Costa Rica Mission Trip 2008

We’ve been home about 12 hours and many things still flood my mind.  Mostly, the people of Costa Rica are so nice. They accepted us with open arms.  They are happy people. I think we would give away everything we have if we could have that kind of true happiness. Stuff just doesn’t matter, people and a community do.  We, the team, became a community, we have joy, we laughed, we cried, we love each other and those whom we met.  Bruce kept a running log of observations both made and voiced (in quotes). Here are a few of those observations, the things we don’t want to ever forget!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Whooooooooooooo! (our countoff everytime we boarded the bus) 

A Church is never just a Church. It is also used for:

            Community classes

                Day Care

                Drawing Classes

                Community meeting center

                High School

“How can the houses look so nasty, but the view so beautiful?”

Children are always happy.

When little boys get hurt, they look for their mother, or a motherly figure, another mom.

Music is a constant.

People are/can be happy in almost any surroundings. Why?

                Their homes

                Their friends

                Their community

                Their people

                It is what they know

All people are immigrants.

We are the Costa Ricans.

There are many ways to do the same thing:

                A large knife can be a can opener

                A broom handle can be an extension for a paint roller

Adults are still kids.

Kids love bubbles.

Kids can learn to share.

Siblings fight in all cultures.

Rice and beans can be good for every meal.

Things that are problems everywhere:

                Potholes

                Garbage

                Drugs

Bars on windows can be decorative.

“It is uncomfortable to be stared at!”

Almost anything is junk to someone.

Almost anything is valuable to someone

6 children and 2 adults in a four room house:

                2 bedrooms

                1 kitchen/living room

                1 bathroom

“I am embarrassed for what I have!”

The oldest go to work to allow the young to attend school.

People get scared when their life is threatened.

Many people are affected when bad things happen to a few.

Children understand when adults are hurting.

Best laid plans don’t always work.

It feels good to cry.

Prayer brings us peace.

After you have been threatened, everyone looks threatening.

There is strength in one or two, but comfort in many.

Many more people want to help you than hurt you.

You can make a ketchup and mayo dispenser from a plastic bag.

Rumors can travel faster than facts.

Time allows things to heal

Sometimes it takes a long time to make a decision.

Once the decision has been made, go with it.

You can be missed before you are out of sight.

Negotiations can take a long time.

You can wear a cap with ear flaps and a jacket in July in Costa Rica.

Funny noises in the bus make people uncomfortable. (just before the tire goes flat!)

With a five foot lever you can loosen the lugs nuts on the bus.

Making the sound of an air hammer does not make the lug nuts come off any easier.

You can change a flat tire on a bus on a mountain road in the rainforest in the dark in Costa Rica in about 40 minutes, but it will take 5 Lutheran men, 1 Costa Rican bus driver, and an angel that stops to help.

What can go wrong with a Lutheran Pastor leading us?

                Wrong turns!

Who is excited about ziplining today?” Whooooooooo!

“Are you still a Lutheran if you steal a key off of the key chain of the hotel you are staying at?”

                “Yes, but disgraced!”

Oh that we will always be the boy throwing the starfish into the sea!

“Uno, pickle, pato, four, five, sies, sieta, ocho, neueva, zehn, elf, duosez, tresses, quatorsez   Whooooooooooooo!”(language is beginning to change)

Lord Prepare me to be a Sanctuary, in 3 part harmony is beautiful.

“Have you peed today?”  (the nurses constant question!)

“Whats your day going to be like when you want to ride a horse named Old Paint, but they give you a horse named Satan?”

“So, what is that plant over there? The scientific name for it is grass.”

“We are standing in line, so Debra must be talking to someone.”

Laura is our cliffdiver.

Bruno, Debora, Paco, Marita, Carolina, Jorge, Enrique, Maria, Katia, Rosita, Teresa, Lola, Sondra and Brad (Carlos) (our spanish names)

“My butt is sweating!”

“Oh it’s raining. It must be about 2:00.”

In Costa Rica, you can bend a metal rod by throwing a large rock at it.

“When I got out of bed, my sheets came with me.”

Sometimes the instructions are scarier than the actual task.

“The cemetery had some vacant apartments.” (people are buried above ground so there are often open spots)

God created a lot of plants.

A miracle happened at 6:49 PM on July 22, 2008. 9 women and 5 five men went souvenir shopping in less than 30 minutes.

“Someone said that the sauna wasn’t working, but it was working in our room.”

Uses for a machete:

                Weedwacker

                Hacksaw

                Tree saw

                Lawnmower

                Can opener

                Possible letter opener

“Tomorrow is our last full day. I might cry!”

