¡Great News!

The church in Heredia continues to grow stronger. ¡To God be the glory! Kimberly, a Heredia lady, was baptised into Christ this evening. She was reached out by Walter and Sendry who in turn had been reached out by Mario. This is quite a story. It deserves to be told from the begining.

Mario is the husband of Cecilia, a lady who has been a member for years. It took Mario many years to seek the Lord his wife had known for a while. He decided to put on Christ a year and a half ago after Cecilia had learned to win her husband by observing a chaste and respectful behaviour (1 Peter 3.2).

A few months after Mario's conversion, his friends Walter and Sendry Castrillo showed up one Sunday morning with their three children, Walter Jr., Lafitte, and Adriel. I had the chance to welcome them as they were making their way from the parking area to the church building. When I asked them who had invited them these were their actual words: "Our friend Mario did, and we came because he is not the same man we always knew. We want to know what made him the joyous and peaceful man he is today."  ¡This is what evangelising is all about! People need to see God's power in the changes He makes in our character. We are to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth. We are to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Walter and Sendry immediately drew our attention. They had been evangelical all their lives, but for some reason had quit going to church. So, Roberto and I offered them a weekly Bible study in their home. They really liked the idea. They live about ten blocks from the church building. This activity has been going on for the last ten months. They keep inviting their friends and relatives to the Bible study. So, there are always other people present in the Bible study. About six months ago, Walter Jr., was baptised into Christ, and he is today very active within the Youth Group. Walter and Sendry decided that their former baptism is Scriptural.

Three weeks ago, José and Kimberly, a young married couple, began to attend the weekly Bible Study. and two weeks ago they began attending church. Last night, after the Bible Study activity, Kimberly would not allow me to go home until she knew the answers to so many questions she had. Finally, she asked, "When can I be baptised? Do I need a course?" I gave her Scriptural answers to the questions, prayed for her and she said she needed that night to make a decision. This morning she called saying she was ready for baptism and the rest is history.

Jesus rose so that we can rise

The resurrection of Jesus two thousand years ago is the foundation of our faith. The cause we live for rests or falls on the truthfulness of this event. The people I am helping bring to faith need to realize how powerful is God the Father, who was able to raise His son from the grave. The fact of the resurrection helps us in our rising to life in the Spirit. We are revived in our bodies and in our spirits. We keep burning like incense in prayer and fasting so that we get filled by the Spirit. Thanks to all of you at Bammel for giving Roxana and I the privilege of being your missionaries in Heredia, Costa Rica.

The church that meets in San Rafael de Heredia

Part of the group that attended the Nov. 2 service, being led in singing by Andrés Hernandez (outside the photo)

The  Lord has been gracious to us allowing us to reach out to the community of San Rafael de Heredia. There were 18 attending to the regular service on Sunday, November 2, 2014. Didier Rojas taught the Bible lesson. Andrés Hernández led the singing. The church in San Rafael is an outshoot of the church in downtown Heredia. It meets every Sunday at 6 pm. We still minister to the church in downtown Heredia on Sunday mornings. Roxana and I have moved back to San Rafael de Heredia after having lived for one year in San Pablo. We are using the house we rent in San Rafael for the church to meet here. As soon as we have enough membership, we will move to downtown San Rafael. Thanks to the Bammel church in Houston for supporting us in this work and the work in Heredia. The Bammel church has been faithful in providing this support. We deeply appreciate it.

God keeps adding to the fellowship

Diddier Rojas, wife Ericka, and two children were added to this fellowship. Before this, they had been faithful members for 15 years at another fellowship —the Internationan Church of Christ, in downtown San José. We have been aboundantly blessed by their decision. I had met Diddier in the Campus of Universidad Nacional where we are both professors of English. My involvenment with this University allowed me to spend several times with him in which I shared with him about the exciting developments God has been doing in the Heredia church. The friendship we developed allowed us to discover the many interests in Christ we have in common. So, he eventually came with his family, checked us out, and decided the congregation was good for them.

