On our way to our second church, which was called “Rey de los of reyes” (King of kings). Since I know one song in Spanish contaning these words, I used it as an ice breaker with some of the people from that church. People really enjoy when an outsider tries to speak their native tongue. In my eyes that church seemed to be well organized especially for the medical team; the Children’s ministry seemed to have a very small room, but it had the advantage of avoiding distractions that a large room would create. One good point that the church had, was a PowerPoint presentation containing the Gospel message on the front screen in the main sanctuary. That was very clever on their behalf. That day there was a young man who was gay that came for some medical help; I was a bit uncomfortable because of his lifestyle, yet I realized that he also needed the Gospel. Ah, that language barrier, what an handicap. I felt bad of doing nothing to reach him; until Suzy stepped in to evangelize him. Well I certainly kept them in intense prayer for his conversion. Previously someone told me about one person who probably didn’t understand the Gospel. That day God gave me an opportunity to share with him the Wordless Book; when I invited him to respond to God’s invitation he responded positively and received Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. That person shared that he was surprised how easy it was to be saved. There is a book called “Jesus + Nothing = Everything”, it’s all grace, all we can do is accept God’s offer of Forgiveness through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. We read in Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

That day I heard that one of the doctor’s name was Longworth; I knew a missionary named Longworth in Bénin, could they be related? The young Tico involved with the sound system did his best to connect with me, I wish I remembered his name. The first day went well. As a team we went back to El Jardin Sagrado tired but happy of the great privilege of serving our Lord Jesus in Costa Rica. So far during our time there, every day had been sunny but not too warm. Costa Rica is a great place to be! At Supper time we shared each team our report of the day. The Children Ministry team did adapt to the little room they had amazingly good. Great Team of experienced children’s workers, youth workers, and translators! It is a very demanding job to translate all day long; thank you Javier, Magali, Issac, Bairon, Marco, Jazmine and I know I am missing someone. The team spirit was very positive and joyful.

We didn’t visit any church that day. It is a time to catch up our breath and re-organize the different ministries for the next church. So most of the people work during the morning, then walk to the village the afternoon. The young people also went back to the village after supper for some ice cream. I work on the sermon I would deliver this coming Sunday at Tapanti church. Walking to the village, crossing the suspended brige,  was a very interesting experience. On my way I meet a man that was a cabinet maker. I told him that one of my sons share the same trade he does. I wish that I could communicate more with him, but the language barrier can on some occasion be frustrating. I personally enjoyed having the day off in the mid of the week. During the evening we went shopping at the Orosi general store.

The devotion I shared that day was “You got to believe that God does everything well.” It was based on a message I heard a few months previously. It is easy to believe when it goes well, but when time are difficult, it is a greater challenge.