Costa Rica Missions Trip Wrap-Up - Day 14

July 3

Well, we are on our way home! What a amazing 2 weeks. Every day brought something new and different, from new words or phrases in Spanish, to different foods to try or God's hands at work, we experienced it all.  When we were turning out the light last night Hillary commented, "we've seen so many miracles in the past 2 weeks!"

Like what you might be asking?  Well, let me share just a few.

Brenda. This girl was run over by an ox cart filled with over 2,000 lbs. of gravel.  She has no broken bones, no internal damage and her soreness quickly became manageable.  Penny fell at the site of the accident trying to help Brenda and did not get caught under the wheels.  Brenda's travel insurance has covered the crazy costs of treatment. Karen was able to easily handle a night of no sleep.

Karen. Karen has dealt with insomnia for some time and she slept very well during the trip, in spite of the humidity and a top bunk.  She also had a potential charge of over $550 on her cell phone because of an oversight on the part of an AT&T service representative get significantly adjusted. Anytime things go well with AT&T, I consider God's hand was seriously involved.

2 young men from Parrita.  We'll call them M & T...not long ago these teens walked away from the clubhouse and people who have loved on and cared for them for a long time.  They gave in to peer pressure and allowed drugs to enter their lives.  We gathered together as a big group on June 25 for fellowship, and we spent a lot of time praying for them. Last night the group gathered again, and afterwards I asked Diego how those two were doing and if he had heard from them.  He lit up and said "Did you see those two boys who joined our fellowship tonight?  That's them!" One of the boys, who had essentially lived with Diego most days every week before he walked away, showed up at Diego's house, went to church & spend the day with him and then came to fellowship.  Both M & T told Diego they had been off drugs for a week, and agreed to go with Diego to San Jose the next day, along with some other teens, for drug testing and to start a rehab program.

Josh.  Josh was stung by a black wasp and his arm had some serious swelling and color change. Within a day of minor treatment from nurse Karen, it was almost completely gone.

There were so many other little things...no major illness, safety when balancing on stepladders to paint, protection when driving at night in strange places, provision of an incredibly kind car rental manager just to name a few.

Things we learned in Costa Rica: 1) cold showers are great when it's hot and humid; 2) when the entire country loses power for over 2 hours you are left wishing for those fans that didn't seem to be helping much before; 3) you really should buy two more jugs of water instead of just one; 4) I need to keep working on my Spanish...a lot; 5) we are really spoiled if for no other reason than that we can throw our toilet paper in the toilet and not in a trash can; 6) Seeds of Hope has some absolute ROCK STARS on staff; 7) God is ALWAYS working.  Seriously.  I knew that before I went to CR, but it hit me so hard yesterday.  Even though I was praying for M & T all week & they were on my mind, God really was working in their lives, even though I wasn't deep in prayer every day.  When we pray, He listens. And He doesn't get distracted.

As we sit in the Houston airport waiting on our flight back to Wichita, I am getting choked up just thinking about all this.  Thank you Mountain View for agreeing to let Hillary and I tag along on this mission.  Thank you Seeds of Hope for making us feel part of your family.  Y'all are awesome and you haven't seen the last of us!

So now what?  Well, glad you asked.  When we return we will be meeting with our church and friends about how we want to support SOH. We have some ideas that will help us not forget...help us stay connected...help us remember how important it is that people everywhere know Jesus.  Stay tuned!

Last morning run.

One last squeeze for Lady!  (Cecilia's dog)

About to board for Houston.

Saying good-bye to Karen. For the moment.

Costa Rica Missions Trip Day 13

July 2

This was our last full day in Costa Rica and we certainly made the most of it!  It was our only full free day, so we had planned to go to Quepos & Manuel Antonio to zipline and to then back to the beach. Karen had ziplined in Costa Rica before, but this was a first for Hillary and me!  Janis decided to stay in Esterillos to go to church and hang out with some of the staff.

