Roca Viva Baptisms and Family Day

Baptisms are always an exciting part of the ministry, especially when you have had the joy of leading them to Christ. Cristian, pictured above, his wife received Christ as savior this past summer. Since then, Dave has been working with Cristian in the Jui Jitsu ministry and I have discipled Zaidy. Dave performed their wedding in August and it has been so great to see their spiritual growth as a couple and their willing hearts to serve in the church.


Alison, Cam, Zaidy, Cristian, Jackie, Dave, Henry, Josue, and Leo

Our baptismal service took place Feb. 13th at the Jardin Sagrado camp, where we not only celebrated our newest members in the family of God, but where we also celebrated the love of God through our families.



One of the ladies in our church recently took a face painting class and used her talents for the Lord. Olivia opted for the tatoo after her last face decorating disaster resulting in glidder in her eyes!



During these last 6 months, we have been training 4 couples as leaders in the church and have assigned them each a group of people to care for (deacon care groups known as our "Hecho 2" groups). At the camp, each of the families came in a specific color that represented their group and competed against the other groups in family oriented games.



Freddy and China, center, are one of the couples currently being trained as leaders in Roca Viva.



Getting ready for the sack race!



We enjoyed a wonderful day of food and fellowship. Here, my sweet friend Ana and I pose for a quick pic on our way to the games.

It has been a priviledge to disciple these two wonderful ladies, Zaidy and Jackie, since August. Discipleship was such an important step in my own spiritual growth as a new believer and now I have had the joy to be on the other end. It is so encouraging to see how eager they are to grow, how committed they are to the Word, and how much they endure each day with their daily circumstances. Please pray for Zaidy as she is expecting a baby boy in May, possibly with heart defects and for Jackie, who recently started night school to find a better job to support her two children. Both of these ladies had a child who was also baptized the same day as well!

Leadership Retreat at Volcan Turrialba

Turrialba Volcano - Nov. 2008


Turrialba Volcano - Nov. 2010

So do you notice any difference? Well, we had the priviledge of returning to the Turrialba Lodge this past weekend to host our first Roca Viva Church leadership retreat. Due to the recent landslides, the road to the camp we were going to use was closed, so we made some last minute changes. The view was breathtaking and right away we noticed how much more smoke and gases were coming from the the volcano since we had been there in 2008! It has been active again since April of 2008 and had a mini eruption of gases and ash over Christmas last year. Despite the possible threat of an ever smoking volcano and ash covered trees, the Lodge made a beautiful and rustic backdrop for our retreat!




We spent time together in the word and in fellowship with our teammates, the Woolfords and five Tico couples. Cam spoke on how despite all the riches and resources that we have, God chooses to use people to share the news about Christ. We also watched a movie on forgiveness, called Amish Grace.



The ladies took turns cooking the meals; here I am preparing eggs and gallo pinto for 14 people at 7 a.m. in the morning. I think my expression reveals that this may not have been the best time for my picture! Thanks honey!


The following day we broke into groups of men and women to discuss a study we were currently doing with the ladies about the power of our speech. Dave also led the group in some initiatives to help them understand some concepts about leadership, such as communication and decision making, in a fun way.




Here, their task was to make a specific shape out of the rope with their eyes closed!



Here Dave is explaining the rules of the initiatives and the goal they need to accomplish.

For those of you who only know Costa Rica by it's travel brochures and sunny beaches, here is an interesting group shot. With no heat, 50 degrees can feel pretty cold, especially when you add in some rain!

World Cup 2010

We have been back now for 6 weeks and life hasn't afforded us much time to catch up! Dave is teaching a Defending the Faith course as well as teaming up with another local pastor in Cartago who will be teaching a Christian Living course. We opened up our home to about 20 friends after church Sunday for a World Cup fiesta and cheered Spain on to a 1-0 victory over Holland! Dave has also started a Jui Jitsu class on Saturdays to reach some of the unsaved youth in the area. I am discipling 2 new believers and meeting with two women who have questions regarding Christianity this week. Finally, after receiving news that Word of Life had to cancel the youth camp for this week, we have organized a three day camp for about 12 youths from our church Wednesday thru Friday, following a children's Fun Day in the morning!

One blessing in all this activity is that we have Corey, a 19 year old son of our friends, staying with us and lending a helping hand. In addition to being a talented musician, he has been quite a servant around the house and in ministry. He will be assisting Dave at the camp this week, in addition to leading worship time. Pray with us that these 5 weeks will be an encouragement to him and that God may use this experience to direct him in his future decisions.