It occurred to me recently that I have not really included much in this blog about the people that we interact with as part of our life and ministry here. I know that all of you back in the States would like to know more about what in the world we're doing here in Costa Rica, so I'm going to try to include more posts about the people with whom we share our life - and the love of Christ - here in Atenas.
It seems fitting to start with our church, La Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva. That's right, we went from a Presbyterian church in the States to a Baptist church here. And, we love it. Many believers here would say that the Baptist churches in Latin America are the most pegada (literally translated, "glued") to the Bible. We have really appreciated the Biblical teaching of the pastor and the elders of the church, as well as the passion Jeremy, the pastor, has for people to know Jesus. It is very much a first generation church in that most of the congregation have become believers as adults. It is also a very materially poor church. I think about a third of the congregation are immigrants from Nicaragua who are very poor. We are the only gringos at the church, but we already feel like we are part of the church family.
You can see our family standing in front of the church building with Jeremy and his wife Iveth, and their two cute kids, Henry and Amy, in the photo above. Our hope in living here is to be a support to the local church, and we are trying to find practical ways to do that. When Jeremy and Iveth mentioned several months ago that they would like to learn English so that they could reach out to Americans and Europeans living in the area, we were happy to volunteer to help. Now Jeremy and Iveth (and sometimes Henry and Amy, who are Timmy's best little Tico friends) come over every Wednesday for clases de ingles (English classes). We started with "hi, my name is..." so it will be a while before they're leading Bible studies in English, but I love to teach students who are so eager to learn!
A couple of weeks ago, our church had a service at a camp out in the country because a number of people were going to get baptized. Here we are worshipping in the rancho: (Can you find me, the one pale gringa there?)
After the church service, we had the baptisms. It was a blessing for us to be there because four members of a Nicaraguan family we have been getting to know got baptized that day. They live down the street from us, and moved to Costa Rica from Nicaragua looking for work under a year ago. They became believers through the outreach of our church. Here you can see my friend Leticia, her husband Mauricio, and their sweet niece Carolina getting baptized:
After the baptisms, we had lunch together and people swam in the pool. And, no Latino celebration could be complete with a game of fútbol, even if it is raining. Again, can you spot Dan, the only tall. blond gringo out on the field (and one of the only guys wearing shoes)?
We are truly blessed to have a church family we are part of here, and we are excited to have the opportunity to share lives with our Costa Rican and Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. You can pray for us to have wisdom and increased Spanish ability as we seek to be a blessing among them.
It seems fitting to start with our church, La Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva. That's right, we went from a Presbyterian church in the States to a Baptist church here. And, we love it. Many believers here would say that the Baptist churches in Latin America are the most pegada (literally translated, "glued") to the Bible. We have really appreciated the Biblical teaching of the pastor and the elders of the church, as well as the passion Jeremy, the pastor, has for people to know Jesus. It is very much a first generation church in that most of the congregation have become believers as adults. It is also a very materially poor church. I think about a third of the congregation are immigrants from Nicaragua who are very poor. We are the only gringos at the church, but we already feel like we are part of the church family.
You can see our family standing in front of the church building with Jeremy and his wife Iveth, and their two cute kids, Henry and Amy, in the photo above. Our hope in living here is to be a support to the local church, and we are trying to find practical ways to do that. When Jeremy and Iveth mentioned several months ago that they would like to learn English so that they could reach out to Americans and Europeans living in the area, we were happy to volunteer to help. Now Jeremy and Iveth (and sometimes Henry and Amy, who are Timmy's best little Tico friends) come over every Wednesday for clases de ingles (English classes). We started with "hi, my name is..." so it will be a while before they're leading Bible studies in English, but I love to teach students who are so eager to learn!
A couple of weeks ago, our church had a service at a camp out in the country because a number of people were going to get baptized. Here we are worshipping in the rancho: (Can you find me, the one pale gringa there?)
After the church service, we had the baptisms. It was a blessing for us to be there because four members of a Nicaraguan family we have been getting to know got baptized that day. They live down the street from us, and moved to Costa Rica from Nicaragua looking for work under a year ago. They became believers through the outreach of our church. Here you can see my friend Leticia, her husband Mauricio, and their sweet niece Carolina getting baptized:
After the baptisms, we had lunch together and people swam in the pool. And, no Latino celebration could be complete with a game of fútbol, even if it is raining. Again, can you spot Dan, the only tall. blond gringo out on the field (and one of the only guys wearing shoes)?
We are truly blessed to have a church family we are part of here, and we are excited to have the opportunity to share lives with our Costa Rican and Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. You can pray for us to have wisdom and increased Spanish ability as we seek to be a blessing among them.
