And on Sunday, We Rested

After breakfast this morning, Ken Dunden (GOM's property manager here at El Jardin Sagrado) drove us around the Orosi Valley to see some of the nearby sights.

Our first stop was at Casa Del Sonador (the dreamer's house), a local woodworking shop. The two brothers who own it are master craftsmen who carve local scenes and religious imagery from coffee tree wood. Their father started the business something like twenty years ago, and it has become very famous in Costa Rica. Chris said he even saw something about it on the Internet. The carvings ranged in size from a few inches to upwards of six feet. There was one beautiful statue I wanted to buy, but it was about four feet tall and weighed probably 100 pounds. There's no way US Airways would let me bring that on the plane without buying it a seat. Casa Del Sonador was a phenomenal sight to behold; even the building itself was hand-carved (see the photo above and the one of The Last Supper below)! God has truly blessed these brothers with artistic talent.


Next, we drove to the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of Ujarras, which was the first Spanish colonial church in Costa Rica. The original church on he site was constructed around 1540, although the European-style buttressed building that you see in the photo was not finished until 1693. I would tell you when it was abandoned, but that part of the sign was gone. [Update: Web research indicates that it was abandoned in 1833 due to earthquake and flood damage.] Oh, and we did finally get to see our first tropical bird of the trip--something in the parrot or macaw family, I believe.

But perhaps my favorite thing this morning was the fruit stand we visited right down the path from the ruins. It was run by a husband and wife, and they were incredibly friendly and helpful. The wife spent a long time chatting with Jeff in Spanish, and the husband kept cutting open fruit so everyone in our group could sample every kind of fruit he had. I don't even know what all of it was, but it was absolutely delicious. We bought a good assortment of fruit to take back to El Jardin Sagrado for Gloria and Isa to cook.

As we were heading back to the van, we passed a woman selling hand- made jewelry. Howard tried on some of the rings, but they were all too small. She looked Howard up and down and said, "no mas grande!" The Ticos are generally pretty short (even I feel tall a lot of the time), so I'm guessing that very little down here was designed with Howard in mind.

After we returned to camp, we rested for a while and then attended church services. Rick was teaching about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and emphasizing how we all can make a difference.

14. "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.
15. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
16. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.
17. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.
18. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19. "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
20. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21. "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22. "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23. "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24. "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26. "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
27. Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28. " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
29. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
30. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Then, there came the big surprise. Rick asked for 14 volunteers to come forward. It took a while, but they all came up. To their amazement, they each received $100. But there was a catch: they had to use the money to make a difference for someone else--feed somebody who's hungry, pay rent for somebody who can't, etc. It's each person's individual choice how to use the money, but he or she must report back to the congregation how the money was spent and what the results were.

Opening Night Was a Success!

We're just leaving La Gaviota Blanca after the inaugural youth group meeting, and I would say it was quite a success! You can see all of the kids who attended in the photo.

There were music videos, skits, games, and food. I have rarely seen a happier group of kids; they had an absolute blast. We didn't find out until we arrived that the six of us were going to be cooking hot dogs and making iced tea. Problem was, we had no knives (the hot dogs come in a thick casing down here), no tongs, no long spoons for stirring the tea, no plates . . . You get the picture. Fortunately, we had several Swiss army knives and the ability to do crude sterilization.

Chris gave his testimony, with Rosario interpreting. And another young man from the group gave a moving account of how he came to Christ. He had been thrown out of his home, landed in jail, and was on the fast track to a dead end. But then he found Jesus, and he cleaned up his life and repaired his relationship with his family.

Many thanks to Rosario for interpreting. She is the sweetest young lady, and she would be an asset to anyone as an interpretor. Unfortunately, our government won't let her into the U.S. to look at colleges because she doesn't have "sufficient financial resources that tie her to Costa Rica." But more on that story some other time.

It was so rewarding to see our work these past four days bearing fruit! Thank you, Lord, for giving us this opportunity. And please bless La Gaviota Blanca, all those who serve there, and all those touched by its ministry.

We're Almost There!

It's 12:30 on Saturday, and we're almost there. The only things we really have left are putting up a large projection screen and cleaning up.

We were here until around 9 p.m. last night. Painting took an incredibly long time. The concrete blocks sucked up a lot of paint, so we ended up putting on several coats.

But anyway, we made it. We cut windows out of concrete and framed them up. We built and installed kitchen cabinets. We built eight boxes to create a stage. We fixed the plumbing. We put in outlets and lights. We painted inside and out from floor to ceiling.

And we made a difference. In about five hours, we hope to have 100+ teenagers in this building listening to music, eating hot dogs, and soaking in God's word.

Just this morning, the local superintendent of schools stopped by. She had heard about the center, and she wanted to talk to Judith about cooperative programs. Another woman stopped by to see what we were doing, because her niece and nephew had been earlier. She goes to the local Catholic Church, and she wants to help out out in whatever way she can.

That's how La Gaviota Blanca is going to transform this community. Everyone--Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and anyone else in Orosi who cares about the future of the local kids--will work together to build a Christ-centered ministry.

I feel blessed to be a part of this project, and I thank the Lord for this wonderful opportunity. We transformed a building, and we know what happens there will transform lives. And in the process of completing our work, we've all been transformed as well.

Thank you so much for your prayers! We couldn't have done this without God's help.

It's All Coming Together

We're to the point of painting now. The guys put together a makeshift
scaffold for Jeff, and he was able to get about a third of the ceiling
painted in an hour. This afternoon, we hope to get a paint sprayer
running and make quick work of the walls. They're concrete block, so
anything that can get in the cracks and crevices will really help.

In other news, Brian started the morning on electrical, and then he
came over to help me build a stage. We're constructing it as eight
four-foot by four-foot platforms. That way, they're modular enough to
configure in lots of different ways.

Before moving over to stage pieces, I started the morning finishing
the kitchen cabinet frames. Then, Howard and Steve took over on
shelves and countertop. We ran into a bit of a problem with the
countertop being horribly warped, so they had to do some carpentry
magic to get it to work.

As for Chris . . . Well, the plumbing never seems to end for him. But
he's the only one whose plumbing expertise extends beyond "water runs
down hill." He did, however, get to do some painting.

Back to it!

Thursday Photos

We had a very busy day today. Check out the photos to see the progress.

Please keep praying for us. We have an enormous amount of work to get done by Saturday evening, when we hope to have 100+ people at La Gaviota Blanca for a youth group meeting.