VIDANET

A Journey Of Adventure, Growth & Calling

info — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 05:00:56 +0000

Recently we had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to participate in a staff retreat. I had heard a lot about this country before, but I had never had the chance to visit. When the retreat was announced, I was very excited because I knew it would be a special time of growth and fellowship.

The trip was an adventure even before we left. Since many of us were traveling together, there was not enough space inside the bus for all the luggage. Because of this, I had to build a luggage rack for the bus. Thanks to a welding course I took in the past, I was able to build it and help solve this need for the team.

During the journey we also experienced the blessing of community. In the south of Honduras, a pastoral family welcomed us and invited us to have breakfast with them. It was a very special time of rest and fellowship before continuing our trip.

At the border we faced a few small challenges, but through it all we were able to clearly see God’s favor and the support of friends who were willing to help when we needed it. This reminded me of Proverbs 17:17:

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

When we finally arrived in Costa Rica, beyond the beauty of the country, what impacted me the most was seeing the image of God reflected in the lives of our Costa Rican brothers and sisters. God has been so good in allowing us to connect with such wonderful people.

During our time there, we participated in the staff retreat where we learned more about the importance of abiding in Jesus and accepting the challenges He places before us in ministry.

On Sunday we also had the opportunity to visit a church where we were greatly blessed by the message shared by Pastor Fran.

We also visited the community of Chiroles in Talamanca, where we met Florentino, a local leader. Although he does not consider himself a pastor, it was inspiring to see how God is using his life to impact the indigenous community in that region. It was a beautiful reminder of how God uses simple people to accomplish His purposes, just as it says in 1 Corinthians 1:27–28.

During this time, the promise of Jesus in Matthew 24:14 also resonated strongly in my heart, where He says that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world.

Through this retreat and other trainings we have received, my wife and I have felt a deep calling to participate in the expansion of God’s kingdom among every tribe and nation. We do not yet know exactly where the Lord will lead us in the future, but we want to be available for whatever He wants to do through our lives.

We ask that you would support us in prayer, that God would use our lives to expand His kingdom.

Juan Ramos

VidaNet Honduras Staff

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Caught in a Beautiful Net!

info — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 05:00:24 +0000

For three months last fall, my wife and I were caught in a beautiful net—Vida Net! We served as volunteer “grandparents,” helping to encourage and disciple the young participants of Vida220. As I watched Jesus transform lives right before my eyes, He was also transforming my own life in a deep and personal way.

I experienced a beautiful international community of about 35 people who came together in love, humility, and under the inner leading of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14). Each morning, we spent 45 minutes individually listening for God to speak to our hearts. We often entered into sincere, heartfelt worship together (John 4:24). We shared our testimonies with one another (Revelation 12:11), confessed and prayed for one another (James 5:16), and taught one another through morning devotions (Colossians 3:16). We also sought to practice and obey the more than 50 “one another” commands found throughout the New Testament.

Being part of such a community touched me deeply. Seeing people openly and freely express their love for Jesus and for one another was powerful and life-giving. This experience drew me out of my naturally introverted tendencies and enabled me to connect heart-to-heart with more brothers and sisters in Christ. It created a contagious atmosphere, and for those three months I was fully immersed in the presence of Christ—caught in His “net.” Today, I love Jesus even more and seek to obey Him more faithfully because of my VidaNet experience.

Stive Simms

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End Of Year Update 2025!

info — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 23:00:28 +0000

What a blessed year! VidaNet gives thanks to God for all He has done, and also to each one of you who has been a blessing to VidaNet through your support and the powerful prayers that have kept us covered.

As you think about end-of-year giving, please consider making a donation to VidaNet.

Click below to see how you can partner with us and be part of what God is doing!

Click to view wish list!

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When God Leads, Everyting changes

info — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 05:00:36 +0000

Vida220 allowed me to know the God I love in a much deeper way. The spiritual disciplines helped me grow in my relationship with Him, and the time shared with my classmates shaped me as a person. Without a doubt, Vida220 was a transformational process in my life—one that marked a before and after for the better.

My season as a student ended on July 31st, 2025. However, the Lord had more prepared for me: I was invited to return as a Leader for the school that started on September 22nd. During that short gap of time, I was able to get involved in my church, share about missions, encourage others to be part of the Great Commission, and grow in their relationship with Christ. It was a brief period, but full of purpose, preparation, and confirmation. And when the time came to return, my heart was ready to receive and walk alongside the new students.

This year we have 15 students and 3 leaders guiding them. Recently, the outreach teams were formed and the locations were assigned. My team and I will be serving in Honduras for 5 months—a challenge that fills us with excitement, expectation, and commitment. We are praying, preparing, and trusting that the Lord will accomplish His will through us.

In the meantime, we continue receiving classes and participating in different ministries, both in theory and in practice. We also have very special times of connection with God, where His glory becomes evident. It is clear that He is with us and in us, guiding every step.

Jeferson Nuñez.