We boarded the bus for the tour, joining a group from Florida who were all there on vacation.  It was about a 20 minute ride to the zipline area and although it was rough, it was beautiful. When we arrived we walked across a bridge over a little river, and then it was onto the instruction area to get into our gear.

Yes there was a field of corn!

It's hard to put into words other than saying it was all simply breathtaking.  After some initial deep breaths and minor anxiety, we were getting the hang of things (no pun intended!).  We couldn't get Hillary to try it, but on two of the ziplines Karen and I went upside down!  What a riot.  The last of our 9 ziplines was a rappel down from the platform to the ground, which honestly was the most nerve-racking part for me since you had to step backwards off the platform into thin air!  Luckily they managed the ropes for us so we just got to enjoy the short ride down.  We didn't take any photos since they had a photographer there doing that for us.  Thus, no photos today of our adventure but I am sure they will be uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure soon.

Mario our awesome ziplining guide!

After lunch we boarded back up on the bus and took the ride back to our vehicle.  We changed into our swimsuits and were quickly on our way to the beach!  Since ziplining took a pretty big chunk of the day, we weren't able to go into the national park to the beach area there but found a great place with beautiful sand and some awesome waves to play in.  We spend an hour jumping, diving and swimming in the waves before we got too salt-waterlogged and decided to visit one of the little shops for a new beach towel and a couple of other things.

We loaded up and went back into town where we had planned to stop at our favorite Agua Azul restaurant for some appetizer snacks and more photos.

We got back to Esterillos in time to join the staff for their weekly worship and staff night.  We ate pizza with them and then went to pack while they did finished up their meeting. After we accomplished most of our packing, we went back over to say our good-byes.  In just 2 weeks I feel like we have formed some really good relationships that are nowhere near being short-term.  I cannot wait to see what this team of people is going to do in these communities and the differences they will continue to make in the lives of kids in Costa Rica.

Ricardo, Karen, Diego, Jen, Hillary

Diana, Jen, Karen, Mirla, Janis & Hillary

Brenda, Janis, Sara, Jen, Hillary & Karen

Karen, Josh & Jen

Big Ben & Janis

Big Ben & Karen

Brenda & her nurse Karen!

Jen, Paula & Hillary

Ricardo, Karen, Diego &Jen

Mirla, Karen, Amy & Paula (and stalker Josh)

The whole group!

Costa Rica Missions Trip Day 12

July 1

Today we were scheduled to visit the two Jaco clubhouses, but to get to the first one is a bit tricky so we decided to leave early enough to follow the staff.  When we got over to the staff housing area, Josh mentioned that one of the sessions was a workout & could I help lead it!  So we ran back to get tennis shoes and then headed out to Jaco.

We found our way to the El Rio clubhouse and since we didn't have to be back for an hour or so for classes, we went to Taco Bar for breakfast.  Hillary had some bomb french toast, and the rest of us had a variety of fruit, eggs and of course, fabulous Costa Rica coffee.  We had brought our bibles to SHAPE, and while we were reading we were prompted to take some serious time to pray over Esterillos Oeste, the staff housing area and Cecelia's restaurant and house that we are staying in.  We ate, shared our SHAPE and prayed over the staff and what our day might bring.

Love the swings at Taco Bar!

We returned to El Rio and waded through the little riverbed to the clubhouse where they were just finishing up their breakfast and getting ready for the exercise class.  I had the girls read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and then we did a series of stretching exercises.  After that Mirla, one of the staff, led some basic exercises that we all did together.  It was a lot of fun and after we were done, Josh bought everyone little fruit slushes in a bag.  They were awesome!  It's basically frozen fruit in a plastic bag, and you make a little hole in one corner and suck out the juice and the fruit as it thaws. Totally refreshing!

After we wrapped up in El Rio, we drove over to the other Jaco clubhouse which meets in the Civic Center.  It was very different than El Rio, and although it is a very nice facility, Josh is anxious to find a place of their "own" that the kids can feel more of a connection to.  During one of the classes the power went out and later we learned that it was out in the entire country of Costa Rica, as well as Panama and Nicaragua!  Fortunately it came back on about an hour or so later, just as the exercise class was starting.  There still wasn't air conditioning, but with the power out we didn't even have fans and it had started to get a little toasty.

