As things are finally taking shape, the reality of this mission experience is slowly beginning to sink in. I might ought to speed up the process of reality as the trip is only three days away! It seems like yesterday that Jeff Thomas and I made the initial scouting trip to seek out the best mission opportunities for our parish. In fact, it was nearly nine months ago! We have come such a long way since that trip.
At this point we have secured 18 youth and adult missioners and with the help of our parish, family, and friends, we have fundraised enough money to cover this incredible mission. While we are in Costa Rica we will be working on several different projects. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we will spend our mornings hosting Vacation Bible School for 25 children ages 6-11 from the Episcopal Church of the Ascencion in San Jose and the surrounding neighborhood, and our afternoons will be spent reconstructing a new worship space for the church. This is a particularly special project because of our past connections to "Little" Ascencion. Nearly 17 years ago a group of our youth went to this exact church to renovate the interior of the original worship space. Now this many years later, Ascencion has outgrown their original building and we are going back to do our part in building a new worship space! It seems like the beginning of a beautiful reunion story to me.
Beyond the work we will be doing the first part of the week in San Jose, we will also be spending all day Thursday at a little church called San Pedro situated on the railway about two hours outside of San Jose in the Limon Province. When Jeff and I did our scouting trip, this particular church really stuck with us. The priest, Madre Mavis, was such a kind-hearted woman as she lovingly showed us her humble church building. San Pedro has a sweet story of determination and community about it. The building itself isn't anything spectacular, made of cinder blocks and a tin roof, but the spirit of the people are what make the ordinary building extraordinary. Madre Mavis had a tree cut down, sold part of it and used the other part as lumber to construct the roof. The earnings from the sold half were used to purchase the tin that cover the wood supports. The roof now allows them to meet rain or shine. It is such a simple church, but we knew that we wanted to be a part of their story. So Thursday will be our opportunity. We will be tiling and painting before we host a small reception to break bread with our brothers and sisters in the neighborhood.
We will be returning to San Jose on Thursday night so that Friday morning we can take a tour of the schools the Diocese of Costa Rica sponsors, both in Barrio Cuba and Heredia. From there we will drive out to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica where we will begin a day and a half of rest and relaxation.
This mission experience has only been made possible with the financial support, prayers and love from our parish family. My hope is that all three of these means will continue as we carry out our journey in Costa Rica. Any additional financial contributions are welcome even while we are in Costa Rica as all monies will be donated to the project costs for both San Pedro and Ascencion. All prayers and love are welcome as we will need as many and much as we can get. If you would like to pray for our missionaries by name, a list will be provided in a separate post.
I am so excited to see how God uses each one of us and our many gifts and talents to carry out his work in Costa Rica.
Agape,
Holly
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