March 2012

In March 2012, a few of us associated with Joshua One Ministries will make an exciting journey to visit some very special friends of ours who live in the rainforest of southern Costa Rica. We are now forming our team for this exciting adventure to the Chirripó Mountains. We are limiting the size of our team to 10-12 people. Because the journey will be quite strenous, only those in top physical condition should consider joining us. Do you have an interest in being part of our team?

Approximately 12,000 Native Americans of the Cabécares tribe live in the Chirripó Mountains of south CR. The Cabécar lifestyle is very primitive. They have had very little interaction with the “outside world.” One Costa Rican newspaper has called the Cabécar the “hidden people.”

The Chirripó terrain is a rainforest. The economy is mostly self-subsistence and barter. Homes are grass huts in which people sleep on the ground. Polygamy is common. The language is Cabécar (Spanish is spoken by some but not all). The Cabécar people are mostly illiterate. As a matter of fact, the Cabécar had no written language until missionaries developed one for them in the 1970s.

Even in this remote place, the Lord is not without a witness. During our four previous visits to Costa Rica, we have formed friendships with some Cabécar Christians who have attended the annual Preaching and Teaching Convention we host each January in San José. We are familiar with seven churches in the Chirripó Mountains which have a combined membership of about 300 believers.

Next March, a group of us will make our very first journey to the Cabécar reserve to fellowship with our Chirripó friends in their native setting. We are extremely excited about this remarkable opportunity.

THE JOURNEY

The journey to the Chirripó Mountains will be strenuous. On Mar. 20, we will fly from Oklahoma CitytoSan José. We will spend the night in the capital city. The next morning we leave in rented vans for Quetzal, a small village south ofSan José, about a four-hour drive. From Quetzal, we will hike on foot for about four hours into the ChirripóMountains. On our backs we will carry our bed rolls, food and supplies for our four-night stay with the Cabécar brethren. We will sleep on the ground under open-air, thatched-roof structures called “ranchos.”

During the four days we are in the Chirripó, we will fellowship with our Christian friends, visit their churches, and preach and teach God’s Word. We are also exploring the possibility of a construction project and a health clinic.

For more details, please see: CR4C-Mar2012-Prospectus1. If you believe God may be calling you to be part of this outreach to the Chirripó people, please contact me, Terry Hull, at terryhull AT joshuaone DOT org.

TO PRE-REGISTER FOR CR4C JAN 2012, USE THE ONLINE FORM AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.

We are returning to Costa Rica in January for eight days of preaching, teaching, medical outreach, construction work and lots of sweet Christian fellowship. Do you want to come?

Dates: January 16-23, 2012

Cost: $1732 (covers everything: air, hotel, meals, ground transportation, projects, etc.)

First deadline: RIGHT NOW! $50 nonrefundable deposits for air travel are due on Monday (Oct. 24).

This will be our fifth annual Costa Rican venture. During 2008-2011, we have had a total of 53 individuals from 15 churches take the gospel to Costa Rica with us. Last year we had 39 people from 11 churches on our team. Is God calling you to join us this year?

Many of you have already told me that you are planning to join us again this year, and are just waiting for the details. Well, all the details are now available.

I am sorry I am running so late in putting this information together for you, and very sorry for the short notice on the deposit deadline. The last three months have been one of the most challenging times ever for Norma and me — Norma has had back surgery and a very slow recovery, and I have gone through a huge transition in my career. I’ll tell you more about those things later.

Anyway, the details are available now. For those of you who have gone with us before, I can tell you that none of the major details have changed.

• Here is a four-page prospectus (pdf) with much more detailed information: CR4C-Jan2012-Prospectus.

• To sign up or to indicate your interest, please complete the short online form below. PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM RIGHT AWAY — even if you have already told me that you are planning to go.

Dear Christian friends… friends of Rodrigo Rojas and our many brothers and sisters in Costa Rica … fellow laborers in the work of the Great Commission … relatives … casual acquaintances … total strangers …

During the holidays, I saw lots of offers for Buy Now Pay Later and Buy One Get One Free. Have you ever received such an offer from a Missions Organization? That’s exactly what I want to propose to you in this letter.

The Lord willing, Norma and I and 29 other team members leave for San José, Costa Rica, IN FOUR MORE DAYS. All the details are coming together beautifully. All indications are that we are going to have an outstanding week. A week of very hard work, a week of genuine evangelism, a week of great worship and sweet fellowship.

However, with just four days left before we go, we still need some financial help. Back in December I sent out an email and posted a message on this website titled:
I NEED TO RAISE $10,000 IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS!
Today, we still need to raise:
FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS IN THE NEXT FOUR DAYS!

August 2009: Rodrigo Rojas with some of the younger members of a church in the Guancaste province in far north Costa Rica, near Nicaragua.

