Costa Rica 2002

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Sunday, September 22nd, 2002

We awoke Sunday morning to a pleasant breakfast smell. Rusty had not informed me (as of yet) how to use the shower facility in the Moises' home. Most Costa Rican homes do not have hot and cold running water. As a result, they have a special device on the shower that heats the water as it passes through. However, if the water passes through at a rate faster than what the device can heat, you get cold water. Thus, one must regulate the flow of the water. A slower flow gives hotter water and a faster flow, colder water. Not having known about how this works, I naturally turned up the water to a fairly strong rate. As a result, I received a refreshing (spine tingling) wake up call.

We ate breakfast that morning which consisted of sausage, toast, and one fried egg. The sausage was delicious. It was not anything like one would find in Berryville. It was mildly spicy but with a wonderful taste. The eggs were fried in the grease, so they also had this taste to it. It was very good.

After we finished breakfast, I met with the translator to go over the morning lesson. We were able to go through a few things before the worship hour. The translators name was Walter and this was his first time to translate. He was a little nervous at first, but he quickly became accustomed to his role and did an excellent job for the entire meeting.

I have to admit that preaching for the first time with a translator was a little awkward for me as well. I would say a sentence and then the translator would translate the sentence. Sometimes I found myself listening to the translation. The thing that really made me feel more comfortable about it was watching Rusty preach on Tuesday night. While the process felt awkward when I was involved in it, it did not look nearly as awkward as I thought it would from the audiences perspective. This really helped me to loosen up for Wednesday and Thursday.

Here is a picture of the assembly from the front of the auditorium.

During the worship hour we sang several songs both before and after the sermon (much more than we would sing in a typical worship service in the United States) most of which were accompanied by running commentary by the song leader. So not only would he ask the people to turn to the song, but then he would explain a little about the song exhorting the singers to pay attention to the words. Rusty and I found that this helped the singing tremendously.

Here is the song leader giving us some words of exhortation.

There were several prayers during the worship hour as well. The men seemed to take praying very seriously and did not hesitate to speak for over ten minutes during the prayers. Each prayer seemed genuinely sincere and heartfelt.

During the Lord's supper, one man officiated and called upon brethren to come forward and serve the elements. Only one man served the entire congregation. I got the sense that the brethren did not wish to rush through this time but wanted to provide adequate time for each suppliant to meditate upon the events of the cross. Again, this stood out as a difference from the way that we are used to handling the Lord's supper in that it did not seem to be an issue to them whether the supper was served expeditiously. The congregation patiently waited as each individual was served.

Preparing for the Lord's Supper.

I preached Sunday morning on the need for man to reconcile himself to God. The lesson was well received. Several men spoke after the lesson and I also was asked to speak briefly on the weeks activities.

Kevin preaching with Walter translating, Sunday morning.

At the end of the service, the song leader asked for all of the men of the congregation to come stand at the front of the building and join together in song and a display of unity.

The Bible class hour was held subsequent to the worship hour. They had classes for all age groups. The adult class was taught by Porfirio Cordoba. They have been studying the book of Revelation for the past two years and were in chapter 14. While Porfirio was studying with the adults, I slipped out and took a tour of the other classes. The youth class was working with Moises in his living area. They were preparing part of the meal that was to later be served. Several ladies of the congregation were also working in the kitchen area during this time. Upstairs, there were two classes for the younger children. Both classes were full. One class appeared to consist of grade school children. The other class consisted of pre-school children.

In this picture Kevin is visiting one of the Bible classes in the upstairs classrooms. The building did not have a second story until a few years ago when the congregation started to outgrow the current space and required some additional rooms. You can see that the Bible class rooms are used to capacity. This picture is of the grade school class and below of the pre-school class.

This is the preschool class.

Preparing for lunch.

It slices and dices.

These people are very hard workers.

Here I am trying to keep up!

After visiting the classes, I went back down to the adult class and sat and listened to Porfirio teach on the book of Revelation. There was a lot of participation within the class from the students and Porfirio was getting a lot of questions. He answered them well and kept the class moving. A large portion of the class seemed to deal with the problem of Catholicism. The predominate religion in Costa Rica is the Catholic religion (almost 90% of the population). Porfirio was skillfully showing how some of the teachings of the book of Revelation condemn some of the practices of the Catholic church. He handled the material in a superb manner.

