I haven't written in forever, so this post and my next few may be a little long!
On Tuesday we finished sanding, and we were able to paint the rafters by lunchtime! After lunch at the church, we went to the orphanage and played with the kids there all afternoon. I expected a run down building filled with kids, but instead we arrived at a small building with a beautiful outdoor playground and a huge toy room with only 12 kids. 2 of the kids were teeny babies, one was a year old, one was 2 years old, and the rest were between 3 and 8 years old. They LOVED our cameras and didn't want to give them back =) When we got back to the hotel, we found out that the outreach at the church (game night) was again canceled because of low attendance. After showers and dinner, however, Cali, one of the Tico leaders of the trip, called and told us that there were 15 people at the church! 20 of us volunteered to
go, and we had a ton of fun playing jumprope and double dutch with the few Ticos that were there, as well as some Taps and Wah!
I left New Orleans on June 18th, and flew to Charlotte to spend the night. The next day I left with 50 other teens and leaders from Church at Charlotte and headed to Costa Rica! I was originally asked to come as a leader, but I ended up being just another one of the youth. We arrived on the 19th and drove 3 hours to Ciudad Quesada in the San Carlos region where we worked for the remainder of the week.
On Saturday morning, we headed to the church we were parterned with and then split into groups going door to door, asking youth around the community to come to the worship time we were having that night. The church we were working with just moved to a different building after being kicked out of their previous building, so the main goal of our week was to raise awareness of the church and what they're about. Unfortunately, there weren't too many youth around, so after about 45 minutes, we headed to a soccer field where we played against some Ticos (Costa Ricans). Most of our girls didn't play, but there were some kids at the field, and we played a mini soccer game with them-- they were still better than us! That afternoon, we went to a different soccer field, but it started to pour (it IS rainy season!) so we ended up just playing group games in a little pavillion and at the church. Saturday night, we had a worhip time with bands from 3 or 4 different churches. That night was one of my favorites because the songs we sang were able to be sung in both Spanish and English. It was so cool to see everybody worshipping the same God in different languages. The only downside to the night was that we didn't eat until 9:00, so we were all a little bit hungry.
We went to church on Sunday which was a lot like the night before in regards to worship. I was able to meet a few of the Ticas who came, including the wife of one of our translators. She was so sweet and invited us to come to her house anytime. She had an adorable daughter named Valerie who distracted 
quite a lot of us during the service with her cute smile and babbling. We ate around 1:00 and just hung around the church playing games during the afternoon. One of the things our youth group is good at is keeping occupied during periods of waiting by playing group games like "WAH!" and Signs. The outreach activity we had planned for Sunday was a Battle of the Bands, and it was supposed to start at 4 in the afternoon-- that definitely was not set according to Tico time. I left at 4:45 and no one had even showed up at the church yet =). One of the girls on our team, Brittany, got sick, and had to go home to NC. Because she couldn't get a flight until the next day, she and I were driven by George (a translator) 2.5 hours to my house to spend the night since it is much closer to the airport. It was good to see my mom and brother again (Anna was at a friend's house and my dad was already in the States), and Brittany and I had fun talking on the trip back and getting to know each other better.
quite a lot of us during the service with her cute smile and babbling. We ate around 1:00 and just hung around the church playing games during the afternoon. One of the things our youth group is good at is keeping occupied during periods of waiting by playing group games like "WAH!" and Signs. The outreach activity we had planned for Sunday was a Battle of the Bands, and it was supposed to start at 4 in the afternoon-- that definitely was not set according to Tico time. I left at 4:45 and no one had even showed up at the church yet =). One of the girls on our team, Brittany, got sick, and had to go home to NC. Because she couldn't get a flight until the next day, she and I were driven by George (a translator) 2.5 hours to my house to spend the night since it is much closer to the airport. It was good to see my mom and brother again (Anna was at a friend's house and my dad was already in the States), and Brittany and I had fun talking on the trip back and getting to know each other better. I wasn't able to get back to San Carlos until about 4:00 PM on Monday because I hitched a ride with one of our Tica friends, Ana, whose husband was helping facilitate our trip. After a quick cafecito (afternoon coffee time!), Tony (Ana's husband) took me to where one of our groups was 
working-- a small elemantary school. The school director had asked us to sand the rust off some rafters and repaint them-- very dusty work! We were supposed to have a movie night at the church starting at 6, but no one showed up so we simply headed back to the hotel for dinner. Another one of my favorite things about the trip was the debriefing time we had every night after showers. Each group shared about what they had done during the day, showed some pictures, and told about any God sightings they had experienced. One of our teams was working at a special needs school, one was fixing up and repainting a park, and our team was at the elementary school. Each team was also able to visit a nearby orphanage and just love on the kids there.
working-- a small elemantary school. The school director had asked us to sand the rust off some rafters and repaint them-- very dusty work! We were supposed to have a movie night at the church starting at 6, but no one showed up so we simply headed back to the hotel for dinner. Another one of my favorite things about the trip was the debriefing time we had every night after showers. Each group shared about what they had done during the day, showed some pictures, and told about any God sightings they had experienced. One of our teams was working at a special needs school, one was fixing up and repainting a park, and our team was at the elementary school. Each team was also able to visit a nearby orphanage and just love on the kids there.
