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 part 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.

Relationships

Dennis chaperoned 13 teen age surfer boys to a surf contest on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. The county office donated a 15 passenger van and a driver, plus the entrance fees for 14 contestants to surf the national circuit contest in Limon, Costa Rica. It is an 8 hour drive so Kyle and the kids opted out of going to this contest, so it was just Dennis and the boys! Between heats and painting mustaches on anyone who fell asleep Dennis said it was the best bonding time he has had with all of them. He had been worried that once they arrived in Limon it would be hard to keep the group together as there would be lots of their other friends and temptations, but they formed an inseparable pack. The kids did great in the contest although they were late the second day and some of them missed their heats. More importantly though, they all had great attitudes, helped out and were respectful and thankful. They can not wait for the next trip!

Be and make Disciples of Christ

Please pray for the high school students from Parrita that attend our group as they are Pura Vida’s evangelists in the high school. We start our bible studies this coming month and it is up to these kids to bring their friends. We have gotten to know many of their friends already as they have come in to see the surf shop, but it is one thing to bring a friend to a surf shop and quite another to bring them to a bible study. To prepare our youth for this task Dennis just finished a series on evangelism. Reminding them to love without an agenda; be respectful; earn the right to be heard; have a passion for the lost and to pray without ceasing. We can not wait to see the fruits that grow on their vines!

Be a blessing to the community

Mardi Gras Esterillos: Fun for the whole family! The ex-pat community in Esterillos does not need an excuse to have a party, but they initiated an annual Marti Gras day anyway. With a parade, face painting, live music, street vendors and games for the kids it is a very fun event with proceeds going to benefit the local school. Pura Vida was present in the Parade as the official street sweeper. We decorated the car with trash and had the kids run around picking up trash behind the car as it moved along the parade route. They cleaned more than half the streets of Esterillos and filled two huge trash cans!

Depend on the Holy Spirit

Sometimes it seems like there are so many needs that we will not be able to stay ahead of them, but God always provides! We thank you all for your continued prayers and financial support but with the addition of “the boys” to our family we see miracles monthly in terms of money: Anthony was going to a private school which was being paid for by the family that he was living with previously. When he moved in with us they stopped paying his tuition, but we did not know. When Dennis went to register him at the public high school for this year they needed his transcripts from the previous school but when Dennis went to get his transcripts from the private school we found out about the debt and they would not release his transcripts until it was paid. We were in a bind. We did not have an extra $700, but the school worked out a payment plan and they did not even require us to put our car on the papers as collateral!

Prayer requests:

- family time/boundaries (saying no to good stuff)

- citizenship and residency issues

- errands in San Jose this month

- safety and health

- breaking of cultural patterns that excuse immorality

Family Notes:

Selah: Has five teeth, is crawling and is developing quite a strong personality!

Elias: Loves kinder, he wanted us to drop him off at the gate on the first day! He is friends with everyone and is learning to draw beautiful pictures and count!

Kyle: Is baking up a storm. A friend gave us an old oven that they did not use anymore and Kyle’s love of baking is blessing everyone’s tummies!

Dennis: Dennis is in peak surfing shape as he has lost some weight and has started to do some stretching.

Anthony: Has had many opportunities to develop himself as a professional, with training and sponsorship leads.

Josue: Is learning to be responsible for himself, he is starting to remember to bring his dishes in from his room, etc.

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.
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Depend on the Holy Spirit: Pease pray for:

• Dennis’ citizenship and crossing the boarder in a few weeks
• For times of relaxation on our visit to SB.
• NOTE: On Sunday November 29, our family is planning on being at La Mesa Park, in Santa Barbara and we would love to see as many of you as possible so please if you can come by and say hello!
• 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:

Vision: “establish culturally relevant churches to the beach communities of Costa Rica and beyond.”

Mission Strategy:

“Bring Christ to people 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.”

