Dear Friends,
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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

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

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!
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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!

There are so many people, churches and organizations continuing to work so hard to help our community on the journey to recovery after the devastating flood. I am so inspired by all of the resilient folks that make Kerr County such a wonderful place to live and work. ​

David, Lori and I were blessed to attend UMCOR disaster case management training last week. We learned so much and are now better equipped to help our community as we move forward in the long-term recovery.

More people in our community will receive this same great training when UMCOR brings it to Kerrville in a few weeks.

We are so grateful to be able to share and equip others with this knowledge. Even if you are not a trained case manager, the core principals of "Do no harm," and "Show compassion," are the ways we show love for our neighbors every day. 

Our Emergency Response Team under the leadership of Ray Dunton, has been making an impact in our community. Thank you to all of those amazing unpaid servants!

If you want to get involved see Ray's call for help below...

 Team,

We're going to need one more day of work to finish the Center Point house.

I'm going to try Saturday 27 September to see if we can get some people who work during the week.

Please let me know if you're available to work on the 27th. Please respond directly to me, either by text or email listed below. You can either work all or part of the day as your schedule allows.

Thank you!

Ray Dunton
KFUMC ERT
[email protected]
(210) 781-9886

Found on the Guadalupe's efforts to reunite flood victims with their treasured objects. FOUND PROJECT

We are currently looking for volunteer support on Saturday, 9/27 from 10:30am-3:30pm in Ingram, TX. Volunteers will be committing to hard and dirty work that day so please keep that in mind when recruiting volunteers. We are looking for 5-10 volunteers to support us. Some notes below outline what your volunteers can expect for the day. Please let me know if you have any questions. We appreciate it!

lunch will be provided 
 
you will be cleaning hard goods & laundry found on the Guadalupe River. 
 
Please wear clothing that can handle:
    •    Car wash and power washing
    •    Being outside in the sun
    •    Handling items covered in dirt and mud
    •    Trips to the laundromat
 
Bring any personal items you may need such as hats, sunscreen, or water bottles. We highly suggest changes of shoes including water boots. We have gloves and aprons available, but if you’d prefer your own gloves or aprons, please bring them. Masks – we do not provide masks, so bring your own if you’d like to wear one.
 
The job is hard work. The bins are heavy, and the more people that show up, the easier the load .
 
Thank you for your consideration in helping!

Contact Angela Kennedy to volunteer or get more information 
Angela Kennedy 
Executive Director
Heart of the Hills Heritage Center 
[email protected] 
(830) 955-5034

The last 19 days have been unbelievable.
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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

KERR TOGETHER is your central location for Kerr County Disaster information and resources.
Click the link below to the latest updates and notices.

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 Ava Lea O'Donnell
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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.”

While school is out for the summer, we are already working on our Community Back to School Bash at Light on the Hill! Save the date: Saturday, August 2 from 9-11!

We will be sharing new backpacks, new school supplies, gently worn clothing and shoes, haircut coupons, and snow cones! Everything is free! We want all children in our community to have the BEST start to the new school year in August! 
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