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Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’

John 8:12

Teach. Tell. Transform.

Former public high school teachers, Ethan & Amanda Hutton, along with their two children Aubree & August, serve as mission partners in Costa Rica.

Ethan and Amanda lead and work with LightHouse Transformation Ministries (LightHouse), a Costa Rican non-profit, religious association that works against the prevalent cycles of poverty, broken families, abuse, and human trafficking in the communities of Parrita, Costa Rica.

The mission of LightHouse is to facilitate social transformation through informal education and Gospel proclamation.  By addressing the needs for support in education, Ethan and Amanda are able to make connections, build meaningful relationships, enable a brighter future, mentor through difficulties, and share the love, hope, and joy of Jesus.

Ethan and Amanda, along with Mission of Christ Network Mission Partner Zach Barz, have developed several LightHouse programs to make an impact in the communities of Parrita.  The most predominant of these is the online English program.  Connecting students (mostly youth) with volunteer English Language Partners from the States, they are able to offer small group, personal, effective, conversational English classes to over 100 students!  The students thrive from the native speaker conversation coupled with the Gospel message.

Another exciting development is Worship Express.  Growing out of the pandemic, it is essentially a youth group and worship in a box home delivery.  Ethan and Amanda are able to share the Gospel message right in the homes of youth all while training, enabling, and equipping these youth to be missionaries in their homes, neighborhoods, and social pods as they invite their family, friends, and neighbors to participate.

LightHouse is also working toward a Transformation Center in the Parrita public high school where Ethan and Amanda will be running activities to build relationships with the youth, offering an interactive English club to initiate interest in learning English, and managing a tutoring center to prepare students for the national standardized testing.  In addition to serving as a bridge to the online English and Worship Express programs, the cycles of poverty, broken families, abuse, and human trafficking statistically reduce in correlation to the increase in high school graduation.

Ethan, Amanda, Aubree, and August live on the Central Pacific Coast in the village of Esterillos Oeste within the county of Parrita, where they are present in their local communities.  Aubree and August open up countless doors into local homes, where they are able to build relationships and intentionally share the Gospel message.  Their home often has a revolving door as they offer an English club to the neighborhood children, welcome many to join for meals or coffee, and host Bible studies.  They also support many local ministries, especially the local bilingual church, Pura Vida Church.

Before moving to Costa Rica in August 2017, Ethan and Amanda were public high school teachers in Schuyler, Nebraska.  Amanda taught Spanish as a foreign language, and Ethan taught biology.  The were also high school coaches, Amanda of the dance team and Ethan of the soccer team.  Ethan also enjoyed driving bus for extracurricular activities.

They were both Concordia University, Nebraska graduates.  Amanda has earned degrees in Spanish and education and a master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).  Ethan has earned degrees in theology and biology along with his teaching certificate later on.  Both Ethan and Amanda are passionate about applying their passion for education to their ministry context in order to best serve the people of Costa Rica and to share the love, hope, and joy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Teach to the impact.

Tell of the love, hope and joy.

Transform for life.

Any funds raised that exceed Mission Partner’s Total Cost of Missionary Service may be used to further support Mission Partner in missional activities, or Mission Partner may donate, after consultation with the Executive Director, any excess funds to one or more Mission Partners who are in good standing with MCN or to MCN’s General Fund. The purpose for this is that any funds raised are to support missional activities throughout the world.

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Hutton Fam 2020
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