The Nazarene Seminary of the Americas was pleased to receive a Work and Witness team from the North California District. Rev. Jake Duckworth, the Pastor of the CrossRoads Community Church – Palo Alto Church of the Nazarene, and former SENDAS´ student, led the group of 25 that was comprised of both adults and youth.

The team worked on a new project called Orchids, a multipurpose meeting hall that will hold up to 150 people and will be an additional space on campus for local church and other groups to utilize for their events. The group worked hard on the foundation of the building, painting the trusses and metal supports and moving dirt for the future meeting hall.

The first weekend upon arriving to Costa Rica, the team visited the Poas Church of the Nazarene for the worship service. They also visited La Paz Waterfall and the Manuel Antonio beach before arriving to SENDAS to work on the Orchid Building Project. Even with the rain, they were able to work on the foundation and the building structure.

The following weekend, the team participated in mission activities with the Los Angeles Church of the Nazarene (Costa Rica Central district), meeting a family that houses 50 abandoned children, sharing their testimonies and evangelizing in the local community.

Being here at Sendas and being a part of this work and witness project has been a great experience … This has been my first missions project and I am sure that it won’t be the last … After being in Costa Rica for almost two weeks working hard on the job with the people from my church I realized how much I loved going out and working to build the kingdom of God … There were times where I felt a bit tired and sleepy on the job but being at Sendas and having people come and talk about their experiences with God kept me going … I just remembered all of what they said and their encouragement and that was enough to get me through the day… I loved it here at Sendas and all of the people were very nice … The people who took care of us were very friendly and they loved talking to me in my breaks to ask me about myself and my life in America … The teenagers that we met at Los Angeles church were very friendly as well and I had a great time watching the soccer game with them even though we cheered for different teams This was overall a GREAT experience and I cannot wait to go on my next missions trip … I want to thank Sendas and the Los Angeles church for all they have done for us and for welcoming our group into their community so that we could collaborate with them in raising God’s church. Alondra Sánchez,17 years old

The personnel of the SENDAS campus shared their thanks by giving each team member a small gift at a reception where they shared with each other over coffee and a typical food from Costa Rica, tamales. At the end of the week the team had finished much of the work, and they ended the time with a prayer of thanks and dedication of the new structure.

We give thanks to the group from California for their great support and contribution to SENDAS to begin this important project for the campus.

If you are interested in Work and Witness opportunities in SENDAS, please visit our webpage: click here 

We would be pleased to host your group at SENDAS.