Miramar for Jesus

What an amazing week we had with the Marysville, WA Maximum Mission (Evangelism and Jesus Film) team.  The team was comprised of 22 people from 5 different churches, mostly in the WA area, with the exception of two ladies from Olathe, KS.

We had an awesome time ministering in the community of Miramar, located in the province of Puntareñas (near the Pacific ocean, but elevated a bit).  It was hot and super humid each day, but everyone worked hard to make an impact in the community. 

It's a neat story, how this all got started.  A man by the name of Jorge has lived there for many years.  Two years ago, he felt he should start a church.  

Pastor Jorge, his wife Aurora and his daugher Franciny.

Pastor Rolando, the Evangelism Coordinator for the North district, sharing with the kids.

He has had some theological training, so he was ready to do so.  Now they have a small group of 10-12 people meeting 3 times per week in a rented building.  Jorge and his family enjoy listening to a radio show that airs each morning for one hour on the radio station out of San Jose.  The pastor who talks on the show is one of our Nazarene pastors here in the city by the name of Oscar.   Finally, Jorge contacted Pastor Oscar to see if he could affiliate with his church.  Oscar visited Miramar but quickly realized the two locations are far from each other (2 hours), so he asked David to work with the North District to see if they could assist Pastor Jorge.  And that is exactly what happened.  The North district leaders and pastors began to visit Jorge and encourage him in his work.  

On July 24, the team from WA arrived to SENDAS.  After one short night there, we headed off to Miramar, after a quick stop in Poas to visit the finca (a church on the North District). 

Here is a rundown of our activities at the two parks in the neighborhood close to the church building:

Fence cleaning and painting, playground equipment repair, painting of the equipment, general cleaning (trash and debris), welding of new soccer goals, painting of park benches and tables, etc).

And at the two schools:

The team performed the VBS (songs, clowns, puppets, etc) for 650 children, led activities for 5^th and 6^th graders (160 kids), visited classrooms and small groups to make salvation bracelets (800), and delivered school supplies for each classroom.  God opened the doors at the schools for the team to work with the children, sharing the message of salvation and the love of God.

That's a lot of kids.  They were the most attentive group we've worked with in all of Latin America.  Kuddos to their teachers!

All kids love the salvation bracelets.

As soccer is such a big part of the culture here, we made sure we played futbol wherever we went, using the salvation balls that are brightly colored to explain the message of salvation in colors.

A highlight was the church service on Sunday night where it was standing room only.  Joshua did a great job of interpreting for our friend Rev. Felipe Flores, and the Palmares church provided the music.  It was a wonderful night.

We showed the Jesus Film three different evenings in three different locations in town.  And in all, there were more than 100 people who accepted Christ or recommitted their lives to the Lord.  

 

One of the team members, Gary, has made some videos and slide shows of the team.  Take a look if you would like to see more...

People Need the Lord- http://youtu.be/T0UNVX489Ew

Go Light Your World- http://youtu.be/o1faLLS7eG4

Video of Church Service- http://youtu.be/2BLZEOyTEHI

The week ended with a well-deserved break at a resort on the beach.  

This team was truly amazing.  No complaining, just lots of hard work and good attitudes.  We are so blessed to work with wonderful people like those from Marysville, WA and beyond who just want to serve as God directs.  And a special thanks to our Florida LINKS district who faithfully prayed for the team and the ministry all week long. 

We are one blessed family.

Love you all,
The Webbs