Hi friends,
Here we are in Costa Rica, the land of vacations, surfing and fun.  But we are hard at work, ministry is happening and God is moving.
In November of 2009, eight months after moving here I became the National Director of Christian Surfers Costa Rica.  With five thriving chapters and three more in the works it has kept me busy traveling and visiting to keep up with all of the action.  Being a national director is very different from being the leader of a local chapter, as I was in Santa Barbara, CA  but I am learning the ropes and love building relationships and being able to support local leaders as they minister to their surf communities.

I have two upcoming opportunities to receive training and support from Christian Surfers International.  The first being a three day training time in Orlando, Florida, and the second, the annual Christian Surfers International conference in Bali.  I know, I know, Bali!!!  They always pick the worst place for these conferences.  September sessions anyone??!! This will be my first time going to a CSI conference and there is A BIG chance that this will be the only trip to Indonesia in my life time.

As an emerging nation Christian Surfers Costa Rica can not pay for this trip, nor can I, so I am asking for your help.  I have already had half of my airline ticket to Bali paid for, but I still need about $2,000 (see budget below) to cover costs.  If you can help me with these expenses please send your tax deductible donation to:

Christian Surfers Costa Rica

1210 Riverbreeze Blvd,

Ormond Beach, Fl 32176

Memo: Leon CSI Conference.

If you can’t wait to send in your donation, donate through PayPal in the home page of this site.

Any excess will go to the Christian Surfers Costa Rica ministry account.

Please pray as well, for travel safety and for Kyle and the kids as they hold down the fort in Costa Rica.  I look forward to bringing back the stoke and information from these conferences to share with the other chapters here in Costa Rica at our National Leadership conference in November.

Airfare Orlando $300 (for the training on “How to Plan for a National Movement”)
Airfare Orlando (connection to Bali) $300
1/2 Bali ticket $900
ground travel, food, lodging etc. $500
–
Dennis Leon
www.puravidachurch.com
www.christiansurferscostarica.com

“Out of complexity find simplicity” - A. Einstein

You know you live in the tropics when…. 5 foot iguanas fall through your roof.

Be and Make Disciples of Christ

After many attempts at finding a good day and time for the Parrita church we have finally settled on Wednesday nights. This is a new church plant so getting it going is taking time, but the fruit is starting to look good! As a nice group of skateboarders is starting to frequent our studies.

Kyle starts a girl’s bible study next week. The boys that attend Pura Vida receive most of their discipeling time on the road to the surf contests or just spending time with Dennis after school, but the girls miss out on that time so Kyle has set up a special time just for them. As she works on building trust and confidence in these relationships she hopes to be a healthy example of womanliness as well.

Relationships

We are so excited to tell you about our two new friends Melissa and Carolina. A friend had recommended Dennis for some surf lessons and after the first lesson they were hooked. They came back the next weekend and the next. They went from lessons to permanent weekend residents at our house with the rest of our friends from San Jose who spend the weekends camping in our living room, surfing all day and coming to church Sunday night. Now they consider us their church.

Being a blessing

Blessing is a cycle, and when you can bless others using the gifts God has given you it is amazing to see the results. One of our gifts is hospitality. It comes naturally, it is easy, and it surprises people so it must be from God. The result of this gift is that our house turns hostel on the weekend as it fills up with friends and friends of friends who come down from the city to enjoy the beach. Over holy week the house was overflowing and one of our guests noticed that our guest/church bathroom toilet was in bad shape as well as the faucet in the kitchen which “sung” and leaked whenever the water pressure was not high enough. Well, he happened to be the distributor of American Standard products in Costa Rica so the next week we had a new toilet and faucet!!! Oh the ways God fills the longings of our hearts and provides for every need!

Dependence on the Holy Spirit

We have a long list of prayer requests this month which includes many upcoming activities that we need prayer for.

• Health as the rain starts so do the plagues of staph infections and dengue.
• discipelship: Parrita, girls, Pura Vida, Christian Surfers,
• U.S. citizenship for Dennis
• We are starting the process of becoming long term missionaries with Free Methodist World Misssions: funds to come in for that process
• Adding the required classes for missionaries to an already busy schedule
• Dennis travels to Orlando in June for a Christian Surfers training and then to Bali in August to the Christian Surfers International Conference (CSI is sponsoring most of his travel expenses).
• Christian Surfers Costa Rica camp in June
• Christian Surf movie that features Dennis, Anthony and our friend Alejandro premiers in Limon in June and in Parrita in July. These are evangelistic events, pray for the power of the gospel to be heard and to touch lives. www.bornofwater.org
• Complete (physical, spiritual, psychological, relational) healing for Kyle’s brother Charlie in the U.S. as he goes through rehab.
• Kyle’s family and others that will be coming to visit this summer

Again and again….. THANK YOU for all your love and support to our family & Ministry…

Pura Vida, Familia Leon.

