Category: News & Community
2011 was a great year of serving the Lord both in Costa Rica and the U.S. We have seen God’s hand at work in the spread of His love through transformed lives, families and communities and we look forward to what He has for our family as we continue to serve Him in Costa Rica.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT ! We can not return to serve in Costa Rica until we raise the funds for our ministry,thanks to many of you we are closer to reaching our goal. We will be doing weekly updates with the dollar amount needed as information is provided. For this matter we will appreciate a note from you when you make a pledge or donation so we can have accurate information.
We know that these are hard financial times for everyone but would you please consider making a one time tax deductible donation or partner with us in a monthly basis. Evey dollar counts!
Partner with us: https://give.fmcusa.org/leon
Or send checks to:
Free Methodist World Missions
770 N. High School Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46214 MEMO: LEON-MSA
You can make a pledge also for the year, that means even if you don’t have the money you can still help us now!
Just go to https://give.fmcusa.org/leon
Thank you so much, Leon Family & Pura Vida Church
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.Hebrews 13:16
Friday night they begin to arrive, young families with their fishing poles, pre-teen boys with their surfboards, young professionals with their friends. I pull another bag of frozen fish out of the freezer and grate the rest of the cabbage, check the rice and beans to make sure there will be enough. Someone brings drinks and I have one of the pre-teens clear the table of surf magazines, bibles, stickers, toys, back packs, school books, wet trunks and towels. We gather and pray, another car arrives, head count goes from 16– 20. We sit and eat, talk about school, grades, family, jobs, Jesus, surf reports….. This is the beginning of a typical week-end at the Leon house. The fun continues with small group discipleship, service projects, chores, counseling, English classes, Kids Club, more food, fishing, friends and culminates on Sunday with worship and a cele-bration of the love of the God we serve. During the week we catch up on the laundry, house cleaning, and other ministerial chores in preparation for another full weekend of living together and following Jesus.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————-
This big lizard was caught by our boys on the beach right in front of our house. Some people have issues with gophers and squirrels we have to deal with vipers & salt water crocodiles.
Check out the video and come and see us we make sure that these guys won’t bother you!
Big Lizard (log in to facebook to watch the video)
Pura Vida, Dennis
Here we are with our trying to stay warm and making new friends in Denver. We are on the second leg of our partner building tour as we raise support to extend our time as missionaries serving in Costa Rica. It is so good to be part of the Father’s family; it crosses countries, cultures, ages, everything so that together we can be a shining light to all so that all may believe. We have experienced the love of this family in miraculous ways in the last month
We thank God for providing for all our needs as we prepared for this trip. We left Anthony, Esteban, our home, church and dogs in the best of hands with a whole team of loving people taking care of them while we are the US.
We began our journey two weeks ago in Florida where we experienced the best of southern hospitality! We were hosted by the Fisher family, where we were spoiled with southern cooking, great childcare and the best of tour guides Ormond Beach has to offer. To top it off we were able to meet wonderful people who wanted to hear about God’s work in Costa Rica and we are building a partnership with many of them to extend His love along the coast. We also got to visit Kyle’s cousin Joie and her family in Jacksonville, visiting the zoo and attending various sport events where her kids were the stars.
Now we are in Denver staying with 7 guys in their 20’s! They have a house where they are hosting nightly dinners where friends and family can come and share and hear about the ways God is displaying himself in Costa Rica. Many people here have been on short term mission trips to Esterillos so have a good idea of what is going on and it has been wonderful to connect with people we have not seen in a while and to meet new people. They have also been showing us the sights, the mountains are glorious!
Next we are on to California to catch up with friends and churches that partner with us there, as well as to spend some quality time with Kyle’s family. Elias is looking forward to dressing up as a red ninja on the 31st and to barbeque a turkey with his dad at the family Thanksgiving camping trip.
