August 2022 – Prayer Letter
Dear Beloved Brethren and Co-Laborers,
As always, we cannot over state this, we thank and we will keep on thanking our Eternal God, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for sending us on this glorious mission. It is truly a joy as we do His will even in difficult times.We pray that His Holy Spirit will keep on guiding us in the right path of righteousness, to be obedient and faithful until the end, no matter what. We understand that we are living in difficult times and we do immensely thank you for your support, prayers and we praise the Lord for your faithfulness.
We want to start with a word of praise. This has been an answer to much prayer as we waited on the LORD patiently (Psalm 27:14 – “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart: wait, I say on the LORD.”) The Lord knows our hearts and desires, He also knows our loyalty and faithfulness in the midst of difficulties. The Lord has provided for us a place to meet in the existing church building that we mentioned in our last prayer letter which is in our district Santa Ana. We won’t have to drive one hour or more, each way (Sunday AM/PM & Wednesday PM), to the other Church in San Jose, Calle Blancos. The Lord knew of our needs when it came to the gasoline price which keeps going up (1,078 colon/liter now – $6.68/gal). Our services will be on Sunday afternoon and Bible Study on Wednesday evening. Before we can start our services formally, the pastor wants his congregation to get to know us, so we will be serving in that Church (Missionary Baptist Church Christ Lives) as well. Praise the LORD for His goodness, mercy and grace!
Apparently some churches and pastors are not receiving our monthly prayer letter. In the past we were having problems with Mailchimp, perhaps that was the reason why. I have checked and re-subscribed all churches on Mailchimp and as well on our website. When you read this letter, can you please send me an email confirming that you are receiving it or not; I will very much appreciate it. If not, please send me your latest email.
As we press on, please pray and continue praying for the following prayer request:
PRAYERS
- Pray as we are starting to renew our residency for the next two years, we have until March 23, 2023 to gather and submit all information to Immigration.
2. Continue praying for the project that I have been working on, Outlines and Commentaries in Spanish for all the Books of the Bible. As we are studying the book of James in our Bible study, I am revising the previous Commentary as I am teaching it. I have put on hold the 1st Epistle of John and the book of Judges. We ran out of the booklet (Spanish version) that I wrote and titled Focusing and Trusting in GOD in the midst of Difficulties & Storms. We will be printing, soon, a revised copy so we can keep distributing them in Costa Rica. Praise the Lord, this booklet has been a great blessing to many. That booklet is an excellent tool for evangelizing, not just to edify the body of Christ but also to evangelize to the lost world.
3. Our health in order to continue and work in His vineyard. Pray for my wife as she broke one of her toes in her right foot while helping the pastor’s wife at the new church preparing and decorating the sanctuary for Mother’s Day which was August 14th in Costa Rica. According to the doctor she cannot put any pressure on that foot for one month before she goes back for a check- up.
4. Place for the ministry – Continue praying with us as we have started to congregate in that new church in Santa Ana before we formally start our services.
5. Special prayer request – (1) In order to have a sign up for the church, we must have the church registered; and for us to register the church and form an Association, we must have a minimum of ten members, the pastor and pastor’s wife can be members; in the meantime we can have bible studies, once we have enough people (with membership) we can file for an Association and start a formal and organized church. They complicate matters here in Costa Rica for everything and in everything (especially to strangers). We want to do things correctly and have a clean testimony. We are truly being tested! We have come thus far, with many past setbacks, but the Lord will not let us down; He is just and faithful with His promises as we continue in obedience and faithfulness serving Him.
(2) I met a man name Jan Kozak 2 years and 8 months ago when we first moved to Costa Rica, he was the one that showed us the house where we are living and he also knew that we were missionaries. After that I have never saw him again. Well, on August 14 which was Mother’s Day in Costa Rica, I took my wife to lunch after the morning service. When we were waiting to be seated, someone tapped me on my shoulder and that person was Jan Kozak. The first thing that he asked me was: “where is your church and can I come to visit? Of course I told him yes and gave him the address. I don’t think Jan is saved, so please pray for him and for the Lord to prepare his heart to receive the Word when he comes to visit.
(3) We need to start our ministry because we know a lot of people who want to come to our services, but we have to wait until we get the pastor’s authorization so we can use the building at a different time.
Support Level
Our support has dropped to 78%. We are praying and trusting in the Lord that it will go up soon; even though we are very eager to start, and have been, but the Lord knows what He is doing. We are patiently waiting on Him.
Safety with Travels
Protection on the road and the COVID – 19 situations which still lingers here in Costa Rica, but has diminished substantially. Pray for our safety because we go places sometimes to spread the word that are very dangerous and we can get robbed and even be killed because it has happened before to other people.
Schedule of Meetings
We are planning to be in the States from October 18 through December 7, 2022. We have a busy agenda, we will be mostly be in SC, GA and a couple of churches in VA.
Softness of Attitude
To stay close to God and focus on Him and the mission that is set before us, not on our circumstances because it very easy to get discourage at times and Satan, as always, wants to put his nose in God.
PRAISES
- Praise the Lord for His continued protection and provision as we serve Him.
- Praise the Lord for the invitation that I receive this month to preach at the church where we are planning to meet. There is a lot of potential there. I sent the pictures in our last prayer latter.
- Praise the Lord that we don’t have to move from where we are, the new owner will allow us to stay. We have signed the new contract for the same price per month for the rent.
- Praise the Lord for answering prayers in regards to the extra printing of the Booklets. We are going to print more booklets so I can bring back to Costa Rica in the fall in order to distribute them.
Beloved Brethren, may the Love of the Almighty God, the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you All. Amen!
Brother Jean-Claude & Sister Matilde Guilbaud
Reach the World, Reach for Christ; Under His Wings Reaching the World for