On Tuesday we finished sanding, and we were able to paint the rafters by lunchtime! After lunch at the church, we went to the orphanage and played with the kids there all afternoon. I expected a run down building filled with kids, but instead we arrived at a small building with a beautiful outdoor playground and a huge toy room with only 12 kids. 2 of the kids were teeny babies, one was a year old, one was 2 years old, and the rest were between 3 and 8 years old. They LOVED our cameras and didn't want to give them back =) When we got back to the hotel, we found out that the outreach at the church (game night) was again canceled because of low attendance. After showers and dinner, however, Cali, one of the Tico leaders of the trip, called and told us that there were 15 people at the church! 20 of us volunteered to
go, and we had a ton of fun playing jumprope and double dutch with the few Ticos that were there, as well as some Taps and Wah! On Wendesday morning, we headed back to the school and very quickly sanded and repainted a whole different set of rafters. It was a little different because the teachers were having teacher enrichment day, so there weren't many kids at the school, only ones who knew we were working and who wanted to see us. As were packing up to leave for lunch, the director asked us to come into the dining hall. She thanked us multiple times for coming, and offered us traditional pico de gallo, a tortilla filled with a potato mixture, sweet plaintains, and some horchata to drink. Horchata, as someone described it, is like the milk leftover after you eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We asked her if there was anything else we could do at the school since we had the whole afternoon open, and she said that we could paint the dining hall and kitchen. So, after lunch and armed with rollers and paintbrushes, we tackled the rooms and were able to finish them by 4:00ish. As we were painting, some kids were having band class (the only class that was held that day), and the band director invited us to come to his band practice that afternoon at the local high school. We told him we'd love to, and started washing out the paintbrushes and rollers we had used. The director again told us she would like to meet with us, so right before we left we went to her office. She came out and thanked us with tears in her eyes, saying she had never seen anybody voluntarily come from so far away to help their small, poor school. She then proceded to give us beautiful bookmarks, asking us to remember her and the school everytime 
we used them. She was so nice, and continued to thank us until we left. When we arrived at the high school, there were only 8 people from the band present, but they played for us until we had to leave. They were amazing and so nice! After dinner and debriefing, our whole team headed to an indoor soccer stadium that we were told was a popular hang out place on Wednesday night. Teams of 6 were formed, and we had a tournament with the Ticos who were there. My team lost our first game and was eliminated, but it was a lot of fun! My friend Hannah and I noticed a young Tica girl sitting by herself, so we went over and started to talk to her. Her friend came over as 
well and we learned that their names were Gretchel and Francis. They were so much fun to talk to, and they just babbled on about where they lived and where we lived, where they went to school and how many siblings they had. Then, out of the blue, they asked us to sing! Hannah and I sang "Lean on Me" and they loved it! They sang us a song in Spanish and then asked us to sing "Lean on Me" twice more. We asked them to teach us a song, and somehow we figured out that we all knew "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in our own languages. They taught us how to sing it in Spanish, and we taught them to sing it in English. We took a ton of pictures with them and were so sad when we had to leave.
we used them. She was so nice, and continued to thank us until we left. When we arrived at the high school, there were only 8 people from the band present, but they played for us until we had to leave. They were amazing and so nice! After dinner and debriefing, our whole team headed to an indoor soccer stadium that we were told was a popular hang out place on Wednesday night. Teams of 6 were formed, and we had a tournament with the Ticos who were there. My team lost our first game and was eliminated, but it was a lot of fun! My friend Hannah and I noticed a young Tica girl sitting by herself, so we went over and started to talk to her. Her friend came over as 
well and we learned that their names were Gretchel and Francis. They were so much fun to talk to, and they just babbled on about where they lived and where we lived, where they went to school and how many siblings they had. Then, out of the blue, they asked us to sing! Hannah and I sang "Lean on Me" and they loved it! They sang us a song in Spanish and then asked us to sing "Lean on Me" twice more. We asked them to teach us a song, and somehow we figured out that we all knew "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in our own languages. They taught us how to sing it in Spanish, and we taught them to sing it in English. We took a ton of pictures with them and were so sad when we had to leave.
Thursday was our "Fun Day" and we traveled to town called La Fortuna,
about an hour away, where we ziplined, rode horses, and visted an indigenous tribe's village. We were also able to pick up a few souvenirs when we finally ate lunch at 4:30 PM. We headed back to the hotel at 5:30 PM, had dinner and debriefing, and said goodbye to all the Ticos from the church that had come to say goodbye.
about an hour away, where we ziplined, rode horses, and visted an indigenous tribe's village. We were also able to pick up a few souvenirs when we finally ate lunch at 4:30 PM. We headed back to the hotel at 5:30 PM, had dinner and debriefing, and said goodbye to all the Ticos from the church that had come to say goodbye. We left to back to NC on Friday at 8 AM and made good time to the airport, arriving at about 11:00 AM. I got to see my mom, brother, and sister there as well because they had all of our passports for safekeeping. We finally got back to Charlotte at 9:15 PM, and my dad was there to meet me along with half of Church at Charlotte.
All in all it was a great trip. I feel like we made a tangible impact in the San Carlos community, and it was so much fun to go on a trip with some of my best friends. Most of all, God worked through us and showed people that we were different because we were living for Him. Doors have been opened that future teams can now walk through and carry on the work that we have started!
Thanks Boo!
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat way to describe the team's time in San Carlos....miss you,
Love, Mommy
In your words ¨ It was so cool to see everybody worshipping the same God in different languages ¨ It was a awesome time worshiping in songs and works to our Father!
ReplyDelete