Elias and cousins at Kinder.

Dear Friends and family,

Merry Christmas! We wanted to take advantage of the tradition of the Christmas card to send you all an updated photo of our family! As our family grows so does our ministry as God has blessed us not only with our own beautiful baby girl but also with two teenage boys whom we are able to model Jesus’ love too! The new additions to our family are Selah Marlise Leon and Anthony Segura, not in the photo but now also a part of our family is Josue Rodriguez. Selah of course is our second child born in July. We debuted Anthony in our last newsletter and Josue moved in with us a day after this photo was taken.

Josue is 14 years old and like Anthony is an excellent surfer. We saw him in Jaco one day and he asked for a ride to Esterillos to pick up a surfboard he had left there at a friend’s house. He came home with us that day and never left. He has a sad story and has been struggling at school. Please pray that we can provide him with a stable and safe environment to grow up and finish school in.

As our family grows so does our grocery bill so please continue to support us both in prayer and financially. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our ministry please send checks to the Santa Barbara Free Methodist Church 1435 Cliff Dr. Santa Barbara, CA 93109 and don’t forget to designate: VISA-Leon. Or you can give online by going to www.puravidachurch.com and clicking on “make a donation”(not tax deductiable).

Pura Vida, Leon Family

Relationships

Meet Anthony, the newest member of our family. Anthony is 17 years old and has been living alone or with friends in Esterillos for the last few years. He is a dedicated student and an incredible surfer. Coming from a broken family with few resources he has found it easier to live on his own. Anthony moved in with us a few months ago and we were instantly the parents of a teenager! We are so great full that we can bless him by giving him a stable family. His grades have improved and he is more relaxed then we have ever seen him. Dennis is on the a.m. carpool rotation and so gets time to talk to Anthony as well as 3-4 other boys from Esterillos, including the Costa Rican national champion surfer in Jr., Boys and Open divisions for 2009.

Be and make Disciples of Christ

We are officially opening a surf shop in Parrita as our second church plant. This will be a self-sustaining ministry were the profit is used to bless the community as well as giving us a rent free space for the church to meet. In Costa Rica getting permits is never easy or fast but getting the permits for this endeavor was a breeze, by God’s grace. We have our first merchandise on the walls already although we do not officially open until December. We will be coming to Santa Barbara on November 19 until December 2 to visit you all, celebrate Thanksgiving with family and to purchase apparel for the shop. We are planning on taking advantage of the last few weeks of school to get our bible studies going on a weekly basis in Parrita. The high school students that have been coming to PVC Esterillos are excited to invite their friends from Parrita to come and learn about Jesus in a relaxed and safe environment as the discipleship process continues.

Be a blessing to the community

Our friend Lindsay from PVCSB told her friend Zack to visit us on his trip to Costa Rica, Zack came and saw what we were doing and stayed three weeks with us, he called his friend David, an interior designer, who came for a week and is helping us set up the shop, decorating, teaching us how to run a business etc. The way God brought these friends into our life at the perfect time is a miracle. The best part is that as they bless us they also feel that they are receiving a blessing. The ways of the Holy Spirit are awesome when he works through us!

Family Notes:

• Selah is rolling! She is still blue eyed and beautiful and likes to put everything in her mouth. She smiles all the time and goes by Selah, Shayla, Say, Lala, Alicia (Diego’s sister), fatty, and roly-poly.
• Elias is really getting into his imagination and loves to be told stories. He rarely is Elias anymore but instead goes by Diego and is accompanied by his kitten “baby Jaguar” as they rescue animals, usually a stranded baby chicken. For those of you not up to date on the cartoon world, Diego is Dora the Explorers animal rescuing cousin. We explained to him that when we go on the airplane he needs to pretend he is Elias because “Diego” does not have a passport.
• Dennis and Kyle are doing great. Surfing, walking with friends and having quiet coffee times together. We thank God for a strong relationship everyday, despite the stresses of a cross cultural move.
• 
  

Depend on the Holy Spirit: Please pray for:

• Dennis’ citizenship and crossing the boarder in a few weeks
• For times of relaxation on our visit to SB.
• For continued financial support from the US
• For the shop: purchasing merchandise, shipping, dealing with customs and getting everything set up
• For the people of Parrita, especially the students.

Meeting in the dark:

Reenactment of an early church meeting by candle light as we study the book of Acts, only we had no light because lightning had struck a transformer.

Surf Shop by day Sanctuary by night…….

