 Dear Friends, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the peace, joy, and love of Christ's birth fill your heart and home this Christmas season. Wishing you a blessed and Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with God's grace. An Abundance of Gratitude and Shared Blessings Words cannot truly express the depth of our thanks. Ray and I want to extend our deepest, most sincere gratitude to each one of you for your faithful and unwavering support throughout this past year. Because of your incredible generosity and prayer-ful partnership, the ministries here in Costa Rica are doing well! Here is a glimpse of the impact your love has made: The children’s home is growing and has now begun construction on its third house! To date we have had the privilege of ministering to over 160 children. The clinic is expanding its capacity and will be welcoming a full-time doctor starting in January. We are overjoyed to be building two new churches and a parsonage in the country's northeastern sector, wonderfully supported by dedicated mission teams from churches in the States. Enrollment at both the Methodist school and seminary is up, a fantastic sign of growing faith and education! Looking Ahead to 2026 As we look forward to the coming year and all the exciting new work it will bring, we also want to share a practical challenge. Our personal vehicles, which are essential for the daily ministry, are getting quite old. Ray drives a 2006 Tundra, and Lidia has a 2007 Sequoia. We truly love our Toyotas—they are workhorses that stand up to the ruggedness of the Costa Rican roads, and parts are easy to find. However, we have now reached the point where the yearly maintenance and repair costs are exceeding the cars' value. We are prayerfully moving forward to begin a Car Replacement Fund. The wonderful folks at the Methodist Church in Uvalde are assisting us by receiving and setting aside financial gifts for this specific purpose. Gifts for that purpose can be designated “Zirkel Car Fund.”  Family News and Continued Prayer Requests Our family is doing well. Sarah is just days away from graduating with both of her master’s degrees! (MDIV & MBA) Please continue to pray with us for God to open the right door for her future career, as she is actively seeking employment. Emma begins her final semester in her master’s program in January and will start working part-time in a hospital Emergency Room in College Station. We are so proud of her dedication! Ray’s recent health issues have persisted, and he has undergone a variety of medical exams at Houston Methodist. (A few more to go!) While he is feeling somewhat better, the mystery of the "good days and bad days" continues. We ask each of you to please keep praying for a clear diagnosis and complete healing as we place this fully in God’s hands. As the year ends, we want to thank you for your incredible generosity and investment in our lives and ministry. We are grateful for each one and look forward to seeing many of you in the States over the holidays or in Costa Rica during 2026. Praying your Christmas season is richly filled with the peace, love, and profound joy found only in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. With Deepest Love and Gratitude, Ray and Lidia Mustard Seed Unpaid Servants Serve Our Neighbors Weekly! Come Join Us! Serve and share the love of God with our community! Q1 2026 Food Relief & Pantry Dates 2026...Where Is God Calling Us and What Will He Have Us Doing? THE WESLEY COVENANT PRAYER I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. On Sunday, we spoke this prayer out loud, all together, during worship at Kerrville First United Methodist Church. As we begin a new year, Pastor David invites us to reflect on this covenant prayer and guides us to consider what the Jesus-way of life looks like, and what is required of us as we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. It is a practical description of what Jesus was talking about when he said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23) The Wesley Covenant Prayer describes missional life devoted to following Jesus and serving as Christ's representative in the world He loves and is working to redeem. It reminds us that being a Christian is more a way of life than a system of beliefs. The Covenant Prayer describes the Jesus way of self-giving and self-emptying love. This way of living and loving is possible only in a community centered in the life and mission of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. This prayer reminds us who we are and whose we are. Let us begin 2026 as Christ’s representatives in the world sharing His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness with everyone God places on our path Mustard Seed, Jan 5th    Our shelves and our hearts are full as your generosity has served our neighbors well. Thank you for your donations of non-perishable food!      It’s Almost Time for Trunk or Treat! Join us October 29th from 5:30–6:30pm at KFUMC for family fun, costumes, and plenty of spooky treats! Want to join in on the fun? Decorate your trunk! Arrive early to snag a parking spot—and maybe even win a prize for Best Trunk!  We Need Your Help With MEGA! Whether that means volunteering your time or bringing in plastic bags to help us bag up food for others, we could use your helping hand! Please bring any bags to Light on the Hill or the Kerrville First United Methodist Church office by Sunday. If you’re interested in volunteering, please reach out to Beth Palmer. Thankful for ERT Unpaid Servants! What a blessing to our flood survivors! Grateful for Mustard Seed Ministry! Unpaid servants bless our neighbors! 
