Mission Trip: Costa Rica

For those considering a mission trip to Costa Rica in the future, there is one thing on the packing list that you can omit — the alarm clock. San Jose never seems to rest, but for those that do, they are up at the crack of dawn. The sounds of cars, motorcycles and dogs can be heard thoughout the night, but when everybody wakes up in the morning, you will know it!!

Costa Rica time is equivalent to Mountain Time in the U.S., so therefore we are an hour behind San Antonio time. The early risers in the group are actually up an around about 5am. They get the coffee going in the morning for the rest of us that are usually up around 6am.

The best place to enjoy our coffee is out on the balcony in front of the dorms, overlooking the parking lot for the church and the mountains of Costa Rica. The air is crisp and soothing. Oh yeah, the coffee is not that bad either!!

None of us on the team have any long-term experience with the Spanish language. Adam has been on a mission trip in Mexico City and can formulate short sentences. My vocabulary, however, is limited to the main questions (who, what, where, when) and other words that have been buried in the deep, dark pits of my brain since I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and two semesters at UTSA. Most of the team is learning Spanish for the first time.

During one of our lunches with Pastor Edgar’s family in Los Guidos, we had a bag of chips that was actually a mix similar to Chex-Mix. Delanie (like Melanie) really enjoyed the cheesy flavored bits that were mixed into the bag. She held one up from her bowl, and with a straight face she proclaimed its title, “queso de puff”.

We all lost it and burst into laughter.  🙂

Way to go, Delanie.

I’m making an executive decision to combine the last two days into a single post. Both were work days at the church in Los Guidos, and we had very similar experiences each day. Really, it’s because I want to catch YOU up on our trip so that I don’t feel so behind. -RB

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We had a vague idea about what work we were going to do when we got to Los Guidos. Visiting the night before for church was beneficial to at least get a mental picture and prepare for our next days of work. In our meetings over the last few weeks, we had actually already prepared some craft activities for the children. So, along with our service projects, we would be spending time with the children during lunch and again in the afternoon.

When we arrived, Pastor Edgar greeted us and took us into the sanctuary for what we THOUGHT would be a brief introduction and prayer before we started our work. What transpired was Edgar’s story about his call to service in Los Guidos. Once again… we didn’t know we needed to bring a handkerchief!! He is such a passionate and methodical man that you can not help but feel God’s glory in his presence. Edgar did this each day. On the second day, he gave us his own personal testimony on how he came to commit his life to Christ and then enter the ministry. This man has great plans for expanding his mission of feeding the children into other countries, and he asked for US to pray for him. We were honored to stand around in a circle and lay our hands on him while Adam prayed over him.

Each meeting we had with Edgar to begin the day was a truly moving experience. It also expressed to us that Pastor Edgar was well aware about what we were REALLY called there to do — to join in community with those in other countries, races and cultures to further the kingdom of God. We were not there to pick up shovels and wheelbarrows out of the kindness of our hearts, but we were there to create a relationship with a church in a small suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica that would normally never have crossed paths with a Methodist church on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas.

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After we met with Pastor Edgar, it was time to get to work. The projects that were in progress were these:
– building a dormitory for future visitors to Los Guidos
– digging a trench outside this new dormitory
– clearing a path and laying concrete for a wheelchair ramp

There was a distinct divide of men and women when we found out what kind of work was involved in the wheelchair ramp. The women opted for the shovels and spakels (sp?) for the dormitory, and the men picked up the hammers, chisels and breaker bar to do the major grunt work of breaking away existing concrete for the wheelchair ramp. We knew already that we had some major manual labor ahead of us.

As the work progressed it seemed to regress as well. The language barrier was quickly becoming a point of frustration. Mario, the man that Charlie has placed in charge of these projects, was our source for explanation and expectations. However, Mario no habla ingles! We needed Rebecca, the intern, to translate for us every time that we needed to communicate with Mario, or vice-versa. As a result, the information seemed the change almost every time that Mario would evaluate our work and give us new directions. Nonetheless, we got the idea and were not doing anything wrong, we just seemed to have to fill-in the gaps with our own interpretations and experience.

Remember the rain? That added a second degree of difficulty. Digging in and walking around in dirt is not so much a problem. When it becomes thick mud and caked on the bottom of your shoes is when you realize that some projects here take much longer than normal just because of the weather and its impact.

During lunch break, the children came into the dining area where we served them their food and a drinks. They were required to wash their hands before sitting down. This was likely the ONLY place where they were able to do so, but many were actually reluctant, so we had to enforce it more firmly. The most heartwarming part of the children’s lunch was certainly the prayer before they ate. A single child, usually one of the oldest, would call out the prayer, line by line (by memory) and the entire group would repeat it out loud. In their prayer, they always thanked “Señor Charlie”… it was truly precious!!

After feeding the children, the adults would sit down to a meal prepared by Pastor Edgar’s wife. She had place settings down on a long table in the sanctuary where we gathered for a time of fellowship and a home-cooked meal. Simply amazing!! She always left us extremely full and wishing we had time for a little siesta back in our dorms.

