Its definately taking a while for all of us to get back in the swing of things, but it's been encouraging to be able to begin to share our experiences with everyone here at home.
I will continue to update the blog for several weeks with posts and pictures. Our goal is to have a pictoral timeline of the entire trip up here in a couple of weeks.
A few of the team members have been a little sick since their return, so please be in prayer for them.
May God Bless You! (He has certainly blesses this team!)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Adventure Continues
So, we had to divert to Tallahassee, FL. because of bad weather in ATL. We really don't know how long we'll have to sit here, but we'll be calling sometime tonight when we get through the airport.
Donnie says to tell you that we expect 250 plus waiting for us when we get back to PC - no matter the time ;-)
Thanks for your prayers as we travel. We'll be home soon....hopefully =)
Donnie says to tell you that we expect 250 plus waiting for us when we get back to PC - no matter the time ;-)
Thanks for your prayers as we travel. We'll be home soon....hopefully =)
On The Way
We're getting ready to board our flight home from the airport in San Jose. See you all soon! btw, it's 2:00pm your time
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Last Night
Hey Everyone,
We just wrapped up our final day in Costa Rica! The zip line throught the jungle canopy and the hot springs were great! (hottest showers we´ve had since we´ve been here) We´ll wrap up the week tonight by celebrating communion together along with the family from El Mirador whose house we built. We´ve grown really close to them, so it will be a special and probably tearful evening. I don´t have much time, but here are a few pictures from our last day of work and trip today! Thanks for your prayers. Please pray for safety on the return trip. God Bless!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Last Day of Work
Well, it´s friday and so we´re about to start our last day of work. We´ve demolished a house, vastly improved an old house, poured concrete, laid a septic tank for a church, held vbs and lots more. Even more important than the work, though, we´ve made many new relationships especially with the family whose house we´re building and the missionaries whith whom we´re working. Yesterday we handed out vbs T-shirts and just last night, a local youth group holding their retreat at the RMC invited us to join with them in worship.
We´ll be finishing up our part of the projects today, and what we can´t finish will be carried on by those groups who come after us. We´ll also be leaving an offering for the Rural Methodist Center, the El Mirador community, and Brett and Brooke who are missionaries here.
Tomorrow we get to relax! We´ll head to a volcano for a ride through the jungle cannopy, a tour of the volcano, and a dip in the hot springs there. We´re all ready for a chance to unwind and reflect on our service here. At the same time though, we´re going to miss working with the families we´ve grown to know and love. It will be hard to leave our Christian family here.
I´m writing from a different internet cafe today, so unfortunately, I´m not going to be able to upload any pictures, but hopefully, I{ll be able to get a few more up at some point tomorrow, and I will continue to upload pictures after we return.
God Bless!
Your ambassadors in Christ!
We´ll be finishing up our part of the projects today, and what we can´t finish will be carried on by those groups who come after us. We´ll also be leaving an offering for the Rural Methodist Center, the El Mirador community, and Brett and Brooke who are missionaries here.
Tomorrow we get to relax! We´ll head to a volcano for a ride through the jungle cannopy, a tour of the volcano, and a dip in the hot springs there. We´re all ready for a chance to unwind and reflect on our service here. At the same time though, we´re going to miss working with the families we´ve grown to know and love. It will be hard to leave our Christian family here.
I´m writing from a different internet cafe today, so unfortunately, I´m not going to be able to upload any pictures, but hopefully, I{ll be able to get a few more up at some point tomorrow, and I will continue to upload pictures after we return.
God Bless!
Your ambassadors in Christ!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
We´re Working
Hey Everyone! It´s about 945 Costa Rica time on Tuesday. The internet at the center is actually down, so we haven´t been able to give you any updates until today when I had a chance to come into town. The flight and bus ride went well Saturday, and we arrived at the Rural Methodist Center just in time for supper. The food is GREAT. We stopped at a little mountain-side restuarant on the way to the center on Saturday and had our first taste of Costa Rican food. They had filet minion for about $6! Juanita, our cook, does a superb job. Lots of rice and beans of course but lots of vegatable and a good bit of meat and fruit mixed in there.