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Baking Hope

info — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 05:00:18 +0000

John 15: 5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing

Greetings, I hope this update letter is a blessing for youI. It’s already been a year since I started serving at the VidaNet Honduras base, where I’ve been involved in evangelism in the community and in different work projects at the base. I’ve also had the opportunity to teach several courses about how we can do missions and how God calls us to be part of His mission. It’s beautiful to see the church in Honduras joining this mission.

Something I love is being able to share the gifts that God has given us and the opportunity to teach the community in different areas. For example, I’ve given baking classes to women, providing them with tools to generate income for their families through selling bread.

1 Peter 4: 10-11

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I have seen God’s faithfulness in every moment and have learned to live with gratitude. While serving at VidaNet, I’ve also experienced the kindness of the people in the community and how a simple conversation can turn into an adventure that brings wisdom to my life. I believe the unity we’ve built as a team has also been reflected in the community as we’ve been intentional in every conversation and supported those in need through prayer. I know that everything we do is to glorify God, and nothing makes me happier than being part of His mission.

Kenneth Ramirez

VidaNet Honduras Staff

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Not The Same Person Who Started

info — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:00:11 +0000

This was my observation as I finished Vida220 on August 1. Obviously, I was still Conner, my reflective self, who came into Vida220 as a Christ-follower, yet my dependence on God had deepened dramatically. His voice became much more clear to me, and His presence enabled me to obey more wholeheartedly.

After a busy but restful August reconnecting with people at home in Indiana, I am back here in Costa Rica again, now as a Vida220 leader and worship coordinator. I am excited to lead others on this crazy ride! Though we are less than a week into the program, God has already been working in so many ways, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know each of the 15 students from Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and the US. These are remarkable people, and I look forward to spending the next 10 months with them.

We had our first fasting day this past Wednesday, and as we gathered with the staff during the lunch hour – almost 50 of us united in 24 hours of prayer and fasting- I could see God speaking to us together. We have had lots of worship time as well, and I continue to be amazed at God’s presence as we all start this intentional year. I hope that by the end and by God’s grace, we will all be able to say that we are not not the same person who started the year.

Conner Hyman

Vida220 Team Leader

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Inviting The World Into My Home

info — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 05:00:43 +0000

Why I will Invite International Students to my Home,
Finishing Vida220 with a Dream for the Future.

After finishing the whirlwind of leading Vida Missions this summer, we as Vida220 students took a deep breath and went back to the classroom for a full week of learning about global missions. It was powerful and impactful!

Kairos is a powerful class focused on the mobilizing of the church to reach all nations, specifically to unreached nations- those with little to no Christian influence. We have spent the last year growing as disciples of Jesus and learning to disciple others. Through Kairos we learned to see disciple-making in the context of God’s great vision for people of all nations to know Him!

Kairos also started dreams in the hearts of many of us as students. I now have a dream of welcoming international students into my home when I live again in the States.. Did you know that many international students in the US never get into the home of an average American? I’d like to change that! What a great opportunity to impact the nations by starting with simply sharing a lunch or inviting them to Thanksgiving or Christmas.

And then quickly, July 31st came, and we “graduated” from Vida220! Many tears were shed, but there was also an outpouring of joy, for we know that God is going to do great things through every person. Some will be missionaries to unreached nations, some will be professionals, others parents, but whatever we “do” God is going to use us as disciples and disciple-makers in His global mission until the whole world knows.

May God receive all the glory!

Valerie Mummau

Vida220 Student

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Real Life Through Vida REAL

info — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 05:00:35 +0000

The Honduran churches wanted more training for their church leaders, and the 10-month Vida220 program seemed too long. What could VidaNet provide in Honduras?

With prayer and hope, the six-week intensive Vida REAL was born. (REAL: Relationship, Experience, Application and Leadership).

We had many ideas, expectations, and pieces of advice, and we knew our goal: to equip people who would be willing to return to their churches and serve together as the body of Christ. But how were we going to bring all of this together? We had no idea. We didn’t have teachers yet, no classes, no outreach location—but we knew that God was with us, and that our desire was to help strengthen the church in Honduras.

When the program finally started, many things didn’t go as planned or expected. To be honest, everything turned out very differently from what we had imagined—but different in a good way. The relationships among the participants were amazing, setting aside age and personal differences. Their humility to learn new things and submit to leadership—especially considering that most of them were older than the three of us Vida220 alumni leaders—was truly inspiring. Through all of this, I could clearly see why we had chosen this passage as the foundation for the program:

Ephesians 4:11-12, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

Our goal was to bring people to the Honduras discipleship base and, together with the staff there, equip the participants to return to their churches and continue growing as the body of Christ—and I can confidently say that this goal was accomplished. Seeing how God used the Honduras discipleship base during this six-week program leaves me wondering: what more does God have in store for this place?

“It has been a beautiful experience—six weeks of living with brothers and sisters in Christ from different places. This motivates me to continue moving forward, teaching all that we have learned.”

-Luis Ramos VidaREAL Participant and Honduran pastor, age 45

Click below to view Austin Zuercher sharing about the progress of the multipurpose building in Honduras!