Relationships

On September 4^th we celebrated Elias’ 4^th birthday party with lots of friends and family. We could not have prepared a Pirates and Princess Party for 75 people without the help of some young volunteers. We had three helpers, Gloriana, Steven, and Sofia. They helped us with decorations and food prep as well as holding Selah and keeping an excited Elias busy. We have found that sometimes the best way to get to know someone is by asking for help. When you ask for help it shows that you can not do it all and at the same time you affirm the value of the person that you are asking. These three are dedicated to attending our gatherings on both Sunday and Wednesday and I hope that someday they will feel comfortable enough to ask me to help them too!

Be disciples and make disciples of Jesus

The day of Elias’ birthday party we welcomed Jason Groenink and a team from his church in Seattle. They came to do a VBS and to get to know the people of Esterillos. We had a wonderful time getting to know them as we worked beside them doing three afternoons of VBS at the soccer field. We had about 55 participants plus younger and older siblings and parents for crafts, games and bible study. On the last day one mother was sharing how much Esterillos needs this kind of thing. This family does not attend a church although they probably consider themselves Christians. She said that she had been watching TV with her eight year old daughter the night after our first day of VBS. The mother had made a demeaning racial commented and the daughter corrected her reminding her that everyone is made in God’s image and so the way we treat others is how we are treating God. We pray that these lessons are repeated and become a way of life.

Be a blessing to our community

Not only was the VBS a huge blessing to the community but Pura Vida Church put on a fundraising surf contest. It was a community event that brought many people together as they volunteered and donated to put together a wonderfully attended contest. With over 80 contestants what was going to be a one day tournament ran over to be two days long with wonderful weather to top it off! With the proceeds from the contest we were able to put much needed trash cans on the soccer field, donate towards re-roofing the community clinic building and even give some funds to the local school and the local soccer team.

Depend on the Holy Spirit

- We lost our dog Boomer that we had brought with us from the States. Elias and Kyle especially were affected by this loss.

- Continued prayer as we re-file for Dennis’ US citizenship.

- That Selah can get her US passport (it is a bit more complicated process than we thought) soon and that we find cheap tickets for a trip to Santa Barbara in November.

- The option of going for our second church plant in Parrita by opening a surf shop (if you are interested in investing in this plant let us know and we will send you the business plan).

Con mucho Pura Vida, Familia Leon

Relationships

It has been a season of visitors. As the vacation months hit in the States many friends have taken this opportunity to come and visit us here in Costa Rica. We have enjoyed their company, catching up on the goings on in Santa Barbara over coffee at our house or while enjoying weekends at the beach. Speaking of weekends at the beach….. Kyle has given up trying to get anything done on weekends from now on! Somehow she always think this would be a good time to do some laundry, clean the bathroom, write a newsletter, but experience has shown that this does not work. We get a double dose of visitors on weekends, kids off from school, adults off from work, friends down from San Jose for a weekend at the beach. It is prime time for being available and building relationships.

Be a disciple and make disciples

God has been operating and we have had the opportunity to branch out along the coast because of surf contests. The first was the ISA (International Surfing Association) World Games held in Hermosa. Dennis took a load of kids to volunteer with Christian Surfers and help in whatever way they could. Then we took a gang of kids from church to help with a surf contest at Playa Palo Seco, a beach about half an hour south of us. Our kids were amazing, taking their queue from Dennis they helped with judging, announcing, clean up and they all displayed great sportsmanship. We will be hosting our own surf contest here in Esterillos in September where we hope we can get to know more key people from the different beaches along the coast.

Be a blessing

Project “A Smile for Esterillos” is underway. Our friend Macarena brought her whole family along with her this year. They are originally from Chile but God called them to the Basque Country of Spain ten years ago. Her father Gerardo is a dentist specializing in dental prosthesis. In two weeks, with the help of his dental assistant wife Gianela, they were able to bring back 17 people’s smiles with 22 dental prosthesis.

