Safely Home

The Senior Class of 2016 has successfully completed our missions trip! We arrived at school at 2:15 am yesterday, and have been catching up on our sleep ever since. We would like to thank everyone for all of your prayers and support on our trip, and we are excited to share all the wonderful stories we have to tell.

Ending On a Good Note

Waking up at 5:00 didn't seem all that bad this morning when we were relaxing at a beautiful pacific beach on Tortuga Island. Unfortunately it was a long trip to finally enjoy our last day in Costa Rica. Gabriel picked us up at 5:15 and took us to a bus stop where we all got on a charter bus. The charter bus had seats like clouds that reclined, so we pretty much all fell asleep on the two hour ride over to the pacific coast. We ate breakfast at the Calypso Cruise's private restaurant/dock, which was the first part of the tour. During the tour our tour guide, Oscar, would give instructions on what we would be doing as well as pointing out places of interest. After breakfast, we departed by boat from the private dock and headed for Tortuga. It was a two hour boat ride that was catered by the crew with fresh fruit, alcohol (we did not drink any as we are not 18), water, juices, and various sodas. The boat also had some relaxing things to partake in like a net over the water and a couple of hot tubs to relax on/in. When the boat landed on the island we went back to our campsite where Oscar gave us more instructions and told us the times for snorkeling and banana boating. We took a boat out to a large island in the middle of the Gulf and dived into the water with full snorkeling gear: goggles, breathing tube, flippers, and if needed, a life jacket. The water was a little unclear due to previous tropical storms, but you could still see a ton of beautiful fish and more underwater life in the reef. After about 45 minutes of snorkeling we all went back to the island by boat and had our lunch. Starting with an appetizer: a dip made of diced fish marinated in lime served in a bowl with tortilla chips on the side.
Next they opened a salad bar with the ordinary lettuce and other vegetables available, but also macaroni salad. Lunch was served with a huge piece of chicken, garlic bread, rice, and veggies. Finally, dessert, coffee with bread (the usual Costa Rican thing; they love their coffee). After lunch we had some time to just relax and enjoy the beach before the banana boating started at 2:00. Some of us played frisbee, some looked for seashells, and some tanned on the beach. After banana boating was over we had some more time to relax and have fun before we departed from the island at 3:20. We arrived back at the mainland at around 5:00 after another peaceful boat ride with lots of tasty fruit. After another sleepy and long bus ride back to San Jose we grabbed a quick 'Murican dinner at Mickey Dee's. After dinner we arrived back at Franco's at around 9:30 and said our goodbye's to some of the people we won't be seeing tomorrow like our bus driver, Gabriel. After saying our goodbyes we all headed up to our rooms, showered, packed a little bit for the trip home tomorrow and got some rest for the upcoming long day of tiresome traveling.

Exploring the City

Today was a different day than the rest as we helped with the Feeding Ministry. We ate breakfast at 7:30 and left around 7:45 en route to La Carpio. On the way, we got the chance to sing some of our chorale songs to our bus driver Gabriel. Some of us, especially Mr. Harris, have become good friends with him and it was awesome to be able to share our singing with him. The ride to La Carpio was pretty long. The neighborhood we were headed to was right beside a dump and all the trucks were unloading their scrap metal and garbage, so there was no room for buses to fit. After a while, things finally got moving and we made it to the church. Bruce explained some of their history to us and how the church had started from literally nothing and the pastor and his family had to sacrifice basically everything to start the church. Then Christiana, the pastor's wife of the church, explained the rest of the details and shared her story. Now, the church has 200+ people and it's thriving and currently they are partially under construction to make it an even better space!
Every day except Monday and Friday, the church has this program called the Feeding Ministry. Children from all over La Carpio come to their church and have lunch, play with each other, and learn about Jesus. The building where the kids were fed was about the size of 1/4 of a tennis field.. Imagine putting our team of 20 in there, then add 35-40 kids! And add the fact that there was no air conditioning or air flow and it was about 80 degrees and humid! It was a tight fit, but we made it. We helped serve the meals and drinks, and some of us helped feed the younger children. After that, we helped clean the dishes and then went up to the second story of their church. The size of it was a little over half a basketball court, so there was a lot more room to run around. We played with the kids for a good while - dancing around, making bracelets, coloring, playing tag, and just running around with stickers and placing them on everyone. Most of the kids were from rough homes, many were abused and didn't have parents who truly care about them, so it was awesome getting to just carry them on our backs and smile with them and share some of our time and love with the kids.
Next we ate some pretty great pizza and I guess this detail didn't really need to be said but it was so good so I think you all needed to know THAT IT HAPPENED AND WE ATE AND PARTOOK IN IT AND IT WAS SO GOOD. OK. Costa Rican pizza is killer.
After that, we left and brought out the American side in us and went to Walmart!! Which let me tell you, IT FELT GREAT entering somewhere that felt like a taste of home *insert cheesy magazine quote with pumpkin recipe*.
Following our Walmart trip, we went to drop Bruce off at the Abraham Project. We were supposed to get sod yesterday, but it wasn't available so they got it today while we were at the Feeding Ministry. When we got there, they had laid about half of it down. IT. LOOKED. SO. GOOD. Just seeing all the work we've done all week to have this grass finally laid felt insanely satisfying.
We got back to Franco's around 5:20 and had dinner, then had devotions at 8:15. Throughout the week it has been super cool to see our class grow closer together and become more like a family. I'm blessed to be surrounded by these people. :)
Thank you for our prayers..tomorrow is our last full day!!