The last 19 days have been unbelievable.
I know that we have all been heartbroken, and on our knees, praying. But the response of the people who have shown up to help in big, and small ways, and everything in between, has been incredible. I thank God for the helpers. We have first responders from out of town staying with us at Light on the Hill and we are so incredibly blessed to be able to share our campus with these wonderful folks. I know that many of you, in our faith community are asking how they can help? Again, thank you for the prayers and everything else you have been doing for the last two and a half weeks. I want to encourage you to continue praying. Continue to show up to serve our community. Two opportunities we have coming up are Monday morning, July 28, beginning at 7am, we need volunteers to help at the Mega Food Pantry at Light on the Hill. On Saturday morning, August 2, we need folks to help greet and welcome families to the Back to School Bash at Light on the Hill beginning at 8am. If you need more information about either of these events, contact Beth at (830) 459-5847 or [email protected] We will continue to thank God for the helpers as we continue to help the hurting in our community and strive with God’s help to bring hope and healing. Blessings, Beth 
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Pictures over the past weeksEvents & Announcements
Message from David Payne This summer we are blessed to have five awesome student interns serving at Light on the Hill and Kerrville First United Methodist Church! Some of the initiatives they are helping with are food relief, Camp Wesley, VBS, life guarding, and preparing backpacks and clothing for the Back to School Bash. I wanted you to all meet our interns! Blessings, Beth Get To Know Our Interns! Say hello to our amazing summer interns! We’ve rounded up some of their favorite things to help you get to know them a little better...  Meet Brooklyn Drane Ice Cream: Sea Salt Caramel Animal: Sea Turtles and Dogs Color: Turquoise Snack: Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups Hobby: Showing 4-H Project Hogs Scripture: John 1:16 “For from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.”  Meet Ainslee Gilbreath Ice Cream: Brownie Batter Dough Animal: Elephant Color: Purple Snack: Nerds Gummy Clusters Hobby: Thrifting Scripture: Romans 8:18 “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that He will reveal to us later.”  Meet Ava Lea O'Donnell Ice Cream: HEB Mexican Hot Chocolate Animal: My Cat, “Johnny Cash” Color: Pink Snack: SweeTart Ropes Hobby: Singing! And Reading Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.”  Meet Anthony Sanchez Ice Cream: Strawberry Animal: Rhino Color: Forest Green Snack: Cheese Curds Hobby: Video Games Scripture: Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  Meet Jake Zirkel Ice Cream: Krazy Kookie Dough Animal: Snow Owl Color: Royal Blue Snack: Nutter Butters Hobby: Flying an Airplane Scripture: Hebrews 12:1 “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” These friendly faces are around all summer! Don't be shy... Say hi! Events & Activities   
   What a wonderful time of worship this past Sunday! Every service was overflowing with love and encouragement for our graduating high school seniors and that gift of encouragement was contagious in the very best way! I love that we were able to write notes of encouragement both last week to our college graduates and this week to our high school graduates. I know that God filled me with the Holy Spirit to remind myself to share words and deeds that encourage and bless others. There are so many ways to encourage each other and I pray that together we can make a difference in the lives of many! Blessings, Beth       What a Wonderful Morning at Light on the Hill This Past Monday!Before sunrise, the San Antonio Food Bank delivered 36,000 pounds of wonderful food to share with our community. While still dark outside, volunteers and staff began unloading pallet after pallet. Just after sunrise, unpaid servants from throughout our community started arriving to organize and bag the food. Neighbors getting everything ready to share with their neighbors. This is a beautiful sight but nothing that compares to watching the interaction between the givers and the receivers when the cars start driving through. Folks sharing food… folks sharing appreciation… folks sharing smiles… folks sharing encouragement… laughter… crying… conversations… hugs… prayers… Everyone becomes a giver and a receiver of blessings. Thank you to everyone who supports this outpouring of love with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed are those that take refuge in Him.” Emmaus February Valentine's for Veterans!We will be collecting valentine cards for the local veterans hospital until February 11. You can drop off cards in the narthex at KFUMC.    |
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Light on the Hill at Mount Wesley is a Texas nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal Tax ID: 83-3263624).
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