Agua Viva Ministries
Federal Tax I.D. No. 58:2022074
John and Daisy Whited, Director & Missionaries
71 Byrd Road
Phone 336-421-9706
E-mail john@aguavivaministries.com
Mebane, N.C. 27302
Fax 336-421-9233
Internet www.aguavivaministries.com
October 2005
God is sovereign. On this, as Christians, we would all agree if asked. However, very often we do not
live like that is the case. God has given us a command, a job to do, but we live as if it was a
suggestion. God has instructed us as Christians, all Christians, to go into the world, spread the
gospel and make disciples. That is or should be priority number one in our lives. But we let lots of
things displace that priority. Our own pleasure and comfort, our families, our jobs, our desire for
security and even natural disasters all seem to come before Christ’s commandment to us. It was not
so with the Apostle Paul. Every event in the Apostle’s life was an occasion for spreading the Gospel.
If it was making tents, or ship wrecked, or marooned on an island, or suffering bouts of illness, or
confronting the intellectuals of his day, or standing trial, or falsely imprisoned, or intervening for a
friend, or giving aid and comfort to a stranger, everything was done with the motivation of bringing
others to Christ or strengthening the walk of those who were already believers. But we seem to use
everything in life as an excuse not to get involved in the spreading of the Gospel. We are constantly
saying, “I’m too young”, “I’m too old”, “I’m too sick”, “I’m too afraid of this thing or that thing”, “I’ve
got kids”, “I’ve got to prepare for the future”, “I’m too busy”, “I’m too tired”. People need to know
about Jesus (evangelism). And those who have already trusted in His gift of grace, need instruction
in how to grow into His likeness (discipleship). God is sovereign and He has given us a task. The
reward for a job well done awaits, as does the rebuke for responsibility neglected.
The remainder of this letter will be my attempt to update you on what has taken place in Talamanca,
Costa Rica since January of this year. If you remember, the year started off with disaster. After a
month of rain, we had 27 inches in a 24 hour period. The Sixaola River (which runs by Bribri) and all
its tributaries flooded. About 12,000 people were forced from there homes. It does not sound like
many when compared to the hundreds of thousands displaced by hurricane Katrina, but it was just
as real and just as devastating to those affected. We spent the month of January dealing with the
aftermath of the flood. I joined with the local doctor in taking food, clothing and medicine to some of
the remote villages by helicopter. We also used the truck to deliver supplies to washed-out
communities all the way to the Panamanian border crossing.
February 2nd I hiked up to Bajo Coen to make preparation for medical clinics that we would hold in
the following weeks. The 12th – 20th, we were joined by our first team of the year. It was a medical
and evangelism team to the village of San Jose Cabecar, a two day hike. We were able to provide
medical treatment for over 100 villagers and we also presented the “Jesus Film”. This required that
we not only backpack in medicine and food, but also a generator, fuel, projector and VCR. It was
however, worth the effort. We had 4 people pray to accept Christ. To my knowledge, these were the
first four people to ever accept Christ in that village. February 26 through March 6th, we were joined
by another team of doctors and once again held a medical clinic, this time in the village of Bajo
Coen. On the team was Dr. Adams. In his 70’s and having come for the past 8 years, his resilience
and commitment are both remarkable and admirable.
March 11 – 19, a team of Christian students from the University of Indiana came to lend us a hand
with some construction and needed maintenance on the ministry property. They painted the roof
and exterior of our building, back-filled along the retaining walls and began hanging chain-link fence.
In April, we hired another full time worker in Costa Rica. In addition to our Pastor Miguel Araya, we
now have Eric who is serving as youth minister and more or less my right-hand man. He is in charge
of maintenance and security of the property while I am in the States. He will also be accompanying
me on all the trips to the jungle villages.
June 3rd – 17th, Riverchase Church in Birmingham, Alabama sent 2 teams to us. During their first
week with us, we held another medical clinic in Bajo Coen. The second week we poured a concrete
slab for David Jones, a fellow missionary in the area. They also dug a hole for and built a septic tank
for the new building we are planning.
June 30th, we greeted the arrival of two gentlemen who would make the two day hike with us to the
village of Alto Uren. Actually, it was more of a two day climb than a two day hike. It was the first
time I had hiked to the village. In January we had carried in some medicine, but we had flown in on
the helicopter rented by the government. The two day climb had been a 10 minute flight from Bribri.
