Who would have thought?

We visited a volcano today.

We drove about two hours straight uphill to get there.

Have you ever seen a volcano? Its not like you might expect. In fact, it´s a huge hole in the top of a mountain with a lake of pea soup at the bottom. Mt. Irazu (elevation 10,200 ft.)last erupted in 1963 while President Kennedy was in Costa Rica on a state visit. As dangerous and devastating it can be to be near a volcano when it erupts, the mountain is teeming on all sides with farmers growing potatoes, asparagus, hay and other crops, (as well as their livestock) which thrive in the cool temperatures of the high altitude - to take advantage of the rich soil which comes from the eruptions. These same crops do not fare so well in the tropical clime of Horquetas. (Thanks Tom Ralston for this paragraph!). Who would have thought that a piece of earth like this could do what it does?

In the afternoon we toured CEDCAS (please read the note below written by Lillian Solt, founder of Cedcas). What you have to understand is that this all started with her house. I´m not sure where or when she grasped the vision, but it took hold. She didn´t worry about how it would end, she only knew that God had called her to begin. So she did. Today she toured us around the reception area, the optometry office, the dental and orthodontic stations, and she even let us peak in at a surgical room. At the end of the tour she took us to the little room where instruments and linens are put in machines for sterilization. This room was once meant to be an apartment for when her parents visited. "We could never have imagined this room being used for this. Who would have thought," Lillian smiled,"that God would use this place to do this?"

I wonder, what with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us, not the least of which being a building project of our own, how is God urging us to move forward? I´m not altogether sure. But I do know that people like us usually stumble upon these answers as we gather and practice prayerful discernment together, as we intentionally invest in the nurturing of our Christ-community, and as we find ourselves caught up with and rejoicing in the current of God´s reaching-out. Then friends, it wont be long before we´ll all step back and say, "who would have thought!"

Many thanks to our friends here in Costa Rica for giving us inspiration, direction, and a new sense of God´s presence. Peace in every step....N

From Lillian Solt, missionary

We praise the Lord for work teams like RCCPC that come to work shoulder to shoulder with the people of Horquetas and in a very tangible way show the love of Jesus. As some say, "there goes Jesus". It is exciting to see people move out of these comfort zones and get personnally involved in the work of CEDCAS in Costa Rica which changes their lives completely, never being the same person again. I represent CEDCAS (which stands for in Spanish), Health Education and Health Care Center). We are committed to providing "whole person health care", meeting the physical, spiritual, emotional and economic needs of our patients. That is why we have the clinic but also work with rural, poor communities developing micro enterprises to help them care for their families.

We praise the Lord for the gift of $7,500 to the ongoing work of Clinic CEDCAS which allows us to reach out year round to the very poor and suffering in our country. An example of our reaching out has been the help we have been able to give to the earthquake victims who lost everything in the 6.2 earthquake on January 8, 2009. We were able to visit one of the shelters with a partner church from Santo Tomas. Along with food, we have donated drugs and a booklet that we have put together to form medical family health kits which are provided to the families in need. This gives them some common drugs which are over the counter and they can care for their own headaches, fevers, skin infections by washing with a bar of antibacterial soap, etc. RCCPC has been present in the relief effort.

Your gifts also make it possible for us to subsidized the clinic costs so that patients from the squatter communities or the rural communties like Horquetas, can access our excellent services at a minimal cost. The ability for us to charge on a sliding scale is due to the gifts from friends like RCCPC who give generously during the year to help us "reach out and touch them with the love of JESUS". We have an excellent staff for which we praise the Lord. We see approximately 700 - 800 patients a month and of these, we subsidize approximately 250 at a cost of $3,000 or $12 a patient. We need your help and prayers as we seek to raise this amount each month. Thank you for all you have done for us and thank you for coming to work with us during these past couple of days.

From Bob and Ann Jeffery, missionaries

Pastors Carlos Sandí and his wife Isabel enthusiastically and lovingly shepherd a church in Horquetas, a town about 1 ½ hours east of San José, Costa Rica. By God’s grace and through CEDCAS´s help they were able to buy a skating rink and turn it into an exciting, dynamic, spirit-filled, growing church! Last year you helped them build & pour the cement floor of a large classroom and outside it, a sidewalk. That room now has dividers in it, enabling them to make 3 classrooms but also use it as a larger room for other purposes. Last year, CEDCAS brought 3 dentists and assistants and an optometrist. The clinics are held for a day, once a month and we are able to see over 100 people including mothers, children, men and young people.


Pastors Carlos and Isabel have the people organized, with appointments every 15 minutes per dentist and during their waiting time, socializes and, in some cases, counseled with them. Several of them have never been in an Protestant church.


It was gratifying to be able to contribute to these wonderful pastor’s ministry and to know that your work for them has been so useful and rewarding. Thank you very, very much for your help.