After a solid day of orientation and prayer walking, we hit the field for door-to-door evangelism! We are broken into four groups with a great mix of people! Our interpreters (Egidio (who is also our driver), Wences, Andres, and David) do an incredible job of crossing the language barrier and reading the people we visit. Pastor Pedro was accompanied by his son, Gerson (hair-sone), who has an incredible gift of evangelism. Every member of this team was able to share their faith and hope in Jesus with people in Guatuso. What an incredible thing!
We were also able to have a worship service in Betania (Bethany) last night. As we arrived, we were greeted by some of the brothers here along with kids who were literally pouring out of their homes and following the bus! There were roughly 30 children and 10 adults packed into an 8 x 12 room. Gerson began our time together by doing a few kids songs. It was great to see so many children worshiping Jesus here! Pat, Brittany, and Amber then led a few songs of worship in English and a chorus in Spanish. I (Cory) then had the privilege of preaching in the service. Pastor Pedro ended our time by calling people to repentance. He was able to counsel with many. Through the course of the service, our team members were taking turns coming off the bus and being a part of the service from just outside the door. We wanted to allow as many Ticos/Ticas (how Costa Ricans refer to themselves) to be inside as possible.
Check out Austin's take on Day 3...
Day three was a different experience for me. I have been to the Dominican Republic in the past and we had done more testimony speaking while there. Yesterday we were able to go door to door and pass out the Gospel of John. Inside the little pamphlet was not only the Gospel but also a presentation of the Gospel and how to live an effective life as a Christ follower. The day began with our team (Phillip, Melissa, Jessie [Missionary's family] and David [Missionary]) going from door to door with one of us "gringos" fumbling through a set spanish phrase that said "Here is a gift for your family, it is part of the Bible, the history of Jesus. It's free." We would hand it to them and they would look at it and then a Spanish-speaking pastor would come in and discuss with them a few things. It was great to see him talk and be very animated with the people. The pastor was very sensitive to the Spirit and what God was doing. If he saw that he could engage in a conversation and present the Gospel to them he would go straight for it. If he saw they were not interested and were not going to listen, he would back off and we would leave. It was great to see God move. There was also a joy in these people's lives that you do not often see in America. The lack of possessions these people have in comparison to us in America is very sad. These people are happy, smiling, and happy to see us. It is also very rare to see a "gringo" walking the streets of where we are. We spent most of our time on one half of the street due to the conversations we were having with people...it was incredible! When we finished with our part of the street another group was done also so a few of us decided to go to the play ground and visit with the kids. It was great to hang out with them and not only practice my spanish with them, but a few of them wanted to practice their english with us. It was great to see them learning out language while we were learning theirs also. I played soccer with a few of the kids the day before, so they had recognized me and were asking me to play again. It was great that they wanted to play with me and enjoyed spending time with me just as much as I wanted to spend time with them. That night there was a service at one of the houses in the area. It was a very tiny house, much like all of them, so we were not able to go inside. We were able to look from outside and pray for what was going on inside. Cory was bringing the Word to them, so it was good to see how many people were there to listen. Of course it was raining, but it was great. From what I heard I believe there were 12 people who accepted Jesus. It was amazing. The trip has been very different and a good experience so far. God is doing some great things here in Costa Rica. He is doing things in the far reaches away from the mega cities of the world. The simplicity of the culture here is great. Continue to pray for us and for God to do great things here!
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