Our Missionaries
Will and Ella Faircloth
We are proud to support the work of Will and Ella Faircloth, missionaries working with the Evangelical Methodist Church of Costa Rica. Will and Ella are independently-funded missionaries serving at the invitation of the Methodist bishop of Costa Rica. Will serves as a professor at the Evangelical Methodist Seminary of Costa Rica, the primary institution for pastoral and lay training for the Costa Rican Methodist Church.
In addition to Will's teaching duties, he and Ella are involved with the development of the Methodist Children's Home, an orphange project of the Costa Rican Methodist Church. The goal of the Home is to provide a safe, nurturing environment for children who have been abandoned or abused. Initial plans call for the Home to house about 25 children, who will live in three houses with a set of house parents. Will and Ella also work with Los Guido Evangelical Methodist Church and the Light of Hope Child Development Center, both located in Los Guido, a shantytown area south of San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.
As independently-funded missionaries, Will and Ella receive no support from the Methodist Church in Costa Rica or the United States. They depend on the direct support of churches and individual donors, including our church and Will's home church, St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs.
More information about Will and Ella's ministry is found at their website.
Support the Faircloths' ministry.
Due to widespread poverty in the areas of Costa Rica where Will and Ella perform their ministry, there is an ongoing need for donations of clothing, new or gently used, boy or girl, and for all ages. All donations may be turned in to the Church office for forwarding to the Faircloths.
Will asked that we not send any COLD weather clothing, as it doesn’t get really cold there. Long pants and lightweight shirts or sweaters will be fine, but heavy sweaters and coats are not needed. Also, if you have any old suitcases that you would like to get rid of we will be happy to take them, because the suitcases will be packed and as people go down to Costa Rica they’ll take an extra suitcase with them. It cuts down on the expense of getting supplies to Will and Ella. In addition, small toys, new or used (still in good shape), puzzles, coloring books, dolls, stuffed animals, balls, etc., would be welcome. A look at the pictures on Will and Ella's website of the Light of Hope Child Development Center, where they work with poor children in a shantytown south of San Jose, Costa Rica, will show how great their needs are. The development of the Methodist Children's Home, another of Will and Ella's projects, will further increase the need for ongoing assistance.
Have a surplus laptop computer?
Many of the students at the Evangelical Methodist Seminary where Will teaches have no access to a computer. If you have a surplus laptop computer capable of running Windows 98 or better, please consider donating it to this ministry. With computer access, the Costa Rican ministry students, most of whom are already engaged in active ministries of their own, will be able to advance their studies and have a resource to use in their ministries as well. Be sure to delete any personal information before delivering the computer to the Church office.