Living Word Lutheran Church

Our team has arrived to Costa Rica, we are a little tired but doing good and exited aboit what God has for us this week. 

Laura and Ágata will be serving with us this week. We are expectant and excited to see what God has for us in this week of ministry!

After a year it is good to see Pastor Gerardo and his wife Idalia again! As always we were received with a hug and a warm welcome! It was good to catch up on some of the things that have happened and projects that we have done together. 

It is a joy to be able to come back and serve alongside pastor and his wife once more this year. 

We pray that God will be the one leading as we deliver these bags of food to bless the families that we visit. 

We had our Saturday night service, tonight we introduced ourselves and were welcomed be the congregation. We then joined them to hear Pastor Gerardo’s teaching based on Psalm 66:10-12. It was about how the ministry and serving God can be tough and we might go through fire, but He also brings us to places of abundance.

For Sunday services Kari shared the sermon. She talked about how Jesus is the one who, through the gift of salvation offers us a true eternal ending of happy ever after! And that when we accept the gift of grace our lives must reflect the love of Christ. 

After lunch the pastor invited us to go on a boat ride on the Sarapiqui river. We got to see crocodiles, monkeys, an otter, plus many more different animals! 

We enjoyed it and had fun looking for a sloth we hope to see while we are here! 

Tonight we got to spend time with the women, we had a few rounds of practicing each other’s languages and breaking the ice with dancing and having fun!

Then we split into groups and had a time of prayer. It was beautiful and a blessing to hear the prayers and pray for them. We are so grateful that God hears every prayer and heart that cries out to Him!

God is good! 

First day of vbs we learned about creation, and had fun playing with the kids. It's alway fun to share the Word of God with the children

 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 19:14

We played a couple of ice breakers to get to know each other, then did introductions. We then had a study on what the world and what God wants from us as men. We then prayed in couples and finished off the night with snacks and visiting.

The word spread, we had more kids today!

Today we talked about how God created the flowers and the trees, and He made a wonderful world for us to live in and enjoy. We then made flower reeds to remember that! 

We had a blast afterwards playing with the kids! 

Tonight Pastor David and Jessica, his wife, gave a talk about what good communication looks like and the necessary action of forgiveness in a relationship. The couples there were very responsive and enjoyed the talk and games that helped them work together as a couple. 

It was fun and a good reminder to always keep God in the center of one’s relationships!

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecc. 4:12

Today was our last day of food distribution. We had the chance to visit Pastor William and his wife Sandra. They have had a rough time with health issues but have a strong faith that God will keep working the miracles needed.

Today we finished talking about the days of creation. We also taught of how humans disobeyed God and because of it, sin entered the world. But the good news is that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to save us of our sins. Afterwards the kids had lots of fun playing with balloons! 

Memories and connections have been made, and we are so blessed to have been able to be a part of their lives for these short few days!

Today was our last day of women’s ministry. We had a big group of ladies come and we shared about the how God seeks to have an intimate relationship with us and that he values us as women. We also shared that having a friend and sister in Christ to share struggles and good times with is an important and beautiful part of life. 

After a fun game, we did a craft with them, then share with each other encouragements and words of affirmation. 

It has been a wonderful ministry and time with the ladies of the community we thank God for this time!