Rosa

Mitzi and I drove to Bajos del Toro yesterday. Nestled high in the emerald green mountains of Costa Rica, it's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. As you drive in on narrow, one lane roads, you can see waterfalls far across the valley. It's farm and dairy land and the fields are full of crops and milk cows. The people are simple country people...friendly and warm, but with very little knowledge of the true gospel.

I worked there with a group from Michigan last week and wanted to go back to visit with one family in particular. As we walked through the village, we had stopped and talked with a lady named Rosa. She is 66 years old and has lived in that area all her life. When we first talked to her, very briefly, we asked if there was anything that we could pray about with her. She responded negatively, saying that everything was fine. While we were there, her grown daughter, Sinia, stopped by and we met her. She lives across the road from Rosa.

We left and later came back down the road passing out the Book of John with marked passages which are called "Pasos Hacia una Vida Mejor" - "Steps to a Better Life." (The first pass was to pray for the homes and, if we got a chance, with whoever would let us pray for them personally.) That time we came to the daughter's house first and had a nice visit with her, then proceeded to her mother's house. This time as we visited with Rosa, she told us, with tears, that her daughter's husband drank a lot. It was obviously a problem.

I wanted Mitzi to meet her and have a chance to get to know her, so we went back Saturday. She talked some more about the drinking problems, and we prayed with her. I wanted for us to visit with Sinia, but she was working at a trout farm restaurant. We did go there and have lunch, so she knows we were there.

Alcohol is such a problem in these villages. The men work hard in the fields and have little hope of ever doing anything else. There is nothing to do other than work and drink. Rosa, whose husband is a "buen hombre que no toma ni fuma" (a good man who doesn't drink or smoke), told us that he, "slept, ate, and worked."

Please join us in praying for Sinia's husband in particular and the men of so many villages who have no hope nor purpose without Christ.