Costa Rica Mission Trip - Sonrise Fellowship

Bribri, Telamanca

2005-09-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is Bribri, we spent friday evening, saturday and sunday morning here.
Friday we met the Maria Esther the church leader. We went and witnessed to alot
of the households there in the morning. They had a service in the afternoon where they had
some praise songs, we sang, they had study time, craft time and we had a lesson, craft, and songs with the children. Sunday there was a short service and then went to Maria's house for lunch.
We had a big stretch in our faith! We went out witnessed to people and felt extremely blessed
to be there and to do God's work! We all we're stretched, even the ones that did the intepreting for us! The people we're ready and willing to listen to what we had to say about God's love for them! Even the children we're attentative and listened to what we had to say! They even remembered what they learned! I feel that we went away! These people are a very proud people, they are proud who they are and what they have!

Living conditions for people in
Bribri up in the mountains in the forest!

3 children outside hut

Teen age boy making wire insects from old electrical wire

36 children that we taught on saturday afternoon
with the teacher.
We had a story on salvation, had a craft, passed out candy and gave them a toothbrush/tootpaste!

The first man that gave his life to Christ!

Children's Class - One teacher and about
35 Children

Craft Time

Sonrise Singers -

Tatianna intrepreting for Marge at
Womens group study

The teacher and 3 girls eating Jolly Ranchers

The Bribri singers-The guitar player was
the childrens teacher-Very talented!!!

The saturday afternoon womens group

The outdoor covered canopy made with
canvass and bamboo poles.
The church is beside it all wood, no glass, wood shutters

View from the front door looking at the kitchen

Looking out the back of the church to some of the backs of houses next door.

Outdoor wood burning area where they make tamales for a fundraiser to pay the rent on their building. $18 a month

Again....We want to say thank you for those who sent support money and those who prayed for us! Without all of it this would not be possible!

Finally Home

2005-09-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Finally home... We are glad to be home but are ready to go back!!
God did a wonderful work in Costa Rica the last 10 days! We worked hard!
We repaired a roof, poured a floor, put in a ceiling, laid ceramic tile! What a job!
We also witnessed to people and had most of one of their services! What a blessing!
We sang two songs, Richard sang a solo, and Steve brought the message!
We also had womens meetings,a mens meeting and cell group meetings throughout the 10 days!
Plus we ate all the time!!
We didn't make friends we gained family members! Everyone we met we're friendly and very proud of what they had!!!

Hopefully I can give you a variety of
pictures we all took!
We had quite an experience! sunday the 25th we will show presentation of pictures and short testimonies from the ones that went! (Steve and Marge Cutter, Gene and Coleen Miller, Mike and Peggy Froese and Richard Froese.)
If you are interested in this please come to Sonrise Fellowship, 3302 N. Washington. We would love to share our experience with you!

We would like to thank all those friends, and family members(church and immediate) for making this trip possible. We saw amazing things happen in peoples lives! Peoples lives we're saved!

Franco in his kitchen

Casa De Franco where we stayed!

Franco's help

Dining Room

u!!!

Inside church

Front of church

Manuel Showing coffee beans

Marge and Steve at the top of a volcano

Cell Group

Mixing Concrete! To fill a 12'x12' room!!

Costa Rican Roofers!!

Mike and Juan Valdez

!!

Two Women of the church

Part of the group that went to Johnnie and Margies house
to watch the soccer match!
Costa Rica vs Trinidad Tobago
And USA vs Guatemala

I will post some pictures on our trip to Bribri on the next post!!!

Day 8

2005-09-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Cell Group on Tuesday Night!

Outside Service at Bribri!

Here we are on the 8th day of our trip!
We are having a great time and the Lord has blessed us so much!

Today we went to a national park and went up to see a volcano! What a wonderful site!
Then walked down thru the trees, God is everywhere!ç

This last weekend we went to Bribri and witnessed and had church with some of the poorest
people in Costa Rica! But are very proud We went out and witnessed to several houses, went to a church service at 3 pm with praise songs, a message, prayer time and lesson for the children.
We had about 90% of the people we witnessed to come to the meeting! What a wonderful site!
There was àpprox. 35 children at this meeting! The adults met outside under a bamboo canopy and the children met inside the church tha was really small!
Sunday we got up and went to church about 9 am Gene and Mike had the childrens lesson. craft and gave them toothpaste and a toothbrush! They thought it was Christmas!
Steve gave the message sunday morning! There has been several that have given their life to Christ!
The leader of the church really appreciated what we did for her and the small church at Bribri!
When we got done she feed the whole group a Caribean meal of chicken, rice, beans, two kinds of salads and boiled bananas that tasted like potatoes!
What a blessing we received!
We will definately will tell more later...........
Below are a few pictures from San Jose and Bribri!!

Here we are working at the church mixing concrete!

Children at the Bribri church!

Typical Costa Rica Flowers!

Here is the group at Johnnie and Margies
eating and watching the soccer game.
Costa Rica and Trinidad!

Please Pray for the family of Dick Olsen he passed away today at 12 pm. Our prayers as a church are with you and the church here at San Jose, Costa Rica is praying for you!

Day three

2005-09-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well another day!

