Youth, College, Adult and Family Mission Trips to Costa Rica


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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Los Guido update

Groups always have the opportunity to visit the feeding program we fund in Los Guido, one of the most impoverished areas of Costa Rica. 50 children receive one nutritious meal a day, although there are approximately 1000 needy and deserving children within three blocks of the church where they're fed. The cost to feed a child for a month is $28, and that also covers the pay and insurance for the one full-time cook as well as gas and other kitchen supplies. We would love to be able to feed an additional 50 children, but we simply do not have the funds to do so at this time.


The groups help distribute meals to the children at lunchtime, eats lunch themselves, and then follow with time spent with the children. This can be VBS activities, a simple craft, or just playtime. The children's ministry team also begins this time with upbeat songs for the the groups and the children to sing and dance to, and teams generally have one of the powerful experiences during their time with us.


In addition, we're helping educate 69 students every Saturday by paying a retired teacher to give age appropriate classes throughout the whole day. This program cost us about 700 per month, and we need help in order to continue this service to students. We hope to have several more feeding programs and education centers up and running within the months and years to come.

Groups also have the opportunity to hold VBS with local children here in Carrillos. This is a great opportunity to interact with the local children on a daily basis, and the kids never want the time to end!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Busy summer......

We’ve had a busy summer so far! Lots of work has been done and there is still plenty of work to be finished before the summer is over.

We have officially moved into our new home! Our office building is completed with the group this week doing some final paint touches on the railings. Scott, Rebecca, and our 4 lovely interns have been safely living there for a month now! We are also now completely in control of a great house that can sleep 35 people and a hotel that we can change to accommodate the needs of the groups!






Along with completing the office, we have had three other projects this summer: Oscar’s house, the Methodist Church, the Pentecostal Church.

Oscar’s house is coming along great! Six weeks ago, our first group started by demolishing his existing house. In the weeks that followed, the ground was leveled, ditches were dug, the retaining wall was built, and cement walls were put up. This week the group will be pouring the cement floor and finishing the roof! We hope to have the house finished in August for Oscar and his family to move into.

The Methodist Church is a project where we are adding on to the existing building to make room for a feeding program for 100 children. Groups worked on this project a year ago building the retaining wall. This summer the groups helped lay block on an entire side of the building. This week the group will continue laying block for another side of the building.



We have made significant progress on the Pentecostal Church where we are adding a second floor to give room for another feeding program for 100 children. This summer the groups have dug holes that will one day be the base for the pillars holding up the second floor. We also worked with lots of rebar! Groups worked hard to make rebar cages and columns to reinforce the strength of the concrete in the holes.