Last week we worked with a group of guys (actually three) from Shadow Ridge Baptist Church in Sacramento, Calif. Great guys. The first day was spent in the central park of Puriscal, a small but bustling town in the mountains. We had to request permission to work in the park because I wanted to solicit some information from citizens in the form of a religious survey. We kind of sweated that out because a written request had to go before the town council. I'm not totally stupid so I had a native Spanish speaker who was experienced in such things to write the letter requesting such permission. He knew all the formal and flowery language to use. Evidently it worked (prayers helped), because they granted us the permission.
For most of the day we talked to people, passed out small bottles of water (free), packs of chewing gum and copies of the gospel of John. It was interesting. As you might expect, at first people were a little suspicious and basically avoided our table. But as the hours passed, the word got out that we had free water and passersby warmed up and even volunteered to fill out our questionnaire. We had some interesting conversations and made some new friends.
The volunteers really got into it. They too were a little hesitant at first, but before long they were walking all over the park talking and handing out gum and water. A couple of days later we went back to the park and people remembered us. (Of course they did. How can you forget a bunch of gringos doing crazy stuff like giving free water and gum?) Most were just friendly, and some asked if we had any water to give away. (We didn't.)
The other days were spent outside Puriscal in the rural areas...villages and settlements....going door to door talking to people and giving the gospel of John to each home. This area was fairly typical of rural areas in Costa Rica...very Catholic. Very interesting was a lady named Angelina. She has 11 children and 23 grandchildren, and, I think, 3 or 4 great grandchildren. Angelina seemed to know the Lord...talked of Jesus being Savior, but also was adamant about Mary being very important...not to the point of her being redemptress, but nevertheless, very much a part of her belief system..almost to the point of being a goddess. If the lady had just left out that part, she would have sounded like an evangelical Christian.
The fellows from California were really touched with some of the poverty we encountered. They bought food and made up sacks to give away to several homes. I appreciate their generous spirits. Sometimes I think we who live here become a little calloused to that, we see so much of it.
Pray that we will be able to follow up on the open doors we found and pray specifically for Oscar and his family, who expressed a desire that his children study the Bible.
