Day Four: "How to Pray"

   After our first day of work at Little Ascension the majority of our group was finally blessed with a good nights sleep.  The pre-breakfast chatter consisted primarily of muscle aches, the previous nights latin dance marathon and how good the coffee is in Costa Rica.  (For all you coffee fans, it's good!) A few of us played with Bisbo, the Spanish speaking golden retriever, while others began preparations for VBS.  Breakfast was eggs, rice, refried beans, and amazing fresh fruit. After we devoured everything on our plates, we piled onto our mini-bus. Emerging from rush hour traffic, we were dropped off at the church.  The church grounds resembled a set from the latest post-apocalyptic thriller, which is good because our duties on the work site is demolition.  The VBS songs were picked out on guitar, the bible stories were reviewed, the Tang was mixed and the tie-dye area was prepped. We manned our battle stations and waited a group of 23 joyful children to arrive from the community.

   In a booming voice, Father Eduardo led the group in a Spanish / English rendition of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. All the kids sang their hearts out while following Alice's animated hand motions. Our bible story was about Prayer and the story team acted out the story for the kids.  Alice, Jackson, and Tim were very convincing.  We broke into groups for tie-dying, snacking, and Four-squaring. We also taught the kids to play the "Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur" game and it was a huge hit.

   Lunch was hamburgers and chips prepared by Father Edurado's kind wife Lynette and other church parishioners. The whole team will agree that we have been feed very well.

   The deconstruction lasted from say 12:30 to 4:00. We continued breaking up the slab foundations of a building and driveway.  With our choice of large crow bars, hand welded wedges, pick axes, shovels and sledge hammers we swung away. It was amazing to see our team working together to unearth huge pieces of concrete. As the rubble pile grew, a large truck backed up to collect the broken concrete. One of the workmen commented that he had never seen a blond girl work so hard referring to our one-in-a-million Elizabeth. On the other side of the courtyard, a group was bending rebar for the new foundation. The work crew are so helpful and especially patient with us since communication is some times challenging.  

   As we returned to the Diocesan House, we all settled in for a delicious dinner prepared by the wonderful staff. They are all so nice and accommodating to us. We have decided to learn Spanish just so we can talk to Laura because she is so cheerful. While we enjoyed our dinner, the VBS tie-dye shirts were drying on the clotheslines. After dinner we overheard songs from the kitchen from the staff, while we played card games. Others decided to watch the Costa Rica soccer game at a local restaurant and absorb the local culture.

   We are looking forward to our last day of VBS and demolition a Little Ascension. Keep us in your prayers, especially all our sore muscles.

-Jeff and Emily Thomas