Diddier and Ericka have been with us for the last six months. Their committment is outstanding. We really appreciate the leadership they provide. Diddier and I are working together in restoring others back to the Lord. Ericka is helping with the ladies. God is using Diddier as a Bible teacher in Heredia and in San Rafael. It's just great to count on him.

First Conversion in San Rafael

Vanessa Torrentes, wife and mother, was baptized recently by her  brother in law Carlos Brenes. Vanessa is the sister of Mery, the wife of Carlos. We praise God for Carlos and Mery, who have been fruitful in the Lord's work. They have been active evangelizing their own relatives. Carlos is one of the brothers who take turns at the pulpit in Heredia. He and I get together to pray for one another. We have learned to help one another spiritually. He delves into the Scriptures on his own, and this shows in the deep insights he has developed. Mery, on the other hand, is a very mature sister who has excelled in helping the women at the church in Heredia. She counsels with a few of them a lot. She has learned to influence the women to help them become responsible of their own spiritual growth.

Vanessa will be part of the church in San Rafael de Heredia, because this is where she lives. Vanessa has a teenage daughter and a 5 year old boy who has special issues. Her husband is a guard at Universidad Nacional. Please, pray for this family, asking God to continue to spread the blessing of the Good News to the rest of the family.

A lesson from the field

Roxana and I just started studying the Bible with a new couple in San Rafael de Heredia. They are Guillermo and Susy. He is a waiter in Heredia, and she has a part time job at a supermarket. They have three college age children and struggling to get these children through college. They used to be neighbors of Carlos and Mery Brenes, who are leaders of the Heredia church. So they knew Carlos, his wife, mother and children, who are all faithful members too.  Guillermo tells me that he had not been interested in Christianity because of the bad testimony he has always seen in co-workers and other associates who claimed to be Christians. But, when he began to know Carlos and Mery and their testimony, he became receptive to God's word! Eventually Carlos referred Guillermo to me, and after a few days of exchanging phone calls with Guillermo, trying to set up a place and time, we were finally able to go to his home and start formal Bible studies. This is an answered prayer, because, as you know, Costa Rican people are a lot like people in developed countries. They feel so self-sufficient that they end up not feeling a need for God. We are excited about this new development, and we beg your prayers for us, so that we will be faithful to God's charge as He has sent us to this home.

So, what's the lesson? People may not be receptive, but this is not an unchangeable condition. People actually change when we, as true Christians, reach out to them and allow them to get to know us so that they can get convinced about how real the Lord is, and what a blessing it really is to become a member of the body of Christ. Let us not give up on reaching out to the lost. We will eventually reap a plentiful harvest for God's glory. People do need the Good News. They really need salvation, because family, marriage and personal lives are under attack.

Update on the Costa Rica Mission Work

The church in Heredia is rapidly becoming what missiologists call an indigenous church. It is already self-governing. The decisions are made by a local group o leaders. It is already self-supporting. All the funds for ministry are provided by the local church. They even help this missionary with funds for gasoline and transportation. It is already self-propagating. The members at Heredia who live in San Rafael de Heredia, became the seeds for a new church.  A total of 7 families from the Heredia church have started the church in San Rafael, a town five miles towards the North East (see map below). This development has been possible thanks to God giving us a vision for church planting that focus on developing local leadership rather than on facilities (see article: Our Philosophy of Missions). May the glory be given to God for all of you at Bammel who have helped this missionary family to make it possible. The citizens of San Rafael will now be reached out as there will be God's workers in place for their spiritual needs. Please pray for this development to take place very soon. We are meeting in the homes of the members themselves, so we still don't enjoy the convenience of a building. This is an issue that the Lord himself will resolve throught the local memebership.

There are other towns around Heredia that we hope the Lord will give us the opportunity to reach out to. Some of them are San Pablo, Santo Domingo, San Joaquín, San Antonio. They are all populated centers that need the gospel very much as you can tell by the names (names of saints).

Ver From Heredia to San Rafael de Heredia en un mapa más grande

Church in San Rafael de Heredia

Working ourselves out of the job

The work of a missionary in modern times consists in being able to plant a church.

