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From Upper New York to Costa Rica: A shared call to serve

April 21, 2025 / By Kristina Clark, Associate Director of Missional Excellence / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” – Ephesians 3:20

In The United Methodist Church, the Spirit moves through our connection—quietly weaving lives together in awe-inspiring and unexpected ways. 

This winter, two mission teams from the Upper New York Conference—living just over an hour apart in New York—met for the first time while serving in Costa Rica, only to discover that their paths had already been intertwined for decades. Though they hadn’t known each other before, they were connected by shared service, the same United Methodist missionaries, and a deep love for a community that helped shape their faith journeys. 

Nancy Potter and George Gull of St. Paul’s UMC in Ithaca returned to Los Chiles, Costa Rica for the ninth time this year. As Mission Volunteers with Global Ministries, they serve through Agua Viva Serves, a nonprofit that brings sustainable, clean water to remote communities. Meanwhile, Dawn and Jeff French of Marcellus United Methodist Church led a mission team from Whitesboro: Trinity UMC and Marcellus UMC to Ciudad Quesada for their tenth journey, this time to remodel the Christian Education wing at Iglesia Metodista de Ciudad Quesada. 

Their paths physically crossed in early February, when Nancy and George traveled two hours to Ciudad Quesada to reconnect with Pastor Francisco—someone they had worked with years before. During their visit, they were introduced to the teams from Marcellus and Whitesboro. As they shared stories over coffee, the realization set in: they weren’t strangers at all. 

Both teams had roots in the same mission. 

In the early 2000s, United Methodist missionaries Ralph and Mary Miller invited churches across the Upper New York Conference to help bring their vision of a bilingual Methodist high school in Ciudad Quesada to life. Both St. Paul’s and Trinity: Whitesboro answered that call, sending Volunteers in Mission (VIM) teams to lay the foundation—literally and spiritually—by mixing concrete in red clay, wiring classrooms, and building deep bonds with the local Methodist church in Costa Rica. 

Now, decades later, both teams continue returning to Costa Rica, in different missions, to serve alongside friends and witness how God is moving through the people and ministries there.  

It was a holy, full-circle moment. Two mission teams—once strangers—found an instant connection through their faith and the legacy of Ralph and Mary Miller, whose call to missionary service had brought them back to Costa Rica, year after year. Now, two decades after answering the same call to build the school, they stood side by side, continuing to serve with God’s people in Costa Rica.  
 
Both teams felt the strength and sacredness of the United Methodist Connection through this encounter, which reminded them how God’s Spirit works through our Connection, uniting us from all corners of the world, guiding our steps in service, and weaving our lives together to build God’s kingdom here on Earth. 
 

Feeling a call to missionary service? Learn more and find upcoming opportunities at umcmission.org/missionaries or umvim.org. Reach out to Kristina Clark, Associate Director of Missional Excellence, at kristinaclark@unyumc.org for more information.