Tuesday Night:
NRCA Students will be returning Tuesday night June 30th at 11:17 (was 10:44) pm from Miami (MIA) on Flight #1800
Tuesday Afternoont:
Try to imagine the filthiest place you have ever been. Are there any places that stick out in your mind? I guarantee that you have not had an experience like we had in the village of La Carpio. La Carpio is a Nicaraguan refugee village located outside of San Jose. Nicaraguans flee to Costa Rica in search of safety and a better economy. Though, there is a catch to this refugee village: One of the San Jose garbage dumps is located behind La Carpio.
When we stepped off the bus, we were greeted by the most unpleasant smell. The church that we were going to be working on was located at the edge of La Carpio, beside the garbage dump. Not only was the smell bad, but there was trash and stray dogs everywhere. To say the least, everyone was phased by the sight and the smell.
The church in La Carpio had a few jobs for us to do. We had to assemble desks for church classrooms, chop down weeds with a machete and bag them, and chip away concrete around the outside of the church in preparation for re-pouring the cement to stabilize the foundation that was damaged by an earthquake. We were able to chip away most of the concrete and chop and bag all the weeds, and we got most of the desks built. We only had four hours to work at La Carpio, and we did not waste any time.
After we came back to the hotel and cleaned up, we headed back to La Carpio for a youth worship service. The worship service was eye-opening. Given the unfortunate situation the Nicaraguan refugees live in, they were so strong in their faith and so happy to worship the Lord. I have to admit that I take a clean community and a nice church to worship in for granted most of the time, and it makes me feel lucky to have a good environment to live in. The first song that was played during the worship service was “Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord.” The locals were singing in Spanish and we were singing in English, creating a harmony between the two cultures. As Mr. Hahn translated, Olivia Salmonese and Mrs. Mitchell shared their testimony with the youth. After the service, we served the youth pizza and soda, giving them a meal that they do not often receive.
Even though it was a much different environment than we were used to, we learned a lot about how to make the best of our lives in the situation we are given. I feel like we accomplished a lot at La Carpio and the church volunteers and the pastor were very thankful for our help. As we were told “Gracias” many times while we left, we replied with the local expression “Con mucho gusto,” which means “With much pleasure.
Saturday Night:
When doing tedious, monotonous tasks, it’s easy to feel like the job is insignificant in overall purpose. Case in point, pulling nails from boards for four to five hours a day at the Abraham Projects, a local outreach center/orphanage/daycare/classroom/church here in San Jose. A brief overview, the Abraham Projects employs their own construction workers and receives crates from glass shipping companies. They break these crates apart, use teams (such as ourselves) to pull nails, staples, insulation, and packing materials from the wood, then treat the wood and use it to build their various constructs.
After many of us pulled nails for two days, it was easy to look at the enormous pile of still non-pulled wood and feel as though the work we had done was miniscule at best. But what both the man who guided us these two days, Jonathan, and the construction foreman Oracu stressed to us was just how important the work we did was. Those who didn’t pull nails did other things, whether it was painting the still-in-construction multi purpose facility, moving boards around the property, or entertaining the daycare students. All in all, at the conclusion of the days at the Abraham Projects, all involved felt blessed by each other’s presence and grateful for the help and lessons each had learned from each other.
Sure, in the overall scheme we cleared a tiny fraction of the boards needed and only one of the many walls that need to be painted, but those tiny fractions add up. But, especially in places like San Jose, every little bit counts for much.
Friday Night:
Thursday Night:
Thursday:
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” Let’s stop there, at patience. The first two days of this year’s Costa Rica trip have been a reintroduction to the Biblical concept of patience.
The trip started inauspiciously enough, we left RDU at our scheduled time and were set to arrive at Miami International with no problem when a thunderstorm decided to spring up over Miami. After flying in circles for 30 minutes, the pilot was forced to land at Ft. Myers to refuel. Eventually we reached Miami only to find out our flight to Costa Rica had been cancelled, but our luggage was still safely on it’s way...meaning we didn’t have it. After hours of trying to figure out what to do at the airport, we settled in Miami for the evening, and had a flight booked for 7:40 the next evening, putting us around two days behind schedule.
So with no spare clothes or toiletries, we headed to a local K-Mart that night, gathered our necessities, then hit South Beach to check out the sights. The next day we all hung out at a local mall, then got to Miami on time, and figured out there was a possibility our new flight was overbooked. God be praised (I was on the waiting list) we all made it on the flight and safely arrived in San Jose at 8:30 local time last night.
It would’ve been easy to complain but our group leaders stressed that we search for the positives in our experience. We didn’t get to Costa Rica on time, but we got to sleep in the next morning, which was a huge blessing for us who’d woken up at 4:30 to get to the airport. We got a hotel stress-free, we got our clothes and toiletries cheap, we all made it on the overbooked flight, and every piece of our luggage was safe and locked away when we arrived in San Jose. In every situation there are both latent positives and manifest positives, the manifest positives are easy to spot, but the latent positives can be even more beneficial, albeit harder to spot.
But we know they’re there. Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 that, “God works all things together for good to those who worship Him and are called according to His purpose.” I think it’s safe to say a mission trip is both worshipping God and heeding His calling, so there’s no doubt these inconveniences happened for a greater reason. It’s easy to stress, but we’ve been still and known that He is God, just as He commands us to do.
Bottom line is we’re in San Jose now, going over our trip devotional The Cost of Discipleship, and preparing to start the week working in the Abraham Projects. Hopefully we’ll use that aforementioned greater reason to our and God’s benefit throughout these next five days. After seeing first hand the attitudes and character of the Costa Rica team, I have little to no doubt we will.
Wednesday Night news:
Everyone arrived Safely in Costa Rica around 11:00pm Eastern time.
Wednesday news:
The students got a good night sleep (without any luggage) and spent the day in Miami. They ate at the mall food court and some stayed at the mall while others went to see a movie.
Tuesday news:
Due to bad weather in Miami, the connecting flight from Miami to San Jose was canceled. This change didn't take place until after our students were in the air, so they will be spending the night in Miami. The airlines have them on the first available flight out, which departs at 7:40pm tomorrow night. Everyone will be staying at a local hotel, and taking in the sites of Miami until then. Thanks for your prayers and support!
