Merry Christmas from 6:8

Merry Christmas from 6:8 Ministries! Our savior is born and that is a great reason to celebrate. The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ gives us incredible hope, joy, and peace. God is so good and has given us many other reasons to celebrate this year. He continues to use 6:8 Ministries in powerful ways here in Costa Rica. It's an honor to be used by God to strengthen and expand His kingdom here on earth.

I would like to thank all of the people that are 6:8 Ministries. I'm not talking about the board of directors, or the staff families. I'm talking about all of the people that support 6:8 Ministries through their prayers and financial support. Without so many faithful supporters we would not be able to follow His calling. It's these faithful individuals that allow us to be here to continue to bless and reach many people for Christ. These people are the unsung heroes of 6:8 Ministries. It's because of their faithful financial support that we are able to have seven missionary families on the ground here in Costa Rica.

Thanks to God, and thanks to all of you who God has used to build 6:8 Ministries. We are eternally grateful for your generosity, and awestruck with the privilege of serving God through 6:8 Ministries.

Incredibly Thankful,

Spencer

Disaster

Please read this update as we are in urgent need of your prayers and assistance.

Torrential rainfall over the past 72 hours has caused significant flooding and mudslides in and around our area. Last night tragedy struck as mudslides and swollen rivers claimed the lives of 20 people. There are a dozen people still missing and hundreds are left homeless. The rain continues, the ground is saturated, and some areas are being evacuated because the risk of further mudslides. Click here for News Articl

The 6:8 staff families are safe and relatively unaffected. We are without water, and I've been told that it may be a week before it's on again. However, lack of running water seems trivial in comparison to what some of the families have lost.

A few of the families of Celebration Church Costa Rica have been directly effected. Melba's mother lost her house in a mudslide and other families have experienced minor flooding. We are still trying to asses the extent of the damage and who was effected.

In the midst of all of this tragedy there is hope! We have been given an amazing opportunity to shine the light of Christ into the darkness created by catastrophe. Acts of love shine brightest in the midst of the darkness of despair.

6:8 Ministries and Celebration Church Costa Rica have already begun to take action. Today we helped the serve meals, carry and distribute water, and salvage items from the homes of effected families.

The plan is to focus on providing meals, clothing, and possibly shelter to meet the immediate needs. We also want to help rebuild and repair as many homes as possible.

There are three ways you can helps us help others:

* First - You can pray for the entire situation!

* Second - You can give! We need funding to purchase food, clothing, and building materials.

* Third - You can come help serve. Pray about bringing a mission team to help with the efforts.

Love in Christ,

Spencer Boulter

6:8 Update

I love mustard. It's an amazing condiment! The mildly spicy flavor can make even a nasty hot-dog tolerable. It's probably my second favorite condiment, only beaten by Lizano sauce. I also love the parable of the mustard seed and everything it represents. I love that one of the smallest seeds has such great potential!

Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a small mustard seed that becomes a tree. Not just any tree, but it grows to be one of the largest trees in the garden. Growing so large that the birds of the air can come and nest in the branches.

In a direct contrast, sitting in my office are two bonsai trees. They are both over ten years old, and neither one of them is more than a foot tall. They are wonderfully manicured and look beautiful. It's work to keep them cutback and under control. Left alone to grow they would become wild and unmanageable. They would become significantly larger. So much so, they would no longer fit in my office.

While bonsai is unnatural, growth is natural. Not only is it natural, but it is also God's plan for His people and His kingdom here on earth. We should always be experiencing growth of some kind in our lives. The challenge is that when things grow they change, and change can be frightening. Often, things that grow become wild and difficult to manage.

We are experiencing tremendous growth. It's almost scary to think about how quickly things are constantly growing and changing! In four short years God has grown the small seeds of an idea into a thriving ministry that is changing the world for Christ in Costa Rica.

One problem is that it is way too easy to say no to growth. We could have tried to keep it small, neat, and manageable, much like one of my bonsai trees. We could keep it simple and look inwardly, striving to keep it small. It wouldn't have been hard to do. All we would have needed to do is ignore the call of God, and resisted the growth He was bringing. However, if we would have done that, we would have missed out on all the blessing of being used by God in such a powerful way.

I've come to believe that a desire to resist growth stems from a fearful, selfish heart. The primary purpose of all Godly growth is to increase our capacity to love and serve others. I'm awed and humbled that God would use 6:8 Ministries to impact so many lives. He has grown us to the point that others have come and find a home and nest in our branches.

Please join us in praying that He will continue to grow His ministry though us. Pray that we will continue to have the courage and conviction to embrace the growth that He brings. Pray that we will have the wisdom to prune the branches that may be stunting the overall growth, and that He would continue to use us to expand and strengthen His kingdom.

Forgiveness

It all started last summer when a mission team came to Alajuelita to serve. Toward the end of the trip one of the young ladies on the mission team had her camera stolen. She had laid it down for a few minutes in the church they where they were working and it was gone! She was frustrated and I was incredibly disappointed and embarrassed.

