And we thought Push The Rock was just a metaphor

August 18th, 2017: Day 4

Everyone on our team is embracing their roles, the rooster included. He woke us up once again in the fourth hour. Coach Kust complemented the rooster with a false alarm much earlier than our expected wake up call. Luckily, a hearty breakfast awaited us, including some heavenly, fluffy pancakes. We then loaded ourselves and the equipment onto the bus and headed to our first school of the day. We would be remiss if we failed to mention the river we drove through to get there. Thankfully, our 90’s Isuzu bus, battle wounds and all, doubles as a World War II era tank. Once we arrived, we provided the school with clean drinking water in the form of two Sawyer water filters. Meanwhile, the rest of our team began playing with the children. We split into two groups, one of which played soccer and the other wiffle ball. After a heartbreaking defeat to the local children in soccer, we bounced back for a rousing game of dodgeball, in which the children begged for mercy. Ha ha. Just kidding. But in case you were wondering, we won. We finished our time at the school with testimonies from two of our team members: Hailey and Heather.
After some downtime and a nourishing lunch, we took a short hike to our second school of the day. Immediately upon arrival, it promptly started pouring rain in biblical proportions. Luckily, there was a large covered area ideal for some controlled chaos that challenged our ability to think on the fly. Without an outdoor space to play games, we managed to invent some new games to play with the kids. Even though the rain continued to fall, our spirits were lifted by the smiles of the children. We demonstrated setup and use of two more water filters and left them with one more for future use. We concluded our time with two more testimonies, this time from Sydney and Madison.
Since it was raining, our bus driver came to give us a ride back from the second school. On our return trip, we happened upon a mudslide that left some rocks in the road. This gave us an opportunity to embrace the name of our sponsoring organization as we literally Push(ed) the Rock(s). Preceding dinner, we serenaded our gracious host Ricauter to the tune of Happy Birthday. We celebrated his birthday with an incredible dinner, which included smoked pork, mashed potatoes, fresh pineapple, salad, and yuca. We ended the night with a powerful testimony from Nattie during team time. We also continued our discussion from 1 John, keeping in mind that God is light and in Him there is no darkness. We were left with a question to consider: In what ways do we take sin lightly and how can we move forward into forgiveness?
We are thankful for the relationships we have built in Coto Brus, and anticipate further growth and blessing as we return to San Jose in the morning.
Que Dios te bendiga,
Cody, Jack, and Hayley

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