Three Big Events

We have had a wonderful last few weeks with three big events to tell you about. 

•          Jesus Film Recording in the language of Cabecar in the town of Bribri.
•      Costa Rica Central District Assembly
•      Costa Rica North District Assembly

David and Shelley travelled to Bribri, a town near the Panama border, at the end of January to stay with their missionary friends the Jones family.  They are wonderful family of four who sacrificially have served for many years in the indigenous area of Costa Rica.  David Jones, the father, was born and raised in the indigenous area and to our knowledge is the only gringo who speaks Cabecar.  His wife Lucy is so sweet. She is from Cartago, Costa Rica. They have two boys,  Andrew and Levi who are home schooled and live life to the fullest.

This translation of the Jesus Film into Cabecar is something we have wanted to have since the Church of the Nazarene began working with the Cabecar Indians a few years ago.  The New Testament (2^nd version) just came out in 2013 and the Old Testament is in process.  Since many Cabecar do not speak Spanish, this film will be a great help to the local leaders as they share with others about Christ.

You can read more about the entire project at this link:

It was an amazing experience to watch the film being recorded.  One Cabecar man or woman would be in the sound booth, while three or four others listened in.  David Jones and the Jesus Film Team leader would coordinate the recording, asking for more energy in the voice, needing the reader to read faster or trying to remove words in Cabecar to make it fit into the spacing allowed by the film.  Sometimes a 30 second piece would take a LONG time to get right.  David Jones worked hard to arrange for more than 30 Cabecar readers to be a part of the film. 

We are so thankful to those who contributed to this huge project which cost $38,000.  There were various donors, some from Jesus Film Harvest Partners which is part of the Church of the Nazarene, and others who gave directly to Jesus Film.  Thanks to each one who supported this huge project.  The movie may be ready as soon as April.  We are excited to see the completed project, and we hope to learn more Cabecar words listening to the movie.

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The yearly meetings (Assemblies) for the local districts occurred on Friday and Saturday.  Both days were celebrations of what God has done and is doing in the churches.  

A new Superintendent (highest district leader) was elected in the Central district.  Our friend, Mario Vargas, has served in this role for 13 years, but now our other friend, Sirlene Bustos, will take over within the month. We will be praying for Sirlene and her local church congregation as they make the transition to another level of leadership. 

We are really excited about the new Pastor in Limon, a port city on the Atlantic coast. Pastor Jairo has restarted the work there and God is doing great things in the community and in the lives of many children.

The North Assembly was on Saturday at the Poas Church (La Finca).  

David directed the Assembly, and did a great job. A highlight was having the Chicago district in the USA Skype into the event to share their greetings and to pray with the North district leaders.  The Chicago district and CR North have formed an unusual partnership that has remained vibrant and healthy now for five years, with more years to come. 

Great things are in store for both districts.  We are blessed to live and work in Costa Rica.

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Upcoming Events:

We are looking forward to being in Florida for a Faith Promise (Missions) event next weekend.  The church in Clearwater will be bringing a Work and Witness team to SENDAS in June, so we are excited to talk with them about all God is doing here.

Believe it or not, Joshua will graduate from MVNU on April 30^th.  We are already making our plans to attend and be with Joshua as he completes another goal in his life.  Who knows, but graduate school may be in his future at some point.  He already will have 9 hours of master’s classes at MVNU when he graduates in April.

Prayer requests:

Joshua’s job search

Kayley’s last semester of high school and college choice for the fall

David’s travels throughout Costa Rica

Shelley’s work including the CALL language school

SENDAS as we make plans for the future

Costa Rica Central and North districts for healthy, vibrant churches and many new church plants.

God bless you for reading this blog.  If you got to the bottom of this page, you truly love missions! (Or you are David or Shelley's Mom).