There's not a lot of recycling in Costa Rica so we were excited to see this little recycle "center" at the Civic Center Clubhouse.  Pretty cool design!

We had a great time with Mirla and Josh.  Mirla is very gifted in doing hair, so she braided Hillary's hair in a beautiful braid. After class we all went to get ice cream at the Heladeria - it is SO good. Then we headed to the store for more water and a few other things, while Josh took Mirla to Parrita for youth group.

When we returned to Esterillos Oeste, we unloaded and then spent some time walking around the property praying over the area and asking for God's protection over the staff and SOH in general. They are doing so much good here that we know the enemy is out to thwart the efforts of so many people.  But as we prayed I felt a lot of peace here.  Everywhere I walked I felt God's presence and His protection.  That is totally out of my comfort zone so obviously one reason why I am here!

We met Sara, Josh, Ben & Brenda for supper at one of our favorite restaurants - it was our third visit! We had a great time talking, sharing stories and we would have take a photo but when they turned the lights off we took it as a hint to leave.  We closed down the place at 9:20 😊...Pura Vida...living by the sun not by the clock!

Costa Rica Missions Trip Day 11

June 30

This morning even Hillary said "I was so happy when I woke up and heard the sound of the ocean!  I was glad it wasn't wind." I think there's a trend here :).

Since our "workday" wasn't starting until 5pm today, we had the day to go explore a bit.  After doing a little "shopping" among the Seeds of Hope jewelry stash, we left to drive up to Manuel Antonio. On the way we stopped for coffee at a fun little place just up the road from our casa, and while we were there the rain started pouring and didn't let up for some time!  It was a great little stop for coffee and breakfast, and we enjoyed watching the rain come down from under our cozy little canopy.

Brenda is back!

After the rain let up enough for us to make a dash for the car, we drove on up to Quepos and Manuel Antonio.  We pulled into a little area to drink in the beauty of the ocean from that area of Costa Rica, and it was just breathtaking once again!  We left there and drove on into Manuel Antonio, and found a place to park down by the public beach.  We jumped into the ocean for a little while, just long enough to get us really fired up about our free day on Sunday when we are going into the national park to experience the beach and the waves there.

While we were waiting on Hillary and Karen to finish up their playtime in the waves, Brenda, Janis and I met an ice cream vendor on the beach.  We didn't have any money with us for ice cream, but because of all the bandages and scratches on Brenda, the guy asked some questions about what happened to her.  Then he asked were we were staying and as it turned out, he lives in Esterillos and he knows our friend Cecilia!  Small world.

After drying off in the sun since we didn't have any towels, we loaded back up and drove to Agua Azul, a restaurant that overlooks the ocean where we had planned to have lunch.  The view was stunning, and the food was great too!  Hillary pounded a 1/2 lb. hand-made burger which she said was much better than the last one, and the rest of us enjoyed a variety of dishes.

As with the Costa Rican "Puta Vida" way, they took their time in preparing our food, and so we were a little rushed to get back, showered and back on the road to Tarcoles for classes.  Four gals in & out of the shower and back in the car in less than 30 minutes was pretty impressive!  We made it to Tarcoles in time for the English class, so Hillary helped Ben teach time in English to the students. They were quite a pair!

Even though we aren't doing a lot of specific things with or for the kids, every minute we spend in a clubhouse with kids is so valuable.  We are learning so much about SOH and what they do, what they need and just how much they are doing for the kids.  Just interacting with them for a few minutes after class playing tic-tac-toe and hanging out with them is really cool.

We drove back to Esterillos Oeste where stopped for supper at a little bar/grill.  Our waitress did not speak any English and even though we got stuck couple of times, I was able to make it through ordering okay & we all had a great meal!  Hillary ordered a 7-Up and the closest thing they had was a Fresca.  No, not the Fresca in a can from the States. This was a bottled drink and it was fantastic!  Her new favorite :)