Love, Familia Leon, Following Jesus in Esterillos Oeste – Costa Rica
Selah misses her sink baths
If you would like to receive a hard copy of our prayer card with our info,
just send us and email with your physical address. Love Leon Family
We wanted to share with you all the official photo of Leadership Training Conference. This was a great time of community and training as leaders from chapters of Christian Surfers came together to seek the Lord for direction for our National Ministry.
CS National Conference
You know you live in the tropics when your baby’s dirty diaper smells like mango!
It is mango season in Costa Rica. There are about five different types of mangos that I have been able to identify and consume in the last 4 weeks. We have made mango pie, mango bread, mango smoothies, mango juice, mango popsicles, dried mango, fresh mango and mango lasi. After eating 3 courses of mango dishes yesterday Dennis brought home my favorite kind “mango Rosa” I ate two! Imagine a rose infused mango, that is what they taste like, and I hope they have them in heaven. Did I mention it is avocado season too! Our grocery bill has gone way down this month as you can imagine!
You may remember the saga of my oven. I love to bake and an oven was one of the things that we had been on the lookout for since we moved here. Dennis bought me one for Mother’s Day last year and it was a bit of a disaster, it even caught on fire at one point leaving me oven less again. About 4 months after that a friend gave us their old electric oven from the 70’s and it was amazing! I became the official birthday cake baker for the neighborhood. A few ladies mentioned wanting to learn to bake so I had them over one day showed them how to do yeast bread, cookies and biscuits. I also gave each of them a sack of flour so they could try at home. Little did I know that this was to be our first step into being a blessing by establishing microenterprises. Over holy week a local boy came to my door selling homemade bread. Not only was it delicious, a rarity in Costa Rica, but it was made by one of the ladies who had come to my house that day! I saw her later that week and complimented her on her baking skills. She told me what a blessing her little business has been to her family, enabling her to buy her three children the books and pencils they needed for school.
The great coordinator that we serve was at it again as we traveled to Indy for a series of interviews, trainings, meetings, orientations, photo sessions and doctor appointments.
To begin with our flight from Miami to Indy was canceled, which was a bit frustrating, but who should we see while waiting for the hotel shuttle but Cal Fisher, Christian Surfer’s Latin American coordinator! His flight was also canceled and we were put up in the same hotel so we were able to have an impromptu meeting with him that night. What a blessing it was to connect with him and see the ways God is moving through CS in Latin America.
When we finally did make it to Indy we were blessed not only by my dad coming to stay with us to watch the kids, but by the Miller family who made their house available to us for our stay there.
During our seven day stay we met with over 15 people whose job is to make sure we are the best missionaries we can be for the glory of God. What a loving and supportive team we have behind us at Free Methodist World Missions, with years of experience and wisdom.
We are on track for officially becoming FMWM extended term missionaries in the late summer after we finish some required course work. At that time we will be going to California to look for churches, businesses and individuals who would like to partner with us in the work that God is doing here in Costa Rica.
Pray:
- Kyle’s Grandmother Verna whose health is failing
- continued support as well as new partners
- thank God for the safe arrival of Sol Arthur, Kyle and Dennis’ newest nephew
- wisdom as we plan for the future of ministry
- leaders at FMWM as well as here in Costa Rica
- effective evangelism during Holy week
- healthy boundaries and use of time
We are going to Indianapolis to be interviewed to become extended term missionaries with Free Methodist World Missions! Getting to this point has been quite a journey with many false starts and faith building waiting periods but we are going to Indy April 5-13. God is so good and He not only provided in miraculous ways financially but with the scheduling of this trip as well. We are being blessed by the master coordinator and want to thank those of you who contributed to getting us to this point in our ministry through financial support, prayers and encouragement!
We are going to Indy although our financial goal for this trip was not met. Please prayerfully consider giving to this important part of our ministry as we want to be the best we can be for the glory of God and to be able to continue to give hope to the people in Costa Rica.
Love, Leon family
P.S. To those faithful readers who are waiting to see the promised answer to “what do you do?” Keep posted.
