Another Beginning

We have enjoyed an excellent but difficult last six months. Our visits with many supporting church families have encouraged our souls. The hugs and smiles, the concern for Kevin’s health, the love expressed for the kids (and grandkid), the gifts towards our support—they have all been a great blessing. And for those we have not seen in person, many of you have written your encouragement. We thank you.

However, we have also been struggling these last six months—wanting, and moving toward, a return to the field, but it has been an unsettled drive. We have been reluctant, in spite of improve­ments in Kevin’s physical situation, to admit that going back overseas would not be best for his health. Due to chronic pain and due to maintaining the prosthesis, Kevin does not have the stamina to manage full-time ministry overseas. After conversations with administrators and with our pastor about various options, and after much prayer, we have tendered with sadness our resignation with ABWE as of August 31, 2010.

Ñanduti lace from Paraguay

This certainly will not be the end of ministry in our life, but it does mean that for these years in front of us, we will not be returning to the field. 

Costa Rica oxcart wheel

We love the ministries in which we have been involved in Paraguay and in Costa Rica. We enjoy fellowship and working alongside our ABWE colleagues. God has tremendously enriched and blessed our entire family since we joined ABWE in 1993. We know He will bless the next steps we take, and as well He will bless the steps of our ABWE coworkers in Costa Rica.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at reilly@hisnet.net.

With faith in Him, Kevin and Tia, Colleen and Tara

June 2010 Ps&Ps

 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous 
      and his ears are attentive to their prayer, 
   but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 

Who is going to harm you

if you are eager to do good? 1 Peter 3:11-13

Dear Supporting Family,

We need to touch base again with you all. We have had a very busy last few months—mostly busy on the road (or in the skies).

Tia enjoyed a great trip to Chile with Dr. Bev Monroe and Mrs. Ginger Kirk. They spent almost an entire month at Santiago Christian Academy working on the library—sorting, culling, cataloging books into the computer, labeling, and reshelving over 7600 volumes. The experience provided a varied, enriching mosaic of cultures—Chilean, American, Korean, Turkish, etc. One highlight for Tia was the opportunity to visit with missionary friends who have passed through language school in Costa Rica and now are working on the field. She also had the chance to see friends whom she has not seen since our own language school days (1996) or since our years working in Paraguay (1997-2003). The ladies were able to visit several ABWE church works—including a deaf ministry—and that provided great fellowship and included a lot of Spanish and even mate (South American tea). If you would like more details and a ton of photos, please visit Tia’s blog at Library Adventures in Santiago, Chile.

At Hainesport

While Tia was gallivanting in South America, Kevin and the girls attended three churches in Ohio and in New Jersey. We enjoyed sharing our ministry and seeing new and old faces at

·         Cornerstone Baptist Church, Springfield, OH
·       Grace Bible Church, Pompton Plains, NJ
·   First Baptist Church, Hackensack, NJ

Then when she returned, Tia joined Kevin with visits to

•  Hainesport Baptist Church, Hainesport, NJ
•  First Baptist Church, Perkasie, PA
•  Northmoreland Baptist Church, Tunkannock, PA
•  People's Regular Baptist Church, Maybrook, NY

At Perkasie

With John Phykitt

We have been so encouraged with these visits (and the ones that preceded them). Everyone greets us with their assurances of prayers over these last few years, and we are so grateful. Those prayers support us in ways we do not understand (I Timothy 2:1-3). And as we have shared time with so many special friends along these roads, we have seen the necessity of our own intercession for all you here in the United States struggling with life and with sharing the gospel in this difficult field of ministry. We are praying for you, too!

These last few weeks—after our Pennsylvania and New York visits—have also included intense conversations with our mission’s regional administrator and with our pastor at Grace Baptist in Cedarville. We have been looking at a change of ministry (from the work at Sojourn Academy) and were aiming to return to Costa Rica in August 2010. However, due to a few doors closing, some lacking finances, and a general lack of peace about the timing of the return, we have decided that the return may need to be later in the year or early 2011. 

We so need your prayers and we are so grateful for your friendship! This furlough has encouraged us so much through your love! 

With faith in Him,

Kevin and Tia Reilly, Colleen and Tara

Reilly Great Remarks/P&Ps

Selah

P.S. Kaity is doing great—she finished her first year at Central State Univ with a 4.0, and has an excellent job in the area. Sean continues strong at Fort Eustis in Virgina, and will graduate from there in September and then he and Christina and baby Galen will all be together again—somewhere.

March 2010 Ps&Ps

BACK ON THE ROAD -- We must admit that getting back into the “saddle” of furlough travels will be another adjustment to life. Please pray for stamina and spirit. We look forward to seeing those who have been supporting and praying for us these last five years particularly, and it will be a blessing to share the photos and memories of the ministry in Costa Rica.

 

Just this past weekend, we presented our first report at Calvary Baptist in Parkertown, NJ. What a blessing to hear how so many have been praying for us and for Kevin’s medical needs. What a praise! (Photo: Kevin and Tia with Pastor Mike and Michelle Dellaperute, more photos here.)