The effort was to pave the way for future evangelism and medical clinics in the area.
July 9th – 17th, a youth team of 25 people from Faith Baptist in Youngsville, NC came to minister for
the second year in a row. They held a Vacation Bible School and basketball clinic. They also did
house-to-house evangelism in one of the communities near Bribri. July 23rd – 30th, Haw River
Christian in Haw River, NC sent a team to minister to some of our needs. They worked on a
bathroom, more back-fill and the fence around the property. July 30th – August 6th, we hosted our
last team of the year. The team was from Pleasant Grove and Greers Presbyterian churches in
Caswell County, NC. Once again it was a construction team. They dug and placed the drain field for
the new septic tank, as well as completed painting the exterior of the church.
One could easily read this letter and misinterpret our effort in Bribri. One could say, “ All they are
doing is building. It seems as if that is all they’ve ever been doing. Where is the ministry?” What I
have written doesn’t begin to tell the story of the work that goes on in Bribri and in the jungle.
Remember, everything we do is done by hand. Take for example, the septic tank. First a hole, 8 feet
wide by 8 feet long by 8 feet deep had to be dug. Then cement poured for the bottom, then block
walls laid, then a top poured in place. Not something you do in an afternoon when the temperature
is 105° in the shade. Then the drain field installed. A ditch 3 feet wide, 4 feet deep and 50 feet long
was dug by hand. The drain pipe was placed and the ditch was then filled with rock, all of which was
moved in a wheel barrow. During this time we are constantly ministering to the local population and
the work of building additional facilities will multiply our outreach in the future.
The team from Riverchase Church, while doing the medical clinic in Bajo Coen also lent a hand to the
Indian who allowed us to use his hut as our home for the week. They dug his family a new latrine,
helped replace old thatching on the roof with new and chopped a 300 yard long clear path to the
river. Daisy continued a discipleship class for the ladies of the church, which was initiated by the
team from Faith Baptist
As you all know, many times your ability to do a job is determined by the tools and facilities that you
have available. We have approximately 150 people attending worship at the church with anywhere
from 60 to 80 kids. We have outreaches in 5 communities that surround Bribri. Since January, we
have provided medical treatment and/or medicine for about 1200 people. We have provided
emergency shelter and transportation during times of disaster. We have had more than 20 people
come to Christ. But we are severely limited in what we can do by our facilities. We are in need of
more room, additional space under roof.
Our plans are to build a two story structure that will serve multiple purposes. First, the upper floor
will serve as living quarters for our family. With two children, one of which is starting home school,
we need a little more space and privacy than the current 12 foot by 12 foot room we are living in
affords. Also on the upper floor there will be a room which will serve as office, pharmacy and exam
room for visiting doctors. There will also be a small apartment for anyone making an extended stay
with us in Bribri. The lower floor will have bathroom facilities, dormitory space for visiting teams and
classrooms. The rooms in the current building will be converted from sleeping quarters for visiting to
classrooms also.
We have architectural drawings of the new facility. We have all the permits necessary to begin
construction. We are only waiting for God to provide the funds necessary. According to the engineer
who drew the plans, the material cost for the entire project is about $50,000. For the 3360 sq.ft.,
that works out to be about $14.90 per square foot.
The Lord blessed us in that we were finally able to get our pick-up truck licensed in Costa Rica. We
sent it in January by boat and finally in June we were able to pay the import taxes and complete the
mountain of paperwork. It has proven time and time again to be a real asset to the ministry.
We are going to be in the United States until right after the new year begins. It is our desire to have
an opportunity to visit with as many of you as possible. If you have a date that you would like for us
to plan a visit, please let us know. We would like to share personally what God is doing in Bribri and
the surrounding jungles. Please check the web site in the next few days. I will have a copy of this
letter posted but with pictures illustrating the work.
We are grateful for all the help we have received this year. For those who have come and endured
discomfort to give us encouragement by their presence, for those who have made contribution of
their hard earned resources as a gift to God for the building of His Kingdom and to those who in the
quiet privacy of their own hearts have made supplication before God on our behalf. We pray God’s
blessings on each and every one of you. It is our hope that you will embrace this ministry as your
own. We know that it is only through the partnership of “the Body”, that Talamanca will eventually
be evangelized. And the glory will be to God.