“Oh the smell of health and wellness.  Naw, that’s just bug spray.”

Dogs can go anywhere in Costa Rica:

                Churches

                Stores

                Busses

                Restaurants

                George’s lap

The good roads in Costa Rica are still bumpy.

You can tell the difference between a Costa Rican and a Nicaraguan. A Nicaraguan understands baseball, Costa Ricans do not. (fact from Pastor Stephanie)

If you smile at someone, they usually smile back

In 10 years: Erik Alvarez, Foreign Diplomat to Cost Rica or El Presidente of La Carpio.

Chickens make the same sound in Spanish.

A great complement: When the local children bring their cameras to take a picture of the mural in San Julian.

Universal toys:

                Cardboard box

                A tree

                Something to throw

“In Costa Rica, the fences are alive.”(the posts are trees)

Even Brownie(Pastor Stephanie’s dog) gets the sign of the cross during the Benediction in San Julian.

“It’s a bucket flush, so I didn’t have to go.”

Day 6, our bus requires fuel. (710 Colones/liter)

“That was the best day ever!”(said everyday by Laura)

We are the sower and the soil.

Dads hold their daughters hand as they walk to school in Costa Rica.

“Did you know that the Big Dipper is in the wrong place in Costa Rica?”

Did you know that you can reuse plastic silverware? You do not have to throw it away!

Did you know you can worship without understanding the Pastor?

Did you know the people that have less have more?

Did you know that we received more than we gave?

Did you know that you can catch a cold in July in Costa Rica?

Uno, pickle, pato, four, five, sies, sieta, ocho, neueva, zehn, elf, duosez, tresses, quatorsez, quince, dieciseis  Whooooooooooooo! (our driver Hernan and ILCO leader Krystal join in the countoff)

I believe we all feel humbled and blessed to have had this experience in Costa Rica with this group of people. My prayer is that everyone will take the chance, step out of your box and see what God has to show you!  Gracias!!!

Debra

Hey everyone!  If you are wondering who wrote the “Sunday” blog it was me, Teresa (aka Marianne).

Just wanted to keep you all guessing. 

Until tonight, Adios!

Hola! 

Today was wonderful as usual.  We went to La Carpio for worship.  It was totally awesome.  We experienced a service totally in Spanish.  We had a Spanish liturgy book so that we could attempt to follow along.  What an adventure that was.  The service was really beautiful.

After the service, a representative from the youth, women’s group and Pastor Gusto gave us thanks.  We were presented with a music CD of Nicaraguan music.  We can’t wait to hear it.

I leaked (cried) when Brenda representing the youth told us that our delegation was one of the more special ones that had been there.  We had more physical contact and got to know the youth than some of the others that had been before us. 

There was also some items from the local artisans.  Everything was so beautiful, I wanted to take it all home. We purchased a few items.

At La Carprio, I connected with a little 8 year old girl, Frania.  She was my little buddy.  She gave me a bracelet that she purchased from the local artisan women.

After we said our goodbyes, which, yes, took about forever, we were finally on the road to see downtown San Jose.  We went to a marketplace area that featured stores, restaurants and anything else you could imagine and cow statues.  The cow statues are much like what St Paul did with the Snoopy and Charlie Brown statues.  We got A LOT of photos of those cows.  It eventually became a game of “Did you get that cow?”

We went to another artisan market and there was such cool things there. We all had a grand time!  We are now getting ready for dinner of pizza. Can you believe that??  As most restaurants are not open on Sundays.

Hola to all!

Well today was pretty fun! We woke up and had breakfast and you know all that stuff but then the fun began! We got to enjoy a worship service entirely in spanish! Let me tell you, it is hard to sight read spanish songs! But after the service some of the youth, womens group, and pastor all gave thank you’s for our presence and it made some of us cry ( yes I am talking about Marianne). It was extremly touching to everyone who heard. Again we had an AWESOME lunch especially the rice which i could eat all day long and it was really hard to say goodbye to the youth. We really had a strong connection. I had an extermly strong connection with one girl named Lismaylin who i will stay in touch with through email. She speaks little english and i speak little spanish but somehow we manage to communicate in a way that i cant describe with words. I feel very blessed to know such a wonderful person like her. After the hard gooodbyes we went shopping at the artisen market! Most of us bought tons of stuff but i only bought one very special scrapbook which i will fill with the memories of this trip. The front cover is banana leaves with a small palm tree made out of balsa wood on sand that you can feel and a small shell and under all this it says Costa Rica. You can not get anything like that in the United States.

