San Jose, Costa Rica

These past few months have been quite a busy time for the International Baptist Church, San Jose, Costa Rica. Summer camp has always been an exciting event that kids all over the country look forward to every year. Each year more and more kids attend the camp, many of them outside of our congregation. 2017 was the first year in which we were able to host two different camps, a Pre-teen and a Youth camp. Both camps were a blessing to the children, especially because they had amazing teams and staff to lead them.

The rainy season comes every year; unfortunately, this year Costa Rica and our surrounding countries were hit hard. Hurricane Nate brought destruction and loss to many people all over the country. As is the duty of the church, we responded to the needs of our neighbors. Many thanks to all the generous people who helped us collect non-perishable items, water bottles, and kits to meet the urgent needs of many displaced people.

Around this time we started a church-wide series on being merciful. The Miracle of Mercy series comes with a booklet that contains lessons and devotionals. It was a great opportunity to encourage our members to find and be part of a life group. At my life group we meet on a Friday night and start off by sharing a meal together. We then have an ice breaker and afterwards go into the lesson focused around an aspect of mercy. This is a super safe environment in which we can discuss, have conversations, learn, and mature our faith. I think it’s important to have a Christian group that you can turn to for support, and I’m glad the church is encouraging others to find or even create a group of their own.

These upcoming months we are looking forward to events such as the full-blown concert from Master Key that is going to be held in our building. Our Christmas presentation is coming up, and as always we have amazing directors, volunteers, actors, singers, and musicians who help bring everything together. These events help us reach out to unbelievers through invitations, and we look forward to impacting the lives in our communities.

Josue Martinez