Pura Vida
What do you do when your boss calls and tells you she wants you in Peru in 10 days for a seven day Summit with all the other missionaries working in Latin America, all paid for? You take a deep breath and say, “See ya in ten days!” It had been about 60 years since all the missionaries working in Latin America had gotten together, under the direction or our director, Dr. Delia Nuesch-Olver and with a generous grant from the Pacific North West Conference of the Free Methodist Church we were able to come together in Lima, Peru for 7 days of training, encouragement, fellowship and prayer. What a time we had! So that you can be in prayer for Latin America more specifically and see the ways God is moving I wanted to share a little bit of what we learned at that summit.
The goal of Free Methodist World Missions in Latin America is to fuel and sustain an apostolic movement to reach Latin America for Christ by:
-empowering and coaching national leaders to multiply disciples, groups, leaders, and churches
- catalyzing initiatives and partnerships to plant clusters of churches in strategic cities
- creating appropriate structures and sustainable systems to encourage and support the exponential growth of the Church
What a Vision and to think that we are a part of it! One of the interesting things that you will note in this statement is that it focus on the city. With over 84% of the Latin American population living in urban areas we have to go to where the people are which is in the cities. Guess where we are exploring for our next church plant? The city!
One of the first questions I asked and was asked by the other missionaries at this event was “what do you do?” or “what does your ministry/week look like?” As missionaries serving in Latin America it was amazing to see the different ways we all serve. Some do pastoral/leaders training, education and support, others work with International Childcare Ministries, some in relief work, medical work, church planting. We met missionaries who have been in the field for over 30 years and others as fresh as ourselves. But that question, “what do you do?” kept coming back at me. Dr. Delia asked us to be “contemplative practitioners”, not just taking in the information that we received at the summit but digesting it, analyzing our work, fine tuning it, refining it, making it the best it can be for the glory of God. So we have we came back to Costa Rica and strategized, making sure that our work here is in line with the overall vision for Latin America. So keep your eyes peeled for our next newsletter where we will try to clarify the answer to that question “what do you do?” in light of what we learned at the summit and the vision God placed in our hearts.
Familia Leon
Relationships/Discipleship
To end the Costa Rican “summer” vacation Christian Surfers Costa Rica hosted its annual Marbella camp out. It was a great success with over 100 people in attendance for a long weekend of prayer, bible study, fellowship, fun and of course surfing. Under Dennis and his team of leaders Christian Surfers Costa Rica has grown in numbers this year as well as seeing many become spiritually mature leaders. We met new people at this event and caught up with other who work with this ministry in other parts of the country. We also brought six boys along with us from the church and they were inspired to see so many surfers who have a deep relationship with Jesus.
Blessing
We were once again blessed by a group of friends from Colorado’s Flat Irons Church this month. They had come down and blessed us with a remodeled bathroom for the church in June and they loved it so much that they came back, but this time to work more intentionally building relationships not bathrooms. Besides getting to know the kids from the church, playing soccer, volleyball, surfing, sightseeing, beach bonfires and more they were able to bless Parrita with a Kid Play Day at the soccer field. We did the event in “the reformers” a tough neighborhood of government housing known for its high petty crime and armed robbery rate. We expected 50-100 people to show up but the Lord brought over 300! The miracle of the day was the multiplication of the craft that the group had prepared! Not only did the kids and their parents hear about Jesus love for them and have fun together, but we got to know them and have quite a few attending our weekly meeting in Parrita as a result.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit
If you have not seen the ways you can support the future of this ministry via mail or facebook here is your chance. We are in the first phase of becoming extended term missionaries with Free Methodist World Missions. This process requires certain interviews and training which we are hoping to do this April. What we need is about $8000 to cover the travel, interviews and training costs to begin this process. Please pray for us as this is a time of uncertaintiny as we wait on the Lord for the funds and as we work through this process of preparation. Please prayerfully consider giving to support us in continuing the work here in Costa Rica. If you are currently giving monthly please continue to do so and if you would like to make a one time donation you can send tax deductible checks to:
Free Methodist Church 1435 Cliff Dr. Santa Barbara, CA 93109 Memo: Leon family
Or you can give online thru paypal from right here on our blog: www.puravidachurch.com/blog
If you are able to give at this time please let us know so that we can use the funds accordingly.
