SEED Program

Hola from San Jose! We are excited to return home, but also sad to leave.

Our day started out in the Air BnB, where we were woken up to monkeys bombarding the tin roof with missiles of fruit. Breakfast was ready as soon as we woke up, consisting of eggs, toast (with long awaited peanut butter), mango, pineapple, strawberries, orange juice accompanied by some monkeys throwing fruit. We finished the morning by loading the bus and leaving for the National Park.

Upon arrival to Cahuita National Park, we unloaded and embarked on our journey to settle on Playa Blanca. On our walk, we became immersed into the beauty of the surrounding jungle. With views of the ocean, the 2km hike was inhabited by a variety of tropical animals including monkeys, a tamanduas anteater, eyelash viper snake, crabs, lizards, and insects.

At Playa Blanca, we constructed a fort out of beach branches, continued a hike within the park, soaked up the sun, and body surfing. The experience was both bonding and irreplaceable.

On our way back to the bus, we toured the nearby gift shops and stocked up on supplies for our journey. We bought some souvenirs before gathering for lunch at a local park restaurant. The food was a large variety of Costa Rican dishes and fresh batidos (smoothies). Our view overlooked the ocean and landscape of the park.

After lunch, we loaded the bus to begin our five-hour drive back to AMCA house in San Jose. Much like our previous rides, our time consisted of games, sleep, fun conversations, and traumatic bug encounters (shoutout to Luke the exterminator).

When we arrived, we were greeted with another scrumptious dinner. We ate what we like to call “chicken pot-pie lasagna” with bread, salad, and coconut flan. We concluded dinner with a debrief of our trip. There were many emotions upon group reflection and receiving the letters we wrote to ourselves from January.

In concluding the day, we showered up, applied much-needed aloe, packed, and spent our last few hours enjoying each-other’s company. Thank you, Jesus, for this opportunity to glorify you more.

Prayers for our travels, hasta luego!

Bella, Luke, Kerrigan

This morning, we started our day with eggs, toast, beans, rice and juice. After hearing the roosters crow all morning, our chaplain Matt wanted to share a devotion about Simon-Peter’s relationship with Jesus when the roosters crowed. We discussed how Jesus gave Peter another opportunity after his resurrection to claim his love for his Savior.

We then took a short bus ride to the local women’s ministry and did bucket and tap water filter demonstrations. The crowd intently watched and listened as Luke, Abby, Marie and Jennaka gave examples. After this, some of the group decided to make the walk back to the reservation while the ones who wore flip flops took the bus for a more scenic route back.

Lunch included pasta, bread and juice. After lunch, we got on the bus and headed to our Air BnB which is near the National Park we are visiting tomorrow.

At the Air BnB, half of us swam in the pool while the other half went on a nature walk where we saw poisonous frogs, ate from cacao, and learned about local wildlife. We saw monkeys and sloths back at the house which was pretty amazing. The monkeys greeted us by throwing nuts from the trees above as well as getting quite vocal. We played pool games as a group including categories, sharks and minnows, and races.

Then we had dinner- Different types of pizza and cheese puffs with soda and lemonade (leaving one demanded slice of shrimp pizza for Leader Ben). After that, the group had team time and listened to testimonies from Erik and Matt. We are going to close out our night with some games and conversations, and head to bed to prepare for a fun day tomorrow at the National Park!

Dan, Hannah, and Jennaka

Hey everyone! Marie, Deven, and Abby here. After hearing about everyone’s bug stories from last night, we headed down for a devotional and breakfast. For the devotional, Matt led us through Psalm 34. We talked about its meaning and its significance in our lives. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, eggs, watermelon, and pineapple. Then we got on the bus and began our long journey to an indigenous area – which was about a three-hour trip in total. After a short 20-minute bus ride to the river, we piled into two boats and headed upstream. Once we arrived at the riverbank, we were greeted with a tractor and a cattle trailer. We helped each other into the trailer and began the tumultuous journey that would be an hour and a half through the jungle. Along the way, Diego treated us to fresh roadside coconuts and bananas.

Around noon, we finally made it to the leader of the tribe’s house. He gave us a warm welcome and told us a little about himself. For the rest of the afternoon, we played games with the kids, such as duck-duck-goose, soccer, and cones while we waited for families to come for water filter demonstrations. We showed the leader and his family how to use the water filters. After a hot three hours at the leader’s home, we piled back into the trailer and were able to hand out some more water filters as we passed families that were heading back home from school. On the way back, Diego treated us once again – this time to refreshing sodas. Once back to the river bank, we all piled into one boat and started back to our house.

When we arrived at home, we began preparing for the church service we would be attending later that night. The service took place with some of the locals in the area. At the service, Jennaka, Dan, and Hannah had the privilege of sharing some of their favorite scriptures, and we all got to sing two songs that we had prepared. We hardly practiced them at all and none of us are really good at singing – but it turned out to be a really powerful moment for us and those attending the service. The service was pretty different from the ones that we’re used to, in the sense that everyone prayed out loud simultaneously. Nonetheless, although we weren’t used to certain practices, we felt God moving in that place. Following church, we had dinner – rice and chicken, beans, salad, and Costa Rican Munchies. After dinner, Madison and Dan blessed us by sharing their testimonies. We are excited for our jungle adventures to continue tomorrow; pray for us as we continue our travels!

Hola familia y amigos, this is Kam and Bella.

We started the morning with waking at the early hour of 4am to prepare for our travels to Talamanca. We loaded the bus and by 4:45, we were on the road. The morning was very calm and quiet, due to the exhaustion from minimal sleep.  

Soon after leaving San Jose, our view became absolutely gorgeous. The bus was surrounded by mountains and lush vegetation. Many of us didn’t sleep in fear of missing the captivating view. We occupied the time with conversation and games, with moments of intermission to admire the breathtaking scenery. Who needs technology when you have the exclusive experience of driving through God’s beautiful creation?

At 6:15am, we took a detour to an open concept breakfast buffet. We fueled up on Hispanic breakfast items such as rice, beans, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, and juice. We got back on the road and arrived in Talamanca around 11:30. We were greeted by our friendly host Diego, who helped us unload and settle in. For lunch we ate chicken, rice, beans, coleslaw, and plantains which were deliciously prepared by a few local women at the reservation.

Around 2pm, children and families started to gather around the community’s home-base. This area consisted of the homes of our hosts, a church and a guest house that is still undergoing construction. Our team connected with the children by playing with bubbles, soccer, nail painting, and stickers. While a group of team members played with the children, a few presented the Sawyer water filters at the church to the adults of the community. The townspeople were extremely grateful for the generosity SEED and Push The Rock had to share.

During our downtime, Diego offered to take us on a walk to see the landscape and a nearby river. The hike was incredible and a fun bonding opportunity for us. Along the way, Diego stopped at a friendly neighbor’s house that sold homemade ice cream. The ice cream was unique and delicious.

We gathered back at the house for a familiar dinner of homemade burgers and fries. After dinner we concluded the night with testimonies by Marie, Luke, and Emily.  We ended on a group hug before preparing for an early bedtime. Buenos Noches!