Here is Porfirio teaching the adult Bible class on Sunday morning.

Another image of Porfirio teaching.

After the Bible class was ended, we had our fellowship lunch. The meal consisted of freshly made salsa (which was VERY good, later I found out this is called "Chimmy Cherries"), rice, and a chicken and potato mix that was delicious. The Costa Ricans also drink a lot of coffee. They are the third largest producer of coffee in the world next to Brazil and Columbia. We had coffee with just about every meal (it was very good).

Rusty and I both found that some things change, but some things stay exactly the same. After the morning worship, Bible study, and fellowship meal, everyone gathered around the television for the national pastime--soccer. It was almost like being home, but instead of watching Sunday afternoon football, we watched two teams chase a round ball around a green field. Soccer, of course, is the world's sport of choice and the Costa Rican people followed the sport very closely. It was enjoyable to watch them watch the game. The kids also behaved in basically the same manner--not interested in the game, but rather interested in playing with one another and with toys.

Some of the kids playing on Sunday afternoon in Moises front entry way. They are eating ice cream which Moises sells out of his refrigerator freezer to local kids. The dot that you see on one girls head is a sticker that I brought and ended up sticking them on kids foreheads for fun.

After the game, the rains came. During the rainy season, it rains every day from about 1:00 in the afternoon until about 5:00 PM. Because Costa Rica is surrounded on both the east and the west side by two major bodies of water (the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans) water vapor rises from the oceans and condenses over the land after the prevailing winds have their way with it. The spanish word for rain is LLUVIA--we both learned this word quickly. Many of the brethren walked or rode the bus to services on Sunday so once the rains came, they did not feel like walking home or to the bus stop. So, we ended up having an impromptu singing. Normally the church does not meet in the evening there because it is so difficult for the brethren to get out. Most do not have cars so they have to walk or catch the bus or a taxi. Transportation costs for them are relatively expensive and it is a sacrifice for them to be able to come to the worship hour. So we sang while we waited for the rains to cease and we drank more coffee.

Singing.

Great fellowship.

More singing

(Above) Here are some pictures from our impromptu singing session on Sunday afternoon.

After the rains died down for the afternoon, the brethren filtered out of the house. We had an impromptu photo shoot of the Moises family and us visitors. Kenji was the official photographer and he gets credit for all of the photos that are on this page. Here is some more of his fine work below.

Kevin lauging out loud.

The serious pose.

The happy pose.

We had an errand to do that evening. One of the men of the congregation there could not make it to worship because of a condition with his leg. Moises said that we were going to visit him and take the communion to his house so this we did. Here we are (below) getting into the car and getting ready to go on our errand. Our car was a Hyundai Galloper 4-wheel vehicle. It only seated seven but I think we got fourteen in one day.

It was fun to drive around.

Our Hyundai Galloper.

We were interested to learn that this particular man was one of the first (if not the very first) Costa Ricans to become a Christian. His name is Ricardo Vega and we had a very interesting visit with him. He told us a little about the persecution that the Catholic Church brought upon him after his conversion. The Catholic Church is the state religion in Costa Rica. This can make things difficult for people who are not Catholic. Especially in regard to items over which the government gives the church authority such as marriage. Ownership of property can also be greatly influenced by the Catholic Church.

At Ricardo Vega's house.

Visiting with the family.

Praying for the supper.

Pictures with the Americans.

(Above) Here we are at Ricardo Vega's house delivering the Lord's Supper and visiting with the family.

After meeting at Ricardo Vega's house, we came back to Moises house and retired for the evening. We had a little supper that Maritsa had made for us consisting of rice, beans, and a potato dish. It was delicious (as always). After our meal we had a meeting with Moises and Maritsa to talk about the work and the future plans of the congregation. After this, we visited for a while and then we went to bed.

Here we are retiring at Moises house Sunday evening.

Here we are (above) eating supper Sunday night at Moises and Maritsa's house. The drink that you see on the table is made from one of the local fruits. We also have fresh avocados on the table. They were deliciously fresh.

Here I am seated at the table with Moises and Maritsa following our Sunday evening meeting. The green book on the table is an English Spanish dictionary. I liked this particular one so well that I sought to buy one in the city, but couldn't find one at the book store at which we stopped. So Kenji ending up buying one for me and wouldn't let me pay him for it. Thanks for the book Kenji!!!

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