Over the past years, the Costa Rican Lutheran Church has had the joy and responsibility of hosting groups of people who have come on Mission Trips from the United States. Their visits involved them in a mission of sharing Word and Sacrament, and of service in Christ's name. From time to time, these folks ask the question, “Are mission trips worthwhile?” They want to know what difference their visits have made in the lives of local people, and they want to understand how mission trips relate to the church's global mission.

During the visit of Faith Lutheran Church of Minnesota to Costa Rica in 2010, the ceremony “Sowing for the Future” was performed in honor of the work that the Costa Rican Lutheran Church has done on both Social and Environmental issues.

The ILCO is pleased to observe the impact that its day care center “Casa Abierta”, or Open House, is having in the La Carpio community. Inaugurated a year ago, this day care center offers a fully integrated program of child care, education, and proper nutrition to young children.

Under the theme, “Youth and HIV: For my Right to Know and Decide,” this Sixth Regional Gathering was inaugurated on March 1, in San Jose, Costa Rica. Its expressed goal is to give young people a protagonistic role in the defense of life, and in the struggle for lives freed of prejudice and discrimination.

Members of the Costa Rica Lutheran Church´s youth group inaugurated a puppet theater called “Puppets for Justice”. These amusing characters visit communities and organizations to share experiences about various topics along their travels.

The Costa Rican Lutheran Church (ILCO) began its first weekly Radio Program “Iglesia y Sociedad” (Church and Society), which took place on Thursday, September 3, 2009. This is an alternative space, which urges individuals and social organizations interested in defending the right to information to participate in its broadcasts.

In order to follow up with adopted initiatives concerning HIV/AIDS, a group of interrelated Latin American counterparts met for a third time in the city of Bahía, Brazil to discuss their common goal to combat ignorance, exclusion and discrimination.

The Lutheran Church of Costa Rica joyfully received visitors from Minnesota, Washington and Illinois in recent weeks, and a variety of communities of faith embraced their gifts of love and service.