And now we are ordering pizza since no restaurants are open on Sundays! It should be fun. God Bless!

~Carolina

Hola Amigos! 

Once again, everything in Costa Rica is amazing!! 

We started our day at ILCO with the Organic farmers market.  It was amazing.  There was everything from chocolate (yum) to fresh produce, fruits & veggies, to organic peanut butter and clothing and finger puppets!  Fun was had by all! 

There was also a outdoor cafe-esque type place that served food.  We ate our breakfast there.  We had handmade corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, a potato concoction and some kind of cheese that was so wonderful.  We also saw the organic garden at ILCO.  It was awesome.  There was fruit, corn, other veggies and plants used for medicinal purposes.  We were given a little presentation about the local food economy in San Jose and what they are doing to help solve the food crisis. 

After we left ILCO, we went to La Carpio and finished the painting….well actually the guys did & the we women did VBS with about 30 youth. We played a parachute game, duck duck goose and and then made stained glass pictures with colored tissue paper & construction paper.  We also made little crosses with perler beads and strings for necklaces. 

 We solidified our relationships with the kids & it is going to be very, very, very hard not to see them anymore!

We had a wonderful lunch served by the ladies of the church community and it was FANTASTIC! We had hamburger meat with garbanzo beans that was to die for.  The were fresh beets and cucumbers, rice, a veggie mix and a wonderful drink of blackberry.

For an afternoon snack, we had pineapple and papaya. Yummy in my tummy!

We were also treated to a Nicaraguan dance exhibition.  They even had some of our women dance as well.  It was truly an adventure that I am glad to have participated in.  Check out the video and prepared for rib splitting fun.  That is, if Jessica puts it on the website!

Next, one of the local women gave us information about the immigration issues.  They have problems here just we have in Minnesota. 

For dinner we went to Soda Topia.  I had a Ham & Gouda cheese sandwich just like my little friend, Caroline.  She is my buddy.  We are so much alike it scares Gomez (Frank).

Now it is time for my little head to hit the little pillow and go to a little bed!

Buenos Noches

Teresa

Hola!

Oh my goodness Costa Rica so far has been quite amazing! It is our third day here and everything has gone way beyond your expectations!

The first day was great. We went to an awesome restaurant called RostiPollo, we all agreed that the food here is something that will be greatly missed back home! After our yummy lunch we went to see our hotel, or hostel in espanol, which is so bright, colorful, cute, and quaint, that it will be hard to leave! So then we went to see the ILCO office where we met some local youth. And then came my favorite part of day 1, we went to meet the kids in La Carpio! But on our way there we had a “sing-off” with the youth on the bus! It was extremly fun! When we got to the church in La Carpio we sang more songs with lots of actions which the kids just loved and so did we! And we ended that day with a powerful prayer with Pastor Gusto what a great way to end the day!

On to day 2! Well our job for that day was to paint the church with paint, paint, and more paint! Oh those kids just loved painting! Especially the little boys of the group who may have enjoyed painting themselves more than the walls! We split the wall with tape into two parts, the top half of the wall was a very pretty light green, and the bottom was a darker green that was just as pretty. After we finished the paint job the teenagers of the mission group (Laura/Lola, Mary/Marita, and Caroline/Carolina) started playing hand games with the youth of La Carpio! Boy was that a blast! We taught them some games and they taught us! Its amazing how you can communicate without speaking. The lunch for that day was prepared by the ladies of La Carpio! It was spectacular! Most of us went up for seconds, even thirds! Yes it was that good! And then it was time to leave to go meet with some of the local artisans at the ILCO office. All their work is handmade and each piece was truly unique and special.

And then there is today! Well it was a bright and early morning for us! We had to be in the main lobby at 20 till eight! But it was for a good reason! We went to an organic farmers market where we bought really good food and sweet finger puppets! We had tons of fun with those! And we were served an excellent breakfast! So after that we went and did VBS with some of the younger kids of La Carpio. We played with the parachute and we made bracelets and sang songs! It was really fun. After VBS one of the ladies gave us a speech on immigration which was very informational and eye-opening. Lunch was the same as yesterday but just as good! And then we got to learn some fun dance steps from the youth! They were so good but when they tried to teach us… well lets just say we are leaving the dancing to them! It is very hard to dance while balencing a basket on your head. And the last thing of the day was dinner! We went to this great sandwich place called Soda Topia they had great food! And we had evening devotions and now I’m here!

