Ministries Keep Moving Forward

There's more to tell you about the aftermath of the burglaries, but, since we haven't updated you on the ministries in a while, I thought we'd do that now.

Tejarcillos is going so well that we have been considering starting having church services again. This is a somewhat complex issue, though, and we are holding off on a decision. Points in favor:

1. The people have come to accept Fran and Ileana as spiritual leaders, and now look to them for guidance.

2. In a recent Bible study, the adults who attended all said they considered our ministry to be their church.

3. While there are now a number of churches in Tejarcillos, the pastors tend to be extremely authoritarian and either strongly Pentecostal or Fundamentalist. There is a lack of balance in the churches and the people are not permitted to think for themselves.

Points against:

1. There is no place to meet near Fran and Ileana's.

2. I (Steve) am reluctant to step back in as pastor, because we have worked hard to establish and empower a Costa Rica ministry.

3. Fran has many good qualities of a pastor, but lacks training, is not really motivated to get it at the moment.

4. Our family is plugged in to a good Costa Rican church, and we are reluctant to pull back from it.

Some folks have asked how Natalia is doing. In a previous blog, I described how her boyfriend was murdered by gang members and she was in hiding. She is still living in the "hideout," but has gone back to work and is looking for another place to live. So she is slowly getting on with her life.

Celebrate Recovery is going extremely well, both with the women's prison and the outreach to prostitutes. The assistent warden in charge of education, who works with Martha and the other Celebrate Recovery leaders, keeps urging them to start the program with the entire prison population. Right now they are working only with the foreign women who speak English. Martha and the leaders continue to feel that they need more time to establish the program with the foreigners and are not ready to open it up to the entire prison.

With the outreach to prostitutes, in typical Costa Rican fashion, we talked and had meetings for nine months before finally getting it off the ground a few weeks ago. Right now we are implementing the program with outreach team only. If things continue to go well, the plan is to extend it to the folks who are in the rehabilitation program.

Finally, an article appeared in the Enlgish newspaper here contrasting the US and Costa Rica. Here are a few of the contrasts [comments in brackets are mine]:

In the US...

You can complete your month's shopping, be it organic yogurt, prescription drugs, shoes or tires, in a single store.

In Costa Rica..

You must go to four specialty shops to buy shoelaces, thread, perfume, and paper clips.

In the US...

People scurry aside if they think they might be in the way.

In Costa Rica...

You must ask for permission (permiso) to get through. [for example, people are always standing aroung blocking doorways, aisles, sidewalks, etc. They won't move out of the way unless you ask. This is one of the things that drives me nuts here!]

In the US...

TV shows cut off whatever is happening in an interview or reality show [or sporting events] to run the advertisement on time.

In Costa Rica...

TV shows sometime cut off commercials and run as much as 10 to 20 minutes late because everyone gets so involved in an interview or reality show.

In the US...

There are bicycle lanes between the sidewalk and the car lanes along a great many roads and highways.

In Costa Rica...

You are lucky to get a sidewalk at all, or, for that matter, even a bit of room on the shoulder of the road.