Kids Club Day Camp Summer 08

Costa Rica 2008, Serve & Mas

Hope you all are enjoying your summer, we sure are! Before we take our official vacation we wanted to update you of the goings of Pura Vida Church both here in Santa Barbara and abroad. We kicked off the summer with Kids Club on the Eastside by helping with their week long “Day Camp”. This year we were able to involve more people from our two Pura Vida congregations. They helped with lunch and snack prep, on site nursing, coordination of events and lots of fun interacting and relationship building with the kids. This years theme was “Dive into God’s Love”, the kids enjoyed games, silly songs, crafts and bible lessons all about how much God loves them. We ended the week with a day at the beach complete with a barbeque.

Two days after Day Camp ended we were off to Costa Rica with 18 others from the Santa Barbara Free Methodist Church youth group. It was a whirlwind trip of VBS, beach festivals, surfing, and beach combing, visiting and loving the people of Esterillos. This was the most amazing group we have ever taken to Esterillos and we feel blessed to have been apart of it. Not only did everyone get along in tight living quarters, 20 people 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but they were amazing examples of Jesus’ love and epitomized the relational style of ministry that Pura Vida church is known for. We started the 10 day trip with a surprise 30^th birthday party for Dennis. There was a little tension and uneasiness as the locals and the rest of our group got to know each other for the first time, but by the end of the trip it was hard to tell who had been touched and transformed more, the “missionaries” or the locals. There were tears, hugs and exchanges of emails by everyone. The knowledge that we will be back forever is of such consolation to me that it made this years goodbyes much easier.

Please pray for Pura Vida Church and our family as we mentally, physically and spiritually prepare for the coming year and all the transition it will entail as we prayerfully consider who will officially take over Dennis’ position for Pura Vida Church Santa Barbara. Historically our church has made big changes in the month of September as Dennis and I have come back from vacation refreshed, recharged and with renewed vision for the church. While we are away this year these are the things that will be on our minds and hearts and we ask that you will pray along with us for:

· Dennis’ “replacement”

· Cohesion of PVCSB leaders as we head into the transitional period

· Moving details

· The people of Esterillos and Jaco/details of building a ministry there

· Other potential PVC sites in Nosara Costa Rica

· Kyle’s VISA missionary status/$ for PVCCR

· Kyle and Elias’ Costa Rican residency papers

· Safety and renewal during our trip to Mexico

· Smooth operations of PVCSB while we are gone.

Love, Familia Leon.

Torneo de Futbol 2008 Pura Vida Church Campeones

PVC Costa Rica Vision

COMMING SUMMER 2009

Dear friends and family,
We are excited to announce another pregnancy. No it’s not Kyle it is our church! Pura Vida is going back to its roots. After many months of prayer, counsel and confirmation we have determined that God is calling us to move back to Costa Rica and start a ministry in the coastal communities. We are still in the planning phases but like any pregnancy it is hard to keep it a secret for long. Below is a brief explanation of the direction we are taking and prayer points.

Vision: “Establish culturally relevant churches to the beach communities of Costa Rica & beyond"


Mission Strategy:
“Bring people to Christ one authentic relationship at a time.
Be Disciples and make Disciples of Christ.
Be a blessing to our Community.
Depend on the Holy Spirit for everything.”


Purpose:
Tourism, foreign influence and money have impacted these beach communities in a negative way, creating “sin cities” where prostitution, drugs and violence are the norm.
Legalistic church tradition and lack of resources have led to stagnated congregations who intentionally do not reach out to their neighbors who are unlike themselves.
The Gospel message will never change, but the ways to communicate it do. We will never compromise the message of salvation through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection.
However, we want to meet people exactly where they are in their life and deliver a message of love and hope in Christ in a way that is real to them.

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings”
1 Corinthians 9:19-23


Ways we want to serve:

1-Weekly worship service in downtown rented space in Jaco (English and Spanish)

2-Home church seeker style bible studies (English and Spanish) Esterillos-Jaco-Hermosa and other coastal communities.

3-Coffee shop office hours in Jaco:
approachable and informal way to encourage people to talk to a pastor

4-Christian Surfer Esterillos and support of Christian Surfers Jaco by providing a save place for them to send the people they reached.

5-Kids Club Jaco and Esterillos – a weekend kids outreach based on building relationships

6- Discipleship program for mature Christians (English and Spanish)

7-Counseling and restoration (walking alongside listening) for those coming out of prostitution and drug addiction or just having a bad day.

8-Being an asset to the community in any possible way– often the church seeks help from the community we want to be a church that gives to the community. We believe that the church must have a positive influence in the community to believers and nonbelievers alike.

9-Training the future servants.

10-Bridging cultural gaps.

11-Beach Camp for underprivileged inner-city children (twice a year).


Prayer Points:

- pray for flexibility on our part as we try to cast the vision God has given us to others
- pray for new leadership to take over Pura Vida Church in Santa Barbara (we have a couple in mind)
- pray for our leaders as they guide and direct us in this process.
- pray for the “details”
- finances
- international move
- residency for Kyle and Elias. USA citizenship for Dennis.
- Dennis’ education

If you want to support this non-profit ministry and be a blessing to the people of Costa Rica, send your tax deductible donation to Pura Vida Church, 1435 Cliff Drive- Santa Barbara- CA 93109 (Memo: Costa Rica).