This congregation of the Lord´s church is potentially a germinal church, that is, it can plant another congregation in the surroundings of Heredia. These are the signs for this statement:

1. The church has a group of local members who make decisions on their own. In other words these missionaries (the Ulates) don't have to be present in their business meetings. This is the group that will eventually make up the eldership of the church
2. Worship services are organized by people other than the missionaries. They are making the decisions about who does what. I get to preach three times a month. Sunday school for all the different ages is assigned to other servants.
3. There is a Committee that runs the Sunday School program. Roxana is part of that commitee, but they could do without her.
4. The Youth Group is under the leadership of local teenagers and young adults (who are not the Ulates). We do play a supporting role.
5. There is a Benevolence Committee in place, that works under the supervision of the leadership group.
6. There is a Facilities and Maintenance Committee, that is actively doing a lot of needed remodeling.
7. The Finances Committee keeps the books and writes the checks, and they give a monthly report to the church with accurate income and expense data.
8. There are two ladies groups that are led by local women.

I am still in charge of one of seven Bible Study groups that meet during the week. The rest of the groups are under the leadership of other members.

Leaders of the different Bible Study Groups

Saved Couples

The Lord has blessed us with the salvation of both spouses in many cases. Just recently, Yaneth, Alvaro Lorías´s fiancé was baptized into Christ. We are excited to share with you the pictures of other couples that we have been working with.

Gerardo Hernández is baptized!

Gerardo Hernández happens to be the father of Andrés Hernández, who married my daughter Rebeca on January 20th. Gerardo is also the husband of Miriam Brenes, one of the members who helped start the church fourteen years ago. Gerardo has been attending faithfully since 2007. We are excited about him making this decision. This family is very supportive. Two more of their children are also members (Carlos and Zianny). Miriam owns two clothing stores in town. Zianny owns another one in San Rafael de Heredia. Gerardo has a store within the Central Market in Heredia. Andrés and Carlos are engineers who work for local companies. May God be glorified for the whole family being now in the Lord!

Jesus rose so we can rise!

The resurrection of Jesus two thousand years ago is the foundation of our faith. The cause we live for rests or falls on the truthfulness of this event. The people I am helping bring to faith need to realize how powerful is God the Father, who was able to raise His son from the grave. The fact of the resurrection helps us in our rising to life in the Spirit. We are revived in our bodies and in our spirits. We keep burning like incense in prayer and fasting so that we get filled by the Spirit. Thanks to all of you at Bammel for giving Roxana and I the privilege of being your missionaries in Heredia, Costa Rica.

June-July 2012

The month of July is atypical because of the school break. It is a two week break when many families leave town to go to other places. This shows in the attendance for that month.

During the month of July we had the baptism of Héctor, a cousin of us who lives near Jaco Beach, two hours away from Heredia. Hector has been attending an evangelical church accross street from where he lives. However, they hadn't baptized him, so, one Sunday he was in Heredia, Roberto Ulate shared with him the gospel after the services, and baptized him two hours later. Héctor keeps in touch with us and wants to learn more about non denominational christianity. We would love to visit him very regularly so that we can help him grow and mature and start a church in Jaco Beach.

Fellowship in Heredia is everyday more meaningful. More and more members are learning to help one another. Norberto, one of the men we have been working with, is in charge of a group in Belen, one of the towns around Heredia. He has matured to the point of being able to lead a group, where he has up to 10 people involved. They meet for Bible study and prayer every Friday night.

Roxana Ulate did the same thing with a group of ladies in San Rafael de Heredia. There are up to 8 ladies coming to a Bible study and prayer group that meets on Monday night.

Mery and Milady started another group of ladies in downtown Heredia. They meet for Bible study and prayer. There have been up to seven ladies in this group.

Kenneth Matarrita is publishing a monthly newsletter with articles written by members of the church.

The Lord has led us to this kind of work that consists in equipping His people for works of service instead of this missionary being like "the pastor of the church."

