FACULTY
Saltwater and Scripture
Just before Christmas 2024, Elias Leon ’27 and his family received a gift: a New York Times story featuring them, their Costa Rican church, Pura Vida, and the Christian Surfers organization.
“My parents kept it under the radar from most people in our town that it was a New York Times story,” he says. “We didn’t know if they were going to publish it, so we were surprised. It was cool and unexpected.”
Entitled “From the Surf to the Sermon: The Christian Surfers of Costa Rica,” the story’s subhead reads: “A group of missionaries who surf have expanded to a remote part of Costa Rica, where people come from afar looking for the ‘perfect wave.’ And maybe a little Jesus?”
Chandler Brownlee, the article’s central character and a friend of the Leon family from the Florida chapter of Christian Surfers, moved to Costa Rica to start a new church in Pavones, known for having the second-largest left-hand wave in the world.
Elias’ mother, alumna Kyle Schmidt Leon ’05, joined Christian Surfers in Santa Barbara as a teenager and moved to Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica, with her family during high school. That’s where she met her future husband, Dennis.
“When he was younger, my dad competed for Costa Rica on their national team in the 90s and early 2000s,” Elias says. “My mom and my dad met in 1999 and started dating. When she moved back to Santa Barbara, my dad needed a visa to visit her, which he obtained because he had won enough surfing contests to compete in California.”
The two were married in Santa Barbara in 2002, and Dennis worked for the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara, creating a Spanish-speaking offshoot congregation, Pura Vida. Kyle and Dennis eventually moved back to Costa Rica, establishing the Pura Vida church in Esterillos Oeste, featured in the New York Times article.
Elias grew up in this small fishing village of 600 people, which includes many of his cousins. “It’s a small community where you know everybody, which is one of the reasons I chose Westmont,” he says. “I grew up with Pura Vida, pure life, and it’s been chill growing up being flexible and with little pressure.”
“It’s a small community where you know everybody, which is one of the reasons I chose Westmont,”
He chose to major in computer science for its adaptability and practicality, aiming for remote work and travel. “It’s definitely not the easiest major, and the professors definitely push you, but they’re engaging and never expect more than you think you could do.”
Elias’ grandfather Kenny Schmidt ’76, owns a fishing boat in Santa Barbara and takes Elias to his favorite surfing spot in the Channel Islands.
This summer, Elias plans to intern for Wycliffe Bible Translators and assist with developing a translation app. In the fall, he joins the Westmont Global Semester led by professor Charles Farhadian to study in China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam and Greece. But he’ll have to leave his surfboard on campus.
This is a story from the Spring 2025 Westmont Magazine