Dear friends,

Hope you are all doing well, and growing even more in your relationship with Christ. Happy new year to all of you and may the Lord, whose mercies are new every morning, bless you.

After our last update the weather here in Costa Rica has been changing, and a cold front is making our Costa Rican friends use sweaters! Our home seems to be the place where the winds of the world are coming to rest, and also from where they take off. To give you an idea of how it sounds, imagine if you go to the ocean shore and pitch a tent...you can here the waves break on the shore, and this, accompanied by the whistling between the trees and the drizzling, makes for a windy and rainy day in Heredia.

The winds of our ministry flourish as we get to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with family and new friends. Last week we left off when we were going to visit a family which is in the turmoil of Satan himself...with strife, bitterness, vengeance, desires of death, guilt, adultery, anger, etc. That night two of those in the midst of all of that were touched by the Holy Spirit, and trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, for the glory of our God. We rejoice with God in His work. Now with that we also get people that are managed by the devil and introduce dissension and spread gossip...one week later we hear the tales of it, but face it on our knees as we know that that's the only way to fight it.
Yesterday was a good day... we were able to meet with Victor and his wife Nichol who are also missionaries here, with their focus on a School of Ministry...and the Lord is blessing it already. Some day we will send students there!
Victor invited us to go to the church of a friend of his, and we were blessed the the Word of God is the authority there too. After the service, we went to their home and had a good time of fellowship. To us this is very important, since having friends that have Christ as the center of their lives is a total blessing. They also come from a Calvary Chapel in East Anaheim Calif, which gives us even more common ground to build on the work which God has ahead.

Also, we received a phone call this morning from another pastor who needs prayer. He is going through some problems within his leadership and just needed to share it. I'll meet with him on Thursday, if the Lord permits. This pastor loves the bible, but the doctrine from his home church is conflicting with the Word, and he knows it. So please, as you read this, stop for a moment and send a prayer for him...his name is Ciro.

My father is trusting God in his journey, and I am grateful. We are going to visit him this weekend, and also one of my uncles there in Perez Zeledon. He wants to learn more about Christ, and we don't want him to loose momentum.
We love you all, and please know that your love and prayers are felt. It is weird...but they are! Thank you!

We just experienced another black-out...the electricity comes and goes and it has been like that the last two days. We love it here. Please continue to pray for wisdom, discernment, revelation from our beloved scriptures, and the ability to explain those truths simply.

We love you guys!
P.S. Denise is doing really well with her Spanish...I am so proud of her.

Alvarado Missionary Page

Beloved of God and ours,
By the grace of our Almighty Lord and Savior, we are sitting here in an Internet Cafe in Costa Rica! How long have we waited for this time to arrive?...as long as the Lord allowed.
We are so grateful for His love, His provision, and His amazing plan.
We arrived Monday evening, without a glitch. Our 3 boxes went through customs, and our gracious friend (and landlord) Gary was there at the airport to meet us. Upon arriving "home" we found "Gallo Pinto" waiting for us in the frig! Estelia, Gary´s wife, prepared the typical Costa Rican dish consisting of rice, black beans, onions, Salsa Lisano, and cilantro. It was DELICIOUS! We are so blessed to have this godly couple as our friends and neighbors - they truly make us feel at home.
Tuesday we headed to Perez Zeledon, to Dad´s farm, to bring in the New Year with family. The 3 hours and 45 minute drive is through the mountains, and is only one lane each way...it has its "ups and downs and turns". When we were almost there, Geiner felt something give in the brakes. It was tricky...they continued working as we headed down the mountain, but they felt strange. Sure enough, upon arrival to our first destination, they gave way. They were down to the floor, and no longer stopping the car. But how amazing is our God? He safely brought us through the dangerous road, and did not allow the brakes to finally give way until we arrived in a place where a mechanic could fix them. It just so happened that the mechanic´s name is also Geiner. He recently lost his 37 year old brother to alcoholism, and the family is broken and grieving. Geiner had a chance to pray with his mom and him, and offer some comfort, in the name of Jesus.
For now we want you all to know that we are here safe and sound, praising our Lord, and praying that you all bring in a new year full of blessings and praise for our Almighty God.
We will let you know as soon as we are "connected" at home.
Blessings from hermosa Costa Rica! Pura Vida! Thank you for your prayers. We will update as often as we can, and will try not to make them too long!