We are ready to reach south in our mission to plant churches along the coast of Costa Rica. With many opportunities and the Holy Spirit’s prompting but no space to meet we are starting a surf and skate shop in Parrita.

Parrita is about 20 minutes south of Esterillos and has a population of about 5,000 people. Parrita is the town center for six different beach communities and is on the road to Quepos, Dominical and Pavones. Furthermore most of the students of Pura Vida Church attend high school here.

Surf and Skate shops have always had a community feel, with kids hanging out and being influenced by whoever was running the shop. With that idea in mind we would like to provide a safe and healthy environment for people to hang out as well as create a comfortable place to learn about Jesus. By being staffed by our leaders we give them an opportunity not only to earn a living but also to share what they are learning about God at Pura Vida Church.

One of the obstacles to church planting is the meeting place. Although we know many people in the area we have not found a central and consistent place to meet and to rent a space to meet once or twice a week seems like a waste of resources. The idea of running a business is not to make money but to create a self sustaining ministry. But we need your help! As with any business there are start up costs, so we are looking for investors to give interest free, short term loans or one time tax deductable gifts. Please see attached budget and feel free to email us with questions and suggestions as this is our first venture into business. Could you pray and consider investing not in a business but in a ministry that would change people’s lives?

Blessings,

Leaders of Pura Vida Church Esterillos

Budget:

Rent: $500/ month (with water and security)

Inventory: $7,000 (start up)

Salary: $200/ month (one employee. 3 days a week)

Electricity/phone: $80/ month

Equipment: $3,000 (displays, cash register, TV/DVD, couches and chairs etc.)

Insurance: ?

Advertising: ?

Permits and taxes:

This morning the Honduran president got kidnapped by the army and they dropped him here in Costa Rica, please  pray for peace, that this will not turn into something ugly since Venezuela has already said that they will intervene if needed.

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Central America and violence will only make things worse for its people and the rest of central America.

¹³ “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek myface and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” 2 Chronicles 7: 13-16

Thank you, Dennis Leon

Of Fleas and Friends

Hello friends and family, we have been looking forward to write you all and share with you about our first weeks in Costa Rica and we are sure you have been waiting to hear from us! We made it to Costa Rica and are quickly being reminded of time orientation in the tropics. When we arrived at our house there had been a flea explosion to the point that it was inhabitable. After four days of intense fumigation we were able to move in. The great part about not being able to be in our house was that we were able to spend all our time with friends and family as everyone was on vacation because of Holy Week. We were able to move in just in time to host our first “church” service on Easter Sunday. We invited people over for an “Easter Celebration” with food, a brief message and an Easter egg hunt to top it off. It was such a success that we decided to keep up with Sunday night services and have consistently had an attendance of about 20 people of all ages. We are also looking forward to starting a Friday afternoon preschool mothers group as well as a Christian Surfer style bible study on Fridays.

Dennis has been busy doing repairs on the house as well as reestablishing relationships with people as he surfs, plays soccer or even walks down to get something at the store. God has used a broken deck for His glory. We had anticipated having to replace the front deck of the house soon and in the first week of our arrival it was no longer usable. Laborers are a dime a dozen down here and some have better reputations than others. Two of the more notorious thieves and drug addicts in town grew up playing marbles with Dennis and as soon as they heard that we might need a laborer they came up looking for work as it is hard for them to find work because of their reputations. Dennis was able to hire both of them on different occasions and minister to them as they worked together during the day. If a laborers wants to be paid at the end of the day you can expect them to not show up the next day even if you need them because they have spent the money on whatever vice they have and are out of commission the next day. So you can imagine our delight and surprise when Dennis’ friends came back the next day and the next to work, and with no visible side effects of drug or alcohol use! This is a victory!

In our second week here we had two amazing opportunities to network and see how God is working in Costa Rica. The first was our meeting with the Superintendent and the local board that appoints Free Methodist pastors here in Costa Rica. We have met with them in the past but have never gotten the chance to get to know them. So for our first official meeting they decided to come down and stay with us. We were able to share our vision for the beach communities and offer our house as a place of retreat for the pastors and their churches. We were able to hear about the vision that they have for Costa Rica and see how we can help them accomplish that vision. It was very exciting. That weekend we took two young leaders and drove five hours north for a camping retreat for Christians working in the coastal communities. We were joined by leaders from Calvary Chapel, Christian Surfers, independent churches as well as others. It was a wonderful time to see what is happening along the coast, to network and get to know people who share our passion for this region.

