FEB. COSTA RICA REPORT #2

Robert, Michal and Jamie Swain along with their partner and friend Barbara Oliver make up the team of workers of Gospel Opportunities, an evangelistic mission effort by the church of Christ.  Gospel Opportunities provides opportunities, tools and encouragement for Christians in the Spanish-speaking world to evangelize their own homes, villages, cities and countries.  The Swains are under the oversight of the elders of the Mars Hill congregation in Vilonia, Arkansas and Miss Oliver is under the oversight of the elders of the Winona congregation in Winona, Mississippi.  If you are interested in knowing more about this ministry or would like to schedule a visit, please contact Gospel Opportunities at (501) 733-5485 or Michal@GoEvangelism.org

Greetings from the ICI,

The ICI is the name of the language school where we are teaching English this week.  The trip so far has been fun and profitable.  It truly has been a delight to be with Curtis working with the church here in Alajuela. 

My Poor One-legged Wife

Good news about Michal’s broken leg.  She went to the doctor on Tuesday and he said that there would be no surgery or even a cast.  He wants to keep it in the strap boot instead.  She was able to see the X-rays and there were two neat breaks above her left ankle.  Thank you, all who have provided food for her, helped her take care of Jamie and checked to see how my family was doing while I am away.  Especially you Barbara!  You have our deepest thanks and love.

Breakfast at last… sort of.

 I ended my last report on Tuesday night and here it is Friday already!  Let me catch you up on our activities in Costa Rica.  Wednesday morning started with Curtis getting up before the chickens.  He was very quiet and let the old man in the room sleep a little longer.  I had stayed up late and finished my first report to send to Michal and needed a little extra down time.  After I was finally up we both made our way to the little breakfast area.  We thought that there might be strength in numbers when confronting the lady who cooked.  It was touch and go for a while as we sat patiently at our little table waiting to be noticed.  We did finally get our breakfast… toast, coffee and a sliced banana.  I guess the eggs on the stove were for someone more important than us.

Joshua or Joseph ?

Please let me make a correction here.  In my last report I used the wrong English name to refer to the Sarmiento’s son.  In Spanish his name is pronounced “Ho-sway” which is Spanish for Joshua.  I don’t know why I called him Joseph instead.  I did not catch the mistake until it was already sent.  I apologized to him today and am setting it straight with you.

Father Hen

At 9am Roberto and JOSHUA picked us up and took us back to their home.  We spent over an hour sorting and stapling information packs together.  Then we walked the neighborhoods handing them out.  Between Tuesday and Wednesday we handed out invitations to lessons and to the church services to over 400 homes and individuals in the street.  Roberto is a man that I highly respect and I am very, very grateful that he considers it his duty to look out for us.  While we were walking the street he watched over Curtis and I like a mother hen, not letting us out of his sight.  After a wonderful lunch with the family, which included watermelon (which I love), we were back on the street handing more invitations out.

Barnaby’s Concern

We had a planned meeting with Barnaby at his school at 4 pm.  Barnaby has really put his livelihood on the line by opening up his school for the church to use for evangelism.  Once in the recent past, a mission group that had used his school was much too forceful, even to the point of being offensive.  Many students at the school were offended and quit the school.  This caused a financial hardship for Barnaby, not to mention the damaged reputation to the school.  During our meeting he stressed his concern and we reassured him that that would not happen with us.   Our lessons would be informative but we would not pressure or offend his students.  Please do not get me wrong.  I am an advocate of preaching Christ and Him crucified but I think that can be done in love and in a way that would not harm a brother.  We did just that!

Curtis Likes to Eat

The plan was to start our lessons at 5:30pm and have them end at 9:00pm.  We were to eat dinner after everything was over.  Curtis couldn’t wait that long.  Curtis likes to eat.  I mean he really likes to eat!  I’m extremely jealous of his metabolism that allows him to pack it away like he’s still in college and to remain as skinny as a rail!  Me, I can think about a Twinkie and gain a couple of pounds.  Anyway, Curtis couldn’t wait so we walked a couple of blocks to a McDonald’s and had our pre-dinner dinner.  Of course I couldn’t let him eat alone.  We finished and made it to the school with time to spare.