Over all this trip has been so great! You really dont know what to expect untill you get here! This trip has been a blessing for all. And even though most of us dont speak their language we can still understand each other. You never would have known how truly incredible the feeling is to have such a strong relationship with someone of another languge. It is truely amazing.

~ Caroline

Hola! Amigos!!

Today is the 3rd day here and I woke up to the birds singing outside my room. What a way to wake up!

This has been a wonderful experience so far, every time we go and do something it outdoes the previous activity. The first day that we were here, after our wonderful 1st meal at the RostiPollo (Roasted Chicken) we went to to the hostel. The rooms are quaint and so bright. Everyone has a differnent and bright interior. Our room, Main House 2, is a medium size room with bright and colorful painted decorations and curtains. We do share a bano with Main House 3. When the need arises, you just knock on the door and pray that it is not in use. There are locks on the inside and outside of each door. So far not too much inconvenience.

Meals times are especially wonderful. The food has been phenomal and I will definitely miss it when we are back home.

Everybody has been wonderful to us.  They locals are very friendly.  One thing that we did find out, don’t speak to them first in Spanish unless you can carry on a conversation.  Made that mistake a time or two. 

There is definitely a difference between San Jose and La Carpio.  You will be able to see the differences in the photos.  Makes me appreciate the riches that God has given me.

Yesterday at La Carpio, we had such a grand time painting.  The kids had a blast, we had a blast, and fun was had by all!  The pintauro (paint) really brightened the room.  The kids were “marked” with the pintauro splatter and wore there badges proudly.  The ones who painted the rooms will appreciate the hard work.

Well it’s time to get some more cafe’ (coffee), put the old eyeballs in and go & greet the Costa Rican day! 

Teresa’  (Marianne)

Hola! Today was the second day of costa rica and it was the best day so far! This morning I woke up at around seven and we ate breakfast in the hotel. By the way-the hotel is awesome! It’s so cute with all the fancy decorations just like you would imagine a costa rican hotel to be, hamocks,a mini fountain complete with rocks, tile decorations in shapes of fish and mermaids, the whole works. Well anyways, after breakfast we all gatherd in the common area for a short meeting of what we were doing today, and we set off on our bus. We arrived at la carpio at around nine in the morning. La carpio is a large, extreamly poor, village. The houses are on one side, and a huge landfill for garbage is on the other. There is only one way in, and one way out. We found out that there are 52 churches in the city, and around 35, 000 in population. The church we visited is the only lutheran one. When we got there, there were about 15 children saying “bienvenidos” (welcome) in their most polite voices. They were so excited to see us! They already had all the chairs stacked in the middle of the room and the walls cleaned off for us to paint on. So the work began, but I don’t really know that I should call it work, because all it was, was fun! Just being with the children, trying to converse with them, laughing when they laugh even though you may not even understand what they’re saying, is the most rewarding part of the whole day. After we finished painting all four walls, we had lunch that the some of the mom’s made. We had arroz con frijoles (rice with beans), pollo (chicken), papas (potatoes), and kas (i dont know the correct spelling, but its a delicious juice made with a fruit that’s native to costa rica, it had a flavor of lemonade). After the unexpectedly amazing lunch, some children brought out fruit for us on trays, and while we gladly exepted, we noticed that the rest of the children weren’t getting any dessert. So I went over to Crystal (our guide) and asked her why they were only giving it to us. She told me that it’s their gift to us because we were their guests. It made me feel very guilty, we had so much more than them, yet they were giving us food? But as Crystal told me, we sometimes need to recieve, no matter how much we want to give. So I ate my fruit with guilt. After we ate our almuerzo (lunch), we did a little bit more painting, which didn’t take as long as the first time, and no ladders were involved. For the painting job, we did a light green from about three feet off the ground until the celing, and dark green from three feet down. It was a very good idea for the room, it makes it much more welcoming. Once all the painting was finished, all the newspapers were gathered off the floor, all the paintbrushes washed off, it was free time. We spent a lot of the time looking through the Henning’s, and the Topar’s ”brag book” or a photo album of their family, etc. The kids really seemed to enjoy hearing about our very different life, and listining us try to speak their language to describe it. After all that, Marita, Carolina, and I were showing the children some hand-games that we knew like aggravation, double-double this-this, and obo shinatintatin (I have no idea how to spell that one!). Then they showed us a similar hand game, although I couldnt tell you what it was called. All the kids stood in a circle and sang a song in spanish, and if your hand got slapped on three, you were a fuera (out) and if you slapped your own hand on three, you were a fuera tambien (out too), i realize this is a very confusing description, but forgive me, its almost eleven pm. More to come en la manana (in the morning)…