April 2013
The
White Family
-in-
COSTA RICA
On
the horizon…
Greetings and
salutations to all our faithful friends, family members and supporters from
Costa Rica! I know that the last
newsletter was a bit dull and perhaps difficult to read without falling asleep,
but thankfully the Lord has provided us with a little more to do this last
month… and a little more to look forward to in the months ahead. So let’s jump right in, in chronological
order, and I’ll try to keep it interesting. J
We began the month of April with another
weekend trip up to the northwest corner of the country. It had come time to check on and evaluate the
progress of our students in Upala and Ortega.
So, as I love to get out and visit our fellow brothers and sisters in
Christ around the country, Steve Hoover and I (Justin) woke up early Saturday
morning and prepared ourselves with excitement to head out onto the open road…
as it was at least 5 hours to our first destination.
When traveling with our local friend,
Christian brother and our chauffer, Fernando Herrera, we always have a great
time. We have great fellowship, good
conversation and a lot of practice in speaking Spanish. He has been a tremendous blessing and a part
of our family over this last year.
After we finally arrived at the Baptist
church in Upala, we spent some time with the pastor (Elian) and his family,
getting to know them better and encouraging them. He has a wife and 3 kids of his own, as well
as an “adopted” daughter that lives with them.
When I say “adopted” I mean that the mother had dropped her off at the church
and left her there in Elian’s care. This
is a common occurrence considering that many parents in these areas can barely
provide for their own necessities, let alone those of their children. Despite
this sad truth, it’s easy to see the love of Christ manifested in the hearts of
these brothers and sisters in Christ as they care for and look out for one
another.
After an couple hours of fellowship, the
other members of our group began to arrive for their evaluation. An evaluation consists of the entire group
sitting together while Fernando (our “facilitador” or trainer) spends about an
hour asking them questions about the study material, and depending on their
knowledge and understanding of the material, we either set them up with the
next set of classes, or we encourage them to continue studying the current
material for an appropriate amount of time before we come back to reevaluate.
This, however, has never been the case… they have always moved forward,
faithfully and fervently.
After the evaluation, and after giving
them the next set of material, Steve Hoover had the great privilege and
blessing of preaching to the youth of the church. With the help of Fernando (our translator as
well), Steve brought a great message about the body of Christ and how each one
of us is a part of that body… an essential and needed role to fulfill. Though the message was a great one, it was
difficult for us “gringos” to hold our attention. Among the many distractions such as the bugs,
the dogs, the roosters… there was a bat that would come out about every 5
minutes or so to swoop around the tiny sanctuary, coming within just inches of
Steve’s head. I must admit, I found the
whole ordeal quite amusing. But despite
the interruptions, we know that God’s word never goes out void, but
accomplishes just what He pleases, amen!
After the service we ate dinner with
pastor Elian and his family, using some of the groceries
that Fernando had bought for them because they were running extremely low on provisions. Then it was onward to the hotel, then another
early morning of driving to our next destination to evaluate another group in
Ortega. This was yet another 4 hour drive
of fun and fellowship, and my first trip as “tech guy” to this area. We took a few shortcuts along the way, not
always sure where we were going, but we finally made it around 12pm or so (in
Costa Rica, time is not an important part of the culture… PURA VIDA). We didn’t spend as much time with this group,
as we still had another long trip to get home, but it is always great to meet
new brethren in Christ for the first time!
On the way back home, we were able to
have another very neat experience. Given
the fact that we were on a peninsula, in order to cut some time off our journey,
we got to travel by ferry across the gulf of Nicoya at sunset. As we boarded the boat, we watched the sun
shrink down behind the landscape around us.
The orange glow on the blue water and the silhouette of the mountains
and the islands in the distance reminded us once again of the God we serve and
the work of His hands. Such beauty could
only have been fashioned by the hands of a master Sculptor and the way in which
that art unfolded before our very eyes could only have been orchestrated by the
master Designer.
As for the rest of the month; Bobbi Ann
and Steve have finished their 2nd Trimester at the Spanish Language
Institute, Steve and Angel have returned to the states (from April 19th
– May 7th) to try and raise more support for our mission here, so
that we can continue the work here with our students as well as continue to
grow in the ministry. Pray that the Lord
really brings the harvest. As for the
future, we are in much prayer and are very exciting about what the Lord may be
bringing our way. Another group of ours located in Atenas (about an hour west
of San Josè) have taken the biblical education that we have offered them for
free, and have begun to apply it to their lives in a BIG way. Pastor Jeremy has, since beginning the studies,
planted 4 in-home church starts and has aspirations to plant an institute there
in Atenas. He is excited and we are
excited with him, and we want to offer him our encouragement and support in his
efforts. Therefore we are seeking a home
for us there in Atenas, ample support to continue our ministry here in Costa
Rica, and of course, continued tutoring in the Spanish Language!
We are participating in and watching as
biblical discipleship and evangelism are coming alive before us, and we are so
thankful to be the instruments in the hands of our Lord! We are also thankful for each and every one
of you that have made it possible for us to be here and to do this work. God bless you all and we pray that you know
that your finger prints are on each and every life that is touched by the
glorious gospel of Christ and the grace of His salvation. We love you and pray for you as well. Blessings.
-Justin, Bobbi Ann
Kevin & Annika
http://www.sonministries.webs.com
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