2007 Mission

Mansiones, Costa Rica

What a difference a VIM team can make in just one month! The pictures above show the condition of the new Sunday School/Fellowship Hall building when the 2007 VIM Team arrived in January. Bob and Joan Suda VIM teams had begun the Sunday School/Fellowship Hall project in 2005 and returned in 2007 with the hope of completing the building. During the month long work project, the walls were finished and painted inside and out and a tile floor was laid. The team members completed all the electrical work and installed the counters and plumbing in the kitchen and finished a small bathroom for the children. In addition to the work on the Hall, team members re-painted the outside of the church and painted the cement walls that surround the church. The church and fellowship hall are now completely finished and operational!

Judy Harnish and Ann Littleton of FUMC Birmingham and Faith Fowler of CASS United Methodist joined 23 other team members from nine different congregations to finish the project in Mansiones. Two students from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary were also a part of the first team.

In addition to all the construction work, the first team conducted Vacation Bible School for 60 children and the second team provided knitting classes for the women of the church and village.

A fifth stain glass window was installed while the teams were in Mansiones. Bob and Joan Suda commissioned Vera Ugalde to create the window entitled “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

After Faith Fowler returned to the States, she sent a new communion set to the Mansiones congregation as a gift from CASS United Methodist Church. Near the end of the project, Dr. Fernando Palomo, Bishop of the Methodist Church of Costa Rica, visited the site and expressed his appreciation to all the team members for furthering God’s work in Costa Rica. Thanks be to God for the blessing of this work!

If you are interested in joining a work team or would like to donate to future projects, please contact the church office or Ann Littleton.