SEED Program

After a long evening of games and laughter from the night before, we woke up this morning slightly tired but with full hearts. We packed our last few things and got organized for the long day of travel ahead of us. Everyone was very sad to be leaving the AMCA house. This place feels like home, and our team feels like family. It is a hard thing to walk away from. Fortunately, we had Musmani (the bakery up the street) to look forward to. It was incredible as always, and we enjoyed our last morning in the country. Heading off the airport, we departed from Nattie, Patri, and Gabriel. Goodbyes are challenging for all of us, so we weren’t thriving in those moments. On the ride to airport, Jack played DJ in the bus and Ronny (our trusty bus driver) finally wore the hat at the front of the bus we have been wanting him to wear all week. Jack played songs to match the mood and some of us partook in some cheesy dance moves and hairbrush singing. We wanted to make the most of our last Costa Rican ride.

The airports were peaceful themselves. Outside of the fact that our connecting flight was late, which meant we had to rush to reach the flight to Chicago. It was weird being back in the states. After living in a shack with only the sound of the animals at night. As well as a bustling town for so long. The peacefulness (and cleanliness) was a welcomes sight. But it was clear that people were sad to leave. Everyone was just trying to soak in the last few moments together, and enjoy the community we formed. As we fly over the United States and stare at the gorgeous sunset on the horizon while playing cards or reading a book, We want to spend our last few words in this blog to reflect on a question we asked ourselves before signing up; And it may be something you asked your child, relative, friend, or whomever told you they were heading to Costa Rica.

Why a Missions Trip?

For some of us it was an opportunity to escape out of the cycle that we call our everyday lives. For others it was a chance to step out of the comfort zone. For many, it was the opportunity to see God in a way that we’ve never seen him before. And for everyone, it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

So here’s to those moments of exhaustion in the heat as we spread smiles and a wealth of joy to the children who never seemed to run out of energy themselves. To the crazy games of Dodgeball where high school kids tried to tear our heads off. The Basketball and Soccer games in the prison where our hearts were opened to how kind and loving the people seen as outcasts truly were. To the wide eyes of community members as we showed how God can change our lives as crystal clear water poured out of a bucket full of dirty water. The multitude of inside jokes and laughs and tears of joy that ensued on nearly every bus ride around town. The nights of cards and games of “ultimate werewolf” were we convinced ourselves that sleep wasn’t necessary. Weekends spent going to church and playing disc golf, Zumba, and wiffleball.  Here’s to the thoughts and discussion during team time, and the vulnerability of everyone’s testimony.

And while it may seem like you were able to go on this journey with us through the blog. We were truly only able to get to the surface of how incredible this trip was, and what it meant to all of us. So when you see your trip goer, say one thing… “tell me about the trip”. I can guarantee what they will tell you, and what you will come find, is that everything that happened on a small country in Central America is nothing short of God at work.

With all that being said.

Here’s to the Smiles. The Laugher. The Tears. The Friendship and Fellowship. The Risks. The Conversations. The Inside Jokes. The Leaders. The Support. And Every Life we changed.

Here’s to The Costa Rica Seed trip of Summer 2019.

Signing off With Love,

Reagan, Claire, Madison, and the Entire Missions Team

Pura Vida

God bless

This morning we had an early morning wake up call as we got on the road to head to the canopy tour at 6:30am. After a slight backtrack to get Jenna’s phone (oops), we ate buffet breakfast next door to the zip line place. There was a lot of nervous anticipation as we suited up in the harnesses and awaited the tour guides. After about 45 minutes, we began the hour and a half tour that consisted of about 10 different zip lines through the rain forest. The three favorites were: The Tarzan Swing, which was where hooked to a cord that swung you over a cliff with a river at the bottom and an incredible view of the forest, the Crazy Horse, which was a zip line lower to the ground where the cord bounce while you were zooming through the air, and finally, the Superman, which was the longest and highest line where you were strapped into a harness that carried you on your stomach, so you flew like superman way above the forest. The superman was the top favorite because of how breathtaking and indescribable the view was, even though it started raining. We are all very grateful to have experienced God’s beautiful creation in such a unique and exhilarating way. Shout out to our team for going out of their comfort zone and facing the heights.