We have learned to get off the Lord´s path, so that it is He who builds the house (Psalms 127).

April and May 2012

And the Lord added to their number... (Acts 2.47)

One of the Monteros is back! This is Luis. We thought we had lost him. It is just that he was   obligated to work on Sundays, and at night during the week. He was moved to another position in the company, with a more convenient schedule. Luis is a great young man with a very sensitive heart.

We had one more baptism in April, a lady who lived in the States for several years. She moved back to Heredia and lives with one of her adult children. She has been very faithful. A young lady we baptized back in March has also stayed faithful. I mention this because it is the result of the Lord working through Milady, one of the most mature young ladies here. As soon as I baptized her, I asked Milady to take care of the new convert, to make sure that she continued to study the Scriptures. This shows that we still care for the person after he or she is baptized. Milady has been faithful to the request and keeps going once a week with her sister Andrea to see the new convert. Sometimes transportation was an issue, so my brother Roberto got involved when this was needed. Roxana and I keep doing this with people who are already members because we understand that grounding others in the faith is a process that takes time and patience.

The most important result is the transformation occurring in people's lives. A lot of people are being blessed with more meaningful lives. People are learning to develop relationships where they help one another according to the "one another passages" of the New Testament. Working with people can also be a source of much disappointment and heartache, but we keep our eyes on the Lord, remembering that we haven't resisted to the point of shedding our blood (Hebrews 12.4).

A goal in view

The goal of planting a new church in a nearby town is still in view. For this goal to be accomplished a local leadership has to be in place. This local leadership has to be able to function in my absence. Ideally, there will be no need for my presence in Heredia. This goal is being accomplished little by little as the local members grow and mature and take on responsibilities.

As of today, the treasury is the responsibility of a committee under the direction of Daniel Delgado. The facilities are being kept by another committee under the direction of Randall Sanchez. The benevolence is under a duo of ladies: Damaris García and Noris Milanes. The organization of the worship services is the responsibility of Roberto Ulate. Norberto Ross is a musician by profession, so he is in charge of those who lead the singing. Damaris leads the ladies meeting on Thursday morning. The children ministry is still under the leadership of Roxana, but she is sharing this with Raquel Urquilla.

The Lord is sending workers into His harvest field!

A brother from Dominican Republic is in the process of moving his family to Costa Rica. His name is Mateo Martínez. He has been with us since the end of last year. Heredia is home to many outsourcing companies that provide services to powerful transnationals, and Mateo was brought from his country to serve as a senior engineer in charge of production of certain parts for the IPad and the IPhone. Mateo grew up in the church. His father is an elder in one of the largest churches of Christ in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic. His wife and one daughter already came to check out the country. We are praying that they will make a decision soon. If they get to stay, we would love to consider him to be one of the elders here. Mateo has won the hearts of the members here. He has given us a testimony of good fruits. His love for the Lord and for people is evident. Plus, he is very talented and very well trained in teaching, so we asked him to be in charge of the Sunday School teaching for adults. He has been doing this in the last two months. He has training in counseling for couples and keeps a web page with articles for couples. Isn't the Lord great? He blesses us with able servants and workers for His harvest. We realize now that this is an answer to our prayers asking Him to send workers into His harvest field.

HCP still active

We still have the group called HCP (Men with Purpose in Spanish). There are five of us who hardly ever miss a meeting. We meet on Mondays from 8 pm through 10 or 10:30. This group has become a source of support and growth for me. Roberto, Norberto, Álvaro, Luis and I get together and talk and pray about the things we are struggling with as husbands, as parents, as individuals (character flaws), etc. First, we sit in a circle, then we comment on a key passage, after this we share personal stuff, and finally each one of us prays for the one next to our right, and go around doing this until the circle is completed. This really keeps us from spiritual danger and it actually helps us grow and develop our character as Christian men (the promise of Ephesians 4.16). This is not the only source of support. We have also developed close friendships during the week as we call one another and get together in pairs for a cup of coffee. We make sure that we have at least one of these personal encounters a week.