Week 5 Traveled from Puntarenus to share the Good News in Barrio Pinto

WEEK 5

This week we said goodbye to hot and sticky Puntarenus and said hello to Barrio Pinto (San Pedro) where we have been working in the surrounding area.  For our last day in Puntareus we took the students out to do beach ministry and they put all their training into practical outreach.  They did such

a wonderful job and it brought us great joy to see their enthusiasm for reaching the lost. All of the team of Costa Ricans, Mexicans and Americans worked together as one and saw how The Lord worked in the lives of a couple who received The Lord as their personal Savior right there on the beach side walk.  Although we were in Puntarenus, this couple live only 7 km from the church that we are working with this week in Barrio Pinto (a two hour drive from Puntarenus).  It was awesome to see God's hand in this as the pastor of Barrio Pinto was able to talk with them and also able to set up a meeting with them this week right here, in their home. Praise be to God for this Divine appointment.

We are now done with our training portion of the trip and have been conducting various programs at parks, street markets, plazas, a community center, streets and even kids programs at a foster shelter in Barva de Heredia.  Although this may sound a lot, our daily schedules have shrunk to a normal working day compared to the 12-14 hour days we have been working.


Tengo Hambre de Ti by Ruth Trageser
The past few weeks have been marathon training and ministry weeks for my team and I; with little time for ourselves.  We have often felt rushed in many things that we've done, including devotions. While doing my personal devotions I always felt pressed for time, and while I had learned things, the growth for me was small. This week however, we've had much more time to do personal devotions, group devotions, and just bond as a team. I was saying on Monday during devotions that we've been giving so much and feeding others, that some of us have grown dry and weak, but now it's our time to be fed and encouraged by the word of God and each other. For me, during the devotions, the word of God has really come alive. He has been filling me with a boundless joy, and a refreshed perspective. The Lord has been speaking to me, and I've been able to lay some things at the feet of The Lord. I look forward to our last week here, and also to coming home and living out the things I've learned. Thank you for all your support and prayers, The Lord has been faithful, in blessing us and the ministry.

 Ministry to the kids at the foster shelter

 

Pura Vida by Shauna Adams
Today was an awesome experience. The people here are so much more open to the Gospel than

people at home. We did three messages this morning at a plaza and we had huge crowds for each message. The crazy thing is that back home in the United States when one says either the word "sin" or "God" half of your crowd suddenly walks away, but here the whole entire crowd stays for the whole message. Then even after the message, almost everyone in the crowd raises their hands to receive additional information.  It's been really cool watching how much the people here are opened to the gospel.  I only wish that we have more people to be able to talk with everyone after the messages.  There is simply not enough hands, or rather mouths :)

This is not the Israelites exiting Egypt, but the united team of the Costa Ricans, Mexicans and Americans going out with one purpose; to share the message of the Good News.

Si Señor by Matt Mallett
In this trip God has been teaching the team and I to get in depth in our walk with God. I have been growing so much through the personal devotions we do everyday and I've been able to get into Gods word more and more. He's taught me that fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters is very important. Through group devotions I've been able to get more out of it because God speaks to everyone else in different ways.

This week we have been reading in the book of Acts how Paul was stoned and he continued to preach in Derbe and then came back to Lystra where he was stoned, immediately getting up and going onto Iconium, and Antioch to preach. This spoke to me because Paul cared more about following God and preaching the Gospel, than his own life. We should be devoting our life to following God the way Paul did. This is the kind of faith we should have in our God.

 Devotional Time