Next, we headed to the hot springs at the bottom of the volcano for an afternoon of relaxation and, in some cases, more adrenaline from the water slides. We had a very nice lunch in the resort, and then we dispersed to the different pools. Each pool was heated from the volcano, and they progressively got hotter—ranging from 109 to 130 degrees. There were four different water slides, peaking at 27 miles per hour. These included a toilet bowl slide, where you shot down a tube into a big bowl where you slid around until you fell through a hole in the middle into a little pool. The other three were slides into a hot spring, one was a straightforward chill slide down, another was a longer and faster slide that curved more but still pretty chill, and the last one was very intense because of how fast you went down and the drop before shooting out of the tube (everyone got some air). Our time at the hot springs was a great last team bonding, and a relaxing way to end our last full day.

On the bus ride back to AMCA, we had the opportunity to debrief about the trip and share how each of us have uniquely impacted each other on the trip as encouragement for one another. We also had a five-minute reflection time, followed by sharing what God taught each of us individually and how we want to bring that into our lives once we get back to the states. Praise God for bringing this team together because it has been such a blast to get to know one another, grow together, and build lasting bonds.

Love,

Abby and Rachel

P.S. Prayers for safe travel tomorrow would be appreciated! See you soon!

This morning Reagan, Jack, and Emari awoke in their hammocks for the second morning in a row. They decided to stay the night in the new hammocks they bought instead of sleeping in the rustic huts that are now our dwellings. After a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit, we departed for the school where we would spend the day.

Once again, we spent the first part of the day playing wonderful games with the children and showing them God’s love through sports, hair styling sessions, hugs, piggy back rides, and other forms of affection. These kids were simply amazing. Although we were in one of the most economically impoverished areas we had visited so far, the kids were overjoyed to see us and were another great example of how we are all God’s children and are equal in his eyes. This sight truly exemplified one of the concepts we have been talking about lately as a group.

We have been discussing how although the people we are visiting are “poorer” than we are, there are aspects of their lives that make them “richer”. We live in a society that in some ways takes community and communication for granted. These people down here are so happy because they are together, united without the technology that we use every day. So in this sense, they are richer than we are. We also live extremely busy, hectic lives. We seldom take the time to enjoy the day, live in the moment, and forget about packing in as much as we can into a 24-hour period. So when thinking about lifestyle, some would argue we are missing something and are “poorer” than our Costa Rican brothers and sisters.

Working in this area made that notion quite clear. When distributing water filters, the exterior perception of the families that lived here was that of a less wealthy community, considering the need for water filters and economic facts we have been given going into the community. However, the spiritual wealth was so present and seemed to overflow in our small area of the world. As Rachel explained the renewal of Jesus during the water filter demonstration, smiling faces of children and parents were surrounding us. Both the families and the Push the Rock team worked together to make the water filters, all one community from different parts of the world. We also give a big shout-out to Ronny, without whose powerful drill bit-twisting skills came quite in handy. Several hugs, smiles, and water filters later, we took to the road with the extra filters to spread the clean water and joy of the Lord.

Our love for God and for each other is growing with every moment. The significance and purposefulness of each member on the trip is evident. It’s hard to imagine this trip with any other group of people. God is using our unique abilities to bring His plan to fruition: from our Spanish-speaking abilities, to our varieties of leadership, to our ways of connecting with kids: from our sarcastic jabs, to our senses of humor, to our laughs-that-make-you laugh; from our struggles, to our wisdom, to our different walks of faith; God is using it all.

The reality of our trip coming to a close is starting to set in. This only makes each moment we get to spend together even more meaningful. Our days our limited to continue to push each other in our faiths, but we are living in and loving on every second!

Stay cool USA.

Love,

Gabbi, Jack, & Lauryn

Our day was eventful from the get-go as Megan had a great morning wake-up from our new friend Spot the stray cat who wandered into the girl’s room last night and decided to cuddle with her feet. Nothing gets eight college girls up faster than screaming after finding unexpected friends. On the bright side, all of the boys who slept outside in hammocks also survived the night without getting eaten alive by bugs or worse, las cucarachas. Breakfast at our new location was followed by another surprise: a local man stopped by the church we are staying at and asked for prayer as he is battling alcoholism and wants to begin a relationship with Christ. It was only 8am but we already had quite the day!

