Crossing Mountains and Rivers to Carry Hope to His Village

I

magine trekking for hours over steep, muddy mountains and zip-lining across treacherous rivers to get to the nearest store. This is everyday life for many of the Cabécar people, an indigenous group living in Costa Rica.

Some Cabécars have moved to the city for employment, but most remain isolated in the Chirripó region of the Talamanca mountain range in the eastern part of the country. They eke out a living by fishing, hunting, and small-scale agriculture. They also harvest plants and trees for food, medicine, and building homes.

The Cabécar people are a largely unreached people group for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but its membership is growing. One Cabécar member is Arsenio, who learned the Adventist message from a visiting lay preacher. He was baptized and became a Global Mission pioneer, working to start new groups of believers among his people.

Arsenio faces many challenges in his endeavor. Most Cabécar people are entrenched in animism, believing in a supreme creator called Sibo, communicating with spirits, and practicing magic.

The Cabécar people also tend to resist outside influences. Although Arsenio already speaks the language and knows the customs, sharing a new worldview is challenging. “Everything is difficult,” Arsenio said about his efforts to share Jesus with his tribe. “People don’t always like the gospel.”

Arsenio models Christ’s method of ministry by visiting families in their homes and meeting their needs. This has allowed him to develop trusting relationships. Some people have asked about his faith and requested Bible studies.

One such person is Ana. She met with Arsenio’s study group regularly. “We read the Word of God and prayed,” Arsenio said, “and [she] felt good about it. Now Ana has opened her home to us so that we can always meet as a small group.”

During the past year, several Cabécars in Arsenio’s area have accepted Jesus into their hearts and been baptized.

Living nearly halfway across the country, Melvin is a member of the Cabécar community who, like Arsenio, became an Adventist because of a lay preacher who visited his village. He is a theology student at Central American Adventist University and is studying to become the first Cabécar Adventist pastor. He dreams of translating Adventist literature into the Cabécar language, making the gospel more accessible to his people.

“When the message arrived in my community, it was a different message, a message of hope for a village who didn’t know about God,” Melvin said.

Melvin felt a conviction to bring this message of hope back to his people. “I feel that it was a call from God,” Melvin said. “I accepted the call because I saw that it was an important message for my family, my community, and all the people I know.”

Please pray for Melvin and pioneer Arsenio as they take the gospel to unreached villages in Costa Rica and that the Cabécar people will be filled with the love of Jesus. Thank you for making this work possible.