The good news: We have received so many generous gifts in the last three weeks! Praise the Lord … and thank you so much to each one of you who sent a gift. Norma and I will send you a full report, complete with photos, when we get back from Costa Rica. I promise that your donation will be used for the Great Commission – saving souls, starting and equipping churches, training and equipping pastors.

If you have not been able to send a gift, I understand entirely. These are not the best economic times. The holidays are always a tight squeeze. You can only do what you can do. I sure get that. Nevertheless, I still need to come up with four thousand more dollars in the next four days.

So how about this. Would you be willing to pledge now and give later? Plus, every dollar you pledge now will immediately be doubled by a matching gift from a local church. That’s “buy one get one free,” right?

Actually, thanks to God’s faithfulness and your great generosity, along with several hours of nail-biting midnight-oil budget crunching, we pretty much have all the funds we need for next week’s trip. (Norma suggested we could save some money if I would just skip black beans and rice, fried plantains and Costa Rican coffee for the entire week. Sorry, Norma, I don’t think so).

With the trip taken care of, the one final item we are raising funds for is a car for Rodrigo Rojas, our senior evangelist in Costa Rica. For two years now, Rodrigo has been relying on borrowed cars and public transportation to carry out his ministry!! Is that any way to get the Lord’s work done??

When we are with Rodrigo next week, we want to present him with $10,000 to buy a reliable used car. We already have $2,500 designated for that purpose. Plus, Edmond (Okla.) Christian Church has offered a matching gift to raise the rest. They told me: If I can raise $4,000 before we leave for Costa Rica, they will match it, dollar for dollar, with another $4,000. Raise One Get One. That will give us more than enough to put Rodrigo behind a smooth set of wheels.

May 2009: Rodrigo Rojas with some new converts in Limón province in south Costa Rica.

Do you want to help? Would it be more convenient for you to do so at the end of the month or the middle of next month? If so, would you send an email NOW, pledging a gift sometime during the next 30 days? I have talked to Steve Logan who heads up ECC’s missions committee. He has agreed that they will acknowledge such pledges and match them immediately dollar for dollar – even before we actually receive your gift! All we need is your email to activiate the matching gift!

To those of you who already sent a gift, I want to say again: THANK YOU! You dear relatives, friends, acquaintances and strangers have been very generous! During the past three weeks we have received about $4,500 in donations. Thank you!!

Plus, I have gone through our budget like a kid scrounging around in the sofa for lost change. I have identified $1,500 of our expenses that can be paid after we get back … which closes the rest of the gap on the $6,000 we needed to make this trip work out.

Yeah, that’s right –- I’m going to have to send out another fund-raiser in early February to raise the funds for our remaining costs. Mainly, I will just send you photos from our trip:

• Photos of moms and their kids being treated at the health clinics by our team of six nurses.
• Photos of the new classroom building our team is erecting in San José for our Bible Institute.
• Photos of Christians from several Costa Rican churches praising and worshiping at our convention – something they look forward to all year long.
• Photos of dozens of young pastors and their wives being trained in our Leaders Seminar.
• Photos of people accepting the Lord and being baptized into Him.

I am trusting that when I send out those photos, raising the additional funds will not be a problem.

So, during these last four days we are focusing on raising the $4,000 for Rodrigo’s car. Rodrigo has no idea that we are planning to give him a car next week. He is a strong man, but I won’t be surprised if we see some tears of joy when we surprise Rodrigo with this gift. Not just because he needs a car, but because it means he will be able to travel to more villages, share the gospel with more people, encourage more young pastors, and accomplish so much more for the work of the Kingdom.

Can you help? Will you help? All I need is an email from you, pledging to send a gift on or before February 15, the Lord willing. I will show your email to Steve at Edmond Christian Church, and they will match it with a gift of an equal amount. Are you in? Will you please let us hear from you?

Thank you! God bless! Keep us in your prayers! Let us hear from you!

What a mighty God we serve!!

Love … Terry & Norma Hull

Whenever you are ready to send your gift, send it to Joshua One Ministries, P.O.Box 8464, Edmond, OK 73083. All gifts are tax deductible. Thank you!

During the next 30 days, I need to raise $10,000. Is it possible? Will it take a miracle? Will you help?

Christmas is one week away. Like you, Norma and I are busy getting ready for the big holiday. We will be going out this weekend to do some last-minute shopping. We expect a full house of kids and grandkids on Christmas Day.

But another BIG DAY is also on our minds. Exactly one month from tomorrow, on January 18, we leave for San José, Costa Rica. Norma and I are leading 32 people on an eight-day evangelism adventure in Central America.

Young preachers at our January 2008 Costa Rica evangelism trip. Rodrigo Rojas is standing in the back row, far left.