Last Day of Work (6th full day)

Today we woke up and ate breakfast at Franko's. After breakfast we went over to the Abraham Project for our last day of work. Our work consisted of moving dirt, breaking up dirt clumps, and making concrete. It was a fulfilling to see how all our hard work came together and made a big difference. After working we came back to Franco's and ate supper. After supper we were able to go to a little store and buy some snacks or drinks then we all gathered back together for devotions. It has been a great experience here so far and we are all always excited to see what God has planed for the next day.    

Cultural Immersion(5th Full Day in Costa Rica)

Sunday was a very relaxing day, starting with being able to sleep in 'till 8:00 oppose to our usual 6:00. The wonderful aroma of good ol' classic American pancakes was in the air as we walked downstairs for breakfast. It was refreshing to have some food that we'd all have in America instead of the gallo pinto we've been accustomed to. The bus picked us up at around 9:00 for church at the Abraham Project. The worship in Costa Rica is very upbeat and a lot more exciting than a traditional church service we are all used to. It was extremely fun to see the differences in our church services in America to the ones here in Costa Rica. After church we got about three hours of playing games with the local youth group. We met all the kids in their youth group and got to play nine square and fútbol with them. Nine square was left behind as gift to the project by a previous missions team that visited.  We played fútbol in an soccer field just a few blocks away from the project, which we walked to after cleaning up nine square. Fútbol, being the favorite sport in the country, was very competitive with the locals. We were all split into three teams of seven; one goalie, 3 defenders and 3 offenders. The field was roughly the size of the Shalom gym, maybe a bit wider, and was played a lot like how we play indoor soccer in gym class with the main difference being you can't play the walls. After an hour and a half of fútbol we went back to Bruce and Angie's house for a time that is only practiced in Costa Rica: a coffee break. This is practiced among everyone in Costa Rica and is used as a time to relax with friends and family over a cup of coffee. Even big businesses will stop working for a coffee break at around three P.M.. At Bruce and Angie's we had all different types of bread such as: bread filled with custard, caramel, apple, pineapple, and guava(a type of jelly). Bruce also made us coffee the old fashioned way using a chorreador, which takes a lot of time but tastes a lot better than throwing it in a machine and letting it do the work for you. A chorreador is very easy to make and costs little money to buy one as well. During our coffee break, Bruce shared his testimony with us which was very interesting to see how God worked in his life to take away all the bad. After around 3 hours at Bruce and Angie's we went to Eliel's house for something called cell group. Cell Group is a lot like a small group at church or even sunday school. At cell group we sang a lot of worship songs together in both Spanish and English, then a man named Onry, who is also Eliel's brother sang some of his own songs with us. His songs were a mix of rap and reggae and are part of the ministry he does himself on the streets of San Jose. He shared his testimony with us as well after he was done singing. A lot of us are planning to buy one of his CDs tomorrow. He is very successful with what he does and is even on the radio sometimes on christian stations. After a good night of worship and conversing with the locals about their own testimonies and lives we got on the bus to head back to Franco's. We arrived at Franco's at 9:30 and all headed upstairs to get a good nights rest. It's back to the grind tomorrow, getting up at 6 and working all day long at the Abraham Project.

Volcano & Shopping Day! (4th full day in Costa Rica)

Our fourth full day in Costa Rica, or Volcano Day (what I call it), was nothing if not an adventure. The morning was started a half an hour earlier than usual, but this was made easier with Franco's
amazing breakfast. We hopped on the bus at seven to pick up Bruce and Angie, and head to Irazú Volcano. Special thanks to Gabriél (our amazing bus driver), Gracias Mae (Thanks dude)! We arrived at the volcano roughly two hours later. We had a great time walking around, seeing the sights, and (some of us) doing/attempting flips off part of the side of the volcano. On our way back to the bus we came across these animals Bruce and Angie described as somewhat of a possum, raccoon, and monkey hybrid; cute, but also aggressive. After the volcano trip, we headed out to eat lunch at a local pizza shop where the food was amazing. Then, we took a short drive to a little market area to shop. It had lots of little stores where most of us bought various keepsakes or gifts. From there, we headed back to Franco's for an hour, then headed to a worship service. Unlike the service we went to on Wednesday, this service consisted of five churches and was much larger. Even though we did not understand much (because it was entirely in Spanish), I believe all of us could feel how powerful the messages were, and the overall feeling in the room was. After the service we headed to a nearby plaza to eat dinner at a shop called TacoBar. Following dinner, we arrived back at Franco's around 8:45 local time. Being worn out from the long, exciting day, we all settled down quickly. We are all looking forward to experiencing the service, meeting the youth group, and seeing what new experiences God has in store for us tomorrow. Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We will have more updates on our adventures for you soon.

