In 2003, when the team leaders, Bob and Joan Suda, first arrived in Mansiones, they became acquainted with Vera Ugalde, an artist who ran a nursery school that was located next door to the church. When we first began construction of the church, it was necessary to use Vera’s water and electricity until the church had its own. In 2004, Ann Littleton met with several artists in San Jose to work on sketches for three stain glass windows for the church. When none of the drawings seemed right, Ann mentioned the project to Vera. Within days, Vera had drawn five beautiful sketches and she was commissioned to create the stain glass windows, even though Vera had never worked with stain glass. Now Vera is working almost exclusively with stain glass and will be working on a glass inlaid altar piece for the Faro del Este church during 2005.

The 2005 VIM work teams were made up of members from 15 different churches and included two students from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary as well as five pastors, two from Chile. A basement was first dug to serve as a storage room for the church. The new building will house the kitchen, the fellowship hall and several Sunday school rooms. When the last team left in February, the walls were about two feet above ground and Costa Rican workers were hired to complete the walls and roof.

Garrett students, Tisha Jermin and Daniel Benson

Birmingham First nember
Ann Littleton with Mansiones church
member Patricia Solano

Birmingham First member
Harold Lanning helping to construct
the entrance gate.

Pictures of Mansiones project in May of 2005 after completion of the walls and roof.

The VIM teams, led by Bob and Joan Suda, plan to raise the funds to return to Mansiones and complete the project. If you are interested in joining a work team or would like to donate to the project, please contact the church office.