This month our newsletter is in two parts. The first part is our update on the happenings in Anonos. The second part is a newsletter written by Mike Befus, associate pastor of the Grand Rapids Vineyard, about his youth group's trip to Costa Rica.
Harvest Hands Newsletter
Over the last several months there have been many amazing things happening here in Los Anonos. It started when the young adult group that we meet with each week watched the documentary “Trans-formations”. It is about the power of prayer to transform a community. This is exciting, because there has been a work going on here in Los Anonos over the last three years and this is great news for all those who have been laboring here. We see the beginning of God birthing a church, which has been wanted from the beginning.
After watching the video “Transformations”, these young adults took it upon themselves to pray for the transformation of their own community. It wasn’t long after they began to pray for transformation that things really began to change. Here is a documented list of things that happened.
The police came in and began to bust down the buildings where crack was sold.
The police were also making drug arrests.
There were two young men who were murdered. These killings had a major impact on the
community. They had been drug dealers.
There was a greater increase of prayer after the murder, which included the local churches, who want no more violence.
Vineyard North of Grand Rapids, Michigan came with their young adult group. This group did a teaching on Hearing the Voice of God and Healing Prayer. They also did the “Everything” skit, which impacted many. Attached is a letter and photos that came from their associate pastor, Mike Befus.
The Vineyard Church of Columbus sent a team of youth. They brought 30 of the Los Anonos young people to a conference at one of the local Vineyards. This, too, had a major impact on the lives of the young people.
During the visits of both of the Vineyard teams, the young adults began to come to places of repen-tance and wanting more of God. We have seen some major deliverances. We’ve seen kids on their faces on the floor, repenting and weeping and crying out even more for the transformation of their community. Those who struggle with addictions are even coming to these meetings and are wanting more teachings about Jesus. This is truly the Kingdom of God being demonstrated in this community.
A young man, whose name is Mario, probably 20 years old, was one of the first youth that was reached here in this community over three years ago. He had fallen back into the addictions of crack, the use of thinner and other drugs. He fell back into these addictions about two years ago. Thank God that during this in-breaking of the Holy Spirit, he is one of many, who are being touched in a ma-jor way. At the time of this writing, he is on fire again. But this time, there are many young people, here in Los Anonos who have also caught the fire. They will support him and help him along. What a blessing this young man is. He has so much potential.
Also, there is a work that is being done with those who struggle with addictions. We were having bi-weekly meeting with them, where they received a meal after we shared the Word of God with them. They asked if they could have meetings every week, only they said that they don’t need food. They only want the Word of God. Wow!
Adult have approached us about doing small groups in their homes. We probably could be doing at least five at this time, if we had the help.
I could tell many stories of many things that we have seen over these last several weeks. Daily, there are new things that God is doing. It is as if we are reading the book of Mark. There seem to be so many amazing things happening in such a short amount of time. The kids, or the young people are attracting the adults. We see a church being birthed. We are excited for what God is doing.
I believe that we could go on and on, but we’ll try to keep you posted as time goes on.
Prayer needs:
Please pray for a pastor, preferably a bi-lingual Tico, who we can work with.
Please pray for protection, because, of course the enemy doesn't want this to happen.
Please pray for more workers for the harvest.
Pray for a facility large enough to hold this many, as our little casita is bulging!
Please pray that we would allow the Holy Spirit to coach us, because it is Him that is birthing this church.
Also, here is a photo of Alejandro and Mauricio, brothers who struggle with addicitons and who want to be freed.
Blessings to All,
Rodney and Cindy
Here is Mike Befus's account of his trip with his youth group.
Costa Rica Report
Isn’t it amazing what change a year can bring? We had the privilege of returning this year to Los Anonos, our second trip, but the journey seemed more like a step into Narnia. Only months have passed in my life, but in Anonos kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall: only rubble remains where drug houses stood, only bullet holes and stories remain of dealers murdered in the street, the economy of crack is crumbling, the walking dead are being raised to life, the children of Anonos are becoming the children of our Lord.
The transformation is far from complete, but the contrast is clear – life is changing in Los Anonos.
Our 2009 team was a mix of ages: teens, twenty-somethings, a couple of moms – but they were hand-picked for their readiness to demonstrate the kingdom. Our primary ob-jective was straightforward: to pass on our experience in following Jesus to the Anonos Muchachos (lit: the Anonymous Boys). Its a growing group of teens (boys and girls) that are swarming to Rodney and Cindy and finding Jesus. We were hoping to play a small part in adding courage to the dreams God is already stirring in them.