It was a general consensus that the school we visited today made the top 5 experiences of the trip. Here’s why: we got off the bus that our driver, Ronny, so skillfully maneuvered to get us to the school safely and were greeted by 90+ 1^st-4^th graders – talk about a welcome! Although they were the least socioeconomically wealthy school we have visited, they were rich with joy. While with them, we did relays and played futbol, dodge-ball, and fan-favorites, Pato-Pato-Gonzo (Duck-Duck-Goose) and Enfuego en la Jungla (Fire in the Jungle).

We found great joy in engaging with the kids who didn’t want to play the larger group game and playing games with those that wanted to play with them. After our hearts were filled, our stomachs were filled with fresh fruit from a neighboring farmer. We indulged in mango (with the skin still on), pineapple (with salt), and papaya. Our tasty snack was followed by a tour of the school, including a child’s dream playground, garden (that included pineapple, corn, cucumber, yucca, cabbage, and chili peppers to name a few) and a greenhouse. We ended the tour in the cafeteria were we enjoyed chicken in some creamy sauce, rice, beans, salad, and a fried condensed milk dessert that we either loved or didn’t.

Lunch was followed by the student’s families coming back for the water filter demonstration and our testimonies in which we shared the Gospel. Since this was our first demonstration, there were a few rookie mistakes but overall, it went well and we believe many of the families were impacted by our stories. One thing that motivated and gave us a new perspective was when Jon said, “Taking 5 minutes to drill a better hole will give these families clean water for over 10 years. You are changing the way these kids are growing up – that’s worth the extra time.”

After we finished up at the school, we held another demonstration at the church down the road which was equally impactful. God’s love was very evident through the smiles and laughter of the children and the appreciation the families showed us for the water filters. We have seen Him working in many ways, big and small, this week and cannot wait to see how He shows up at the clinic tomorrow and throughout the rest of our time here.

Dinner was prepared for us at our new home and was followed by team time, where we finished up hearing everyone’s testimonies and heard the Word from Jon. We wrapped up our night playing some of our favorite games where we learned a little more about each other.

Hope you all have a great day and can see God working in your lives back in the States. Stay tuned for our translators Jack and Lauryn and our amiga, Gabbi who will be updating you tomorrow!

See you soon America!

Megan and Jenna

It’s another one of those wonderful travel days! The day began around 8:30 a.m. and started off very normal. Like most days we headed off to Musmani, the local bakery. However, on the way, an elderly man stumbled across the street into the arms of the two nurses on the trip, our fearless leaders, Jon and Peyton. Very quickly, our “off” day turned into an “on” day. With experience and quick thinking, Jon and Peyton were able to assess the situation and get him the proper help he needed.

From there we ate our breakfast and headed to church. On our way, we were informed that their usual translator was sick and unable to attend the service, leaving us wondering how we would understand the sermon. The service began with powerful worship through song. The lyrics were in Spanish but the power of the Holy Spirit was evident. The language of God is universal, and for many of us this was our first time experiencing such thing. As we said earlier, this was our “off” day but this strange “on” day kept continuing. As many of us were pleasantly surprised when the pastor was accompanied on stage by a translator. It was apparent to all that God was moving in our lives today.

Church was followed by a brief visit to the AMCA house where we grabbed our bags and began our voyage up north. On our way to San Carlos, we stopped at a local mall to grab our lunch. The mall was very similar to our malls in the U.S. For those who are interested, Penny Lane Sports is just like Finish Line. The route to San Carlos was beautiful. Our wonderful bus driver, Ronny, brought us through a Costa Rican National Park where we got to see amazing views of the rainforest.

Following our arrival at San Carlos, we settled into our rooms. The women were situated “indoors” while the men were led to their room out back. After getting settled we had a little chance to relax we had the opportunity to play a few team games. We were called to the dinner table at six and began worship at seven. Team time started with powerful testimonies which were followed by our usual two songs. These two songs however, led to a night of belting worship where we needed jolly ranchers and refills of water to keep our vocal cords up to speed.

On a day where we were not scheduled for ministry, God showed up in indescribable and unforgettable ways.

With love from Costa Rica,

Emari, Madison, and Christian

It doesn’t end, come back tomorrow to hear from two of our finest; Jenna and Megan.