A letter from Karla Koll serving in Costa Rica
christmas 2014 - luis carlos' faith journey
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Luis Carlos announced to us one evening in our mission class that he was no longer going to church. Unlike most of our students at the Latin American Biblical University, Luis Carlos Alvarez Mejia is a new believer. He started studying theology just a few months after he accepted Christ. He decided to abandon his studies of anthropology at the University of Costa Rica and apply his intellectual curiosity to his newfound faith.
-1_medium300.jpeg)
Karla with Luis Carlos
Over months in class, I heard bits and pieces of Luis Carlos’ story. Recently I asked him to share more with me about how he came to be studying theology with us. He explained that most of his family is Roman Catholic. As a child he received his first communion, but he found Catholicism to be full of talk about sin and the fear of hell. The only one of his relatives who seemed to find joy in the Roman Catholic Church was his aunt who is a nun. He loved to visit her because she would tell him about Jesus. Luis Carlos’ father is Baptist. He found that his father could answer some of his questions about the Bible that his other relatives wouldn’t answer. Sometimes he went to church with his father, but he didn’t hear anything there that caught his interest as a child. Neither the Roman Catholic Church nor the Baptist church presented God in an attractive way.
As he grew older Luis Carlos stopped going to mass with his mother. When it came time for his confirmation, he refused. He wanted nothing to do with the church. He grew more and more resentful toward Christians. As far as he could tell, they were all hypocrites who never practiced what they preached. By the time he finished high school, ridiculing Christians had become one of his favorite pastimes. He and his friends tried to dissuade the Christians they met at the university. Yet Luis Carlos felt a sense of spiritual hunger. He explored the ideas of Buddhism, a religion that doesn’t preach sin, but he never found anyone who could teach him.
Everything changed for Luis Carlos in January of this year. His sister invited him to accompany her to a Pentecostal church one evening. He went along so that she would not have to return home alone in the dark. He told me he felt very uncomfortable even being in a church. He sat in the very back row, trying to ignore the service. The sermon that night was given by one of the young men of the congregation. Luis Carlos told me he didn’t remember anything about the sermon, but at the end of the service Luis Carlos heard God calling to him. He realized that even as he had been talking against Christians, God had been reaching out to him. He asked the young man who had preached to pray for him. He returned home that evening praying that God would sustain him in his new faith.
-2_medium300.jpeg)
Karla with Elisabeth Cook, PC(USA) Mission Co-worker and Academic Dean of the UBL
Luis Carlos knew he needed to learn more about the Bible. But where to study? He had no idea. So he went online and the first institution that appeared in his search was the Latin American Biblical University (UBL). Yet he hesitated. Wouldn’t all the students there already know a lot about the Bible? How would students with years of ministry in the church accept him? In his heart he felt God telling him to study. Finally he gathered his courage and asked his father to bring him to the UBL. He signed up for three classes that were starting the following week.
The UBL has been full of surprises for Luis Carlos. The classes are small and there is lots of interaction between students and professors. He didn’t expect the studies to be as rigorous or profound as they are. I love having Luis Carlos in class because he asks so many questions, often questions our other students have stopped asking because they think they already know the answers.
In the course I taught on mission, Luis Carlos realized that the mission belongs to God, not the church. All Christians are called by Christ to participate in God’s mission every day. Yet at the church Luis Carlos had been attending since his conversion the focus was only on getting more people to join the church. What about those in need? Luis Carlos came to the conclusion that he could not share the vision of this independent Pentecostal church. Now he is searching for a church where he can serve and grow in faith. Several of our other students are on a similar search.
This year Luis Carlos will be celebrating Christmas for the first time as a follower of Jesus. In the Christology class he took, Professor Martin Hoffmann asked, “Who was God for Jesus?” For Luis Carlos, this was a new question. Jesus is the one who shows us God. In Jesus’ birth we discover a God who acts in favor of life for all and who calls each of us to new life every day.
Thank you for making it possible for me to be a part of Luis Carlos’ new journey in faith through your gifts to Presbyterian World Mission. With your ongoing support, I will be able to accompany students here at the Latin American Biblical University as they seek to follow Jesus into the future.
In Christmas joy,
Karla
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 47
Read more about Karla Ann Koll's ministry
Write to Karla Ann Koll
Individuals: Give online to E200373 for Karla Ann Koll's sending and support
Congregations: Give to D506645 for Karla Ann Koll's sending and support
Churches are asked to send donations through your congregation’s normal receiving site (this is usually your presbytery).
Double Your Impact!
A group of committed donors has pledged to match all gifts sent by individuals for mission personnel support now through December 31, 2014, up to $137,480. This means your gift today will be matched by a gift to support mission personnel around the world, wherever the need is greatest. We invite you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to double the impact of your gift. Thank you!
