Who We Are

Driven by God’s Love

Our ministries cover every sphere of society, including ship-based medical care, performing arts teams, Bible training programs, business coaching, sports ministries, anti-trafficking work, and many more.

A global movement from many cultures

On May 29, 2010, Elcy and Joan Simarra arrived together for the first time in the Costa Rican Caribbean, in a place called Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.

That day they were in a restaurant having lunch, while a Spanish couple entered the same place, listening to their accents obviously told each other they are from Spain, at that very moment they felt the word of God for their lives and that place.

“Puerto Viejo is a gateway to reach the nations.” We believe that this was the word of God for this ministry and at that very moment Elcy and Joan said “Yes to God for his plans for that region of the country”.

A Family of Ministries

From a late-night vision of waves of young people reaching every continent, given to a 20-year-old in the Bahamas, to a global ministry with over 20,000 volunteers, the growth of YWAM is the story of God’s inspiration, God’s grace for many mistakes, and the creativity of the Holy Spirit’s leading. The heart of YWAM–to worship God, to serve God’s global purposes, and to champion young people–remains as strong as it was in the beginning. 

Short Term Volunteer

If you have the passion and want to experience what is like to be involved in missions you can come and be a volunteer with us for up to 3 months. As a short term volunteer, you would be joining with our ministries as well as helping with different jobs around our base (cleaning, cooking, construction, etc).

Bring a Team

We love to receive groups of people. The majority of our groups come from churches, friends, high schools, other YWAM bases. Everyone is welcome! Typical team activities are: Bible distribution, kids programs, street evangelism, and construction at our base.

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Become a Volunteer

Volunteers at our base help us in different areas, according to their passion in life, using their gifts and talent to bless our community.

If you have already done a DTS and are looking for a place to continue being involved in missions, we are waiting for you. We encourage you to pray and ask God if He wants you to come here. If He says yes, come and join us as full-time staff at YWAM Puerto Viejo.