Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A day of great reward

You work hard you get a great reward! Yesterday was nothing short of a beautiful day. Our team had such a fun day of rest, play, and enjoying the beautiful country of Costa Rica. They earned every second of it! Diego drove us into downtown San Jose where we picked up a charter bus that drove us to Puntarenas. There we enjoyed a typical and great Costa Rican breakfast. Then we took a Catamaran boat to Tortuga Island where we enjoyed an incredible day. One of us didn't feel so great-but as the saying goes for the week-take one for the team!! Enjoy the pictures from this beautiful day!!!




















































































































































































Sunday, June 9, 2013

Church Bells and Children's Homes

Today was scheduled to be another later morning for the team and not to have a wake up call till 7:30am (they've been woken up at 6am all week and their wake up tomorrow is at 4:45am). But this morning at 6:30am on the dot the church bells started ringing. Hello Sunday.




It has taken us two years....but Kenda has become Franco's favorite and has gotten coffee before breakfast in a real sized coffee mug. Today-I received this blessing as well and it deserved to be documented! Kenda is still the favorite and has her own special mug :)




This is our front porch that we have our quiet times on. The team is required to have a minimum of a 30 minute quiet time before they come to the breakfast table in the morning. Praying this takes root and this discipline will be continued when they return home...and just become hungry for more!




After breakfast we loaded up our bus with Diego and headed to worship at church at the Abraham Project. Such a beautiful treat to worship in another country. Reminds me that God doesn't only speak English and I love seeing His heart for His people. The entire service was in Spanish. It was awesome.




After worship we walked over to the Children's Homes at the Abraham Project and spent the afternoon with them. We had pizza for lunch, then Alyssa, Katy, and Sarah taught on being a Friend of God. We then spent the rest of the afternoon just having a lot of fun with them! We had prepared large group games along with lots and lots of "minute to win it" games. We had a lot of fun and we think the kids did too! We also did face painting and balloon animals! Our students are quite talented! We loved the time we got to spend with the children. It was so sweet and such a blessing to get to love on them. So thankful for this opportunity.
Teaching...so proud of these girls:




Noodling Around:












Face painting with sweet Isaac. Looks just like his Daddy:




Face the cookie... I'm really going to regret letting these pictures be posted....








Jonathan and Amy dominated three legged race!
















At the end of the afternoon it was time to wrap up our time at the Abraham Project....group pictures all around!
The team:




The team plus the Griffith Family and our beloved bus driver and friend Diego!




The team leaders:




We had a debrief meeting with Jonathan and a sweet time of prayer with him and Diego. Then it was back home. We took the team on an adventure walking to the local super market to get snacks for tomorrow and then it was time for our last meal with Franco. The team had no trouble abiding by the clean your plate rule tonight....and they wanted it documented....








Tonight was our last full team meeting. Sweet time of fellowship was had, then a time of writing out encouraging words for each other. We then served each other communion to finish out the team meeting. When we thought the meeting was over... the students asked if they could pray for us. They put us in the middle, tears came forth, and by far my favorite moment..,especially because I did not see that one coming! Sweet times have been had in this special place.




The night was still young....so card games all around after the team meeting.....












The team is now all snuggled into bed. A very early wake up call is coming....but for a very fun day. I told the team in the very beginning that I believe in rewards. They've worked very, very hard this week. Tomorrow we play. We'll see you soon!