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Visit report to Costa Rica

Numbers 14: 6-8

6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.

I arrived to the Juan Santamaría airport, where I took a bus to San José city. The next day I went to Costa Rica University, the UCR, or the "U" as they call it. The university is very beautiful, and I had the mercy to meet a researcher who offered me to work on his research as an intern.

The third day I was afraid to preach on new land because I am a sinner, but I prayed: Lord, I came here to serve you, so I went to the most popular place at university. I sat next to a young man and I started talking to him, he was a microbiology student who kindly explained me about his country, when I started talking about God, he debated with me strongly, and he left at the end.

The fourth day I had time to pray and to thank Jesus for his patience and mercy to me, as well for recognizing more of this land. Costa Rica is a very small country but very beautiful. I did not know how to understand its economy, because it is a more expensive country than Mexico, but it does not have the same things or products as Mexico.

On the fifth day, to the next person I wanted to make contact with, as soon as I spoke to him about God, he told me: "I do not want to talk about religion” and he left. There were few students because it was the end of the classes, but in the distance I saw a young man with headphones on and crossed arms, he seemed to ignore me, but I gave thanks to God and went to him, I sat down and started to tell him about God. His name is Brian and he was very surprised by the bible study, and we talked for about 6 hours. I invited him to study again and we agreed to study on Sunday. So, on the sixth day I was very happy and I gave thanks to God exploring the land. So the seventh day, which was Sunday, I saw  him and we studied Mark chapter 1, which tells us about the voice of one calling in the wilderness, to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus, and make straight paths for him.

God blessed me through the study with Brian, he is from a poor province named Cartago, he is very intelligent and he studies math teaching. When I preached to him, my heart was very happy, and M. Sarah Hwang told me that he had been waiting for me to preach him, and he was like the Ethiopian who had no one to teach him. He was very happy and receptive to the message, I pray God will attract him to his Kingdom and serve him diligently.

So, like the passage in numbers 14: 6-8, I was able to experience Caleb's heart to see the promised land with the mission of seeing the nation to recognize it. If the Lord is pleased with me, he will lead us into this great land and he will give it to the Gospel.

Costa Ricans or ticos as they call themselves, to say goodbye, they say "pura vida" (“pure life or simple life”) and among them they say "Mae", "si mae". But it was not the "pure life" or the good relationships between them that impressed me, but every time I thank them for some commercial exchange or information, they answered me, "my pleasure" or “It was my pleasure”.

No one told me "we are here to serve you" or "to serve you", which indicated me that they do not came from a conquered society but from a society that started their life in the countryside, doing things by their will for pleasure. Even Brian, when I asked him to meet me on Sunday he answered me "with pleasure". That gave me great joy because I thought that they will begin to believe in the gospel by pleasure, that is, willing, and that they will be free to believe in God. In conclusion, we must pray may God will give us that land for Christ.

One word: “I will take possession of that land for the gospel”

Written by P. Caleb in Mexico City UBF