Agua Viva Ministries
Federal Tax I.D. No. 58:2022074
John and Daisy Whited, Director & Missionaries
71 Byrd Road
Phone 336-421-9233
Phone Costa Rica 011-506-2751-0144
E-mail john@aguavivaministries.com
Mebane, N.C. 27302
Cell 336-214-0883
Cell in Costa Rica 011-506-8899-6309
Internet www.aguavivaministries.com
May 2010
Greetings and blessings to everyone from Costa Rica. I am happy to say that we are all well and blessed to be
about our work here. The rainy season is upon us but has only been an inconvenience so far. The road we take
from San Jose to Bribri climbs over the mountains to the north and passes through a rain forest. Because of the
heavy rain and several earthquakes we had last month, the route has been plagued lately with landslides. The
latest slide occurred 9 days ago and the road is still closed. Thankfully, even though the road is heavily traveled
and the slide was immense, no one was injured.
Several weeks ago, we were joined by Dr. Dwight Adams, his son Dr. Alan Adams, his great niece Erin
Tappan, Mike Slayman and Eugenia Coto. We made a five day excursion up the Coen River with a two-fold
purpose. The doctors along with Mike and Erin, set up camp in Bajo Coen where they held a medical clinic.
They were able to treat over 350 people before running out of medicines. We were especially happy to have Dr.
Alan with us again, undaunted by a previous experience. He was with us two years ago and on a hike to Alto
Coen fell and broke his wrist.
My regular Costa Rican jungle crew, Erick, Andres, Nando and Anthony, along with Eugenia continued up
river from Bajo Coen to a place called Lotsë. Our goal was to locate an appropriate site and clear away the
jungle for a bridge across the Coen River. Lostë, along with the site in Alto Coen, are two strategic crossings
on the Coen. With these two bridges in place, it will be possible to walk all the way to San Jose Cabecar even
in the rainy season with the river high. This is very important in cases of sickness or injury. The Alto Coen
bridge will also allow kids who live on the opposite side of the river from the school to be able to attend
regularly, not just when the river is low. While in Lotsë, we made significant progress in locating a proper site
and clearing away the jungle. We also hung a cable car across the river in preparation for our next visit and
beginning the construction. The most enjoyable part of the trip was the opportunity to visit with the people who
live there, some of whom, I had not seen in more than a year.
Every time I prepare to leave a village after a visit, there is always a sense of sadness and to some degree,
frustration. I know that in many cases it will be a long time before I get back to that village. There are villages I
have not revisited in 6 or 7 years. There is no way you can have an effective witness visiting with that kind of
frequency, therein lays my frustration. Please continue to join with me in prayer for a helicopter. That is our
greatest need and the one thing that will make the biggest difference here in Talamanca. Please help me keep
that petition before the throne of grace.
I have been reading lately about the US founding fathers in order to teach some Unites States History to John
Paul. I have been struck for the first time by their attitude. They pledged to each other and to the cause of
liberty, their lives, fortunes and their sacred honor. We read those words rapidly and then we’re on to the next
fact without ever really contemplating what they mean. I think the reason we are able to read those words and
then just skip over what they mean is because we rarely see that kind of commitment to anything anymore.
When was the last time you entered into some endeavor and upon doing so you made that commitment, if it
cost you all your money or even your life, you will go through with it. These men really believed in what they
were doing and were willing to risk absolutely everything for the cause.
What has happened to the idea of commitment? We start something and we’re all for it, until the difficulties
mount and then we want to cut our losses. What happened to the idea of faith? We say we have faith, but when
we are faced with something we believe we should do, we are often hesitant to move forward without having
all the answers. We want some kind of assurance that the outcome will be the one we desire. We are hesitant to
move forward if we think there is a possibility of failure. Totally to the contrary, the Bible demonstrates a
different idea of faith. In the examples of faith that we see in Scripture, failure was assured, if not for the
intervention of God. So many times we have a call from God, we say we are going to move forward in faith,
but we don’t do anything until we have some assurance we will not fail. Failure we see as a negative reflection
upon ourselves. In order to protect our self-esteem from the negative connotation of being called a failure, we
temper our faith with caution. So faith must in essence be replaced by knowledge. We are not going forward
until we know or at least have a reasonable idea of the outcome. The Israelites would not cross the Jordan and
occupy the Promised Land because they didn’t know they could defeat the inhabitants of the land. Real faith
says I will surely fail in what You have called me to, if left to my own devices, but I will go forward because
you have sent me. Real faith is moving forward with failure assured if God does not intervene. Faith is being on
a hill with 300 men, looking down into a valley filled with thousands Midianites and readying to attack. Gideon
must have known his failure was imminent if God didn’t act. Faith is standing at the door of a furnace heated
especially for you and being able to say, “even if we are consumed by the flames, (and very likely believing
wholeheartedly that was exactly what was going to happen) we will not deny our God”. What are the “real
world” odds of using a rock to kill a nine-foot well armed soldier before he can cut your head off and feed it to
the birds? Not good. More-over the very real possibility of failure is not trumped by faith alone, but rather faith
in God and in the fact the He sends, hears and takes control. This of course is completely logical, for how can
God be glorified unless He delivers us from what would normally be an impossible circumstance.
Since I first arrived in Talamanca, the one thing I’ve been sure of is a sense of impossibility and imminent
failure. I have known that by my own ability I was destined to failure. Not the smallest amount of the necessary
resources did I possess. The only thing we had when we began was a clear sense of calling. As far as
knowledge is concerned, I was so much in the dark, I didn’t know if the first step should be with the right foot
or the left or if it made a difference. God however, has been faithful. He has brought people, resources and
knowledge across the path He set me on. Two weeks ago I sat in the jungle talking to an Indian about building
a bridge and how Christ is a bridge between us and God. I thought about how far away in many respects I was
from Caswell County, North Carolina. There is no denying that only God could have brought me to that hut.
I have been blessed with a wonderful family. I have been honored with friends and partners like you and I have
been the recipient of boundless grace in the face of being wrong more times than I care to recall. I am grateful
that because it is God doing the work, there can be no failure.
Thank you for your continued support. As I mentioned earlier, we need your help in whatever form God
directs, not only in the acquisition of an aircraft but also in the funding of our projects such as the medical
clinics and bridges.
May you continually rest in the shadow of El Shaddai.