3rd Day Working

      Our morning schedule was the same as the past two days. When we arrived to the Abraham Project a few of us went with the day care kids to the local movie theatre, while the majority of us went to work in the mud pile, a.k.a the future yard. At the theatre we helped teachers keep the children in order, watched Hotel Transylvania 2, and got to know a couple of the kids really well. After the movie we went to the food court to eat lunch. We got back to Abraham Project around one and the whole group went to go see the property that is set aside for phase 2, but sadly, we weren't able to get there.
      On the work cite we leveled the ground in preparation for placing the grass, dug trenches, and planted little bushes all around the edge of the side walk. We ended up working until five and then returned to Franco's. After cleaning up we ate supper, had devotions, and then wrapped the Christmas presents for the kids in the Children's home at the Abraham Project. And that was our day! :D

2nd Day Working

We woke up and ate at Franco's house and then left for the Abraham Project. Some of the girls left to work at the daycare while the rest of us began to work on several jobs. Our goal was to prepare sections of land for sod to be laid. We had to dig up extra dirt and dump it over the edge of the bank of a river. We raked the ground so it was even and the ground was loose. We ate lunch at 12 and then continued the projects in the rain. We worked until 4:30 and then returned to Franco's for supper. After supper some of us walked to a nearby grocery store for some snacks and drinks.
We met up for some worship and devotions before heading to bed.

First Day on the Job

Our first full day in Cost Rica was full of being immersed in the Costa Rican culture. We started our day out at 7am with a delicious breakfast to give us fuel for the hard work we had ahead of us. At 7:30am we headed to the Abraham Project, and met all of the Costa Rican workers that we will be working with for the rest of the week. Our main goal this week is to finish the courtyard/garden which is central to all of the buildings at the Abraham Project. We were all assigned to various tasks. Some of the tasks included mixing cement for the pathways, ripping out an old brick sidewalk, preparing trenches for PVC pipe, leveling the top soil for sod, relocating a palm tree, mowing, and weed whacking. There are a few girls who are helping out in the day care by doing some crafts and games with the kids. We finished working at around 4pm, and headed back to Franco's to get cleaned up and have dinner. After dinner, we went to church at The Abraham Project for some worship and a short sermon that was all in Spanish. This was difficult for us seniors since we speak very little Spanish, but it was definitely interesting to see how believers in a different culture do things differently than we do. We finished off the day with meeting as a class, and discussing the experiences that we had on our first full day and experiences to come. We are all ready to get some rest for a day full of hard work and new experiences. We appreciate you keeping us in your prayers, and we will continue to post updates on our adventure.

The Adventure Begins in Costa Rica!

We began our journey to Costa Rica at the very early time of 1:15 a.m. Before departing for Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, our class and advisors prayed with the parents and Dr. Flood. Once at the airport we proceeded to our terminal and boarded our 6:00 a.m. flight to Atlanta, Georgia. From Atlanta we then had a four hour flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Once we arrived at 12:00 p.m. (Costa Rican time is 2 hours behind EST), we met up with our team leaders, Bruce and Angie.  After getting settled in at Franco's house, the place we will be lodging for the trip, we went to the Abraham Project for a tour. While we were there, Bruce and Angie gave us a lot of background on how this project started and became what it is today. They showed us several buildings including the daycare center, children's homes, multipurpose center, and medical center. We will be getting the opportunity to work in many of these buildings in the upcoming days at the Abraham Project.  After the tour, we went to Bruce and Angie's house for a Costa Rican barbecue. It was a great time of fellowship as we got to enjoy their culture's food and meet several missionary families that help run the Abraham Project.  It is a huge praise that we did not encounter any problems during our transit to Costa Rica.  Many of us are feeling rather exhausted from the long day of travel, and our looking forward to getting a great nights sleep.  We ask that you continue to pray for us that we may make an impact on the Abraham Project as well as the people we minister to in Costa Rica. We're very excited for the doors that God will open for us during our missions trip! P.S. we apologize for the late update, it was meant to be posted last night and have pictures, but due to the slow Wi-Fi that proved difficult.

The Time Is Coming...

The anticipation is building as we will soon be departing on the Class of 2016 Senior Missions Trip! Many of us are already packing for our departure from Shalom at 2:00 a.m. on October 27. We will then fly from Washington National to Atlanta and then San Jose, Costa Rica!

2015 Sr. Missions Trip

October 27 - November 5