Day Seven

Apologies for the delay in this post--the last twenty four hours have flown by. Yesterday was our last day of VBS as well as the end of our stay in San Jose. We left the house as usual to go to the school. VBS ran the smoothest it had run all week and the children, as well as the team, were animated and completely immersed in the activities. At the end of VBS, we gathered in the playground area with all of the children and took an enormous group photo. We said our goodbyes to the children and the teachers who had shown us so much love and had been so welcoming all week. Later in our reflection and devotion for the day, many team members shared that they had been surprised at how emotional and sad they had been when saying goodbye. Even though it was very hard to part with such wonderful children, the relationships that we built this week are unlikely to ever be forgotten.

After visiting the bakery one last time, the boys and girls parted ways for the rest of the afternoon. The girls went with Kathia to cook dinner for the whole team, while the boys (attempted) to go to a volcano. Kathia took the girls to her house and designated different dishes for them to cook. Under Kathia's careful instruction, the girls learned to cook traditional Costa Rican dishes. Anne fried chicken in the side yard, Eleanor squeezed limes and pineapples to make two different juices, Carter chopped vegetables and made vegetarian lasagna, Margaret squeezed shaved coconut to get the milk and fried plantains, and everyone contributed to the salad. After six hours of cooking, the girls helped Kathia serve a delicious meal to her family and the entire team. Meanwhile, the boys went on a very long misadventure. An hour into the bus ride to the volcano, they were informed that the volcano was closing due to rain and clouds. They decided against going to another volcano due to the likelihood of similar conditions. Instead, the boys decided that purchasing fireworks was an excellent idea--until they discovered that every fireworks stand was closed. Shortly after discovering this, they got into a small fender-bender that resulted in no injuries minus a side mirror. Finally, the boys picked up a birthday cake for Kathia's husband Deen. Despite several obstacles, the day ended in a wonderful meal, with wonderful people, in a wonderful country.

After leaving Kathia and Deen's we came back to to the Diocesan House and promptly had a meeting and went to bed, due to a very long and successful day. Again, we apologize for the lateness of this post, and we hope to have a wonderful end to a phenomenal week. 

Gob Bless,

The Costa Rica Mission Team