Thursday

Today was a great day. Alice led our morning devotion. She encouraged the team to trust in God. We then left for the church. The construction work was complete. The children’s ministry was complete. We only had one small wall to paint on the church exterior. We were hoping to travel to one of the areas where the 2007 team had ministered. We soon were faced with a change in plans, which required our team to be flexible. When we arrived at the church, we were told that they had reconsidered and wanted to paint the inside of the church also. We all go busy. It was awesome to see everyone work together painting with rollers, brushes, taping and cleaning to get the job done.

After painting, we left to visit our friends from last year’s trip. This school was one of our favorites. The school was closed. We drove down to where Shirley lived. She is the lady who received a wheelchair earlier this year when the first team came down. Shirley and her family were not home. We did see that a wheelchair ramp had been completed. We also wanted to visit a young girl who had won over our hearts last year. We found her house, which does not have a front. It looks more like a garage than a house. The young girl ran out to meet us. She and Drew were so excited to see each other again. After giving the young girl some gifts, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the men’ dinner. Prior to leaving for the men’s dinner, we all had dinner at the hotel. Avery led our evening devotion and shared how each person has a different function in the body of Christ and we should all do our work wholeheartedly for the Lord. When we had completed dinner, the cook came over and told us that he was a minister of the gospel. Later Drew spoke with our waiter. He was not sure about his salvation. Please pray for him. His name is Alberto.

At around 5:30, we headed to the men’s dinner. The team had been informed on Sunday by the missionary, Pat, that these dinners were very important. She told us that they had no idea what to expect with the men’s dinner on Thursday night. This was because there were not many men who were actively involved in the church. Pat told us that it was critical that the men become interested and involved in the church. Then we had rain for about two hours prior to the dinner. We prayed that the men would still come to the dinner. When we arrived, several of the men were there. By 6:30, when we began, there were twenty to twenty five men, which was a good turnout. Our speaker for the dinner was Pastor Carlos. Prior to his message, Kelly and Avery shared testimonies. Most of what Pastor Carlos shared was in Spanish. He did interpret into English at one point. He had a glass of water and spoke of how a person does not satisfy his or her thirst unless they drink the water. This was given as an example of our lives not being satisfied without receiving Christ Jesus into our lives. The women of our team were there to serve the food and they also prayed during the testimonies and the message. When the invitation was given, four men made decisions and came forward. We praise God for all that He has done in lives this week. Our prayer is that the conversions will be genuine and that the seed planted will grow in good soil. We thank the Lord for using us to share His word and to share our lives with the people in Costa Rica.