The afternoons for the men, was more back-breaking concrete busting and mixing. The women, however, had more time with the children. They actually set aside time in the afternoons for the children to practice the choreographed dance moves that we saw exhibited in church on Sunday evening. The airwaves filled with praise and worship music that many of us could recognize by the sounds, but had to learn them again in Spanish. (Adam insists that they were doing some of them incorrectly)

After dance class, the children had arts and crafts. Our team was aware of this and had prepared some crafts in advance during our pre-trip meetings. One of them was to take these foam picture frames and glue a Polaroid picture of each child in it for them to keep. It is ironic that these children have seen MANY digital cameras, but have never seen an actual picture of themselves that they could hold in their hand — they were in awe. Needless to say, this craft spread like wildfire and there were many children showing up the second day just to have their pictures taken!!

At the end of the second day, the wheelchair ramp concrete had been laid and the end of that project was only a few hours away. We did not have time to stay an see it through, but rest assured that our backs will not let us forget the work that we DID accomplish.

Our farewell was another heart-wrenching experience. Pastor Edgar and his family has treated us so well and been so welcoming that our second day there was like it had been our second week. I can say personally that it was not hard to leave, but it will be impossible to forget. Edgar’s family and the children that remained when we left were waving goodbye as our bus left down the muddy dirt road.

We truly believe that this is not the last time we will see Pastor Edgar. If his dream comes true to extend his ministry to other countries, he must first come to the United States and learn English in order to communicate in most other countries. What better place than San Antonio, Texas to learn the English language, but have the familiarity of the Hispanic culture?! We know that if we do not see him again in this life, we will certainly see him in the next.

With God, all things are possible.

-RB

There are a few stories that have shaped the experience we’ve had here in Costa Rica. Without them, it just would not have been the same. For this reason I will have a few posts that are short and sweet just for the purpose of passing on these stories in hopes of illustrating them as best I can. You should also know that this blog has become a standard for all of us to document these stories. So, we’ve decided as a group to make note of what we think should be the titles of my posts. It usually goes like this…. something happens, somebody says something funny, and everyone shouts, “That sounds like a blog post!” You’ve likely noticed that the titles have become quite a bit more creative than in the beginning — I would love to take credit for that, but I can’t.

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During our tour of the dorms here at the church, we were given special notice about the showers. Emily and Rebecca, the interns (also interpreters and tour guides), referred to them as “suicide showers”. You see, they have an electric heating coil that heats the water as is passes through the shower head. The speed of the water determines the heat — the slower the water the hotter it is. You may already be asking yourself… electricity and water? This method of heating water is very cheap, and therefore popular in most of the world, but highly illegal in the States. It eliminates the need for a water heater tank, which is obviously much more expensive and harder to plumb.

These showers, however, DO draw a significant amount of electricity. As we discovered in our first night here, taking 2 showers at a time will trip the breaker and cut the power to the bathroom and both dorms, thus leaving bother showerees standing in the cold!! This happened to me once.

The first time it happened we immediately went to check the breaker and look for any tripped switches. The rat’s nest we found was an intimidating cluster with NO obvious solutions. So, we had to get on the phone with Charlie and get his maintenance man, Alfredo, out here to resolve the problem. Alfredo did find the tripped breaker and we were back in business.

So now, when the lights go out while some unsuspecting soul is taking a shower, someone yells, “Somebody go jiggle the breaker!”

-RB

I opted to allot an entire post for just the church service we attended in Los Guidos. El Centro Evangelical Methodist Church is a safe-haven for many families in one of the poorest towns on the outskirts of San Jose.

Los Guidos is made up of mostly immigrants from neighboring countries, and for this reason they are outcast by the locals. The Methodist Church of Costa Rica has reached out to this community and started a church that serves as a community center of all sorts for them. The feeding program was started by Pastor Edgar, who has now been there for 8 years with his family. They serve about 70 children, ages toddler to 13 years, with a budget of $2,000 a month. When he started the program, he had 20 children and paid out of his own pocket to feed them three meals a day. The local college eventually got word of his program and they committed to provide three years of help and $400 a month. This commitment jump-started the program and laid the foundation for the ministry that Edgar was called to do — “Feed the children,” God said to him, and he obeyed.

We were greeted by Pastor Edgar’s entire family when we got off the bus and entered the sanctuary. The setting was much like an elementary school — majority children and their families or older siblings mixed-in. On stage was a full drum set, keyboard, electric guitar, and AV equipment. This place was ready to rock!!

We were provided a translator for the service so that we could participate more actively in the service and sermon, instead of always having that blank stare where you “smile and nod” to a foreign language speaker.

The service started with a message from a female lay-leader within the church. She introduced several guests among the attendees and then introduced us. We were welcomed with comforting applause. When she finished the band took its place on stage.

Now, we were warned ahead of time that that this was a very kid-centric church service and that the kids always joined in the middle of the of the floor to dance during the music. The chairs and tables were aligned in a “U” for this purpose and it created a large dance floor for the kids to, well, be kids.

Without hesitation, the younger girls came up to us, and took us by the hand to the floor once the music started. The boys gathered in the back and the girls were up front. What proceed next was nothing less than joyful dancing and singing for the Lord.