 

In April, Tia will have the opportunity to travel to Santiago, Chile, to work for three weeks with Dr. Bev Monroe at the ABWE missionary school there. They will be helping to set up their school library—which was also affected by the recent earthquake. Dr. Monroe came to San Jose, Costa Rica, back in 2005 to help us at Sojourn Academy, and we know what a helpful ministry this is to the schools educating our missionary kids and national students around the world. (Photos.)

 

Please pray for our travels and that we are able to encourage others during these visits and presentations:

• Cornerstone Baptist, Springfield, OH — April 16-18, 200
• Grace Bible Church, Pompton Plains, NJ — April 23-24
• First Baptist Church, Hackensack, NJ — April 25
• Hainesport Community Baptist, Hainesport, NJ — May 2
• First Baptist Church, Perkasie, PA — May 16
• People’s Baptist, Maybrook, NY — June 6

With faith in Him, Kevin, Tia, Colleen, & Tara

FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD
Looking ahead to ministries in Costa Rica, we also request prayer as we will be significantly switching gears this term. Our focus last term was the ministry at Sojourn Academy in San Jose, Costa Rica. Now we are facing a return to more time in church planting, particularly in a more interior region of the country. In that same area, we will be involved in a pastoral training institute. We also hope to work with a Costa Rican lay pastor in a new work in Cartago—the catholic center of the country about 30 minutes from the capital. Huge needs exist in that area, and prayerfully we will make an impact with the gospel. One of the tools we plan to use is The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy booklets put out by ABWE, in this situation in Spanish, of course. (For more information about this ministry resource, visit Good Soil .)

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places....

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Psalm 16:6-8

For the Reillys, 2009 has been a year of new ventures and praises. Although hard ground had to be conquered, we saw the Lord’s guidance and care, and look forward to that same promise as we enter 2010.

Praises and Prayer Requests. Please rejoice with us in…
…Kaitlyn’s opportunity to minister in Honduras with the Concepcion family: she helped home school families, worked in a children’s home, and played guitar in the church worship team. In the US she transitioned into Central State University and left with a 4.0 in her first semester (parents are allowed to brag). Please pray as she works into her second term and continues in her two part-time jobs.
…Sean finishing a second year at Cedarville and ROTC, and then in his marriage to Christina Stanfield in August. Please pray for Sean and Christina, as they transition into full-time army life and even more importantly, into full-time parenthood.
…Colleen and Tara’s help in ministries at the Costa Rica church and mk school; in both finishing up a good year of school in Costa Rica, and transitioning into life in the states at school and youth group here in Cedarville, Ohio.
…Kevin and Tia’s finishing up a term at Sojourn Academy—rejoicing in having met many of the goals we had in place for the school five years ago, and also happy that an interim director was willing and able to take over when we had to return to the U.S. for medical leave.

We also praise the Lord for the excellent and financially-provided-for medical care through the Veteran’s Administration which meets Kevin’s health needs on every front. We praise the Lord for the progress in healing and adaptation to his prosthesis.
We praise the Lord for opportunities for Tia to teach Spanish in a local Christian school; she will also have the opportunity to travel to Chile this year on a ministry team to the ABWE missionary kid school there in Santiago. She also praises the Lord for the chance to work on her masters and is in the home stretch; please pray that she will be able to finish this year.

As a family, most of all, we request prayer as the Lord leads us back into ministry. As Kevin finishes up medical leave and we enter furlough, we look forward to reporting to as many churches as possible between now and July. As the Lord leads us back to Costa Rica, we may work in an area slightly further away from the capital; we will minister with a young church plant, and if the Lord provides ministries to use our education background, we will be ready!

With faith in Him,
Kevin and Cynthia "Tia" Reilly

November 2009 Ps&Ps

Please continue to pray as we near December. Medical Leave has been good in that Kevin has been able to see a great variety of doctors through the Veteran’s Administration, and with good continuity. We pray that we will be able to begin a six-month furlough in January.

Please pray for continued wisdom in these areas.

Other prayer requests:
· Sean and Christina in their new family life
· Katy in college (living at home still and working a lot)
· Colleen in 11th grade (and just starting voice lessons)
· Tara in 10th grade (and just starting violin lessons)
· The ABWE team in Costa Rica (especially as one couple will be coming to the US for furlough and another couple for a few months for medical reasons)
· Sojourn Academy with its customary 3-times-per-year transitions of missionary kids coming to learning Spanish, its numbers of resident mks and Costa Rican and other internationals.

Kevin and Tia Reilly
Sojourn Academy
Reilly Great Remarks/Ps&Ps
Selah

Photo at right: the wedding of a good friend of ours from the Hackensack Spanish Church ministry; what a great visit with special family who traveled all the way to Ohio to see Jonathon and Emily married. More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Tialrreilly/Bochewedding#