Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Costa Rica Day 7 - 6.27.18

We had an amazing day here at our debrief site. We had our second debrief small group this morning followed by some quiet time. Taking time to connect with the Lord one on one is something that is not done enough in our day to day lives and allowing the team to take the opportunity to process what they have experienced on this trip has been a very beneficial activity. Following our small group and quiet time, we had some free time where the team was able to spend some time on the beach swimming, playing volleyball, and playing soccer.

After a great day of experiencing the beautiful beach of Costa Rica and a delicious pizza dinner our team gathered for our final porch time.  This is our final moment for the kids to analyze how they can use what they have learned and seen here in Costa Rica back in Williamsburg.  Luke re-visited the story of Abraham that we studied prior to our trip in the pre-trip meeting to close out our study on him.  Throughout our time studying Abraham we have seen him continue to build altars throughout his experiences: altars of appearance, calling, repentance, and assurance.  Luke used these as a guide for how we can structure our lives to be open to the leading of Jesus in Williamsburg like we have been here in Costa Rica.  Then we looked at one final altar moment in Genesis 15 where God establishes a covenant with Abraham.  So we created a final altar of covenant moment for our team where we could put behind the things that are holding us back from fully committing to Jesus.  It was great to see our team take this moment of honesty to establish their own commitments with Jesus.  Finally, we closed our evening together in small groups as a team to discuss final commitments and realizations as we head back home.

We have truly had a blessed trip and we look forward to sharing more stories when we see you all in Williamsburg.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Costa Rica Day 6 - 6.26.18

After our usual morning routine of devotion, alone time, and breakfast we headed out for final morning in the la cuenca community.  We went to a different park in the community that had a soccer field, swings, and a jungle gym which was a great spot for kids of all ages to join in with us.  Upon arrival we split up and went out to the surrounding homes to invite kids over to the park.  The older kids stayed at the soccer field to play some pick-up soccer while they younger kids gathered in the shade of an overhang for another vbs lesson on Jonah.  Since we were in a different part of la cuenca it was a different set of kids and so we were able to use the same lesson from the previous day.  Part of our team acted out the story of Jonah while Isaac narrated.  Then Luke gave a short lesson on obedience to God along with a testimony from a member of our team about obedience to God in their own life.  Following the lesson we had a pipe cleaner and bead craft to make whales for all of the kids to take home.  It was so great to see our team finish well in the community and work hard until the last minute to care and love our new friends of la cuenca.

After the vbs lesson and snacks we went back to our original la cuenca location to say goodbye to all of the kids that we have developed relationships over the week.  It was a tear-filled goodbye because God has truly created some deep bonds between our team and the kids.  God has shown up in some unexpected but great ways through these kids and I think we will remember them and their impact on us forever.

Following the goodbyes our team ate lunch at vidanet and then loaded up on the bus for a long bus ride up to our debrief location in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  Upon arrival, the team was excited to see that our debrief location is a hostel on the beach.  We choose to have a day of debrief because it is very important for us to take time to process all that we have seen and experienced.  So, this hostel called Casa Aura is going to be the location for us to discuss, reflect, and listen as we open ourselves up to the transformation that God is wanting to enact in us.  After getting checked in we walked down to a local food court for dinner, spent a little bit of time souvenir shopping, and then gathered together for our first of three small group times while we are here.  We re-visited Abraham who was the character we studied in our pre-trip meetings to start looking back at our week for encounters with God and moments that helped us connect to God.  We are excited to continue processing and please be praying that God would seal the lessons we have learned on our hearts and minds during our final day here in Costa Rica.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Costa Rica Day 5 - 6.25.18

Sunday's are always great days on our international mission trip because they start with a chance to join in worship with a local congregation.  We went with the Vidanet staff to Rey de Reyes (King of Kings) church for a morning of worship.  It was special to reflect on how our God crosses culture, language, country, and race as we worshipped at the same time as you all in Williamsburg.  The church welcomed us and provided a translator for us throughout the service so that we were able to engage with all that was going on.

Following the service and lunch at the church our team headed back to la cuenca.  We were all excited for the afternoon because the plan was to split into smaller groups to deliver food, prayers, love, and conversation to the actual homes within la cuenca.  La cuenca is basically a bunch of tin-roofed homes that are all attached to one another to form a few big structures that are separated by narrow and muddy pathways.  Each group visited a different section of the community along with a few vidanet staff to translate.  At each home the group would introduce themselves, give the family a bag of food, ask them about their lives, and close in prayer.  Every team came back sharing stories of how the people of la cuenca gladly welcomed them in and were very grateful for the food but just as grateful for the prayers.  One group had a man commit his life to Jesus through their conversations with him while other groups heard stories of steadfast faith in the midst of extreme tragedy and pain.  It was a powerful day of getting to see the realities of extreme poverty while at the same time seeing the peace and joy of God still being manifested amidst these awful circumstances.

