https://giftofhopeandafuture.org/donate

The other link in the last post happens to be a project we’ve been working on. We are working on raising money for our mission through this Airbnb in Costa Rica, as well as offering it as a place for a retreat for missionaries and other families looking to get away and pray. Missionaries and big families often have a hard time finding an affordable place to rest and pray, and so we will offer this property for missionaries for a free-will donation. Please reach out to us if you are in need of a retreat!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/912322956550895132?check_in=2024-02-02&check_out=2024-02-04&guests=1&adults=4&children=4&s=39&unique_share_id=b2866b9e-1b20-4ed5-ae94-780791889d81

Here is our latest newsletter that we wanted to share here for those who are not on our mailing list. Please keep our family in prayer as we re-enculturate to life in the US again and enter into a time of rest.

We also want to post our link to our Gift of Hope education program in hopes that you will consider donating to or sponsoring a child’s education among the poorest of the poor in Guatemala:

https://giftofhopeandafuture.org/donate

Thank you for joining us so far on this path of proclaiming the gospel and serving the poor. We are not done yet!! God bless you all.

This past year, a new missionary family that had just joined us in Costa Rica presented us with the idea of joining forces to build a new playground for the little town of Sonafluca, where we were both doing missions. The old playground was in complete disarray. The swings were broken, the wood promised splinters, and really the only ones who used it were bored teenagers looking for a place to hang out. It was regularly trashed, and in the center of town.

We wanted to dedicate this park to Saint John Bosco, which is our parish name, but also is a perfect example of a saint that brought children to Jesus through play! We also wanted to get the blessing of our priest, Padre Mainor. In the meantime, Brad and our mission partner Mark, had scheduled an appointment to meet the bishop so he could put faces to the names of his missionaries now serving in Sonafluca. At this meeting, which included our local missionary friend Pablo, they explained our desire to put up a new park for the kids and dedicate it to San Juan Bosco. Brad even mentioned that it would be really great if the bishop could come to our opening party and bless the park. Pablo joked after they left, that in Costa Rica, that would never happen!

We then met with Padre Mainor and received his blessing, and before we knew it the park project was under way. First we had to tear down the old park and clean up the debris and trash, but then it was exciting to see the new park go up in just three days! Here we are laying the ground with rock after it was built.

Our boys, some locals and a lot of kids helped shovel and pour it on.

Soon the park was almost complete and we decided to meet with Padre Mainor to see if either he or the bishop could come bless the park for our opening party. Not only did he agree to come, but he checked with the bishop on a date that would work for him, and he agreed to come bless the park AND say a mass for Sonafluca at our tiny little chapel! Because the bishop had other bishops from other countries visiting, there ended up being three bishops and five priests for a total of eight in all! Meanwhile, when the locals got word that we were going to have this blessing and a mass said for the park, they put together a huge dinner for all the missionaries and priests. Only God could have taken a little suggestion from a humble missionary in a tiny town of Costa Rica and have blown it up into the holy event that it was!

It was a magical night! Not only was it packed with locals, it made the national news and FB watch, and Pablo was interviewed on behalf of Family Missions Company.

So that is the story of how, on June 8th, God orchestrated a blessing of the new park of Sonafluca with eight priests, a huge party full of kids and families, and a mass at our little town church, followed by a dinner for all the priests and missionaries.

San Juan Bosco, pray for us!

Thanks to our generous benefactors, we were able to provide a floor for our friends Loyda and Jordan, and it is almost complete! Praise the Lord! The other night they were sharing with us some Nicaraguan style tacos with refried black beans, cabbage, cheese, ketchup and Natilla (a kind of Latin American sour cream) and afterwards we prayed together and they told us they wanted to help us in the mission!

These two pictures are what the dirt floor looked like before. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but the floor is very uneven and difficult to keep clean.

The family and their friends worked hard to do it themselves, and they are almost done!

This cartoon-ish fuzzy looking sweet fruit pictured here is called mamon chino in Costa Rica, or more affectionately, “mamone” and translates in English to “Chinese suckers.” They are one of our family’s favorite tropical fruits. You rip off the peel and there’s a giant seed that’s covered with sweet juicy goodness.

Tis the season for these little wonders, and our friend Carmen has tons of them on some land she owns nearby. Carmen also has a missionary priest friend, Padre Willem, who serves a community about three hours away in the beach city of Puntarenas. He has been a missionary priest for many years and always seeks out the poorest of the poor. Mamones don’t grow where he lives. So this mission was all about harvesting as many mamones as we could, filling our buseta and driving to Puntarenas (twice) to deliver them to Padre, who then had then bagged and sold them in his parish to raise money for the poor.

