These last 2 months we have had fiestas and special events for
the women I work with. The 30th of May,
which is the day that Nicaragua celebrates Mother’s Day, just happened to fall
on the day which my Bible Study meets in La Cuenca. We celebrated it with a nice luncheon, special
music and a speaker. Steph and Marcela,
a friend of hers, led us in a time of worship. This was so much better than the CD music we
usually have!
Our speaker,
Shirley, was born blind and shared with us how God has been so faithful in her
life. She is a Costa Rican missionary that travels all over Latin America with
a message of hope. The women received prayer from her and many responded to her
message by opening up their hearts to receive from God His healing touch.
Last Monday we
had a women’s day. It was held in the
mountains above the slum where we work. Another missionary from Venezuela and I
brought our groups together to be blessed by a small group of women from the US
who came to serve and teach the women about the price God paid for them. The theme
of the event was “Bought with a Price”. I am always amazed at how the issues of
being a woman cross geographic boundaries. It was a beautiful day. The place
where we met is owned by a missionary from the US, Ruth, and this year she
celebrated her 88th birthday. She and her husband have served as
missionaries for over 30 years in Costa Rica. (They came at about the same
season of life as us!)
In April we also hosted a team from So.
Carolina. It was the same school that came last year, Shannon Forrest Christian
School. There were about 25 students and
4 teachers. They worked in La Cuenca, adding
a bathroom to the ministry site and also went and served in Cot, a village in
the province of Cartago about an hour out of San Jose. The
most remarked about part of the trip was what it was like living with the
families. The students were all a bit scared at first but after only being in
with the families for one night most everyone was feeling right at home! When they left and had to say goodbye it
seemed like they were leaving their very own families behind!
Several of the
students had never been out of the country before and seeing the poverty was a real
eye opener for them. One of the things
they loved was being embraced by the children, who are not timid at all. Many
of the children come from single parent homes and are starved for attention.
While we were in
Cot with this team we met a new pastor, Greivin, who has started an outreach in
a small slum area on the outskirts of Cot. His church in San Rafael actually hosted a
handful of the students. Since April we
have been able to get to know the pastor, his family and the churches vision
better. What a surprise to see Greivin
at ESEPA, the seminary where Bob serves as administrator, one Thursday after
one of his classes. His background was
in sales before being called to pastor, so he maintains his formal studies one
day a week with us at ESEPA. One
anecdote he mentioned to us was about 15 years ago they moved to Canada to work
and raise their family. As Greivin
relates “we arrived at the Toronto airport in mid February, baby in hand and
when the door opened to the street I could neither breathe nor move… it was so
cold.” He had never experienced
temperatures less than about 50 in his life, they returned to Costa Rica after one year! This little church in San Rafael reminds
us alot of our North Woolwich fellowship in Maine. They have a great heart and
vision to reach out to their neighbors, nearby communities and they even have a
trip to Africa planned for the coming year.
We expect that this church will be hosting teams with us starting in
2013. We currently are making
arrangements for a team from Maine Street Baptist in Brunswick, Maine to come
down in February 2013 and there is talk of a family of 6 coming down in the
next 6 months. So, if there is a desire
in your heart to mobilize your family, your neighbors or a group from your
church to experience a cross cultural setting for ministry, we would love to
assist in the planning and hosting on this end.
Let us know if you would like a visit from us
during our break in Maine in August and early September. Gather a small group, we would be happy to
share our life in Costa Rica, get to know you and maybe encourage you in
developing a group for a trip out of country.