Scouting and support in Costa Rica

Did you miss us? We hit the ground running this New Year. We spent two wonderful weeks in Costa Rica in January and what a trip. We were able to encourage and support the local Free Methodist pastors in the San Jose area, visit and encourage budding beach ministries in Guanacaste and Jaco, scout the Jaco area with Superintendent Steve Fitch and his wife Claudette for future ministry opportunities and of coarse spend time with family and friends. We have so much to share with you about how God is growing the PURA VIDA Church.

Let’s start with Costa….
Not even five minutes off the plane and we were able to personally hand the money over to the pastor in charge of the lunch program that you all generously supported by purchasing the PURA VIDA t-shirts this year. He was genuinely blessed and thanked God and you all for this financial support.
We picked up our young friend Anthony and hitched a ride with some friends to the northern coastal town of Nosara to encourage Carlos and the Peck family. Carlos is a long time friend who recently visited us here in the States and was motivated by the ministries God is using here and wanted to implement some grassroots form of them in Nosara. While we were there we were blessed to participate in a bible study at Carlos’ house. We had an opportunity to hear and assure the leaders of that group as they try to decide what to do with their fellowship as it grows and becomes a church. We also met with the Peck’s who are a Christian Surfers family from Florida. The Peck family has felt led to start a bilingual/surfer ministry in the Nosara area. It was beautiful to see a family with a heart for service and a willingness to be stretched as they followed God’s call on their lives. On our drive back to San Jose to pick up Steve and Claudette Dennis and I discussed all the amazing ways Jesus’ love is being spread through the beach communities of Costa Rica.
The main reason for our trip was to scout the Jaco area with Steve Fitch who not only has the mission experience from being a M.K. (missionary kid) in the Philippines, but as superintendent of the Free Methodist Southern California Conference he has plenty of experience planting churches both here and abroad. Dennis gave them the grand tour of the sad city of Jaco that has been toughened by tourism. Party hardy tourists bring in drugs and prostitution which heightens the crime rate and creates a “sin city” atmosphere. Jesus came to save the lost and the broken, the destitute and the rejected, the criminals and the prostitutes, you and me. In Jaco you do not have to look hard to see the needs of people. We must be willing to come in and get dirty, loving people in the name of Jesus. Steve was able to see this too. We also looked at the beaches of Hermosa and Esterillos as outpost sites for future house churches.
Of course no trip to Costa would be complete with out some recreation. As Steve says, his favorite place to be is in or on the water so we were able to enjoy all Costa Rica has to offer in those departments. While enjoying the country’s natural beauty we discussed, gleaned, questioned and prayed with him and Claudette about all our ideas for our Costa Rican ministries.
Costa Rica needs your prayers:
Please pray for Carlos and the leadership of the Nosara group as they define themselves and grow in Christ.
Pray for the Peck family as they transition to Costa and start this new ministry.
For the local pastors in San Jose the capitol city as they work to meet new building code requirements for churches.
For the Lord to lead and bless the efforts of the Pura Vida church as it begins to reach into the Jaco and other beach areas.

Back on the home front……
With the New Year always comes resolutions and Church life is no different. Pura Vida has continued to grow and as usual all went well as we were away. We thank God for our faithful group of leaders who are always ready to take over. Starting in March we will begin small home groups with 3-5 people per group. We hope to provide more opportunity for people to pray, study and fellowship in a more intimate and less intimidating atmosphere. The only concern about starting these groups was that we would not see as much of each other so we are making up for that with bi-monthly events (i.e. Fiesta!!!).
We are also preparing to join Pastor Doug and our youth for ten days in Costa Rica this summer on a mission trip. Pray for this team as we seek Gods guidance and prepare our hearts and plans for this exciting opportunity to serve Him in a country we love and cherish.
Pura Vida, Familia Leon

Feeding the Bodies and souls of children in Costa Rica

Dear Friends,
First I want to greet you in the name of Jesus and it is my prayer that you and your loved ones are well.

Also I want to let you know of a Project that you can be part of:

Last year many of you bought Pura Vida T-Shirts and with your help we were able to provide the materials to build a house Church in a Caribbean Island, this summer i had the privilege to visit the Island and rejoice with the pastor of that house Church.

This year our goal is a little different, we have new shirts and our purpose is to empower a Local Church in the Province of Alajuela, Costa Rica to provide a warm meal a day for children from the street or from families stricken by severe poverty. We are calling this project "Feeding the bodies and souls of children in Costa Rica". If you want more info and Pictures let me know.

So all the profit from the sale of the shirts go directly towards this project. Tax deductible donations are also appreciated for this Project.

If you will like to get one of these shirts the prices are 1= $15 or 2= $25,
Sizes Men Small - XXL (Gray and Green see Picture)
Sizes Women Small - XL (Navy Blue and Caribbean Blue)
Children =Youth Small & Youth XS (Yellow)

Checks can me make to: Pura Vida Church
Mail to: 1435 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93109

Pura Vida and Thanks for your prayers and Support. Familia Leon