The Classes Begin

Our first lesson was combined and Barnaby was in the class too.  He taught the first 30 minutes and transitioned the class over to us.  Most of the class was not the formal verb structure lesson that I had planned for.  They were very eager to ask questions about us, the United States and also questions about why we use certain words and phrases when we talk.  The class was very relaxed and one of my goals was to make them feel comfortable with us before we addressed any Biblical objective.  We did tell them at the beginning that our goals were to improve their English and to bring them closer to God.  The trust needed to be there first.  We had a fun hour and a half laughing and discussing things.  I got around to talking about Jesus being the Son of God and that He is the only way to God.  When the students left, Curtis and I presented them with take home lessons about Jesus and His Authority.  My thanks go to Ted Knight for designing these lessons.  Several years ago we were going to use these lessons in a mission effort to Mexico and GO assisted in getting these translated to Spanish.  The lessons that they took home were in English and Spanish.  Barnaby seemed pleased with the class and our efforts.

Round Two

Starting at seven a new group of students arrived.  Curtis went with Barnaby to teach more of a beginner’s English class.  Four young ladies came that knew very little English and Barnaby agreed to assist Curtis with them.  The class went well.  I took the intermediate class.  These were people who knew enough English to communicate and read.  I had seven students.  All were college age or above.  One was a plain-clothes narcotics detective, One was a tour guide, One was an accountant.  All were young professionals and only one was married.  Like Curtis, I too had my security blanket.  A brother in Christ that works at the school sat in on my class… just in case there was a problem.  I had met Allan and his wife on previous trips.  I was glad to have Allan helping me.  My class went well too.  We talked about present tense verbs and, like the first class, the authority of Jesus as the Son of God.  Our class ended tonight at nine.  And Joshua took us to the Sarmiento’s home where another wonderful meal awaited us.  Thank you, Mama Juanita! We made it home by around 10pm and Curtis immediately went to bed.  I stayed up to write this report.

El McDonald’s

Thursday proved to be a hard but good day.  When we stepped outside the hotel I knew that it would be by far the hottest day we have experienced.  We decided that a sliced banana was not worth the effort of dealing with the cooking lady at the hotel and walked to McDonald’s for breakfast.  We sat on the upstairs balcony that overlooked the central park.  It was a pleasant time to sit and watch the people enjoying the shade and benches at the park.

1,000

We returned to the hotel and were picked up by Joshua.  We prepared more packets and hit the streets.  It was in the 90’s and the heat really drained my energy as we walked the neighborhoods and parks.  We stopped at the Central Park to pass out material to those who were walking and sitting there.  Roberto, bless his heart, wanted us to stay right beside the car and not walk around at all.  That is until he understood that we have been walking through this park all week.  After that he relaxed a little.  He was so afraid that something would happen to us.  By the afternoon we had passed out another 600 packets making the total of handouts slightly over a thousand for three days work.  I think that had we been able to pass the invitations out the previous week we would have had more responses.  Next time we may even put ads in the newspapers weeks in advance of our arrival.  This was our first attempt at working with the group in Alajuela, so we are all learning what works and what does not.  Each trip will be better!

One Class

Thursday evening we were late.  Barnaby told the students to be there at 5pm and we thought that we were to arrive at 5:30.  We got there a little early but we were still late.  I apologized and apologized again for being late and we started off immediately.  Another thing that we were not clear about was that Barnaby had asked the students to all come at 5pm and combine the classes instead of having another small group come at 7pm. When we were finished at 7pm, we were ready to go for another two hours but no one came.  I was wondering why we had such a big class at five.  The class was good and relaxed… many questions… lots of laughter.  The students went home with the lesson explaining our need for a Savior.  I believe that there are a few of the students that are open to continuing Bible studies.  We got to go back to Roberto’s and had our dinner before 9:30 this time.  We got to our room around 9:30 and both were in bed by 10pm.

End of Round Two

I will end here.  You will receive the next report when I’m back in Arkansas on Monday.  Until then, please pray for my family, for Michal and Barbara as they man the book booth at the Freed-Hardeman Lectureship in Tennessee and for Jamie as he stays with the Fays and Nana.  Also, please pray for Curtis and I as we teach and travel.

J. Robert Swain