Afterwards we headed back to our headquarters for dinner and our final porch time here at Vidanet (we will have one more at our debrief site).  Isaac gave a great message on how to understand why those in poverty are seemingly able to experience happiness in ways that our team in Williamsburg can struggle with and he called it the secret of the poor.  He used Luke 12 to quote Jesus in saying that life is not found by simply working hard to build bigger barns to hold all of the stuff we accumulate.  Instead, it is only those who are rich towards God that find fulfillment in life.  He closed by jumping to Luke 14 as well to use the story of the great banquet to challenge our team to stop building bigger barns and instead build bigger tables that use our resources to welcome other people into the Kingdom of God.

Finally, we closed our evening with another time in small groups to discuss the secret of the poor followed by a time of "sweet fellowship" where we all continued conversations, played music, and bonded with each other.  Tomorrow is our last morning in la cuenca before we head to our debrief site in Tamarindo.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Costa Rica Day 4 - 6.23.18

We had an early departure time today and so we loaded up to go immediately after our morning devotional and breakfast.  The reason we left early was to maximize our time at a local amusement park for some of the families from the la cuenca community.  The families that joined us at the amusement park are connected to a branch of vidanet called El Nido, which means "the nest".  This is a pregnancy center for women who have experienced rape or trauma in their life and live in the la cuenca community.  So, a group of about 40 women and children connected to El Nido joined us in the amusement park for the day. 

We split into small groups and took these moms and kids around the park to rides, snacks, lunch, and arcade games.  It was a beautiful sight to watch the faces of these kids light up with excitement as they were able to ride rides and have a once in a lifetime experience.  For example, it was one of the girl's birthday today and she told us that this was the best birthday ever.  Later, her mom told us that she probably would not have gotten anything for her birthday if we hadn't taken them to the amusement park.  It was very special to see our team selflessly run around with these kids, give the mom's a break, and bring such great love and joy into their lives.

After the amusement park we hopped on the bus and went back to our headquarters for dinner and another porch time gathering.  During this porch time it was really neat to watch as more and more people started sharing moments where they saw Jesus.  Our team has really started to open their eyes and see God's presence working through each other as their friends are performing selfless acts that don't often happen normally in their lives.  Luke spoke tonight from Romans 1 to answer the question: Why is their suffering in the world?.  He said that human selfishness either causes or perpetuates all suffering in the world.  Then he closed by saying that although selfishness leads to suffering selflessness leads to life and challenged the group to think about how God uses selfless people to bring life into the suffering of this world.

Our evening closed with some small group discussion time as everyone continued to dive into the selfishness of their own lives along with what it could look like to allow daily worship to move us towards selflessness.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Costa Rica Day 3 - 6.22.18

During our time here at vidanet their staff starts each morning with a devotional thought for everyone followed by quiet time.  It was such a great thing to see our team take serious the challenge to spend 45 minutes alone processing and reflecting on their time so far in Costa Rica.  Many of them told us later that they have never taken that much time to just be silent with God and that it was very helpful for them.  Following our quiet time we joined together for a hot breakfast and then loaded up for our morning activity.

Our morning was spent taking a group of kids from the impoverished la cuenca community to a local roller skating rink.  It was both hilarious and inspiring to watch our team fall together with the Costa Rican kids as well as help them get right back up and laugh it off.  In addition to the skating we had a local christian rapper who came to the skating rink to share his music and story of transformation.  He talked about the switch in his life from valuing fame to valuing Jesus which was great for everyone to hear. 

After a pizza lunch at the skating rink, we headed back to the la cuenca community where we split into two groups.  Half of our team joined in with the older youth in the community to play soccer while the other half ran an afternoon of vbs for the younger kids.  We taught the kids about Jonah and the truth that God knows what's best for us, so we should always obey Him.  We ended our afternoon with snacks and other fun games together with the kids.  Our team has really embraced the importance of and opportunity to care and love these kids who normally have very few older figures in their lives that tell them they are wonderful and loved.

Following our day with the la cuenca kids we headed back to our vidanet headquarters for dinner and our second porch time together.  Tonight, we had a lot of members of the vidanet team here in Costa Rica join us and even play instruments with us during the music portion of our evening.  It was special to be praising the same God alongside people from a different country.  Isaac gave a talk on incarnational ministry tonight which is just the concept that Jesus actually can live in us and that we bear the image of God in everything that we do.  He challenged us to think about how foggy that image is right now and what responsibilities being image-bearers carries with it.