Was really tired this morning! The women stayed at our hotel and worked on bible studies and praying!! We sure need alot of that! They each went with one woman from the church and went door to door evangilism! Very stretching and rewarding experience!
We all have formed a very close bond with all these people! They are always friendly! They are extremely hungry for God!
We hung some ceiling channels in the room we are remodeling,
poured some concrete. We finished with the concrete about six fifteen.
We then went to a couples house, Margie and Johnnie to watch a soccer game on tv outside! very intersting!
We had wonderful food prepared by Margie! Excelent cook! Different type of food
than what we are used to, but good!
These people know how to party!
The night ended up with us going into their house with ours arms around each other and they prayed for us!! in spanish then we in turn prayed for them in english! I was such a tender moment for all because God was in the room! He was in each one of our hearts!
Even the children prayed for us!

Will close for now, sorry no pictures today, the interent here is very hard to stay on line and pictures will not download!!! Please continue to pray for our safety tommorrow, we are going to Bribri, rain forrest, and have the whole weekend with them! We will teach the women, yhe children and Steve will bring a message on sunday! Pray that God will use us to be a witness to these people!!
Dios Lo Bendiga!!!
We had six decisions yesterday! Praise the Lord
Will try to go to a different place to try and get pictures, if not maybe E'mail might work!

PS Eddie your Dad is teaching these guys how to do electrical the right way, he will show the technique when he gets home!!!!!

Day Two

2005-09-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hola! From San Jose, Costa Rica! We are having a blast so far.
We are tired but feel good!
We arrived here about 10 pm , which would be about 9 pm back home!
We went straight to pick up our van for the next 10 days, went to our rooms which we´re
at Casa De Franco, The owners name of course is Franco! Very friendly!
We got up bright an early tues ate an omlette, fruit and of course beans and rice!!Excellent!!
We went to the church a us men fixed a roof!
That night Steve,Marge, Peggy, Gene and Collene went to a cell group for bible study.
Richard and Mike held a bible study for the men of the church! Excellent experience!!!
Richard and Mike had the bible study sang a duet and had prayer!
Also Mike played foosball with a couple of the youth and won!!! I think they felt sorry for me!!!
Below are just a few pictures we have taken!
Dio Lo Bendiga! God Bless You

Inside Of Church we are helping!!!

Costa Rica Mission Trip

2005-09-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well this is Sunday! We had a prayer meeting tonight and went well!
We had a lot of concerns. Steve went to see the doctor, we pray for his recovery!
We pray for the health of all! We will leave at approx. 8:00am for the airport.
We are looking forward to serving the people of Costa Rica!
We will hit the road running when we get there. We will get their late monday.
Tuesday we will help with building a couple of rooms in the church for the youth.
We will meet in the evening with small groups and share our faith with them.
Each couple will meet with a different group. Pray for all of us!!!!
We will build on the rooms each morning for about the first week.
We will leave for Bribri on friday morning, go to the beach for half a day then go
to a sister church for the rest of the weekend.
We will be incharge of the sunday school for the kids and women. Steve will preach the message.
Thats all for now!!!! Pray for our safe trip!!!!!
Dios Lo Bendiga!!!!! God Bless You!!!

Bribri Mother and child

Bribri senior citizen

Costa Rican cuisine is simple but heavy on oil and some species. Comida tipica or native dishes, rely heavily on rice and beans, the basis of many Costa Rican meals. Home-style cooking predominates. But meals are generally wholesome and reasonably priced. Gallo Pinto, the national dish of fried rice and black beans is particularly served as a breakfast. Notable is the famed Rice n' Beans of the Caribbean, a Gallo Pinto made in coconut milk, worth trying. Many meals are derivatives, including arroz con pollo or arroz con atun. At lunch Gallo Pinto becomes Casado : rice and beans supplemented with cabbage and tomato salad, fried platains, and meat. Vegetables do not form a large part of the diet. Costa Rica home cuisine has an inordinately ammount of fried foods so keep that in mind when you receive and invitation for dinner.

Food staples include beef, chicken, fish and despite of the 1.000+ kilometers of coastline, seafood like shrimp or lobster, is expensive because Costa Rica exports most of its seafood. Travelers with low budget should stick with the casado on lunch time menus, or 'plato del dia' which is a close cousin of the casado with a common denominator of low price and varied ingredients.
Eating in Costa Rica doesn't present the health problems that plague the unwary traveler elsewhere in Central America, but you need to be aware that some of the pesticides used in Costa Rica are forbidden elsewhere. Something I should say is that you may eat where the locals eat, usually that means tasty and trustworthy food. Beware of black beans and chicharrones, which might prove to be too much for some foreign stomachs.
Costa Rica has no national drink, but very popular in the cultural tradition of drinks are Horchata, a cinnamon flavored cornmeal drink, Chan, a slimy drink made of seeds, Linaza, which is popularly used to cure indigestion, and Fresco de Frutas, which is basically a fruit salad floating on a base of kola and water, delicious!! And, of course, guaro, the campesino’s nearly-tasteless yet potent alcoholic drink of choice. And coffee of course, Costa Rica’s grain of gold. Most of the best coffee is exported, so don't expect the best coffee everywhere you go. Coffee is traditionally served very strong and mixed with hot milk.

Typical San Jose Market

Getting the fields ready for Planting