Upon arriving, it was clear that we were simply joining a mission well underway. Several of the young Anonos guys had radically changed since the previous year. Tito’s journey stands out: meeting him last year it was evident that he had ‘one foot in, one foot out.’ He recounted that over the last year several people had prayed for him, given him pro-phetic words, shown him what Jesus looks like, included him in ministry, and how he had recently decided to go ‘all in.’ The change couldn’t be more clear – a new softness in his voice, a new tenderness toward others – a clear humility is growing in place of that colloquial bravado.
There is an equally impressive change happening in the ‘community’ of addicts. Last year, this community existed only in the business exchanges of the after-hours Que-brada (that hapless & hopeless broken riverside road that is the centre of the drug trade). Just six months ago, Rodney and Cindy began boldly going out to the hedges inviting the most broken, most addicted to a simple gathering at the rented Casita. What started with a juicebox-handout invitation has grown into a dozen male addicts asking to have the Bible explained to them. Every other Thursday, these notorious neighborhood characters saunter into the Casita while the well-dressed church folk continue up the hill to a proper church. Its an interesting scene, the well-meaning religious folks and the ragamuffin addicts.
On the evening we attended, the seasonal rain was pounding the corrugated roof of the one-room Casita – far too much noise to carry on a meeting, far too wet for anyone to go without an umbrella. So we did what disciples do, went to the door and started telling the rain to stop (smirking at what seemed a symbolic gesture). But one of the addicts joined us at the door, “lluvia deja!” And within a few minutes it lightened to a drizzle. All of the regulars poured in for brief worship and a nervous testimony by our gringo stu-dent about his own battle with women, drugs and suicide, then a short story about the restoration of Peter. It occurred to me that most of these guys already seemed like they knew Jesus – if someone had not told me the backstory I would’ve assumed that they were young, energetic disciples, just like Peter. Maybe they weren’t churchfolk, but there was a palpable excitement about finding Jesus that I don’t always feel at church.
The next day Luis got an urgent call from one of the guys from the meeting: Domingo from Nicaragua. Twenty-five years old, a head taller than the rest of the neighborhood, Domingo was the current top dealer in town (as well as father to three beautiful toddler girls). We gathered a small group of guys – an emergency response crew – and headed down. Domingo lived in one of the nicer homes on the Quebrada, presumably a benefit of running a crack enterprise, and when we arrived, Domingo’s wife offered us the best seats on the porch. The pair explained to us how things had been changing since Do-mingo began attending the addict’s meeting some weeks earlier. The changes in his heart were so gripping that he’d told his boss he wanted out – just two weeks ago. Of course, that isn’t how organized crime works in any country, and the mafia boss ex-plained to Domingo that there is no way out: “If you try, we’ll kill you. And just so you know we’re deadly serious, show your loyalty by ‘taking out’ this girl from this other neighborhood.” But two weeks had passed, and Domingo explained to us that “he can’t do it; he can’t kill people – anymore.” He’s heard about Jesus, and he wants a change. He’s scared out of his mind, but he wants in. Domingo’s wife had been a Christian, a decade earlier in a different life, and she told us over tears that she wanted ‘back in.’ And so the both of them, and Luis, our party of gringo helpers, and those unseen; we all gathered round to welcome this family into the kingdom. They wept as they asked Jesus to come in, take over, and release them from this prison of their past. And then Luis wept and prayed over them with the passionate, Fatherly tone of a man who’s struggled his whole life for this barrio.
Its humbling to reap where others have sown, but we were all grateful to be there to watch a kingdom fall. Full of courage, we headed into a couple days of teaching work-shops hosted by pastor Martin and his orange church on the hill. The hosting church, the muchachos, a few addicts, and a few 20-somethings from Escazu Vineyard turned out to hear a Bible presentation and hands-on demonstration on how to begin to hear la voz de Dios (the voice of God) and pray for the sick. On night one, a variety of people around the room were shocked at their newfound ability to hear an accurate prophetic word. What was more shocking was to see various churches and social classes coming together to learn and do Jesus’ ministry. By night two, the group grew to a packed house eager to learn to pray for others. We started with a word of knowledge for a woman who upon receiving quiet prayer immediately exhibited very loud signs of de-monization or emotional trauma. (It always makes for interesting teaching times when the supernatural is on display.) With a then-captive audience, we instructed everyone how to pray for the sick in a simple way, watching and listening for John 5-ish indica-tions of ‘the Father at work.’ By the end of the practice session that night, seven out of eight of our ‘subjects’ had received some kind of relief from pain; for several of them it was a surprise total, immediate healing. One of the addicts I’d recruited to pray with me (not yet a Christian as best I could tell) wrapped up our prayer time together by enthusi-astically preaching to me: “Jesus gives us the power to heal, he gives it to us!” I imagine that same exuberance as the 72 returned with joy in Luke 10.