We closed our evening in small groups where we continued to process our experiences here in Costa Rica as well as started to take a close and honest look at our own lives and the image we are portraying to others and how we can be more fully aware of Jesus in our lives.  We had a great day filled with wonderful experiences and we are looking forward to taking kids from la cuenca to a local amusement park tomorrow.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Costa Rica Day 2 - 6.21.18

We began our day sleeping in after our long day of travel.  We woke up to a delicious continental breakfast of fresh pineapple and papaya, cereal, and costa rican coffee.  It energized us as we began to take in our new surroundings for the first time in the light.  Due to the higher elevation of our housing site the morning was very mild and pleasant to begin our day.  After breakfast we were introduced to all of the vidanet staff that are helping run our trip.  They have a discipleship program for students in their early twenties and so there is a group of about 10 students from Costa Rica, Honduras, and America that are serving as our translators and coordinators for the week.  We got to learn a little bit about them, the mission of vidanet, and the place we would be serving this week.

After lunch at our housing site we loaded up to go to a local Nicaraguan refugee community called la cuenca where we will be serving all week.  This is a very poor squatter community that is basically a bunch of tin roofed homes built alongside of each other where families of 4-6 people often pack into one room to sleep together.  We partnered with a local ministry that runs Christian day programs for kids and youth in the community to provide support and love to this impoverished place.  Our team took the charge and immediately began to give kids rides on their shoulders, draw in coloring books, play soccer, and generally bring light to a place that has a lot of darkness.  Today was all about getting to know the kids and community and then we will be doing some VBS lessons later in the week.  

Once we finished up our time with the kids of la cuenca our team loaded up to head back to our housing site for dinner and our first porch time.  Dinner was a delicious meal of rice, beans, marinated chicken, and plantains which our team really enjoyed.  Following dinner we circled up in one of the community rooms here for our first porch time.  Porch time is our evening worship gathering where we remember funny and inspiring moments from the day, praise God through music, and listen to a talk that helps us engage with some of the tough questions that Costa Rica has started to stir in us.  For this porch time Luke used the Bible passage from Luke 10 where Jesus sends his seventy two followers out on their own mission trip as a model for our week.  He talked about the importance of leaving behind our normal expectations for how we operate on a daily basis and instead be present and focused here in Costa Rica.  

Finally, our day finished with our small group discussion time where we split up to discuss and process.  We talked about our first impressions of la cuenca and what things were holding us back from fully engaging in the work God has set before us here in Costa Rica.  It was such a great end to a wonderful day as Jesus has already begun to stir new thoughts in our minds and show up in some unexpected ways for out team.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Costa Rica Day 1 - 6.20.18

Our first day was filled with all sorts of different modes of transportation.  First, we took an Oleta charter bus up to Dulles early in the morning as our team was filled with excitement for the beginning of our journey.  Next, we took our first flight to Houston, Texas as we began our trip southwards.  In Houston, our team was already starting to bond as this new shared experience took new steps towards Costa Rica.  In Houston, we were delayed for a little while as we waited for a storm to pass which was a great opportunity for our team to start learning new card games, talk about what they are excited for on the trip, and spend quality time together.  

Our flight from Houston to Costa Rica went smoothly and we were met by the friendly staff of Vidanet (the organization that is housing us) with an old yellow American school bus.  Our final leg of the journey was to ride on this school bus down to San Jose where we were first introduced to our housing site for most of the trip.  The team was tired but also excited to have arrived at our location and we all separated into our rooms to get to bed and sleep in before starting our first full day in Costa Rica.


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Costa Rica

Just a reminder that we are going to meet at the Chapel at 7am Wednesday, June 20th for our departure to Costa Rica.


Friday, June 8, 2018

Senior Experience Meeting #1 - 6.5.18

We had our first of two Senior Experience meetings this Tuesday where we went over some administrative/logistical information regarding the trip as well as dove into our first Abraham teaching as we gear up for our week of serving others.

Below you will find the powerpoint presentation used at the meeting as well as the checklist of tasks students/parents involved in this trip should complete before our next meeting on July 17th. Please also be sure to register for VBS as a volunteer as we will be serving there all week July 23rd-27th and complete the background check form if you are over 18 and participating in this trip.

PRESENTATION

CHECKLIST

VBS REGISTRATION

BACKGROUND CHECK FORM (if you are over 18)

-SM Team

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Updated Costa Rica Packing List

Packing List

Just text or email Luke with any other specific packing questions.
lkincaid@wcchapel.org
757-570-0292