For many months we have been praying and trying to come up with ideas on ways to help our dear friend Francisco support his wife and five kids. At first we tried to raise enough money to build them or buy them a house, but it was too expensive. Eventually, they were forced to move out of their tiny shack, before any of us could come up with a solution, so a friend of theirs allowed them to move into their little town’s community hall. The only catch was that every time there was a community gathering, they’d have to pack up all their visible things and hide them in a back room where they all sleep.

This had been an upgrade to living in their other house, however they still couldn’t live there for long because Francisco’s farming job was too unstable and they couldn’t afford to pay rent. There weren’t any other options for renting a house in their town, as they were either too expensive or too small for their family.

One day Brad and I went to visit them to pray with them and they told us they actually wanted to stay in the community house but didn’t have the rent money. We also had been asking Francisco what method of farming he thought he could make money on. Little by little, God was pulling everything together.

We had some money donated for building them a house, so we took that and were able to rent this house for his family for one full year! Also, we rented farmland, paid to get it tilled by a tractor, and bought all of the equipment and fertilizer he will need for three harvests of a local vegetable called camote.

Francisco and Pilar are overjoyed they now have a livable situation and a way to earn money for the foreseeable future. Please keep their family in your prayers for three perfect harvests and for excellent sales of their camote!

John the Baptist said, “Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”

This statement is very simple. I read it and think I am doing it all the time in His mission. However, when I see the needs around me, I think twice.

Francisco and Pilar have 6 kids. If you are following our mission, you will remember them. They are Nicaraguan immigrants who fled from their country to find a better life in Costa Rica. They are living in what us Americans would call a shack, that has one room and an outhouse. For 8 people. No electricity. No washer. No fridge. Certainly not a dryer.

Francisco works very hard as a field worker for a farm owner. He makes a little over $2.00 an hour and his hours are determined by the amount of rain fall. I will do the math for you, $2.00 an hour x 30 hours a week x 4 weeks = $240.00 a month.

As you can imagine, it is very difficult to make ends meet with that amount of income. So they do without almost every “basic” necessity. However, EVERY time we go to visit and pray with them, they hand us platanos, camote, or bananas. I watched helplessly as Pilar handed 5,000 colones (equivalent of appx $8, 4 hours of HARD work) to her daughter to buy us a couple bottles of juice. They are so generous with the little they have.

We have walked with this family for over 3 years and have been constantly amazed at their abundant level of generosity. They do not have 2 cloaks. They do not have an overabundance of food. Yet they give unceasingly. So, I ask myself, am I giving my second cloak? Am I giving enough? Nope.

Francisco recently came to our house and explained the “house” they are living in is being torn down by the owner to build cabinas for rent. They do not have any options to move to. He can afford rent, but further away from the children’s school and his work, and with not much improvement on their living conditions. Transportation costs will certainly be higher.

In desperation he asked me if we would be willing to buy them a house and his family could rent it. I thought and prayed on this for a while. We have no interest in becoming landlords here in Costa Rica. However, can we GIVE from our abundance with no strings attached? Yes, we certainly can. We can help make their life more manageable, not perfect. A concrete floor, a functional bathroom, maybe even electricity.

I have heard the question posed, “is this a true necessity?” or “aren’t they used to living like this?” Because of our American abundance we want to choose where we donate is the best way to spend our money. But can we ask ourselves, If we have two rooms in our house, shouldn’t we share a room with someone who only has one?

So, we humbly are asking you for donations to make this happen. I have scouted the area of Ulima, (where they live) and have found a couple humble options for sale.

We have already raised approximately $3,000. Our goal is to raise an additional $7,000. If you feel called to help, please send donations to the following link:

https://www.familymissionscompany.com/project/brschmitz/ and write Francisco’s House in the comments.

Thank you all and God Bless!

Brad

Happy Easter and God bless you all! It’s been a while since we’ve written, and our family has many updates to share, but we first wanted to tell you about a special project we are working on.

Through a friend of ours, we were very blessed to meet a beautiful single smiling mother of six named Sarai, who, by all appearances, you’d never guess in a million years what she’s been through. A few years ago Sarai was covertly transferred hours away from a coastal city in Costa Rica to a small city near our mission post to protect her from her violent husband. Her husband was then sentenced to fifty years in prison on accounts of domestic violence. They had been married for 15 years and had six kids together. Sarai lost everything and had to start over. Luckily, her life was re-located near an uncle of hers who happened to live by the popular tourist town of La Fortuna, and she was able to find a job.

Sadly, even though Sarai found what many would consider a prestigious job as a high-end chef at a FIVE-star hotel, she is only making 1200 colones per hour, which is equivalent to about $2.00 an hour. With the cost of living in said tourist town, being paid this much is barely enough for her to live on if she lived alone. As it stands, she needs to pay bills and feed her family of eight, who all live in a small one-bedroom apartment, with a total of three beds for all of them to share, and no outside space for them to play save a skinny sidewalk leading to the street. Can you imagine? Eight people, including your mother, sharing three beds?

