Hello and good afternoon from Costa Rica.
I want to apologize for the lack of blog posts on here. We have not had access to a computer and consequently couldnt update the blog. Furthermore, the internet is really slow, so I am not sure I will be able to upload any pictures at this time until we get back to San Jose on Thursday.
We have had such a wonderful few days here in Sarapaqui. After leaving San Jose on Saturday we had a nice 3 hour long drive to get to our first destination and place of ministry. We all settled in quietly at the hotel and quickly fell asleep.
The whole team, leaders included, have all been experiencing some major culture shock, especially with this being the first time for most students to visit another country. Every person has been such a joy and so polite. We have had lots of first time events for almost all the youth and it has been such a blessing for the leaders to watch all the youth go through these experiences. Thank you to all the family and friends who have written letters. They are much appreciated as a little bit of homesickness is starting to set in.
Sunday morning we all woke up bright and early and headed into one of the small cities to do a childrens church ministry instead of attending church. This day was such a blessing to all of us. We were able to participate in a mix of things. Some of our youth including Steve and Derek were having a blast playing soccer with all of the little children. When it came time for the lesson, all the youth were able to take part in helping the children draw pictures of the world as Brandon taught about Jesus loving people from all nations all over the world.
After this time of preaching from Brandon, Nate and Mackenzie went on to lead the message on the wordless bracelet as Miriam did a wonderful job translating. It was so incredibly neat to see all of the other youth mingle with the children and parents as they helped in making their wordless salvation bracelets. The kids seem to be quite taken with our youth, although it didnt hurt that we were passing out suckers, and balloon animals. Chris, Mackenzie, Drew, and others did a great job at keeping all those that attended entertained with the balloon animals. They were a HUGE hit with everyone!
We came to learn, that here in Sarapaqui, we are working with the local church here whom has started a ministry. They started a drug and alcohol rehab facilitation for men. The men actually live in small houses right behind the church and live there until they are through the program. Our construction projects this week are to build another house so there is another spot for one more person to enter the program.We have been able to meet a good amount of the men going through the program and it has been so neat to see the youth be a light to them as they share God´s love through their actions.
We have had some fun times hiking through the jungle to a river with a vine as a rope swing!! After many backflips, frontflips, and an assortment of other tricks, everyone returned back to the hotel safely. Laughter has been our main form of communication between the team this week. Our team was definitely ordained by God, and are thankful that we have such a solid team.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Sarapaqui and we will hopefully be done with the house by then. Thursday morning we get up and drive into the Rainforest for our ¨fun day¨, along with shopping in the city.
I will probably not be able to send another blog update until we are back in San Jose. So be checking back Thursday or Friday for updates and pictures.
Sorry this has not been as strong of a communication tool as we were hoping. I will try and upload some pictures at a different time when the upload time doesnt take 8 minutes and 27 seconds for each picture like it does now.
Prayer Requests -
Courage and clarity for the youth as they are asked to share their testimonies this week.
No rain so we can finish the construction on the house.
Safety during our excursions.
Health - no sickness
That we would be able to put the people of Costa Rica as priority over the projects.
Here is a preview of pictures to come!! The word-less bracelets have been a big hit already!!
Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts!
Love you all,
-The Youth and Leaders
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