I did some investigating and figured it was one of two people. I spoke with each of these people and asked them to come clean, return the camera, and ask the young lady for forgiveness. My petitions fell on deaf ears and nothing was resolved.

A year later this same young woman returned to serve. Toward the end of the trip she was approached by a young man, one of the two I had suspected. He was upset and asked if he could speak with her. He went on to confess that he was the one who had stolen her camera. He explained that a year ago he didn't know Jesus. He didn't feel bad and didn't think he needed to ask for forgiveness. However, in the past year he had grown to love Jesus and now he understands why he needs to ask for forgiveness. The young lady forgave the young man and it was a healing experience for both. Then the young man asked if he could some how pay restitution for the lost camera. The young woman simply replied "You are forgiven." While she had lost a camera, she had gained a brother.

The whole experience was a beautiful picture, and excellent reminder of the love and forgiveness found in the body of Christ.

Provision

It all started several weeks ago when I received an email from a couple young guys traveling though Central America looking for mission opportunities. They asked if they could come and visit 6:8 Ministries and hang around for a little while. My first reaction was to tell them no, that is not in keeping with the vision and focus of 6:8 Ministries. However, I did not have peace, so I prayed and decided to tell them yes.

Last week I had to make the hard decision to terminate the current director of the men's rehabilitation center. The decision was made due to some spiritual and moral failures on the part of the director. This came unexpected and we were scrambling to try to figure out what to do with the men's center. We have made progress with some of the men in the center and didn't want to have to send them back to the streets.

We asked the young men if they would consider sleeping in the center while we searched for a new director. They agreed! The crazy part is that they both speak Spanish and one of them actually has experience serving in homeless shelters.

Over the past week God has used these young men in a powerful way. First, they have built deep relationships with the men in a very short time. They have been praying and studying God's word together, and since their arrival three men have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!

We have also been struggling to keep the men's center financially viable. We have had little success with our fundraising efforts. Within a few days of these young men taking over we received an unsolicited gift to support the men's center. This has caused me to wonder if God has been holding back blessing with the men's center because we had the wrong person leading it.

It's been amazing to watch how God continue to work all things together for good. I'm not really good with math, but I can't imagine the odds on all of this being coincidental. Two strangers looking for opportunities to serve God rolling into town at the perfect time, with the perfect gift set! I'm not sure how long they will be here, but some how I think it's going to be perfect timing.

Through all of this I've been reminded that AMAZING things happen we pray and open ourselves to God's leading. I'm super excited and almost feel invincible! If God is for us than what can stand against us?

Ramblings - Gloria

A member of our church family has passed away. Her name is Gloria. She was disabled and lived in some of the most impoverished conditions you can imagine. She had been coming to church for a while, but had recently found her place in the body of Christ.

It was always a source of conviction and encouragement to see Gloria hobble into church on her crutches each Sunday. Breathing heavy and sweating profusely, she would smile and greet me with a kiss on the cheek. Her chronic asthma and physical disability made it extremely difficult to go anywhere...but the one place she desperately wanted to go was church. She wanted to be near her church family.

God used Gloria to impact many of the lives around her. She had a tremendous impact on the men of the church. They were convicted and rallied together to reach out in love to help. Most of these men struggle to make ends meet for their own families; however together they committed to raise enough money to pay the rent for decent home close to the church. God also used Gloria to impact the mission teams visiting the church. One team conducted a BBQ fundraiser while another cleaned and painted her new home. It was beautiful to watch the body of Christ in action. Selfless acts of love and service for their sister in need.

The day of Gloria's death the mission team visited Gloria. During the visit the mission team prayed that God would heal Gloria and ease her physical suffering. They also prayed that she would like the home they were preparing for her. I doubt any of them thought that God would answer their prayer in such a powerful way.

Later that same day Gloria was taken to hospital because she was having difficulty breathing. Later that night she died...at least physically. The prayers of the mission team had been answered. Gloria left her weak and broken body here on earth, but immediately she was with the God the Father and has no physical pain or suffering. Not only that...but I know she likes the new home Jesus prepared for her...It's perfect!

The next day I had the privilege of attending Gloria's funeral. It was like no funeral I have ever attended. There was upbeat music, balloons, and tons of people from the church. I didn't see anyone weeping, though I did see some tears of joy. Together we worshiped God.Pastor Jorge preached an encouraging message. And then, there was dancing! It was more like a party than a funeral. It was a beautiful celebration! We all knew that our sister Gloria was now in a much better place. I will miss seeing Gloria for now, but it felt selfish to mourn her death.

At one point during the service I leaned over and told Dave "I want my funeral to be like this!", he smiled and agreed. Through it all I've been reminded that because of Christ, death has lost it's sting. He really has turned our mourning into dancing and overcome death with life!

Loving life and death here in Costa Rica,

Love you guys,

Spence