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 John Allen |
Bliss and Terror in Costa Rica
October 27 2006 / ShareHim in Costa Rica, Sep. 8 - Sep. 23 '06 #76by John Allen
Personal Testimony of John Allen.
September 30, 2006
We woke up at 3:30 a.m. so we could make it to the Mobile, AL airport in time for the flight to Charlotte, N.C. From there we flew to San Jose, Costa Rica. Our friend Roxana Cole and Pastor Zelaya met us at the airport and transported us to Hotel 1915 in Alajuela. There we found a spacious room on the second floor with a sitting room overlooking the street.
On the second day, while taking a morning shower, the PVC tape wrapped around the wire to the heater caught on fire. The flame shot up about six inches and thick black smoke quickly filled the small bathroom. I thought I was going to die from inhaling poisonous fumes. We put the flames out but only had cold showers after that.
Thursday we traveled to the Adventist University for orientation. In the afternoon we traveled to our hotel city, Guapiles. The Hotel Lomus del Torro was a perfect place for a ShareHim team to reside except for one thing, there was no hot water. After about a week of cold showers we went into town and bought a small water heater and a three liter bucket. Oh, how good it felt to bathe in warm water.
Friday morning we met with our fellow ShareHim team members and then visited several of the campaign sites. Our site was Guacimo where the Mission had just built a new church. The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the evening
Opening night was terrible. We had a packed church, but the sweet lady attempting to translate was in over her head. Our presentation on Daniel 2 was laborious and difficult to follow. What should have taken an hour, took an hour and a half. I was devastated. I knew we had lost a lot of people. On Thursday, the worst night of attendance, Bob Peck our coordinator showed up. We were down to about 15 adults and 15 children, and I was afraid that even the church members were going to stop coming.
One evening before the service began a brilliant rainbow appeared in the southeastern sky. It reminded me that God was in control of the universe and I knew that no matter the appearances, God would bless our efforts.
I shortened the sermons even more and replaced the difficult words with simpler. more common words. We did do better, but we never put together a really good presentation. But praise the Lord attendance began to pick up. By the end of the following week we had an average attendance of about 25 adults and 25 children.
On the last Thursday night, the elder told me there were four baptismal candidates. On Friday night they said there were five.
But on Sabbath morning six baptismal candidates stood before the congregation and confessed their belief in the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. After the six had been examined, a young lady who had been attending the youth meetings requested to be baptized and was examined by the pastor. After the seven had been baptized, the pastor made a call from the baptismal tank and three more youngsters responded.
To my surprise and joy there were 10 souls united to the Guacimo Seventh-day Adventist Church. I thought of the text in Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.”
I received an email from one of the church members this week. During prayer meeting she said that one of the new members testified that they were confident that the Lord had led them to His church and they were very happy to be a member of it.
To sum up my experience: There were short periods of bliss and terror, followed by long periods of hard work. I loved it and hope to do it again!
We woke up at 3:30 a.m. so we could make it to the Mobile, AL airport in time for the flight to Charlotte, N.C. From there we flew to San Jose, Costa Rica. Our friend Roxana Cole and Pastor Zelaya met us at the airport and transported us to Hotel 1915 in Alajuela. There we found a spacious room on the second floor with a sitting room overlooking the street.
On the second day, while taking a morning shower, the PVC tape wrapped around the wire to the heater caught on fire. The flame shot up about six inches and thick black smoke quickly filled the small bathroom. I thought I was going to die from inhaling poisonous fumes. We put the flames out but only had cold showers after that.
Thursday we traveled to the Adventist University for orientation. In the afternoon we traveled to our hotel city, Guapiles. The Hotel Lomus del Torro was a perfect place for a ShareHim team to reside except for one thing, there was no hot water. After about a week of cold showers we went into town and bought a small water heater and a three liter bucket. Oh, how good it felt to bathe in warm water.
Friday morning we met with our fellow ShareHim team members and then visited several of the campaign sites. Our site was Guacimo where the Mission had just built a new church. The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the evening
Opening night was terrible. We had a packed church, but the sweet lady attempting to translate was in over her head. Our presentation on Daniel 2 was laborious and difficult to follow. What should have taken an hour, took an hour and a half. I was devastated. I knew we had lost a lot of people. On Thursday, the worst night of attendance, Bob Peck our coordinator showed up. We were down to about 15 adults and 15 children, and I was afraid that even the church members were going to stop coming.
One evening before the service began a brilliant rainbow appeared in the southeastern sky. It reminded me that God was in control of the universe and I knew that no matter the appearances, God would bless our efforts.
I shortened the sermons even more and replaced the difficult words with simpler. more common words. We did do better, but we never put together a really good presentation. But praise the Lord attendance began to pick up. By the end of the following week we had an average attendance of about 25 adults and 25 children.
On the last Thursday night, the elder told me there were four baptismal candidates. On Friday night they said there were five.
But on Sabbath morning six baptismal candidates stood before the congregation and confessed their belief in the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. After the six had been examined, a young lady who had been attending the youth meetings requested to be baptized and was examined by the pastor. After the seven had been baptized, the pastor made a call from the baptismal tank and three more youngsters responded.
To my surprise and joy there were 10 souls united to the Guacimo Seventh-day Adventist Church. I thought of the text in Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.”
I received an email from one of the church members this week. During prayer meeting she said that one of the new members testified that they were confident that the Lord had led them to His church and they were very happy to be a member of it.
To sum up my experience: There were short periods of bliss and terror, followed by long periods of hard work. I loved it and hope to do it again!