Sweet Home Indiana

(the view from the top of our hostel in San Jose)

This past week brought a lot of changes for my summer. The swine flu is spreading in Costa Rica, and in the past couple of weeks, about 6 or 7 people have died, doubling the amount that have died in Costa Rica in just over a week. Yon read in a paper the the indigenous areas were some of the most at risk areas, probably since their way of life and how they do things. School was canceled for a week and then I think they canceled it for another week. Even going throughout the community a lot of kids were sick with the flu, or getting sick. Even if it was just a flu going around, it was affecting a lot of kids and their was always that possibility that it would be the Swine Flu, since it was in the area. With all of this going on, the group we were expecting for the week canceled they day before they were supposed to come, which was the safest thing. They instead went to Mississippi on another one of Experience Missions trips.
With that group not coming because of the Swine Flu and simply different issues, our summer was cut short. Another group for later in the summer will be switching to Jamaica I think and we as summer staff were informed Monday that our plane tickets left that Wednesday. It was a decision between the office and us, since safety issues were a concern.

So, we had a lot to do in a short amount of time wrapping up everything for the summer. We canceled transportation, food, construction orders, workers, projects. We had some really neat projects that I was excited about, but hopefully they will get done in time. So, instead of telling my parents, I decided to surprise them. :) I flew in around 1am on Wednesday, had Stephanie pick me up at the airport...stayed at her apartment til 5:30am, then came to town, got Lenny's donuts, and showed up at my house at 6:30am. My parents were in shock once they finally got out of bed and made it down to the door where Steph and I were banging on the door.

My dad said that God answers prayers. He had just sent this blog out to about 100 people the night before asking for prayer I believe, and then I showed up on the doorstep 12 hours later.

We had a hard summer, with many ups and downs, but it was still such a rewarding experience. I got to invest into those children which means the world. It always touched my heart when I would walk through the community and they would yell my name or come out to say hi. It was hard leaving them on such short notice; I felt like I was abandoning them, but I am thankful for the time I had with them. Even in our short time though, we were able to make a difference. As a Christian team we seemed to encourage the kitchen staff at the camp we stayed at, as they cried when we left, saying they could tell a difference in us, we tore down and rebuilt a house for lady who's previous house was infested with termites, helped in the process of building another house, put a new roof on a house, painted a school and built a bathroom at the school, built a kitchen and of course, held the Vacation Bible School for the kids in the community.

On our way out I made Yon and Alex stop the car at 4 different houses so I could give balls (soccer balls and kick balls) to kids in the neighborhood that I knew and have a chance to say bye to them. I gave the two deaf boys soccer balls and they said thank you, which touched my heart. Sometimes they were roudy little boys, but I still enjoyed them so much.

Now that I'm home, I'm looking for somewhere to volunteer for awhile before I leave again. I'll be in the Dominican Republic all next semester, so keep in touch for more stories of how God is working in the world.

God is working in Costa Rica..and thank you for your prayers which brought me home safely.

Here is Timoteo Jackson, our contact guy in Costa Rica. He liked to think that Michael Jackson was his brother.

Saying goodbye to all of the kids ..... :(




These are three of the deaf boys...the two on the outsides are brothers and the one in the middle is a friend. They were fun :)

Surviving the Swine Flu....

For starters, here is a picture of a bug. I talked about a lot of bugs, but here is an actual picture of one of the many. He might look small, but he was massive, about the size of a dollar bill. A flying cockroach, right in the room we sleep in. It was crazy.

Here is another Alto Cuen shot, washing dishers, rather...rinsing off dishes, in the river. No soap needed and good as new. :)


So a lot has happened since I last wrote. After my amazing American dinner, I got really sick. I was sick Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Puking, diareah, hot, slept for about 2 days straight. So, I got left behind and didn’t get to go to Alto Cuen again. Alex stayed back with me while the group went up Monday, worked Tuesday, and came down Wednesday. The clamps we ordered weren’t ready in time, so there wasn’t as much work to do. They tightened the cables while they were up I think, but didn’t get to add more planks.

Once the group got back and I started feeling a little better we started planning things for the next week. We planned for a group to go to Coroma, a town up the river and then a short hike. No electricity or running water, but not as intense as Alto Cuen. About 50 bags of cement had to be loaded into a boat and shipped up the river to them, so we helped out with that. And these bags were about 90 pounds a piece i think. I didnt pick any up. haha. too heavy for me. I was in charge of helping to put them in trash bags so they wouldnt get wet if it rained. And we also planned for groups in the area we had been in. The projects for next week were to fix up the community center and plaza where I do the VBS and fix a bridge behind Timos house, and also finish up Christinas house and painting at the school.


As we were planning everything and starting to be around town again after being gone, we found out that the Swine Flu was starting to hit hard in the area. The children’s vacations was extended a week because of it and there were 4 cases in BriBri. The indigenous area is a place of risk. So, that presented our next challenge in Costa Rica: the swine flu.
Also…one of our guys had a flight to catch on Saturday afternoon, so he left at 4:40 in the morning to catch the 5am bus, so he could then go catch another bus at 6:30am. Unfortunately, it had POURED all the night before, making the creeks that the bus normally drives through (the roads aren’t good) turn into rivers, and part of the road washed out in another spot. So, in order to catch his bus we ended up paying a taxi to take him to the airport…which was a hefty price. About 200 dollars, but it was our only option for him to make it on time. With weather problems and then public transportation not running the same, it caused us some issues and stress, but we made it through.

Now it is just the battle against the Swine Flu. Since I had been sick around the time it all started happening in BriBri, the office had me go get checked out. They gave me a mask and took me into a room where the doctors/nurses had masks on and wouldn’t let anyone in with me. Fortunatly they told me it wasn’t swine flu, but some stomach infection thing. So, I got lots of pills, stuff to drink, and a shot in my butt. That was a first. Haha. So I should be set to go!! Our team that was supposed to fly in tomorrow dropped out today because of the Swine Flu, so those projects are all put on hold. The office has to figure out some things out. Luckily, that group gets to go to Mississippi now and help out there instead. So, we are still staying busy. Of course. Well, hope I didn’t bore you too much…


Until next time….

bugs, bugs, bugs

Here are some pictures from the Alto Cuen trip: This is what the bridge looked like after we left the first week.


This is where Alex and I spent washing some dishes, there is a creek below and normally we were surrounded by pigs, chickens, dogs, roosters, all sorts of animals.

This is just a look at the yard...the cow, chicken, mud. If you look closely, you might see some poop.
Here is another look at the bridge.

The guys had a great week, working hard in the hot sun and rain.


So, since work got done early on the bridge, we came down a day early and we made great time!! It was awesome coming down compared to the way up. I was so excited to be back, away from having cockroaches all around me, but..................i was wrong. We found a huge bug out on the porch i had never seen, with pinchers, and then someone told us a girl had found a scorpion in her bed the week before at the camp. so, bugs are everywhere. Im learning to live with it and the 50 bites i have on each leg.

So, Yon, Alex, and I have decided that we have a meter for each day of things that go wrong, and each day we figure out who filled that meter and if the meter isnt full by the afternoon, we know that something worse is going to happen in the evening. WELL, for Alto Cuen we had a great week and nothing really serious seemed to happen, so we should have expected it. We found out today that we are in trouble with the Bri Bri council for working on the bridge without going through them first, especially when a few years ago Experience Missions did not originially say they would be helping up in Alto Cuen. We then try to contact the President of the reservation with no luck.....and then we meet with someone else and find out that the council was audited and about $500,000 dollars is missing or so and they cant show where it went, so they have no legal power since there was an appeal or something. Im not sure on all of the details, but we have gotten mixed up in the middle of political things, and we now have to meet with the council. That filled the meter for the week.

As for Alto Cuen, we are planning to go up again this coming Monday..... so it will be another long trek up, but worth it. A couple teenage boys up there are learning english and their mom asked me about a book to help them learn it, so Im going to look for one in San Jose tomorrow that i can maybe take up with us on Monday.

Well, im getting of, we have to get up at 4:30a.m. tomorrow to catch the 5am bus, so we can then catch the 6:30 bus in Bribri to get to San Jose around 10:30 or so.
It will be a long day but worth it because we get AMERICAN FOOD tomorow night. Im thinking...subway, and then cinnabon for dessert. haha

yay

cows, pigs, chickens, lots of poop and an opportunity of a lifetime

So, we just got back this afternoon from Alto Cuen, a village way up in the mountains in Costa Rica. Our mission was to spend time working on a suspension bridge that would connect to villages, giving them safe access to medical help and school. Now, after doing the trip, i fully understand why Yon smelled so bad when he came back from Alto Cuen a couple weeks ago. We started our trip this past Sunday morning. We left the camp around 7:15am to catch the 7:30 bus, then road to Benjamins office to pick up supplies and meet a couple other people going up. From there we walked to the river and I of course was the first one hurt by scratching my arm on a bridge that sways as you walk across it. Once we got to the river we waited for our little wood banana boat. We were going against current and sometimes we were barely moving forward. Halfway up the river another boat met us and some of us hopped over. Eventually we got to oru destination where a tractor pulling a trailor met us. We then road in the trailer for another 45 minutes or so. It is there that I managed to get hurt once again, getting a bruise on my hip..it was a bumpy ride.


After the tractor ride I got to go to the bathroom for the first time outside on the trip, which i later found out was nicer than the actual bathroom in Alto Cuen. No running water really takes its tolls. After the tractor left us we were on foot the rest of the way. We had a guide, some locals, and 2 government ladies with us who were very slow and not prepared for the trip. My bag was the lightest out of the group, but it still became very h eavy as the trip went on. We walked through creeks, mud, uphill and then up some more hills. It was hard. Thats all i can say.

There was one river crossing where t hey put 3 of us on a raft at a time and it had ropes on both sides of the river and they pulled us across. It was a really neat experience. We finally arrived around 4:30 or so, right before the rain. We slept in an elevated hut/room above pigs, cows, dogs and all of their POOP! One afternoon i was in the room with Alex and we heart about 5 cows pee. They pee a ton. Outside of our elevated hut was just a sea of mud, poop, and pea. The people and the view was amazing, but it still baffles me how they would just wear rain boots and treck though all of it regardless. This village has no running water and no electricity, yet they seem to like living up on the mountain, away from things such as cars and contamination.


A lot of the local people wanted to help on the bridge, but they didnt have the materials needed. So, with us providing the supplies and some extra help and knowledge, a lot got accomplished on the bridge. Alex, the only other girl from our group that hiked up, and I did not spend much time physically helping on the bridge. It seemed that not many girls did that job, although some local girls helped out. We spent more time washing dishes, making sure the food got to the lady who cooked for us, and having conversations with the local people and kids. One day I did carry a couple loads of wood up a hill. I was really excited to be able to help out that day. It was hard and somewhat of a humbling experience to not be able to be working on the bridge like the guys. Experience Missions always stresses to the teams how important the relationships are that we are forming and not just the work, and this week I had an opportunity to see where our teams come from when work is slow and we tell them to work on relationships instead. It was hard at times, but learning about their culture was amazing. For example, they get married young there. One girl was 14, and had been married for a year already. Also, these people live off of the land mainly, but are always there for other families in the village. It was just neat to see how they worked.
For the week we took up 248 clamps to use to put planks on the bridge. The work went well and we got done early enough to come home a day early.


The bridge is getting done, little by little, and their dream is coming true.

My first blog....

So this is my first real blog, so, hopefully its not too boring. I will write when I can, which isnt much. I have been here for about a month so far and so much has already happened. God is working in great ways, but the devil is deffinately trying to stick his nose in wherever he can. So far we have already built a kitchen, worked on two houses and almost finished one, put a roof on a house, painted a school, built a bathroom at the school and had VBS with all of the kids each week. Each team has come down ready to work hard and has done amazing things down here, both getting to know the people and culture, while also helping with their physical needs.

I am running the VBS which has been a challenge but also a blessing. It stretches my spanish abilities, but it is amazing seeing how my relationships with the kids grows. There are 3 deaf boys kids that usually come to VBS which makes for another challenge, but having some background in sign language really helps, even though the two sign languages are different (there are still some signs the same). We play games with the kids, have a lesson, water, snack, crafts and more games. the kids love playing soccer.....or as most of you know its futbol in spanish, but here they call it bola! (not sure on the spelling)

We leave tomorrow to go to Alto Cuen, a small village way up in the mountains. We will take a 6 hour bus ride today, get up tomorrow and take an hour boat ride, then an hour bus ride, then a 6 hour hike. We will be working on a suspension bridge. We will smell, but it will be awesome.

Well, sorry this is so short, but i gotta go. We are off to the airport to pick up someone.
since its only mom and dad reading, I LOVE YOU!