Posts Tagged ‘church’
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
Costa Rica Dream: Pura Vida goes back to its roots!!!
Vision:
“Establish culturally relevant churches to the beach communities of Costa Rica & beyond”
Mission (Process):
“Bring Christ to people one authentic relationship at a time.
Be Disciples and make Disciples of Christ.
Be a blessing to our Community.
Depend on the Holy Spirit for everything.”
Purpose: Why Costa Rica?
Tourism, foreign influence and money have impacted these beach communities in a negative way, creating “sin cities” where prostitution, drugs and violence are the norm.
Legalistic church tradition and lack of resources have led to stagnated congregations who intentionally do not reach out to their neighbors who are unlike themselves.
The Gospel message will never change, but the ways to communicate it do. We will never compromise the message of salvation through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection.
However, we want to meet people exactly where they are in their life and deliver a message of love and hope in Christ in a way that is real to them.
“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Ways we want to serve:
- Weekly worship service in Esterillos & Jaco (English and Spanish) (This once we have enough home groups to have weekly celebrations)
- Weekly Homegroup seeker friendly (English and Spanish) Esterillos-Jaco-Hermosa and other coastal communities
- Coffee shop office hours in Jaco:
- approachable and informal way to encourage people to talk to a pastor
- Christian Surfer Esterillos and support of Christian Surfers Jaco by providing a save place for them to send the people they reached
- Kids Club Esterillos – a weekend kids outreach based on building relationships
- Leadership Training Development for mature Christians (English and Spanish)
- Counseling and restoration (walking alongside listening) for those coming out of prostitution and drug addiction or just having a bad day
- Being an asset to the community in any possible way– often the church seeks help from the community we want to be a church that gives to the community. We believe that the church must have a positive influence in the community to believers and nonbelievers alike
- Empowering and caring for the future servants (leaders)
- Bridging cultural gaps
- Beach Camp for underprivileged inner-city children (twice a year)
Note: We are using Cell Church Principles for this Project:
- Priesthood of all believers
- Leadership development
- Exponential growth
- Cell/ Celebration
- Emphasis on relational evangelism
- Multi-cultural model
- Better use of financial resources
Accountability:
We acknowledge that one day we will be before God to give an account of the souls he entrusted into our care.
Locally:
We will be accountable to the National Superintend for Free Methodist.
We will be accountable to our Fellow US missionary Patrick Barret.
We will be accountable to our fellow Leaders. We want to lead as a team not as solo Pastor.
Internationally
We will give an honest bi-monthly report our US supporters and praying partners.
We will be accountable to the Santa Barbara FMC.
We will be accountable to the FM Southern California Conference.
We are seeking the accountability of the Free Methodist World Missions.
Please Pray:
- For our family. That we can be living examples of Christ’s love.
- For the harvest that God has prepared.
- That our ears can be attuned to His voice.
- That the coastal communities are transformed.
- That God lifts up local leaders.
- That Jesus’ message of love and hope will spread like wildfire!
If you want to support this non-profit ministry and be a blessing to the people of Costa Rica, send your tax deductible donation to Pura Vida Church, 1435 Cliff Drive- Santa Barbara- CA 93109 (Memo: Costa Rica)
