Jodelle and friend

 
 

"Tico" family (minus the father)

 
 

Washing in the country

 
 

"The Bridge" group

 
 

Carroll and Dale visiting

 
 

Visiting with a Tico

 

Up the trail to the house

 

The Bridge Volunteer Group

 

Ben, Sabino, and Carroll in Guayabo

 

The Bridge and Puriscal

Rain, mud, dogs, and beautiful scenery...that describes the situation as a volunteer group from "The Bridge" church in Nixa, MO worked near Puriscal, Costa Rica last week...the situation, but not the spirit nor the results. The group spent four days walking the mountain roads, going house to house distributing the gospel in the form of the Book of John from the Bible. Accompanied by three missionaries (Mitzi, Carroll, and Steve DuVall) and a national believer, the "Ticos" were found by the group to be friendly, loving, and ready to talk to us "Norteamericanos."

As you can tell from the pictures, the terrain was hilly, to say the least, and often it was difficult to get to houses. The rain and mud didn't make it any easier. But the group was game. They never complained nor faltered. Interestingly, they viewed the rain as a test of their commitment to the project. I want to assure you, they passed the test. They not only were hard workers, they were fun. If they weren't working, they were either praying or laughing...or eating. I can't forget that. They were big eaters and were willing to try almost any of the native food.

We encountered many different situations in the homes. Some asked us to pray for them, which we gladly did. We won't soon forget Priscilla and her family. She is 15 years old and an epileptic. Her family is so sweet and so concerned for her. Her seizures are often violent. Neither will we forget Bob, a gringo living in the area, who at first claimed no interest in the Bible, then after Jodel and Scott talked with him a while, he decided he might like to study the Bible. There was Manuel, a professing Christian who had at one time attended a Baptist church, but had backslidden into drinking, but was now only drinking "about one time a month." He led us from house to house in one area, telling us about each family on that path, most of which were single moms...very poor. It was on that street that we went to a house where Manuel told us the inhabitants were all drug addicts. There was one young lady at home...very strung out on drugs, shaking, and very thin. She was very skeptical about Jesus. Our prayers will continue for her.

We completed the 5 villages that we planned to cover and an estimated 40 people indicated an interest in having a Bible study. Almost 1,000 (975, to be exact) gospels were distributed. Pray that we can follow up on all those people. One unexpected blessing was that Steve and some of the group went down one little lane (They almost skipped it.) and found several families who are Baptist and attend a Baptist church in another town. They are interested in starting a group there where they live.

As usual, please pray for leaders of these new groups. We don't have the manpower to do it ourselves, but must teach, train, and multiply the workers. Praise the Lord for a good week and for leading us to work in that area.

 

Carroll, Sabino & Ben 

Volunteer distributing the gospel.