We also have made a temporary addition to our family. Lindsey Walkemeyer from a Free Methodist Church, Light & Life Christian Fellowship in Long Beach is with us for six weeks doing her practicum for a Masters in Cross-cultural Ministry. She is a fabulous guest and has been incredibly flexible as she shadows us to see what a budding ministry in another culture looks like. Doing things like getting a cell phone and internet service, which takes 2-4 weeks. Being available to visit for four hours with unexpected guests. Waiting for guests who never come and even cleaning the bathroom in preparation for Sunday night!

No newsletter would be complete without some Elias news! Elias has made a smooth transition. He has never asked to “go home” and tells everyone that he lives in Esterillos. He had a hard time with the amount of attention that he got when we first arrived which was aggravated by the fact that he did not understand what people were saying to him. Like a typical Gringo he began repeating things to people in English but in a louder voice if they did not understand him. At this point though he is speaking more Spanish and making new friends everyday. He loves helping his dad work around the house and usually has his tape measure and hammer hanging from his pants. The beach is our park and our preschool so we go almost everyday and he is in the water most of the time swimming, “body surfing”, boogie boarding and surfing. We also take advantage of the sand as our chalk board and practice our numbers, letters and shapes in preparation for Kindergarten in January.

Thank you all for your prayers and support

Love and blessings, Leon Family

Prayer line:

- We are having a GIRL!

- groups (soccer, surfers, moms, Sunday nights)

- relationships/networking

- timing and waiting (patience and God’s guidance)

http://www.chapel.duke.edu/documents/sermons/sermon_343.pdf

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…”’ Mat: 25: 35

This is one of the most popular verses in the Bible; it is common to hear people quoting it and to hear inspiring sermons about it. However, as a pastor, I believe that Jesus did not say this so we could come up with eloquent sermons. I think He said this so no one would go hungry or thirsty. In other words, it is our conviction that the Church is God’s answer to the pain in this world; we are Jesus’ hands and feet in our communities. So we at Pura Vida Church Santa Barbara are responding to this command. And our food ministry is going great! And we at Pura Vida can’t thank the SBCDC enough for making this a reality through their corporate sponsorship. We have seen the hand of God working in amazing ways and we could share many stories of how God is moving through this ministry.

In the beginning, people were suspicious about the generosity that they saw in our giving free food; they normally asked, “What is the catch?” which gave us an opportunity to be authentic with them. There are no strings attached in our food distribution. We want to establish authentic relationships in our community regardless of whether they come to our church or not. After all, God did not call us to fill our churches, He called us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Through these authentic relationships, we have gained new friends and God himself has been working in people’s hearts.

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” - II Corinthians 5:14-15

We are blessing 40-45 families every other week in the lower East side of Santa Barbara. I know that when someone talks about poverty we think of Africa, Haiti, India or other poverty stricken countries. It is hard to imagine or too embarrassing to admit that in wealthy Santa Barbara there are people who go to bed hungry.

“It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it” –A.W. Tozer

Pura Vida,

Pastor Dennis Leon

The count down is on (40 more days) as we make our final preparations for our move to Costa Rica. As we pondered and prayed about this move the issue of most concern has always been who will be the shepherd that care for Pura Vida Church Santa Barbara in our absence? We praise God for the fact that nobody is irreplaceable and we are happy and humbled to announce that we leave Pura Vida Santa Barbara in the hands of and incredible team lead by Paula Sevilla.

Paula was born and raised right here in Santa Barbara and has a heart for the lost as well as everything Latino. Paula came to us two years ago after working extensively as a missionary in Mexico and Guatemala for five years. As we got to know her we saw her leadership potential paired with a passionate love for Jesus and genuine humility. Her ministry gifts and cross-cultural communication skills are amazing. For us it was a no brainer to use someone from within the body of our local church rather than bringing someone in from the outside and after much prayer and counsel Paula took the challenge.

She will be actively supported by a prayerful team of lay leaders from the Pura Vida congregation as well as the rest of the pastoral staff at the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara. She is currently studying cross-cultural ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dennis will continue to mentor and guide her through this transition and in the future via the internet and Skype. Please be part of her support team by remembering to pray for her and the rest of the congregation as they go through this transition.

Other Leon’s family and ministry highlights….

· We have been fundraising right and left and have raised about 75% of what we will need for our two year assignment. Praise God!

· We were able to purchase our tickets and are on schedule for a March 31^st departure (one way!!!).

· We thank you for all your prayers as Kyle experienced strong heart palpitations that had us worried. After some tests it was confirmed that her heart is perfect and that it is simply due to the combination of stress and pregnancy. She scheduled a massage for the next day!

· We are living in the trailer behind the Schmidt family house and so getting lots of quality family time in, as well as getting the packing done with time to spare.

Con mucho love, Familia Leon.