Prayers for a Church Building to Fulfill Great Commission Bear Seeds in Costa Rican Bribri Village
The Bribri are the largest indigenous population in Costa Rica, most of whom live in the rain-forested province of Limon, closely located to Panama, and up in the Talamanca Mountains.
Many live isolated from larger cities of any size, and their native language is Bribri.
Pastora Xinia Aguire and her husband, Helio, who comes from the Cabecar tribe nearby, minister to the Bribri in the small village of Shiroles, where Xinia was born and raised.
The population of Shiroles is about a few hundred people who are living among their clan. The Aguires desire to show the love of Jesus and His Gospel to their people and others located in the villages around them.
One way they do that is through their new church building that YKPM raised the funds to build.
With the addition of a kitchen to this church, Pastora Xinia is able to offer both the church building and the kitchen as a gift to the community by way of a gathering place for events.
Their church family has a heart to reach out to and help abandoned children, mothers and the elderly, as well as people suffering under addiction, such as alcoholism.
The Iglesia de Restaurcion (Church of Restoration) not only shows their neighbors the love of God but also the power of God when he answered the prayer of this modest community of believers for a church building.
Money raised for both projects neared $20,000. Projects were largely completed by volunteers once funds were raised.
Kitchen and patio added to church in 2018
Facts about Bribri
Population: 12,200
Indigenous people of Costa Rica
Called the “hidden people of Costa Rica”
Matrilineal society
Lowest income per capita in the country
Completing secondary education is rare with with only a few graduating high school annually
Fulfill basic needs by living off the land, growing their own food, finding medicines and collecting housing materials in the forest
Agriculture is their main source of food and income
Sell cacao, bananas and plantains
Grow and eat beans, rice, corn, and other produce
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Facts about Costa Rica
Population: Five million
One of the few sovereign nations in the world without a standing army
La Costa Rica means “rich coast” in Spanish
Leans more egalitarian than its Central American neighbors
Ranked 15th country out of 153 in the 2020 United Nations World Happiness Report
Has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America at 97%
While considered an upper middle-income country, it still maintains a lot of inequality within its overall population
35% of children live in poverty
Only 20% of national services reach poor children
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