Christmas Parties!

We had lots to celebrate this Christmas season! At the prison God has brought us about 11 women from all over the world who are going to face Christmas alone in a country that speaks a different language with women that are not always nice to foreigners. Our Christmas Party was a wonderful time to celebrate the blessings of God's love even in the toughest of times! We had our usual group of musicians including a guitar, clarinet and Bob on the conga drum.  After we finished singing Christmas carols as a group the women each sang a song in their native language. We even had the women from South Africa do a traditional dance for us! What fun they had! It was nice to see them have a chance to reconnect with a bit of home. The teaching was done by another missionary and it brought a lot of encouragement to the group.  It was a teaching reminding  us of God's faithful love towards us.  We made a chicken dish with mashed potatoes, a request from the women.  The ladies were thrilled to have something to eat other than rice and beans!

The next celebration took place in La Cuenca, the slum where I teach The Woman's Bible Study. We had been preparing this Christmas outreach for 3 weeks. Each woman was to choose a friend or neighbor that God had put in their hearts to invite to join us in our celebration. We made home made cards to give to the invites and every week we prayed that God would open their hearts to receive the message of hope that He has for each of them.

We had a wonderful time of worship and teaching and each one was asked to invite Jesus into their hearts to bring hope and healing to them. We ended our time with a very traditional meal of Costa Rican tamales.  Bob and I made North American Christmas cookies to share for dessert. We had about 7-9 new women who joined us and it was a great time of fellowship. The invitation was given for them to join us in January for our next Bible Study on prayer.

 At  ESEPA we had a graduation exercise followed by a nice catered buffet.  There were some 75-80 graduating with various degrees.  A great testimony was shared by a young man who during a stint in prison for dealing drugs and other not so nice activities got connected to Jesus.  His life direction changed 180 degrees and now 6-7 years later he is pastoring a church, reaching out to people in hard to touch communities and just completed his B.A. in theology.

 

A couple of days after the La Cuenca Ladies party, we helped Christ for the City treat 50 of the teens from La Cuenca to an all day party in the mountains at large picnic facility.  They were thrilled as it is infrequent that they can go on a trip and get out to some green grass and fresh air.  The theme was "Change, understanding and embracing it".  After working in small groups and sharing the message, they were treated to a picnic, did group activities, invaded a stream, made a water slide "a la Chop Point".

A couple of days later ESEPA had its Christmas party.  It was a family affair with an enjoyable meal that followed a bit of travel to some sites outside the valley.  It was a prosperous time for me to get to know more of the staff that I don't normally come into contact with on a regular basis.
  We would like to express our joy and delight to you that you as well would have a rich, full Christmas.  May the love of Jesus fill you now and forever. Blessings,  Bob n B