service project!!!

Last week, during Semana Santa, we went on SERVICE PROJECT!!!  It was the greatest!  Service Project is our version of Young Life camp, so naturally, it was the best week of their lives!  But really though, it was pretty sweet!

We traveled to Talamanca, Costa Rica.  It’s a poor indigenous community near the Costa Rican-Panamanian border.  It is the home of one of the last indigenous populations in the country.  We partnered with a local organization there, Pura Vida Missions, to build the foundation for a kitchen they are building on their property!

We did SO MUCH physical labor, but it was so worth it!  Our kids were all stars!  Not complaining about the “butt ton” of rocks (thanks Bronas Brothers program characters for the motivating phrase of a “butt ton”...) even once!

Take a look at what we did!

The start of our rock pile, to be kitchen, day one.  We’ve got a STRONG team!!

First we were led to the river, the place we would spend the majority of our time!  We carried boulders, papaya-sized, mango-sized, lemon-sized, stones, pebbles...all shapes and sizes, we carried!!  We brought them from the riverbank to the top of camp, where the kitchen was to be built.  They needed the whole area covered in rocks one meter high (because the area there is on a flood-plain).  And, the more rocks used as a base, the less concrete they had to use to fill in for the foundation and floor.

Sometimes, you find the PERFECT rock and it is worth
digging it out of the Earth to have in the kitchen!

Feeling strong, and showing how we really feel about carrying rocks!  Haha.

In addition to hauling rocks, we built the walls and mixed concrete by hand.
A few kids helped put new screens in some windows, and we added a few light posts
to illuminate the basketball court we built on Service Project last year!

The last work day we battled for the SPIRIT STICK (aka, plunger)!!  Wow did we have a fiercely competitive group!  Boys vs. Girls of course...encouraging the group to give it everything we had and to finish our project!!  Just one more day of rocks!

When we weren’t carrying rocks, we had a great time hanging out together and with several local kids on the property.  We learned that we have some EXTREMELY talented friends!!!  So grateful for them sharing their musical talent with us!  This is a picture of them just hanging out, but they graciously played for Club every night!  Spot-It is another game we love...so intense and so great!  New favorite game for sure!  Best $12 I’ve ever spent on Amazon...

We were supposed to be conserving water,
but these kids couldn’t resist a good water fight!

It wouldn’t be a Young Life trip without Club!  Joe-Joe and Nick-Nick, aka the Bronas Brothers, were hilarious and led us through fun games, songs, and Broga moments (yoga for bros) every night!  Such a fun time!!  Our speaker, Kevin, and his wife Becka (Kevin is wearing red shirt in top left picture below, and wife Becka is to the left of him in the green) flew down from Washington state to share the Gospel with our kids!  What a gift they were!!  They served alongside us all week, hauling rocks, getting dirty, playing soccer with the locals.  Kevin was an amazing speaker and we were so blessed to have him!  I am so grateful for the way the committed to the week and really invested in our kids.  They took every opportunity to get to know our unique third-culture kids and share life and Truth with them.

We took 24 kids with us on Service Project from 5 different schools in the San Jose area.  Over half of them had never been to Young Life and were on the trip solely to earn service hours (service hours are a HUGE deal for our kids).  But it was SO cool to see Jesus work!!  It was truly outreach!  Most of these kids had no idea that they would be hearing about Jesus during the week, and for several of them, it truly was the first time ever they had heard the Gospel!   Jesus did some amazing things in the lives of our students over the week!  Such a gift to be a part of what He’s doing in this country!  So excited to go home with these kids and continue building on the relationships formed over Service Project!

Top L:  Cheering on the champion in blind-folded, dancing, musical chairs!
Top R:  Bronas Brothers leading our daily Broga moment
Middle:  Girls fearing the Broga handshake...it spits...literally!
Bottom L:  Classic YL pick-up lines game...he was a champ!
Bottom R:  Clearly a group of kids playing name that tune!  Haha.
Fighting for the plunger to “ring” the buzzer (aka saucepan) the student in the front
is guarding by sitting on!  This was the most hilarious game ever!

Well, it was a lot of work but WE FINISHED!!!  We were able to pour the concrete floor over half of the kitchen and the other side is ready to go!  (They’re just waiting for the one side to cure completely). Job well done by all!!

Finished project!!  Just needs to cure so they can pour the concrete on the other half!
Hard to believe we carried ALL THOSE ROCKS!!!  They’re under the concrete, too!

The group celebrating on our finished work!

The last day we ate breakfast, handed out our sweet tshirts, and headed home!  We made a pit-stop for lunch and a quick swim at the beach (Cahuita).

Top L:  Fearless leaders!
Top Mid:  Me and one of my sweet girls, Naja.
Top R:  Waiting to enter Cahuita National Park (beach)
Bottom L:  One of the best pics to sum-up the trip...love these girls!  Made those faces every day!
Bottom R:  Me and my cabin of girls!  LOVE THEM!!!

Top L:  Kevin, speaker, letting kids share what happened in their lives over the week.  Such a sweet time!
Top Mid:  My cabin pooled our lunch money so we could get this nutella-banana
pizza for dessert...just one of the many reasons I love my girls!
Top R:  Perfect day and perfect water for a quick swim!
Bottom:  Beautiful beach of Cahuita

So grateful for this fearless team!!  It’s such a gift to lead alongside them every day!  It was such a fantastic week with kids and we had a blast together, too!!  

THE TEAM!!! L to R:  Becka and Kevin (speaker and his wife),
Jason (volunteer leader), Bradyn (volunteer leader), Jessie (Area Director), Me,
Rachel (intern), Bonnie (intern), Alex (Staff Associate)