We’re in Costa Rica. It’s the Fourth of July, we finally made it to Puerto Viejo last night, and we started our first day of ministry today.
Well, it was actually half a day. And it wasn’t really “ministry.” We cleaned and painted the inside of the house where we’re going to be staying. It’s a fixer upper — a ramshackle two-bedroom on stilts with holes in the floor, mismatched curtains, and dilapidated walls.
Of course, I love it. It’s precious beyond belief and has so much character.
As I sit down to take a break from painting, I overhear Brie and Katie talking to Sam about our ministry from last month. Brie is talking about the hosts: Alex and Mimi Taylor. I knew the Taylors did a lot for the community of San Felix, Panama, but the way Brie is laying out her detailed observations makes me really, really think.
Alex and Mimi are 62 and 54, respectively. They should be getting ready for retirement. At the very least, they should be taking it a little bit easier. Mimi has a cyst the size of her fist that she hasn’t been able to take care of because she can’t afford the surgery.* Alex has had two heart attacks, and he has spinal issues that cause him to fall.
My team posing with the Taylors for a photo our last day in San Felix
But instead of resting and taking care of their health issues, Alex and Mimi have poured and poured and poured into the community of San Felix. That isn’t their hometown. They’re Costa Ricans, but you’d never guess they were from another country the way they love the people they serve now.
One of the groups of people they serve is on the Comarca, the indigenous reservation up on the mountain outside of San Felix. These near-retirees have unofficially adopted four girls from the Comarca so that they (the girls) can have an opportunity for an education. The schools on the Comarca only go to third grade, and many of the children have to walk two to three hours through thick jungle just to get there.
Impoverished children on the Comarca
Needless to say, education is lacking on the reservation. But Alex and Mimi have taken these four girls under their wings and given them something that no one can ever take away from them: hope. These girls were malnourished and sick with parasites, worms, sores, and lice whenever they came to the Taylors. Now they are well-fed, healthy, and getting an education.
All of this is a pretty big undertaking for two people who’ve already raised their own children (their kids are grown now), but that’s not all Alex and Mimi do for the community. They’re involved with fifteen different churches on the Comarca, and they regularly visit and serve them throughout the week to ensure the Gospel is reaching as many people as possible on that mountain.
Bringing the Gospel to children on the Comarca.
And for their own church on Sunday evenings, Pastor Alex drives around in a beat up old van for an hour before church to pick up various people in the community who otherwise wouldn’t be able to make the service. That includes elderly people and those who can’t afford a taxi across town (there is no public transport in the little town of San Felix, Panama).
He drops them off after church, too, and because the Taylors aren’t able to start this service till seven in the evening (because of all the other services they spearhead during the day), that keeps Pastor Alex out late at night on Sundays.
The church Pastor Alex and Mimi have been building on their property.
He loves to do it. He thinks his time here is short (his father passed away around the same age he is right now), and he says he wants as many people saved before he dies as possible.
While we were there, Alex and Mimi were hosting a weeklong guitar/worship music workshop for missionaries from Costa Rica. Mimi supplied the food and cooked for them every day. She cooked for us a lot, too. She loves to serve and is often so exhausted that she ends up with a pile of dishes in the sink.
One of the other churches pastored by the Taylors.
We were able to help her with this, but I wonder how she does it on a regular basis. Her duties as a wife and mother keep her very, very busy — I don’t know how she makes time for the mountain ministry, but she does! God bless her.
The list doesn’t end there. Alex and Mimi also host missionaries and mission teams and have a multitude of other responsibilities, including finishing the church they’ve been building on their property. Brie is extremely observant and began noticing right away just how much the Taylors do. As a way to serve them, Brie suggested we set up a date night for them.
One of the structures up on the mountain, used for kids’ ministry, VBS, and Sunday services.
So one night, toward the end of our stay, we picked flowers, bought a table cloth and candles, and arranged for Alex and Mimi to come over to our rental house for a spaghetti dinner. Brie was the hostess. Katie was the waitress. They both served and waited on the Taylors all evening, allowing them to have some alone time to chat and just enjoy themselves.
Little did they know what was going on at their house across town. 🙂
As Brie and Katie hosted the dinner at our house, the rest of us walked to the Taylors’ house to do a deep clean of Mimi’s oh-so-frequently-used kitchen. Mimi was surprised and very pleased when she returned home. And although I would have loved to be part of the “date team” for dinner, I was really happy to be a part of the cleaning crew.
That’s what the World Race is all about: serving others. And any way we can be a blessing to our host is a way to honor God. This particular pastor and his wife are SO DESERVING of that, and it was our pleasure to serve them in whatever ways we could.
If you feel moved by the Taylors’ story, please check out their ministry and consider giving:
Lighthouse Children’s Ministry
Alex and Mimi work with Danny and Heather Nelson of I.C. Jesus Ministries. Heather is dedicated to deaf ministry and bringing the Gospel to the deaf community of Central America. To find out more about that ministry, as well as to read more about a very special, very beautiful deaf child named Moises, click here:
I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in Heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them. Matthew 18:19, 20
Jesus is Lord. Amen.
*Note about Mimi’s cyst: a doctor found out about this and offered to do the surgery at no cost. Jesus is SO GOOD! Praise God!