Adam, Matt and myself were in the back with the boys, of course, and they began some choreographed jumping steps that changed only slightly from song to song. I can best describe it as an Irish Jig, but I’m sure the Irish don’t have a patent on jumping joyfully in place. The climax of the night was what Adam and I affectionally cal the “Praise Circle of Death”…. The boys transitioned from jumping in place to holding onto one another and jumping in a circle. Adam and I were summoned to this circle after we had already broken a sweat and were in much need of a breather. Nonetheless, we grabbed hold and swung around for the entirety of the song. We can say with confidence that we sweat more in the first 10 minutes of this service than we likely will ever do again!

When the music concluded, we took our seats and composed ourselves.

Today’s service was a special one. It was “Pastor Appreciation Day” and the congregation had brought gifts and prepared a sermon in honor of Pastor Edgar. The pastor’s family was invited to sit in place up on stage while another young man delivered the message and tribute to Edgar and his family. He emphasized and recognized the sacrifice that they had made and thanked them for their service. At the end, he invited members to come up and give their own appreciation to the family. Nobody told us to bring a handkerchief!!

The main service concluded with a prayer over ALL the pastors in attendance. Our own Pastor Adam was called up and invited to join the other leaders. Edgar extended an extra blessing over Adam and the work that he represents from UUMC. For those of you reading at home, know that the community of Los Guidos is praying for YOU in return.

This night was special in many ways, and we were happy to be a part of it. The connection we have established with this community already makes it even more exciting that we will be coming back tomorrow to offer our service to them.

God Bless,
Randy

Our first full day in Costa Rica! On the agenda for the day:
– hour and a half bus to a volcano, Vulcan Irazu
– Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles in Cartago
– lunch back at the church (and a siesta)
– church service at Los Guidos

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Vulcan Irazu is on the outskirts of Cartago, Costa Rica. The bus ride was all of an hour and a half out of town and all UP. The volcano sits at about 11,260′ and the road is a small, windy road up to the visitors center.

One of the amazing things is there were a TON of bicyclists making the trek up the mountain, and there wasn’t even a race going on — they were doing this for fun!! Apparently road-bike races are common throughout the streets on the weekends. To drive on the road in this country means to dodge any thing that needs to get from photoint A to point B — cars, motorcycles, dirt bikes, mopeds, four-wheelers, bicycles, people and stray dogs.

As for the scenery, Cartago is made up of many farms of various fruits and vegetables. Costa Rica’s biggest export is bananas and pineapples. Sundays are a popular day for farmer’s markets to pop-up on the streets, most of the time on the road side near the owner’s property. The homes themselves are still mostly secured with bars, but not so much so as we traveled farther up the mountain. As the homes got nicer, so did the gardens and landscaping.

Vulcan Irazu really wasn’t much to look at, I’ll be honest. Yes, it was a big crater that had molten lava hiding miles below the surface, but then again, it was just a big crater. We DID enjoy getting out in the crisp mountain air and stretching our legs. There was a cafe at the visitor’s center where I had some great hot chocolate and homemade chocolate cake — 1500 colones, or about $3.00.

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On the way back we stopped at the Basilica in Cartago, Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. This weekend happened to be a very significant time for the Basilica. On August 2, 1635, it is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to a little girl in the form of a black statue. Her message was to build a church on the exact spot she appeared instead of where they were already building one. The little girl took the statues to her priest and he locked the statue away and ignored the message. This happened three times, each time the statue disappeared from the locked case and reappeared to the little girl. When the church was completed, it was destroyed by earthquakes. The priest finally adhered to the message and built the church where it was destined, and still stands today.

-RB

Emanuel Evangelical Methodist is in a poorer area than most of San Jose, where there are bars and barbed-wire on most every residential property.

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Let me just say that when Charlie Strong is in the room, everyone knows it. Charlie is the founder of Strong Missions, the organization that our group has partnered with to put together this trip. Charlie is a fast talkin, native Texan (Victoria) that has moved down here to live the life on ministry and missions. He is a WONDERFUL person, but the man is self-diagnosed A.D.D. and he goes 90mph in everything he does.

Charlie greeted us immediately on arrival and helped us unload and get situated. Everyone listened to him and treated him with the utmost respect. He’s got a deep voice that demands your attention, combined with a southern drawl that adds a little charm. Then without missing a beat he’ll switch to a fluent Spanish when he speaks to his staff. All in all, the man has become a native “Tican” in order to truly carry-out the mission work he felt lead to do back in 2004.

-RB

Thank goodness for no major airport drama on either side. We arrived in San Jose, and after one long line for customs, we found our driver to take us to the church. Emanuel Evangelical Methodist Church in Guadalupe was our destination. It is located in Guadalupe, a suburb east of San Jose.

It rains EVERYDAY here. You can set your watch by it. The rain comes down off the mountains after lunch and sets in on the valley early afternoon. Such was the case when we left the airport and arrived at the church. The rain and slippery surfaces provided a degree of difficulty for unloading the bus… and I, in my travel sandals, was the leg of the assembly line that had to hoist the baggage up to the mid-level platform overhead to get them to our dorms. I certainly wasn’t ready for that right out of the gates!