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| Roxana loves to help with Sunday School children |
Roxana and I continue to serve the Lord in Costa Rica because of the gracious support from all of you at the Bammel church. This support has allowed us to serve in the local church in the city of Heredia, during the last 7 years. During this time, because of God's grace, we have been able to minister to a church of more than 120 people, and start a new church in the nearby city of San Rafael. Our previous experience as missionaries in San José, Costa Rica, and Catacamas, Honduras enabled us to use an approach to mission work that has produced great results in the form of churches that are not dependent on our permanent presence.
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| Carlos and Roxana Ulate |
By God's grace, we have learned to be the type of missionaries who empower locals to become the leaders of the church. This has enabled to serve other congregations in the country, where we are called on a regular basis to help them with workshops and special classes. Just last week, we spent two days with the church in La Fortuna, where Roxana and I facilitated a married couples workshop. The title of the workshop was "The way things were from the beginning," from Matthew 19:4. The local leaders in La Fortuna include Rolando Castro and Leonicio Arguedas, and they are completely self-supported. They were generous enough to provide abundantly for our stay there and our transportation to and from.
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| La Fortuna, San Carlos |
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| La Fortuna, San Carlos |
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| La Fortuna, San Carlos |
Two months earlier, Roxana and I were invited to lead another workshop for couples, this time in the city of Cañas, province of Guanacaste. There were 16 couples present in this one. Herman Chandler, the local preacher, under US support, graciously invited us to teach at this workshop. They also provided for our transportation.
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| Cañas, Guanacaste |
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| Cañas, Guanacaste |
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| Cañas, Guanacaste |
The church in Heredia is under the leadership of Roberto Ulate, Mateo Martínez, Didier Rojas, Daniel Delgado, Kenneth Matarrita, Andrés Hernández, and others who assist them. They are already holding their business meetings without me being present. They are actively engaged in what God's Word tells them to give attention to, namely, prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).
There is also a Facilities Committee in charge of a project that seeks to create the conditions for seating 250 people and provide a higher measure of comfort to those who attend. In March 2014, they called brothers and sisters to start a savings program for the church and after collecting a certain amount the church will ask for a loan. The process has been slow and the church keeps on growing in its membership, thank God. Therefore, there is pressure on them to make it a more comfortable and appropriate place, and they are actively engaged in the raising of the necessary funds.
It has been a great joy to work with the church in Heredia. The locals have a very high level of maturity that allows them to work peacefully as a team and with the complete absence of strife. To God be the glory for you at Bammel who have been so generous to support us.
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