The next day we needed a break from all the excitement, so we took eight of the muchachos on a white-water rafting expedition. Despite being just a 2-hour drive from Anonos, none of them had ever been! As we boarded the rafts, I heard several anxious cries of “Dios perdoname, Dios ayudame” (God, forgive me, God help me!) from a few Ticos, but Tito in particular. Next time you see him, please remind him of it.
Settling into the second half of our stay, I was glad to see the muchachos ready to take their appetites for adventure to the streets. Tito, Dago, Jesus & Lester emerged as the four muskateers most ready for action. We accompanied them to the CCA men’s rehab in Alajuelita for a Father’s Day celebration with the addicts. Many of the addicts were estranged from their families, and the Anonos muchachos gladly filled that void by offer-ing Jesus-style family time: worship, some family-style games, and a hands-on blessing of these recovering men and dads.
Returning to Anonos, the boys courageously set a plan to gather all of the muchachos/as (about 25 in all) to the Casita for ministry planning. Tito especially stepped up as leader, setting the agenda for his peers to gather for two nights of listen-ing prayer, ministry in the streets, and a futbol match to close. It was a clear risk, to head out into the community after dark, looking for those the Father is drawing, but the muchachos rose to the task. New leaders emerged as we went out with the message and power of Jesus. God’s power was moving through them, and the neighborhood was experiencing ministry through the hands of its own children. Several students reported God’s tangible power on display.
We were all having fun, but by night two, it was clear that this thing was more serious than fun. As we moved from the Casita to the Planche to pray, several addicts, even those we’d ministered to were openly passing crack in the street, some were bringing it into the Planche with taunting gestures. So we countered with a performance of the “everything skit” – a story of Jesus saving us from our self-inflicted death, right in front of the scene of those bloody street killings a couple months earlier. A fumble-turnover of sorts.
On one of those dark nights, Luis got a panicked call from Domingo. Despite usually avoiding the Quebrada after dark, Rodney, Luis and I grabbed the biggest and youngest gringo in our group (don’t tell his mom) and headed down to find out what the panic was about. When we arrived, Domingo’s eyes were darting, keeping watch on the street. He explained that his boss had sent two groups of messengers down that day to warn him, “kill the girl, or we’ll kill you – we’re coming back at 10:00 pm.” I looked at my watch: 6:00 pm – now my eyes were darting, too. I scoped out the nearby concrete wall, and thought about drive-by shooting scenes I’ve seen in movies. I thought about the photos I’d seen of bodies in the street two months earlier, just in front of the Casita and just across the river from where we sat. Domingo was sure he needed to get out of town to-night. I was sure we needed to stop talking and smuggle his daughters out the back door. But after talking it through, it was clear that our pale-skinned ‘special ops force’ would do too much to draw attention. Domingo assured us, “the neighbors are watch-ing.” And so Luis and Rodney, at great personal risk, hatched a plan. I assumed they knew what they were doing until Rodney looked at me and said, “we’ve never done this before.”
And so we settled on a brilliant, if non-glamorous plan – we delegated. Walking up the hill, we interrupted Pastor Martin’s church service to tell him of the problem. He was glad to assist these new converts with an escape to Nicaragua, even suggesting a loca-tion where a friend’s church would get them settled. Slightly better than our ideas. So, as unsettling as it was to leave this family to someone else’s care, we entrusted the situation to a trustworthy man. Don’t be fooled, Martin is a hero-in-the-making, a great choice for any secret mission. Having escaped a teenage life of gun fights, drug dealing and prison, Martin found Jesus at nineteen and has given his life to living and working in Anonos. He was more than up to the task. So we went home to pray, and Martin went down to aid and assist. By morning we got the call: Domingo is out; he’s fled to Nicara-gua; he should be there by day’s end.
Can you say, game, set match? That’s certainly how it felt, but as you’re reading this remember that the match is still on, its still being fought – right now! But there are defi-nite points on the board, and you helped put some of them there. Next time you visit Los Anonos it won’t be the same Anonos that you last visited, because that kingdom of this world is becoming the kingdom of our Lord. Can I get an amen?!
The "Everything Skit" at the Casita
Grand Rapids
July 8 to July 16th
*Minister
at youth group/sticks mime.
*Youth
camp in Heredia
*Moving Rocks and built walls! And there is still more to do!!
*Men’s Retreat…Not enough can be said about what God did and the
A group of people from our Vina Anonos
and other locals went to Limon to
minister to kids and young people.
We have been trying to instill missions into our church. Here is Jessie,
one of our new interns, ministering to some children.
