The Power of the Gospel

Well now that we are caught up to the beginning of our July trip I am going to do another Star Treky time warp on you.  Because of the circumstances I am going to tell you about the second half of the trip first.  The reason for that is because we spent the first 4 days in the Cacao area because we had high hopes for Jorge and Lisseth.  Even though those 4 days did not bear the kind of fruit we had hoped, it was still a beneficial use of our time.  We became even closer and more connected to this family and also ended up meeting all their immediate family members in the area as well.  But I will tell you about that later.  For now I want to tell you the story of our new brother and sisters in Christ.

This was on day 5 of the trip and we had planned to go spend more time with Myra and see if we could make more contacts in the town where she lives.  Altos de Naranjo is the name of the place which I just told you a little bit about in the previous post.  We called Myra that morning and she was home and very eager for us to come visit her.  Altos de Naranjo is only about 10 kilometers from Atenas but it is on a very curvy, steep, pot-holed road, so it takes about 20 minutes to get there.  It is just one of countless beautiful drives in a country that is busting at the seams with God's creation.

Once we arrived we noticed there was a new little girl around the house named Franci.  She was Myra's granddaughter and we would meet Myra's oldest daughter and husband later that day.  Once we settled in and started talking to Myra we were amazed.  We had only spent a short amount of time with her and her children.  We had studied the Gospel with her in May but we had expected to spend more time studying with her in the hopes of reinforcing how she needed to obey the Gospel.  What we found before us now 2 months later was a woman that was convicted.  She had been talking to her neighbors about us and about the Gospel.  She had obviously been studying with her children as well.  Her daughter Neyci wanted to be baptized and she had talked to 2 more of her neighbors that had expressed interest as well.  We were floored.  Here was a woman who had been convicted by the Gospel and with no urging from us had already been talking to her neighbors about the Gospel as well.  She had already been laying some of the groundwork for us to continue preaching the Gospel in this area.  You will probably notice that we did not baptize Mrya yet, but make no mistake she is ready and willing.  She explained her reasons for waiting and she assured us that she would have removed any roadblocks and that she would be ready to be baptized the next time we came to Costa Rica. 

We were really blown away by Mrya's spirit the more we talked to her.  She told us about something her daughter Neyci had dealt with recently that was really awesome.  She told us about how Neyci's school required the children to go to a religious class about the Catholic religion.  At one point they demanded that they all bow before the statue of the virgin mary.  Neyci refused and said that she was not Catholic and would never bow down to the virgin mary.  Myra was very proud of Neyci because she had grown up in a Catholic family and had decided when she was 9 years old that she was not going to be  a Catholic.  Myra had been raised with something that she recognized was not the truth and she had rejected it.  She had been looking for the truth of God her whole life and praise the Lord she recognized His truth and power through the Gospel.  I was just so amazed by the abundant harvest that the Lord had set before us.  All the modest expectations we had were blown away by the sincere heart of this woman who saw the truth and grabbed on with both hands.

Neyci was at school at that time but Myra assured us that she was ready to be baptized this afternoon.  So we talked to her about a possible place to baptize her and it turns out there was a perfect spot down at the river below her house.  We hiked down the narrow muddy trial to the river to see how it looked and she was right, you could not ask for a better place for a baptism.

After talking to Mrya for a few hours we decided to leave for a little while and come back around 3:00 when Neyci came home from school.  Well we decided that this would be a good time to do some more exploring of the surrounding areas.  As we drove around we found more and more steep, narrow scary roads and breathtaking views.  In this area of the country you find more people and small communities down every road.  Another thing that is different from the US is that there are always people walking around and there is always people out and about.  The people are very friendly and easy to approach and talk.  The sense of community and friendliness we have encountered most places we go is very encouraging for us.  It is much easier to meet and talk to people when they are already out in a public place and you don't have to feel like you are intruding into their homes.

We arrived back at Myra's house about 3:30 in accordance with "Tico Time".  We heard about "Tico Time" before we ever came to Costa Rica but we have been repeatedly exposed to this method of always arriving late for appointments.  It is just another example of how their way of life is much more relaxed and unscheduled.  Sometimes it can be annoying for those of us (myself included) that like to be on time (aka a few minutes early) however you really have no choice but to adapt.  Once you slow down you start to realize that sometimes we are probably to structured and schedule oriented in the US.  It seems to leave us no time to "stop and smell the roses" as the saying goes.  How many times have we all passed someone by that may have needed help but we were running "late" for work and felt like we could not take the time.  Seems like we need to figure out the real priorities in life.

When we got back to Myra's house we met Myra's daughter Lorena and her husband Edwin.  They were here visting during the week. Their daughter Franci was 5 and they also had a 8 month old little girl.  Edwin was very quiet and reserved at first but after a couple days he was much more comfortable and talkative around us.  It did not take long and we were ready to Baptize Neyci.  We all headed down to the river where we had been earlier that day.  As we were walking hiking down the trail I was a little nervous and working over and over in my head to memorize what I needed to say in Spanish.  I was still a little bit in shock that we were about to welcome a new Christian into the world in Costa Rica.  I always had high hopes but I try to temper my optimism with realism so that I am not crushed by defeat.  I guess that is what I get for underestimating the power of the gospel!  I could tell that Neyci was very nervous and excited as I took her confession then led her into the water but other than that I was oblivious to the world around me.  I must admit that I was so worried about messing up the words, and I was so focused on the task at hand, that it did not hit me until it was done what had just occured.  As Neyci stood up out of the water, she was laughing and smiling, and I realized that she was my sister now.  We were connected by a bond stronger than blood, she was my sister in Christ!  I knew the words that I wanted to say this time without much thought, "Bienvenidos mi hermana en Cristo" (Welcome my sister in Christ). 

I wish I could explain the feelings that went through me the rest of that day, and as I sit here looking at this picture they all come flooding back.  I don't think that I can really explain it but if a picture can truly say a thousand words than this one says the most to me. 
Luke 15:10 says Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
After the baptism we spent several more hours talking and getting to know these wonderful people better.  As we were walking back up the hill to the car that night Keith and I talked about how greatly God had blessed us and how this was no longer a dream but a reality.  Neyci was only the first of a bountiful harvest that the Lord provided and we are now committed more than ever.  The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is alive and well in Costa Rica, Praise the Lord!

I apologize for the delay in getting this post out but I hope it was worth the wait.  I will try and get the next one ready a little faster Lord willing.

Dios les Bendiga,
David