El Jardin Sagrado -- the Sacred Gardin

The sun poured golden across the hillside like warm butterscotch and the sky was a robin's egg blue and I remember thinking, "I could be happy here." "Here" was Costa Rica. It was our last full day of a two-week trip to meet our newest granddaughter Zoe. Rick and I were travelling with my mother and stepdad and another elderly couple to their internationnal church for Sunday service. Stella, my mother's friend began to tell of a woman from their church named Esther. She had suffered a stroke and was no longer able to operate her ministry at El Jardin Sagrado (the Sacred Garden) . She had been offering counseling to missionaries and local families, and doing outreach through kids camps, English classes and computer lessons for children and youth in the Orosi Valley, but the stroke had left her unable to continue. Esther's one desire was that the 5-acre retreat/community center would remain in the Lord's service.

It's hard to explain the feeling I had in my spirit when Stella told her story. I had such a strong sense that this "sacred garden" had special significance for Rick and me. When I expressed aloud how I wished we had heard of this sooner, our elderly companions offered to drive up winding mountain roads to meet Esther that very afternoon.

What happened next could only have been a divine appointment.

Esther's husband took us all for a walk around the beautiful gounds -- all except my stepdad who stayed behind with Esther. Skip had been going to church with Mom for years but had never crossed over that line to faith. While we were gone, Esther led my stepdad to the Lord! God had recently brought Skip to Esther's mind and told her it was "his time" and she had been wondering how on earth she was going to get the chance to talk with him when God brought him right to her door! It was so clear that the Lord's annointing was on this place and we sensed that God was calling us to be part of it. Two weeks later Global Outreach Mission bought El Jardin Sagrado. Esther told them about us and the next thing we knew we were talking to them about moving to Costa Rica!

And the rest, as they say, is HisStory!

When God called us to Amsterdam two decades ago, we had never even set foot in the country before we landed there with all our possessions and our kids! We consider ourselves blessed to have spent about two hours actually onsite at El Jardin Sagrado before actually moving here! The property lies on a river in the Orosi Valley in the mountains of central Costa Rica, about an hour outside of San Jose, the capital city. To see pictures of the center go to the El Jardin Sagrado link in this blog. Cabins, a house and a community kichen are in place already. GOM is in the process of building a multipurpose building on the property and will hold medical missions and other outreach events at the center.

This is where we come in!

We are the longterm church planters who will follow-up with those who come into the Kingdom through these short-term projects and ongoing ministries to the community. We will build bridges in the community for evangelism, meeting needs by offering counseling for individuals, couples and families, by teaching English, by holding Bible studies, by providing children and youth camps and activities, and other practical outreach events. In short, we will do whatever it takes to earn the right to speak into the lives of the people in this community with the message of grace and hope that only comes from Jesus Christ.

Pura vida! means pure life...

... and it's a favorite tico phrase to describe the beauty and tranquility that abound in Costa Rica, but true "pura vida" is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. With your help we hope to bring His pura vida to everyone whom our ministry here touches.