Sunday we had the opportunity to join in a baptismal service with a church from the nearby town of Santa Rosa. They came down to the center and shared communion and then held their baptisms in the creek at the center. The pastor invited Lynn to help perform the baptisms so she and their pastor baptised about 10 young people and one older lady. Later in the afternoon, we worshiped with another congregation in the village of El Mirador (El Mirador is only half a mile away from the Rural Methodist Center and is basically a shanty town, but many of the homes have been rebuilt over the years with the help of mission groups and the Methodist Center) . Some of the His Image students among us sang and Lynn shared a message about David. It was a great experience to fellowship and worship with believers from a different culture. Many of the songs were unfamiliar, and most of us don´t speak any Spanish, but to know that we were worshiping the Lord with them was enough.
Everyone is having to practice a lot of patience and flexability. Most of the time we really don´t know what we´re about to do next or how long we´ll have to wait between things. Time definately moves at a different pace.
We got to work yesterday at several different sites. One group is in Santa Rosa working on a church bathroom and installing a septic system. Another is in El Mirador improving a home there that´s made of no more than a few logs and tin roofing. Still a third is working on the church in El Mirador demolishing an old building to make way for a community center where there will be a food program. While the rest of us were working in the village, some of our students played with the children in a field at the bottom of the hilside and even learned a good bit of Spanish as they got to know them. And of course, we´re having VBS each day in El Mirdor. We had probably 30 kids yesterday. Most of our people felt like VBS was chaos, but the staff here assured us that our chaos was smooth sailing compared with how VBS often goes. The kids loved it, though, so that´s all that matters. After VBS finished, Children would run up to those of us on cunstruction and show us their Bible Buddies (the plastic figures that represent the Bible Point for the day), and the boys would come up to us and give us a high-five.
Along with working pretty hard, we´re already beginning to grow a lot closer together. When you sweat together and reflect on the day together you can´t help but experience Christian fellowship.
Please continue to pray for health and attitudes. Both have been pretty good so far, but we still have the better part of a long, great week ahead of us. Also, please pray for our hearts to be open and the hearts of those we´re servering. We are beginning to see God here working in us and through us, and the potential for Him to work is immeasuarable.
God Bless!
Sunday we had the opportunity to join in a baptismal service with a church from the nearby town of Santa Rosa. They came down to the center and shared communion and then held their baptisms in the creek at the center. The pastor invited Lynn to help perform the baptisms so she and their pastor baptised about 10 young people and one older lady. Later in the afternoon, we worshiped with another congregation in the village of El Mirador (El Mirador is only half a mile away from the Rural Methodist Center and is basically a shanty town, but many of the homes have been rebuilt over the years with the help of mission groups and the Methodist Center) . Some of the His Image students among us sang and Lynn shared a message about David. It was a great experience to fellowship and worship with believers from a different culture. Many of the songs were unfamiliar, and most of us don´t speak any Spanish, but to know that we were worshiping the Lord with them was enough.
Everyone is having to practice a lot of patience and flexability. Most of the time we really don´t know what we´re about to do next or how long we´ll have to wait between things. Time definately moves at a different pace.
We got to work yesterday at several different sites. One group is in Santa Rosa working on a church bathroom and installing a septic system. Another is in El Mirador improving a home there that´s made of no more than a few logs and tin roofing. Still a third is working on the church in El Mirador demolishing an old building to make way for a community center where there will be a food program. While the rest of us were working in the village, some of our students played with the children in a field at the bottom of the hilside and even learned a good bit of Spanish as they got to know them. And of course, we´re having VBS each day in El Mirdor. We had probably 30 kids yesterday. Most of our people felt like VBS was chaos, but the staff here assured us that our chaos was smooth sailing compared with how VBS often goes. The kids loved it, though, so that´s all that matters. After VBS finished, Children would run up to those of us on cunstruction and show us their Bible Buddies (the plastic figures that represent the Bible Point for the day), and the boys would come up to us and give us a high-five.
Along with working pretty hard, we´re already beginning to grow a lot closer together. When you sweat together and reflect on the day together you can´t help but experience Christian fellowship.
Please continue to pray for health and attitudes. Both have been pretty good so far, but we still have the better part of a long, great week ahead of us. Also, please pray for our hearts to be open and the hearts of those we´re servering. We are beginning to see God here working in us and through us, and the potential for Him to work is immeasuarable.
God Bless!
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