CLICK HERE

Jocelyn Cartageno

Vida REAL Coordinator

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The World Goes Not Well… But the Kingdom Comes.

info — Fri, 30 May 2025 05:00:28 +0000

Tuesday nights for Team Colombia meant house church. We would leave the house, take an Uber, and arrive at Carlos and Liliana’s house at 6 p.m. One evening, we had a Bible study on the coming of the Kingdom, and I realized that over Outreach, I had been experiencing the Kingdom coming.

One of my favorite books growing up was called Tales of the Kingdom. It’s a marvelous story about a kind and powerful King who lives with his people in Great Park and the evil and tricky Enchanter who lives in the Enchanted City. The story tells of the King’s restoration of the city and the healing of the people living there. The book is an allegory for the Kingdom of God coming amidst the kingdoms of this world. A call-and-response repeated throughout the book serves as a reminder for the King’s people.

“How goes the world?

“The world goes not well…”

Christians in this world wrestle with the fact that the world “goes not well.” Brokenness is all around: in governments, countries, communities, in families, and even in ourselves. On our 5 month outreach in Colombia, we built relationships with youth who have unimaginably difficult pasts. As we took the bus every morning, we saw countless people living on the streets, forced from their homes by wars or guerilla groups. I have seen similar brokenness in the United States and in Morocco where I grew up. All of creation is groaning, longing for restoration, and Christians hearts should be broken by what breaks God’s heart.

Yet the call and response from Tales of the Kingdom doesn’t end at the brokenness. It continues:

“How goes the world?

“The world goes not well…

But the Kingdom comes!”

YET the Kingdom comes! The Kingdom coming is the good news of the Gospel. It is the presence of Jesus here and now, in the mess. There were moments on Outreach when I looked around and thought, “This is the Kingdom. This is how God created us to be and to live.”

The Kingdom came when I saw youth, grown up in orphanages and with the world stacked against them, incorporated into a loving Christian community for possibly the first time in their lives in the foundation where we served.
The Kingdom came on evangelism nights as we went to the local park with the news of a truth too good to keep to ourselves. Friendships were started through offering a cup of aguapanela and a conversation.
The Kingdom came as my Vida220 team, from Costa Rica, Belize and the US, worshiped, prayed, and shared every aspect of life together.
The Kingdom came taking communion together at house church, sitting in the grass of a yard, drinking the juice from rolled paper “cups”, and eating Colombian bread. We remembered together what God has done for his church around the world and in each of our lives.

As I look back over Outreach, these moments and many others become a living testament to the faithfulness of God and the hope yet to come. “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘the LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’” (Lamentations 3:22-24) For it is true:

“The world goes not well, but the Kingdom comes.”

Amen

Lydia Showalter

Vida220 Student

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From First Draft To God’s Masterpiece

info — Fri, 02 May 2025 05:00:08 +0000

I don’t think anybody would believe me if I told them I’ve started, stopped and restarted this update about 8 times now. I am the one doing it and still I don’t believe it. Because I am more of a let’s do it and whatever is there will be posted, and thats that. However, that’s not the case with this one. For some reason God didn’t give me the go ahead to just type something up and post it, and though it was tedious, through it, I’ve learnt something very important. You see we serve a God of excellence. What do I mean by that, well I am glad you asked, because I am about to explain.

Being here in Honduras is only by the will and power of God. This program VidaReal, started out as an idea, as most things do, and then we got to talking and the idea got more serious and came to fruition as time went on, sorta like this update letter. Im pretty sure if we just used the first idea we had about this program it would have been a disaster like my first draft that you definitely don’t want to read. But I repeat, we serve a God of excellence, and he doesn’t like mediocre things. The best part about it is that we don’t get ourselves to excellence. He does the work in us, through us, and with us to get us to that place, and I believe that is the best part, and that is what is happening here at VidaReal.

The Lord is moving and working in this place and we get to witness it on a daily basis. Most of the time we would look back and see where God had been working in our lives. The areas we were failing in and where God reached down and took us out of the mire. Not this time though, I mean I know we will be able to look back and see where God worked, but it is amazing to be able to see Him in the moment working. This program VidaReal, like this letter has been nothing short of God displaying his awesomeness (yes it is a word).

He has been showing off in ways I never thought I needed to see but here are some of them. The participants are getting along, you may think this isn’t a big deal, but if you have been apart of a DTS or any short term missions trip (2-6 weeks) you will know how important this is. this is also important because the participants range from mid 40’s to late teens. The next area is that we don’t have a lot of time to make sure everything will work smoothly and go on time, but it is, and if it didn’t work out the way we planned it, to worked out even better. Only God. Also ALL our teachers have been from Central America, imagine that. We’ve had professionals from Belize, Honduras and Costa Rica joining in together, sharing with the participant what God has been teaching them, and glorifying God. Also the coordinators are three long time friends who God weaved together to be able to understand each other without having to verbally communicate. That love that care that trust can be seen, heard and felt all around the campus, and it helps to make doing business smooth and fun.

God is amazing and he is still in the business of being amazing. I want to leave you all with a verse that I believe will sum this up. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17. This is a lesson I am still learning and hope I never get too comfortable to think I don’t need God, but I hope this serves as a reminder that in the midst of it he is working, in the midst of it he is there, fighting on our behalf.

Orelle Castillo

VidaREAL
Coordinator

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