Ana Lorena’s experience of the love and protection of Christ, after surviving cancer and domestic violence, has motivated her to serve Him. She educates women with limited resources in our Tirrases Community Transformation Center, teaching styling and cosmetology, skills which will assist the women in earning an income. She also assists with receiving short-term missionary teams.
Axel is a missionary in our Renuevos ministry, with experience in Bible teaching, music and leading youth camps. He is currently serving as a youth leader, organizing recreational activities and leading the worship team together with his wife Itzayana Vasquez. “Our focus is to show the unconditional love of God as that is what protected me from the many social problems that exist in the community that I grew up in. We want to make sure that the children and girls at Renuevos learn more about God, feel they have a place to belong, so they don’t feel alone in their process of transformation.”
The vision of Refuge City is to invest in the transformation of men and women trapped in addiction and gangs into servant-leaders for the Kingdom of Heaven through discipleship training programs.
Refuge City will be an extension of the work we are already doing to transform lives but on a larger scale and with a greater opportunity for community transformation. Refuge City will serve as a central place to teach sustaining life skills and to equip and train leaders who were once trapped in a life of darkness. Opportunities to learn and practice new life skills will be immediately available through partnerships with local fishing communities including Punta Morales, Cocorocas, Costa de Pájaras, Manzanilla, and Judas de Chomes.
Andrés is 22 years old and lives in San José, Costa Rica. He graduated in Business Administration with an emphasis on Human Resources.
He serves as Director of the children’s ministry in Tirrases, focusing on Bible School and discipling youth. Andrés is also giving English classes to children and adults.
He is also active in the Roblealto Youth Camps ministry, and assists the activities of other ministries in the Tirrases Community Transformation Center.
Eliette Padilla has been collaborating with CFCI in different ministries for 21 years, she currently works as Director of Antioquia, has a Ministry of Counseling and together with her husband they collaborate with the Remendarte Ministry.
Her focus has been Christian education, family restoration, and support groups.
Eliette Padilla and her husband Miguel Rodriguez have a son, José Miguel. Her family resides in Tibas, San José, Costa Rica.
Contact information:
Tel. (506)89248372
Email: eliettepac14@gmail.com
Franklin’s passion is evangelism. He works in the community of Guanacaste, in evangelism and music ministry. Franklin and his wife, Olga, have 3 children: Abigail, Benjamin and Joel.
Luis teaches Rugby to children in La Carpio, teaching them the Word of God before every practice. He also works to obtain donations of food, clothing, and school supplies for different CFCI ministries. Luis and his wife, Giuliana, have 3 daughters: Erika, Milena and Valeria.
Andrea serves as the Coordinator of the CFCI Tirrases Community Center. Ivan assists, and together with their two children, Brandon and Keilyn, they provide workshops and activities that allow people to get closer to God.
La Carpio is the largest slum in Central America, and home to around 40,000 people, including 20,000 children. La Carpio is the city dump, and measures only 1.4 miles in diameter.
Kids growing up in this community have an almost non-existent chance of getting any form of employment besides construction work. Cramped conditions lead to many family members sharing small spaces, which produces high rates of disease spread and staggeringly devastating statistics of incest and sexual abuse. Our missionaries in La Carpio believe that up to 90% of children have been sexually assaulted by their 12th birthday. This has led to an epidemic of STDs, teenage pregnancy, and very young, single mothers.
There is only one primary school (K-6th grade) for the 20,000 children. Three school shifts take place throughout the day, and children only attend school for around 2.5 hours. Upon graduation this puts them at a severe disadvantage to attempt any high school classes.
There is no high school for them to attend within the slum, and so only those children whose parents can afford the bus fare out of the area have the privilege of attending. A large number of youth without schooling or employment has led to drug and gang communities.
CFCI works in La Carpio through a number of different ministries , including:
In 1988 God called us to begin a project in what was then a squatter community, Rincon Grande de Pavas. We started very simply — doing tutoring at the local school and teaching first aid courses in the shacks of the people. God added more members to the team and soon we had 50 home Bible studies weekly throughout the community. Shortly a church was born and God enabled us to construct a large building which serves as church and center for a variety of ministries to reach the community.
In 1993 we saw that across the ravine, to the north of Pavas, squatters were beginning a new community — Carpio. As more and more families settled there, all of us from the Pavas church decided that Carpio was our Samaria — we should go and share with them what we had received.
We began with out-door activities. But soon the need for a place to have a center became evident. We were able to obtain a small piece of property and we constructed a simple structure out of corrugated tin. This building has served us well for 26 years — housing the church, the after-school tutoring program, the clinic (for 2 years), Bible clubs, sewing classes, activities for the elderly, computer classes, medical caravans, English classes, Bible studies for youth, children’s rallies, etc.
But we have long seen the need for a better, more permanent building. The present building has tin walls and a tin roof (no ceiling), so on hot days we are essentially in a convection oven! And on rainy days, all we can hear is the rain pounding on the roof. With stray bullets now and then, cement walls are a necessity. In addition, we really need more space. Since the lot is small the only option is a second floor.
We need your help in order to construct this building that we’ve been dreaming of for years! A place where anyone can come and hear the good news of Jesus. Would you consider donating to our building project at the link below? We need $150,000 for this project. We know it’s a big goal, but we serve an ever bigger God!
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