Day Five

This morning we rose early as usual and began to shine. :) On the bus ride to the school, Fernando (our bus driver) was very thoughtful and played one of the few American radio stations over the bus intercom. Upon arriving at the school, we set up for VBS more quickly than usual, which resulted in some extra time to play with the children before VBS. As we walked out onto the playground, certain children ran up to individual team members they recognized from VBS activities. It was just additional proof of the strengthening relationships between the team and the children here. It is magical to see the delight on both our team members' faces as well as the children during something as commonplace as a game of tag.

Later, we had a window of time between the end o f VBS and lunch. We took the opportunity to get some painting done, prepare for tomorrow's arts and crafts, and upload pictures to the slideshow. Everyone is throwing themselves whole-heartedly into the work, and consequently, much is getting done. After lunch, we resumed work. The boys got the entire gym wall painted and the girls continued with the detail work on the murals both in the front of the school and in the gym. We received a reminder to be flexible in the form of a late arrival of a class of older children who came in for arts and crafts in the middle of the work day. We were surprised and happy to find that the same crafts that had entranced the little ones, were just as exciting and enjoyable for the older children. With the conclusion of our workday came our daily trip to the bakery and then a bus ride back to the Diocesan House.

We had just enough time after getting back to shower before a small church service with the Bishop in the Diocesan House's Trinity Chapel. The service was beautiful and the Bishop did a wonderful job with the sermon. He told a dog anecdote, taught us a new Spanish word sigame, and introduced us to a very thoughtful saying: "if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. We sang Spanish hymns and carried out the service in alternate English and Spanish. In addition to wishing God's peace on everyone in the congregation, the Costa Ricans have another tradition that is very
different from what we are accustomed to in church. Instead of just the lector reading the Prayers of the People, everyone in the church is invited to read whatever prayer they want to. In other words, we were encouraged to "jump right in". It was a surprising invitation that made us feel more a part of the service and it certainly made the prayers more intimate.

After the service we had dinner and then a quick meeting to discuss the work to be done tomorrow. We plan to work as much and as hard as possible in order to finish our projects by Friday. Our lights out was 9:00 in order to ensure a full night's rest, so everyone is currently quietly in bed. We look forward to yet another amazing day tomorrow and wish God's peace to everyone back home.

God Bless,
The Costa Rica Mission Team