Some members of our team will be building a classroom building in San Miguel, a southern barrio of San José. The classrooms will be used by the new Bible Institute Rodrigo Rojas has been leading this year. Rodrigo is the senior evangelist of Costa Rica For Christ, one of the ministries of Joshua One Ministries. Two years ago Rodrigo told me of his vision to start a Bible Institute. So, last year, we built the first classroom. All this year, Rodrigo has been teaching about 20 young pastors and church leaders in weekday classes in that classroom.

This year, we are going to build the ground floor of a two-story building which will have six classrooms when it is finished. More classrooms will make possible more teaching and training for more pastors, who in turn will reach more people for Christ and make more disciples.

Meanwhile, other members of our team will be offering free health clinics in villages near San José. We have six registered nurses on our team this year! On Tuesday we will go to Santa Elena, where Rodrigo has been working to build up a small church there. On Wednesday we will go to Rosario, where Rodrigo has been leading a Bible study. On Thursday we will go to Itaipu, where Rodrigo has been working to gain a foothold for the gospel.

Our health clinics in these villages will meet people’s physical needs, while communicating the love of Christ and giving a big boost to Rodrigo’s evangelistic outreach there.

Of course, all of these projects are expensive. The estimated cost of the classroom building project is $12,000. The cost of the medical supplies for our health clinics will be $1,500 or more. In this short note, I haven’t even begun to describe everything we will be doing during our week in Costa Rica, and all of the expenses we will have. I won’t even try to mention the car we plan to purchase for Rodrigo on the first day we arrive in Costa Rica. Believe me, that’s going to blow Rodrigo’s mind. I will tell you much more about everything we have planned in future notes during the next 30 days.

But the bottom line for right now is this: I have to raise $10,000 during the next 30 days.

Our team members are donating or raising $1,650 each to participate in this adventure. That money covers their personal expenses — transportation, lodging, food — plus, it includes about $400 above and beyond, to apply to our project costs. Without their enthusiastic involvement, it would be impossible for us to do everything we are doing.

But the money they are giving is not enough by a long shot to cover the entire need. We need some additional help to make this work. Lots of it. We need your help.

Would you please send a gift? Somebody reading this letter could send $1,000. That would close 10% of the gap for us. A couple of people reading this letter could send $500. That would be such a huge help! Several of you could write a check for $100 or $200 or $250. And if lots of people sent checks for $20 or $25 or $50, our need would be met. Please send what you can.

Norma and I have been leading evangelism adventures like this for many years. Every time we begin such an adventure, we have no idea exactly how it is all going to work out. Today, just 30 days from our departure, I do not know exactly how it is all going to work out.

But I have a pretty good idea. Like all of the times before, the Lord is going to meet our needs to do what He has called us to do. And I imagine He will do it the way He almost always does it.

Through you.

Please make your check to Joshua One Ministries. Write “Costa Rica For Christ” (or just “CR4C”) in the memo field. Send your check to Joshua One Ministries, P.O. Box 8464, Edmond, OK 73083. Joshua One Ministries is a non-profit Christian ministry, and your gifts are tax deductible. Thank you very much for your support.

With exactly two months remaining until our Jan. 18, 2010, departure to San José, Costa Rica, we have 31 team members signed up to go.

For more info about our Jan. 18-25, 2010, Costa Rica evangelism trip, read our: CR Trip Prospectus.

The Lord is putting together a remarkable team for us:

* We have 22 females and 9 males. We run the gamut of ages, from two teenagers to two in their 60s, and members of every decade in between.

* We have 6 nurses, who will be invaluable during the four days of free health clinics we offer to low-income Costa Rican villagers.

* We have several highly skilled, able-bodied amateur builders, who will show their stuff as we build a classroom building at Iglesia del Evangelio de Jesucristo (Church of the Gospel of J.C.) in San Miguel.

* We have 4 preachers. We will take turns preaching and teaching during a three-day regional convention of Costa Rican churches.

* We come from 10 different churches.

Here are two statistics I am expecially proud of:

* Out of the 13 people who made our first evangelism trip to Costa Rica in 2008, 7 are returning for their third straight CR adventure.

* Out of the 29 people we took in our 2009 trip, 20 are returning for their second straight trip.

That gives you a pretty good idea what kind of experience previous participants have had.

If you are interested in joining us, it is not too late to sign up. As a matter of fact, we made group reservations with American Airlines, and after a couple of drop-outs, we now have three slots to fill in our original group rez. That means you can still come for the original price. But pretty soon I will have to turn in our team roster to attach names to tickets, and release any plane seats we aren’t using. So if you are interested, now is the time.

Please read our Trip Prospectus, which will answer 98.8% of your questions. Then shoot me an email — joshuaoneministries at gmaildotcom.