In January 2013, SENDAS once again offered Intensive Courses.  This year, 23 students from four countries in the Mesoamerica Region came to the main campus in San Jose, Costa Rica to prepare themselves for ministry.  In attendance were four students from Panama, 3 from Nicaragua, 2 from Mexico and 14 from Costa Rica.  The classes began on January 14 and ended on January 25.  The Coordinator of the Undergraduate programs, Rev. Franlym Pena, organized the courses so students could continue their education taking advantage of the first few days of the year.

During the two week Intensives, student stayed on the campus of the Seminary.  Four of the students studied in the Ministry License program, six in the Bachelor program in Pastoral Theology and thirteen studied in the Course of Study program.  There were eight professors teaching the courses from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic.

Irene Garita said, “I taught the course called Advanced Pastoral Psychology, along with my husband Miguel Garita.  We could really sense the maturity of these students as shown in their level of participation and responsibility.  They were very interested in the material, and it helped them to think about their own lives as well.  It was a very dynamic course and we very much enjoyed the experience.”

The courses offered in the Course of Study program included these:  Hermeneutics, Pastoral Care and Assessment, Introduction to Missions and Church History I.

For the Bachelor degree, the course offered was Exegetical Methods.

For the License degree, Advanced Pastoral Psychology was offered.

Cesia Molina from Mexico shares these words about the SENDAS Intensives. “I am the youth president at the Church of the Nazarene in Teran, in South Mexico, and for a few months I felt the need to begin my studies in the Seminary and the Intensives were my first experience in ministry preparation.  The two courses were a blessing to me and through it the Lord began to prepare me in a beautiful way, and now it is my desire to continue studying in the youth pastor degree.”

As always it is a pleasure for the personnel of SENDAS to receive and attend to our students.  We hope that next year even more students who want to prepare themselves for ministry service will be able to attend.