Mission Focus for October

Our Mission Focus for October is for the Latin American Bible University (Universidad  Biblica  Latinoamericana or UBL) in Costa Rica.   We have supported UBL since 2012 when Margie Miller first came to this Costa Rican institution as an individual volunteer.   While UBL is not a school of the United Methodist Church, the school has long been valued for its contribution to the religious leadership of Latin America for generations beginning in the 1920's.   GBGM Missionaries have served in this place almost from the beginning.   UBL is an Advance Project, which simply means, they are vetted as one of the places for churches and individuals can give money at any time for their goals and vision are in line with our beliefs.  

Valparaiso 1st has given tuition support or scholarships in the past. Sometimes we have given funds for Margie to use in whatever ministry way she sees fit.  The best part of Margie's volunteer service is learning more about a place we visited in 2010 and has now become home for her when she's not in the USA. 

This time we want to be part of the development of a  new program which allows more students to get the education via internet.   Long distance classes will help the student who has struggled in the past to afford not only to come to Costa Rica but to find the funds for living expenses while studying in Costa Rica. They will still need to come to study for one semester but that is less of a hardship on personal or church expenses than the current program.   We are proud to be part of this transition into the future of educating religious leaders.  

Recently Margie met this group of university students from the USA who are studying for the semester in Costa Rica.   She was invited to sit down with them to talk about mission.  They loved the time on the campus and their time with Margie.  These students are not enrolled at  UBL however they were able to connect with one of the professors to lead them in a class or two to help them in their research.   Margie was at a loss for words when she was asked to speak about missions.  

July 8 - 16, 2017 a mission team will journey to Costa Rica.   We haven't been there since 2011 so it is time to go back.   We are planning on visiting UBL one day while we are there.   Stay tuned for more information about our 2017 Journey to Costa Rica.  

Thanks for remembering the computer and software project at UBL when giving your mission offering.