http://ccpuravidacostarica.blogspot.com/2009/12/greetings-from-costa-rica.html

Alvarado Missionary Page

Dear beloved of God and ours,

The conference has been a total blessing from the beginning when we were seated next to other missionaries from Costa Rica - Wayne who is involved with teaching inductive bible study method to bible students all over Central America, and resides in Costa Rica, and also Dave and Tamra who are near Tamarindo, in the process of learning Spanish and seeking the Lord on where He would have them settle. We will be keeping in contact with them, especially when we arrive permanently.

We heard from missionaries all around Central America, sharing what the Lord is doing in each of their ministries. It is very encouraging and revealing in many aspects. The theme of the conference is Spiritual Warfare - Putting on the Full Armor of God, and we have had a chance to hear some of the battles these warriors have been experiencing. The enemy definitely plants doubts in our minds to discourage us all....but as Paul says, we press on. These doubts are not something we are strangers to, and to know that others in the ministry have been there 17 - 30 years and still ask themselves "am I really called to do this?" was revealing because we know that the devil never lets up on placing doubts in our calling. But again we look up to Jesus and see, like Jeremiah, we will not be able to contain the fire of the gospel within us.

We met some old and new friends from Costa Rica: Phil from Tamarindo, who has been a pastor there for 3 years and has started teaching in Spanish; Wayne who lives in San Ramon with his wife Brooke, and teaches the Inductive Bible Study Method throughout Central America; Doug and Rosemary, who have a heart for coming alongside a ministry in Costa Rica, and will be attending language school in San Jose; and Victor and Nichol who we have known for two years now and are working with Jose Carrasco, and last but not least Dave and Tamra who are in Avellana.

Phil

Tamarindo, CR

Wayne and Brooke
San Ramon, CR

Doug and Rosemary
Language School, San Jose

Victor and Nichol

Heredia, CR

Jose Carrasco
Heredia, CR

Dave and Tamra

Avellana, CR

Tico Gang

The teachings were also very encouraging and refreshing with hope and trust in our Savior.
Teachings by David Eason, Jaime Siman, Sergio Lopez, Mark Presley, all from Costa Mesa, Rob Salvato from Vista, Fidel Gomez from Ft. Lauderdale, Carlos Bautista from San Salvador, and Bertin Almazan from Panama.

http://ccpuravidacostarica.blogspot.com/2009/11/dear-beloved-of-god-and-ours-conference.html

Alvarado Missionary Page

We are now traveling to El Salvador for the “Central American Pastors’ and Leaders’ Conference”… our heart is filled with confirmation of God’s calling to us “in such a time as this.” Once again the evangelical church is stained with the greed of pastors and people without scruples that take the name of our Lord to make themselves rich. It is exciting though to know that God will use us to make the difference, and bless the people of Costa Rica with the simple truths and principles of God’s Word… Thank you Jesus for being so merciful and full of grace.
His grace abounds and our “cup runneth over”… our little house is beauuuuutiful, our landlord is a friend, a brother, and our fellowship and prayers with him are very fulfilling.
His wife is a Spirit-filled women who loves God and seeks opportunities to serve Him…
The Lord is good and we are ready………..Thank you for your prayers and love.
Stay tuned for updates from El Salvador!

http://ccpuravidacostarica.blogspot.com/2009/11/between-costa-rica-and-el-salvador.html

Alvarado Missionary Page

Beloved of God, it is with great joy that we share the following.... YES THE HOUSE WAS SOLD for sure this morning….(YES,YEAHHHH,WOOHOOOOO) Sorry am loosing my composure …….God is so GOOD. And there is a wonderful God’s story to follow. But for now, thank you for all your prayers for what seems like such a long time.
Stay tuned for more…moving furniture as we speak.

http://ccpuravidacostarica.blogspot.com/2009/10/se-vendio-la-casa.html

Alvarado Missionary Page