2010 PCC Costa Rica Team: Day 11

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' - Matthew 25:31-36

This was the passage that the pastor from Centro Cristiano de Alabanza (CCA, or Christian Center for Worship), in the poor Costa Rican neighborhood of Alejuelita, told us changed the ministry and vision of this church. From re-reading this passage, he told us that the church had to be working for the kingdom and not for the church. Such a simple idea that seems to get overlooked by many churches. The goats will be separated from the sheep, but the sheep are the ones working for the kingdom and not just believing and worshiping God.

Today, our team visited the facilities for CCA and visited all the different ministries that the church was involved in. The church uses the revenue generated from its profit generating business enterprises (soccer field, bakery, clothing store) to sustain its non-profit ministries (drug rehab centers and soup kitchens). In one of the poorest neighborhoods of San Jose, with the largest concentration of drug addicts and AIDS sufferers, this church thrives with the largest congregation of all the 30 local churches. It thrives because God has grown it. God has grown it because it is an instrument to do his kingdom work. This church permeates the community. It does not separate itself from the world with a schism between Christians and non-Christians.

In the morning, we visited the men and women's drug rehabilitation centers and got to hear testimony from the men and women in these centers. What shocked me the most was that most of these men and women started using drugs at such an early age. These centers provide therapy and job skills for these men and women to return them to society as productive individuals. We didn't take any photos or videos from these centers because we wanted to treat these individuals as equals and human beings and this was not a freak show. It is so easy to judge an individual based on his/her past history, but we are all sinners and worthy of death. Without Christ's atoning sacrifice, we will all suffer the same fate.

Next, we served lunch for approximately 200 children at the CCA's local soup kitchen. After lunch, we went to an electronics store to purchase a blender, TV stand, pressure cooker, slow cooker, coffee maker, mixer, and skillet for the kid's home. In our team budget, we raised funds for paint and supplies to paint the outside of the kid's home. However, we were unable to finish this task and we decided to use the funds to purchase some items for the kid's home. We asked Tia, the house mother, to give us a list of items and we purchased and delivered these items. When we surprised Tia with the items, she broke out with tears of happiness. It felt so good to do something this special. I believe that God used our team these past two weeks to show Tia his faithfulness. Who would have guessed that God would send a team of 6 asian men and women to Costa Rica to provide these needs.

After dinner, we joined Tom and Sara for dessert and spent some time with their kids. I got to play Guess Who, Candyland, and some weird card game called Canasta. We also took Michelle to the hospital tonight because she was experiencing some soreness in her right lower back. The doctor prescribed some medication for her to take. Please pray for God's healing for Michelle's back. What a long day, time for bed. Here are some pictures from Day 11.

The streets of Alejuelita

Jump roping with the kids

Grace and Michelle at the soup kitchen

We served lunch for over 200 children

Preparing the meals

Drew and DJ loading the TV stand into the van

Tia opening all the appliances

Drawing and coloring with the kids

Michelle drawing her giraffes

One of the girls holding up one of Michelle's drawings

Playing with the kids

Margo and Tia, the house mom. Margo is a volunteer at the kid's home and over the last two weeks she has become a good friend of ours. She is from Switzerland and has been taking an intensive Spanish learning course which placed her on a two month assignment at this kid's home. Margo - I hope you are reading this!