We were sad to leave our site this morning, but also very excited to head over to our debrief site! We cleaned out our rooms, packed up the bus, and drove to a nearby city called Sarchi, where we saw the world's largest ox cart. We also stopped at a souvenir shop where we all picked up Costa Rican souvenirs for both ourselves, and families (get excited for some gifts, parents!). From there, we stopped at a restaurant with a buffet for lunch. Our next stop was at a bridge over a river, where we got to watch many large American crocodiles. The largest we saw was possibly close to 15'!
The ox cart
Crocodiles!
Store in Sarchi
At around 3:30, we arrived at our debrief site in Jaco. The purpose of having this time is for students to be able to process what they have experienced in the past week. During this time, we will have 3 final small groups, where students can share what they have learned. We have found that it can be difficult to go directly from the poverty of Costa Rica into affluent America and so please be praying for God to seal in the lessons we have learned throughout the week during our time here. After getting split up into our rooms the team spent a little time jumping waves or relaxing in the pool. We then got to eat dinner together at an outdoor food center in the local downtown area. We returned to our debrief site afterwards, and while we did not have porch time, we did split off into small groups to discuss what we had learned from the past week of serving. In our small groups we are returning to the character of Gideon who we studied before the trip and re-visiting some of the questions we answered in our pre-trip meetings. It is really neat to see how God has used the story of Gideon to setup and guide our own encounters with God down here in Costa Rica. Tomorrow, we will have more small group and reflection time, as well as a little more time to enjoy the Costa Rican beach!