Depend on the Holy Spirit

• Health as we head into rainy season and dengue becomes more prevalent
• Elias’ transition to being a big brother and saying goodbye to my family again
• Spiritual growth in our congregation and guidance on how to cultivate that growth

Family Notes

Selah is sleeping, growing and eating. She is almost 2 months old now and getting bigger and cuter by the day. Elias is a great big brother and loves to look at her and help change her diapers. He is having some jealousy issues with other people but not with Selah. Dennis is loving being the dad of a daughter, showing her off around town. He is also happy to be fully recovered from his fall through the roof and is back to surfing and playing soccer. Kyle is fully recovered thanks to all the help she has received from her family and is back in the water surfing again as well.

Pura Vida, Leon Family

The baby is here:

Date: 7-7-2009  … 3.3KG (7.3 lbs)….. 52CM (21 inches)

Relationships:

The waiting has begun, the count down is on! Here we are in Santa Barbara de Heredia at the home of Ron and Roxanna Stronach waiting for the birth of our second. We feel so blessed by Ron and Roxanna who are part of Pura Vida Church in Santa Barbara, CA. Roxanna is from Costa Rica and her husband Ron from California, they built a house here in Costa Rica a few years ago and generously offered it to us so that we can be closer to the hospital here in the capital. While we wait we have filled the time visiting friends, going to the dentist, and getting to know the other pastors here in the central valley.

• We attended a wonderful and inspiring seminar by Dr. Ricardo Gomez on the “The Legacy of John Wesley for Latin America” with the rest of the Free Methodist pastors.
• Dennis was able to share last Sunday at the Free Methodist church plant in Cartago which is pastored by Juan Carlos.
• We have been able to attend Christian Surfer bible studies here in San Jose at a friend’s house.
• Celebrating Dennis 31^st birthday on June 30^th.

Surprise….. Before we left Esterillos Kyle was blessed by a surprise baby shower. Friends and family had organized a beautiful luncheon and Dennis just had to get her there. She was resting and so had on P.J.’s when she arrived at the shower. She was truly surprised and felt very special and loved.

Being a blessing:

We are so proud of our little group; Dennis has been setting the framework of Pura Vida church in our weekly bible studies. Teaching about being a blessing to the community, etc. One Sunday night Dennis asked if anyone had identified a need in the community and the kids were excited to tell us about a brother and sister who walk 5 miles to get to school everyday. That night the congregation decided to raise money to buy them a bike. In three weeks they brought in enough money to buy the bike and were able to decorate it with all sorts of Pura Vida stickers and present it to them. Now we see them riding tandem to school every morning.

We were also blessed by a visit from friends, Barry and Anna Holm and Fred and Jenny Guillermo from FMC Santa Barbara. Barry shared his carpentry skills and together with Dennis and Fred were able to change an odd corner of the house into a third bedroom. Anna and Jenny helped me to stay on top of the dry wall mess that the construction caused as well as feeding the hungry workers.

Be disciples and make Disciples:

Kyle and Lindsey (the intern) were able to have a girls only slumber party after bible study on a Friday night. Most of the girls that attend Pura Vida are between 10 and 16 years old, and absolutely beautiful so we felt the need to have a little boy talk time. We had a great time eating popcorn, playing games and talking about boys and boundaries. It was a very special time of bonding and talking as we shared with each other.

Dennis had been spending special times with the boys by taking surfing day trips on Saturdays.  They go to beaches nearby and in this way he has the opportunity to have meaningful time and conversations with them.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit:

· Pray for the group as the meetings are on hold while we are in San Jose

· Pray for leaders to emerge and wisdom for us as we train them

· Pray for baby’s birth and mom’s recovery

· Pray for wisdom as to when and where to have our group meet once we get back to the beach

· Pray for Christian Surfers groups as they minister to the participants of the ISA (International Surfing Association) contest this coming month here in Costa Rica.

· Pray that Dennis’ body continues to heal from his fall through the roof.

Thank you for your prayers! Leon Family