk youth in the area), co-led our church’s youth group, sealed and painted parts of our church, volunteered with Tamarindo Recycling Program, and volunteered helping with a local law firm. It was disorienting just watching them run from here to there serving in so many ways. THANKS GUYS!Keith Holmes
has been our most recent intern…. And flew back to California just yesterday. I call him “ the anchor”. He really held the fort down while Stacey and I were in the U.S. visiting family and attending the Willow Creek Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach. Keith has been a blessing as he has helped out with our church’s youth group and served on our church’s Nicaragua Missions trip in early September. We will really miss having him around.The Hill Family- Wes, Jeanna, Hayden, Landen, Audry arrived from California about a month ago for a 3-4 month family Sabbatical. The Hills found us through our website about a year ago, and finally got to meet in February during a "scouting" visit they made. We have been grateful for them as they have been super pro-active in plugging into the Cafe and ministry in our area. We are grateful for their friendship as well as their heart to serve.
Marlen Rivera arrived about a week ago from Houston, TX. On her first day, she followed me around the shop with a pen and paper writing down list of “things to do” around the Café. I thank God for Marlen!! What a blessing. Since her arrival, she has also found her way to serving at the welcome desk at our church and helping out with “kid’s club” at the local Calvary Chapel church plant.
Book Lending- We recently… finally… have gotten around to cataloguing our “lending books” at the Café, and we are especially excited to get this list out to our church folks in the area. In sum we have
• 220 Misc. Christian Books (Yancey, Lewis, Graham, Jenkins, Lucado, Eldredge, Willard etc)
• 19 Christian Ed Videos
• 45 Audio Sermons-Bible Studies (Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Calvary Chapel, etc.)
• 40 Marriage and Family (Gary Chapman, Chuck Coleson, Charle’s Swindoll, Leslie Parrott etc.)
This is an incredible resource in a place where there are no “real” bookstores. The closest book store with books in English is in San Jose (4hrs away). So… “THANK YOU” to all of you who have brought, mailed, smuggled books down for our lending program. In addition, we thank those of you who have brought used books for us to sell as well. I haven’t come up with the numbers, but I know at a glance of our records that our used book sales have helped greatly to supplement our Coffeehouse business/ministry. Thank you!
Trip to the U.S.- Stacey and I were able to travel home for three weeks during July-August visiting family in Wisconsin, Virginia, and North Carolina. It was a blessing to be with our family for an extended time…. as we are usually only with family for two weeks. Highlights were a trip through Milwaukee visiting Stacey’s old stomping grounds, visiting my Uncle Ed in NC, and having Olivia and Wolfy get some grandma and grandpa time.
Mission Trip- Upon returning home from the U.S., I went on a mission trip with our church.
The experience of being amidst such poverty was a powerful reminder of how blessed we are to have healthy families, homes, three meals a day, etc. While there our group worked on three projects simultaneously: building a zinc roofed “home” for a poor family of four, laying a floor for a “children’s church” area at a local church, and repairing concrete benches at a children’s feeding area in Managua’s city trash dump. Our church will be making about six of these trips a year. We are excited to see how God will work in Nicaragua and in our hearts as we serve in this way together. You can find out more about our projects at www.costaricachurch.com/id13.htmlAs you can see, we have been incredibly blessed in our prayers that God would send 'laborers for the harvest". God is good. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We'll be in touch again in a few months. Until then....
the Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The Watsons
Prayer Requests
Protection- protection of our home and family as there has been a wave of crime in our area lately.
Growth- in our individual relationships with God.
Selflessness and humility- in our marriage
Opportunity- to share the gospel with our non-Christian friends.
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