Here is a lovely outreach idea; painting portraits of nursing home residents.
Taking a brief respite during a gospel lectureship in this Central American resort town, he flips through a collection of portraits on his tablet computer. Each represents an old soul — a resident of a nursing home visited by the Costa Rican artist last summer.
“What I want to do is make them feel happy and comfortable with their own image,” he says. “I want them to know, ‘You are a piece of art.’”
Portrait painting, on its surface, doesn’t seem an obvious way to help the elderly. It didn’t seem that way to Leandro, either.
Leandro, 34, is a member of the Sabanilla Church of Christ near Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. He says the idea for his unique ministry came during a trip to visit his sister in Sweden.
“I told her I was not interested in doing tourist stuff,” Leandro says. Instead, he wanted a chance to serve others — perhaps volunteering at a nursing home. He envisioned busing tables and sweeping floors, but workers at the home were fascinated by his art.
He spent time with the home’s residents and started sketching them.