International Missions

You notice how small the houses are after you leave Costa Rica .
When you’re there, they seem to be just the right size.
They always have enough room for everyone. There’s always a chair, a cup of coffee (even though I never touch the stuff) and some cookies.
The houses in Costa Rica, I’m guessing, are a lot like the ones in other countries South of the border. They’re built for efficiency.
But what they lack in size they make up for in hospitality.

A typical house goes like this:
The front outside of the house possibly has a small courtyard with plants or simply steps that lead to the front door. The front door opens to the living room. Most houses consist of a small living room with a sofa and another chair or two.
The kitchen and dining room are usually open to the living room. All three put together consist of about 500 square feet or less. Most of the roofs are tin or clay tile. There is a bathroom and two or three bedrooms, with the rest of the house consisting of another 300 to 400 square feet. That puts the total somewhere around 900 square feet.
Heating and air conditioning isn’t needed.

What differences there are between the houses comes in the quality of the workmanship and trim, not in the size or layout.
You can get four walls and a roof up with little trouble there. I don’t recall seeing many second floors so the walls just need to support the roofs. There must not be much high wind, otherwise many of the roofs would have problems. Mainly they have to keep the rain out, so you can put up a tin roof and maybe even use tin for the siding. Basically, you can build a house fairly inexpensively and have it stand up for many years.

You’ve probably seen pictures, maybe from when the missions teams have been there. The houses look small, and they are. But there’s never a shortage of space for people in the houses.
You don’t ever get the feeling that things are too crowded.
You’re frequently invited inside the homes, sometimes for Bible study or maybe to visit. The people there will invite you in before you know what’s going on.

So it’s not a huge surprise that Jacob and Courtenay Folk have been able to get ten Bible studies going in the area of Cipreses. The tough part is keeping them going and expanding them. Jacob and Courtenay have been able to do that as well.

There are times that the people will stop coming for one reason or another. They’ll just stop being available. Maybe they were being polite at first and decided it wasn’t for them. Maybe the local priest or neighbors put pressure on them to stop the bible study.
Either way, it’s a tough job keeping the Bible studies going at times. The Folks need plenty of prayer.

Right now there isn’t a local church in Cipreses to bring the people together (that’s a story for another day). Today, please pray for each of the ten Bible studies. Maybe pray from them at the time they start each day. Here’s a rundown on them:
Monday 10 a.m.: Viviana in Upper Cipreses. Lizzy goes along to this Bible study. Viviana is grounded in the Bible, but her husband is lost. She goes over the studies with her hustband, who works until 7 at night.

  • Monday 3 p.m.: Enrique and his wife Noemi and their kids. Enrique is very excited that he hasn’t been abandoned. He also goes to other Bible studies. Enrique’s house is close to Jacob’s house.
  • Monday 6 p.m.: Raul and his wife Idaluz and their kids in Lower Cipreces. All of them participate.
  • Tuesday 9 p.m.: To the field to work with Andre and Manuel, Bernardo’s sons.
  • Tuesday 4 p.m.: To Santa Rosa to Maria’s house and her seven sons (Sergio, Henry, Bryan, Tome, Wilson , Ivan, Nelson) All are very attentive. Wilson has experience with music and sends encouraging text messages.
  • Wednesday 3 p.m.: Floria in Upper Cipreces. Flora can’t ready, but Jennifer, who is 12, is there reading to Flora and attending the Bible study along with another lady.
  • Wednesday 6 p.m.: Bernardo’s house with Andre and sometimes his other son. Bernardo is knowledgeable of the Bible, but needs prayer to soften his heart.
  • Thursday 2 p.m.: The house of Louis and Maria Sanchez. Jacob went on a fishing trip that included Louis one day and got to know him. Jacob was able to start a Bible study from that.
  • Thursday 5:30 p.m.: Within a block of Raul (Monday at 6 p.m.) at the house of Geraldo and Hazel.
  • Friday 10 a.m.: In Upper Cipreces at the home of Francisco. Francisco is talented at music and would like to record music one day. His friend Walter joins him at the Bible study. Both are 19 years old.
  • Friday at 3 p.m.: In Upper Oramundo at the house of Chevez, who had previously been in a Bible study with someone from the United States for over a year. Also at this study are his kids Catherine, Jazmine, Gabriel and David.
  • Saturday at 10 a.m.: Soccer and devotional with kids at the field at Pueblo Nuevo. This usually involves about ten kids. It would be helpful to have goals, but usually they make do with sticks in the ground.

That’s more than ten, but ten is where Jacob puts the number.
Please remember to pray for each of these Bible studies and the households that are hosting them. Pray that they houses will each fill up with believers.