Sara has a dream. She’s dreamed it enough to have found and priced all the bare minimum materials needed to start her own business: baking cakes and other decorated sweets to sell. Sara proudly showed us pictures of her creations on her phone that showcased exquisitely prepared cakes and other baked goods she’s made for the luxury hotel she works at. She would already start selling her baked goods on the side – in addition to working sometimes 14 hours a day – to make ends meet, but her landlord wouldn’t let her connect an oven due to the electricity bill it would incur. 

Now we have the same dream as Sara; not only to eventually help her start her own business, but to first get her family in a house that fits them, and to get her out of survival mode so she can sustain feeding her family on her own. 

God has brought our two families together. I know we are meant to ask for help on behalf of this family. We sometimes struggle greatly with the inequality of the circumstances of life. But instead of dwelling on this, I’m remembering that God loves to use us all when we agree to be used by him, which is, in fact why we are here, Praise God! The Lord hears the cries of the poor.

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.” 

-Psalm 34:17

If you would like to contribute to helping Sarai and her family, please donate on the link below and type in “Sarai’s Family” in the notes. Thank you for partnering with us on mission! Have a very blessed Easter Season.

https://www.familymissionscompany.com/project/brschmitz/

We got to partake in a beautiful small ministry this Christmas. Our friends, Francisco and Pilar were having a baby and she was due very close to Christmas. As Pilar’s pregnancy progressed, these friends of ours, who live about a 40-minute drive away from us, began to visit us more, as the nearest hospital is very close to us. They are very poor, and they do not own a car, but they would take the bus to Ciudad Quesada for their appointments, and often times Brad would be their taxi. Many times they would kill time at our house while they waited for appointments, to go to work, or in between school times. Usually when they stop by, we make coffee or breakfast for them, give a drink of water, and try our best to understand their Nicaraguan accent as we continue to make friends with the whole family. 

One evening we had invited their whole family over for dinner and I made tacos. I had asked them what their favorite food to eat was and they stared at me like I was an alien. They answered rice and beans and shrugged. I then realized what a crazy question that must have been for them. It’s not like they get to choose what they want for dinner every night like we do. They don’t have electricity in their one room house, so they go to bed close to sunset and wake up with the sun. The sun sets here around 5:00 pm. They must’ve been very tired when it was after supper, and I was trying to help their teenagers with their English homework. We were trying to rush, using our internet, because they don’t have it. They need to use a neighbor’s house to charge their phones, and if the kids need to study, they need to do it at school. 

One day they had been visiting with us at our house in regard to their Costa Rican visa situation. They both never learned to read or write, and there was a mistake on their residency card that was going to cost a lot of time and money to fix. People have two last names here, and she had gotten hers reversed on her card, so it didn’t match the two last names of her husband. This hurdle led to a bunch of late fees they needed to pay in order to update it, but didn’t have the money to, and we had agreed to pay those fees for them. We’d also been trying to help them get their childrens’ birth certificates from Nicaragua so the family could officially convert to Catholicism, but it’s so complicated we haven’t yet been able to fully help with that.

We have been discipling alongside this family, and I can echo (from what so many other missionaries have said) that we have learned far more from their pure faith and simple joy than they from us. On that day they were visiting us, Pilar was very pregnant and I took note that she had walked from the school, about a half mile away. Francisco had gone to play soccer with Brad and the boys. Do you want to rest in my bed? I asked her. She gratefully took me up on it and I brought her back to my room, put the fan on and closed the door behind me. I can’t describe the way I felt… like I had just heard the verse “whatever you do to the least of these you do for me.” Not that I think she’s the least, but that I think she’s the most. That I think she is Jesus. I was just thinking about how I was complaining that we had outgrown our house and were tripping over each other. I imagined what it was like for her to go from her small, dark hut where she shares a room with the whole family, to taking a nap in a window-fresh, fan-sounded cozy-bedded room with the door shut for privacy. And a completely finished (although not pretty by American standards) bathroom. A second one at that! Our house must’ve felt luxurious to her. I felt so silly for complaining. Foolish and silly. 

Pilar didn’t have any baby things and I knew she didn’t have enough money to buy anything for her baby, so we wanted to bless her.  When I reached out to family and friends, I was amazed at the generosity of all who donated! We were able to buy her all the things on the baby list and more! She was very gracious and humble to receive the items. But I was very struck by how simple her life seemed. I know we think we need all of these baby things in the US, but she is proof that in reality, all we need is warmth, shelter, food and love. 

When we went to drop off the items, she was sitting there, holding adoringly her precious new baby in her arms, in her simple house with zero clutter, and I thought how similar it must have been like for the Holy Family, and it was such a joy to witness this blessed family in this way, so close to when baby Jesus was born.