Costa Rica Update #2

Here is the trip update from the Costa Rica Team!

Hi,

We have now completed the ministry portion of the trip, with the exception of one last school visit we will do tomorrow. Here is a synopsis of the ministry

Friday, July 23

We go to Curridabat to work with a church that is beginning Awana for the first time. Today, we go with the church to a very poor neighborhood to do ministry. As we walk through the alleyway, the church members knock on doors and invite the people to see our ministry. We stop in an alleyway and begin the ministry. We have 80 people watching, we share the gospel and Pastor's wife gives an invitation. They then invite them to their first Awana Club set for the next evening. We continue on and stop at a second location. At this point, thunderstorms are threatening, so we pray God will hold the rain back and He does. We share the gospel with another group of 50. Wow, this was an amazing experience of ministry for the team. We don't know how many accepted the invitation but we know there were some!

Saturday, July 24

This morning, we go into the closest neighborhood to the church at Curridabat. This is an area that is very closed to the gospel. It is a completely different experience for the team. We invite the families to the neighboring park for a ministry and also to Awana. We go to the park and nobody is there. We decide to do the ministry because God has called us and one father comes with his little girl. We minister to them. We notice that a couple more people stop and watch from a distance. The team has a great time working with the one little girl and share the gospel with her. The team learns that it's not about numbers - God cares about one. Later, we help the church run their first ever Awana club. They have 50 children and we run all of the elements of a club night.

Sunday, July 25

We go to the Robileato Children's home in the morning and run an Awana Club for about 100 children. This home is for children of families who can not care for them. It is a safe haven for the children where they live in house groups of 12 children with a house mother. In the evening, we go to a church that has not ever done Awana. We run an Awana-type program for 30 children. The entire time we are working with the children Mike Day, the missionary we are working with, talked with the children's Pastor about Awana. He tells us the next day that the church decided to start Awana. Praise God.

Monday, July 26

We go back to the Robileato Children's home where they are celebrating the annexation of the province of Nicoyo. Wow, this was a schedule conflict where the team was supposed to do ministry for the entire school, but instead, we get to join in with this cultural celebration. They wear costumes, do cultural dances, music, and traditional food. It is an amazing time for the team to experience the cultural in an incredible setting. They even teach us how to do the cultural dances. Later, in the afternoon, we share the gospel with them from a much different position because of the bonding that has occurred that morning.

God has truly blessed this team in the amount and wide variety of ministry opportunities He has given us.

Thank you for your prayers,

Raeann, Randy, and Mike

Costa Rica Team Leaders