Prayer highlights:
- patience and wisdom as we parent all these boys as well as our own kids
- for the missionary process and all the details that need to be worked out
- continued health for our family
- that God sends or raises a musician in Esterillos
Thank you all for your continued love and support for our family and Costa Rica!
Surf Shop by day Sanctuary by night…….
We are ready to reach south in our mission to plant churches along the coast of Costa Rica. With many opportunities and the Holy Spirit’s prompting but no space to meet we are starting a surf and skate shop in Parrita.
Parrita is about 20 minutes south of Esterillos and has a population of about 5,000 people. Parrita is the town center for six different beach communities and is on the road to Quepos, Dominical and Pavones. Furthermore most of the students of Pura Vida Church attend high school here.
Surf and Skate shops have always had a community feel, with kids hanging out and being influenced by whoever was running the shop. With that idea in mind we would like to provide a safe and healthy environment for people to hang out as well as create a comfortable place to learn about Jesus. By being staffed by our leaders we give them an opportunity not only to earn a living but also to share what they are learning about God at Pura Vida Church.
One of the obstacles to church planting is the meeting place. Although we know many people in the area we have not found a central and consistent place to meet and to rent a space to meet once or twice a week seems like a waste of resources. The idea of running a business is not to make money but to create a self sustaining ministry. But we need your help! As with any business there are start up costs, so we are looking for investors to give interest free, short term loans or one time tax deductable gifts. Please see attached budget and feel free to email us with questions and suggestions as this is our first venture into business. Could you pray and consider investing not in a business but in a ministry that would change people’s lives?
Blessings,
Leaders of Pura Vida Church Esterillos
Budget:
Rent: $500/ month (with water and security)
Inventory: $7,000 (start up)
Salary: $200/ month (one employee. 3 days a week)
Electricity/phone: $80/ month
Equipment: $3,000 (displays, cash register, TV/DVD, couches and chairs etc.)
Insurance: ?
Advertising: ?
Permits and taxes:
Surf Shop by day Sanctuary by night…….
We are ready to reach south in our mission to plant churches along the coast of Costa Rica. With many opportunities and the Holy Spirit’s prompting but no space to meet we are starting a surf and skate shop in Parrita.
Parrita is about 20 minutes south of Esterillos and has a population of about 5,000 people. Parrita is the town center for six different beach communities and is on the road to Quepos, Dominical and Pavones. Furthermore most of the students of Pura Vida Church attend high school here.
Surf and Skate shops have always had a community feel, with kids hanging out and being influenced by whoever was running the shop. With that idea in mind we would like to provide a safe and healthy environment for people to hang out as well as create a comfortable place to learn about Jesus. By being staffed by our leaders we give them an opportunity not only to earn a living but also to share what they are learning about God at Pura Vida Church.
One of the obstacles to church planting is the meeting place. Although we know many people in the area we have not found a central and consistent place to meet and to rent a space to meet once or twice a week seems like a waste of resources. The idea of running a business is not to make money but to create a self sustaining ministry. But we need your help! As with any business there are start up costs, so we are looking for investors to give interest free, short term loans or one time tax deductable gifts. Please see attached budget and feel free to email us with questions and suggestions as this is our first venture into business. Could you pray and consider investing not in a business but in a ministry that would change people’s lives?
Blessings,
Leaders of Pura Vida Church Esterillos
Budget:
Rent: $500/ month (with water and security)
Inventory: $7,000 (start up)
Salary: $200/ month (one employee. 3 days a week)
Electricity/phone: $80/ month
Equipment: $3,000 (displays, cash register, TV/DVD, couches and chairs etc.)
Insurance: ?
Advertising: ?
Permits and taxes:
