Monday, March 18, 2013

The Groups are Coming! The Groups are Coming! Part II

On February 16th I received a group from Emmanuel in Southern Pines.  Unlike the other groups, they worked on a project out in the province of Limón.  Emmanuel has been in a deep relationship with Santiago in Estrada and have helped them build a auxiliary building on their property to be used as a parish hall, sunday school classroom, and as a school/daycare center.  For five years Emmanuel has been coming down working on this project and while they were down here, they accomplished a lot. Not only did they do physical work on the new building and made repairs to the church itself, but they lead a vacation bible school for the kids in this banana plantation community.  It was incredible to see the turnout for it and both in the morning and afternoon lots and lots of kids came to participate in the activities, to learn more about the Bible, and to play soccer.  It was thrilling week to see everything come together for this group even though at some points we had to improvise.  But it all worked out for the best.

When I dropped the Emmanuel group off at the airport, I hung around cause I had a group from St. Timothy's in Wilson coming later that day.  This was a first for St. Timothy's and it went extremely well.  The group worked on finishing the kitchen at La Ascensión (pictures to come).  Like all the groups I have had thus far, they worked extremely hard and got just as much out of it as they put into the week.  It was an extremely fun group and we got a little R&R in Manuel Antonio.  I truly hope that they decide to come back next year!

Well besides the R&R I had no downtime as a group from Davidson College was waiting for me upon my return from MA.  When a lot of college kids have a week off from school a good portion like to blow off some steam and relax all week at a beach.  This group of students decided to spend their spring break painting a nursery for Hogar Escuela Heredia.  It was an incredible week filled with laughter, song, and prayer. Also to be able to provide a really cool looking room for the youngsters of the new school was more than a bonus.

Having brought my last group for the winter/spring to the airport, I had a "what to do now" feeling since I would be transitioning back into office work until the summer months.  Last week was, as my dad likes to say "a slow and easy" week.  But now I am back in the office working and starting to prepare for the summer months.  I hope everybody had a wonderful St. Paddy's Day and that all have an excellent Holy Week!  Until next time....(which will be filled with pictures)....

Pura Vida


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