Moving Right Along

6'x4'x4' shipping container dropped off in
Miami, Florida in December

     Life here in Costa Rica has been quite busy for us since I last posted.  The container we had shipped from Miami, Florida with the boxes of donated children's books in it arrived in Limon, Costa Rica early last week.  It was then transported to the Central Valley--San Jose area, and went through Customs and Duty and was ready for us to pick up on Thursday, January 18--right at the same time we were at the San Jose airport picking up campers for the HRTWAM 10 day teen mission camp.  Our 15 passenger van is the only vehicle we have that is capable of hauling all the items in that container, and it is being used to transport campers during the camp (January 18-28, 2018).
     Yes, moving right along.  We are grateful the Customs and Duty process went as quickly and as well as it did.  What a blessing.  The container will sit in storage till we are ready to pick it up.
     The van was repaired and we were able to pick it up from the repair shop on Wednesday, the day before we needed to leave at 5am for the long drive to pick up the campers.
     All our campers arrived safely--from Canada, Puerto Rico, USA, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica.  This has turned into an amazing international mission camp.  The biggest mishap on arrivals was one of our adult staff ended up without her main suitcase as a result of someone mistakenly taking it, and leaving their own suitcase at the airport.  Late Thursday evening she received an email informing her the bag had gone to the far south western part of Costa Rica, while we were heading to the far south eastern part of the country for the camp.  The bag could not have gone much further away and still been in Costa Rica.  The bag showed up at camp on Saturday.  Whew!  What a relief.
     The campers and staff have settled in and gotten acquainted.  We were able to grant camp scholarships to two male teenagers from the Aldeas Village in Limon.  They are enjoying this new experience and opportunity.  We have a talented group of young people who volunteered for praise and worship band under the leadership of Daniel Airaudi.  They sound amazing.  The pool had quite the work out on Saturday when 11 young people were brought down from a near by Indigenous village for lunch and swimming.  They had a blast playing together with our campers.  Pictures and videos of the fun can be seen on Facebook under HRTWAM.
     Today many of the campers thought they were going to die.  Captain Mark Roth works hard to help them conquer their fears.  So what are the most common fears that people have?  One is the fear of death and the other is the fear of public speaking.  Today they all gave their Ice Breaker Speech.  The assignment was to give a five minute speech about themselves.  We are pleased to announce that they all lived through the experience of today's public speaking.  As Joel Sanchez stated at tonight's wrap up session:  no one died; no one fainted; no one threw up.  The speeches went very well and we are proud of the young people and their accomplishment.  As they opened up about themselves and their lives, their vulnerability brought about a change in the whole atmosphere of the camp.  Everyone became closer and more connected as they began to realize that each person was a lot like they were.
     Tomorrow we will have a few teaching sessions and after lunch we will head to Puerto Viejo to visit Caribeans, a small chocolate shop where we will be taken on a tour to hear about implementing Christian business practices that benefit all parties involved (business owner, customers, vendors, and employees.)  The tour ends on a lovely terrace overlooking the Caribbean for chocolate tasting.  The chocolate tasting experience is every bit as delightful as wine tasting.  We are praying for no rain tomorrow afternoon so we can stay dry through this adventure.
     Buenos noches amigos!  (good night friends)
Linda

Beauty from the jungle