Thursday, March 22nd , 2012

This morning  Bonnie and Carlo started off the day with a devotion about love. What a great experience it has been seeing all the love and joy radiate throughout the group this week.

As far as the work site progress, many of us continued detailed painting work on the church exterior windows and doors applying an anti-corrosive paint to the decorative metal.

Pipe was installed and tested in the trench and the group cheered when believe it or not the water ran down hill!  Since success, the group started laying block and moving wheelbarrows full of slag to level the foundation.

At the end of the day we had a nice surprise stop at Masxmenos (the supermarket) where many of us picked up our favorite costa rican coffee while Carlos was outside bargaining for mangos with a local merchant.

Tomorrow will be our last day at Mansiones, as we wrap up our work there.  We will then head to The Children's Village at Coronado to meet the children living there.

Wednesday 3/21 Day 3

Day 3 started early with coffee brewed at 05:15, ready for the early birds at 05:45.  Coveralls with metal buckles were put in the dryer and the racket managed to wake most of the team around 06:00! Whoops!

At the work site the goals were to complete painting the church exterior with a second coat of paint; to continue building the trench and reservoir for the storm drainage system under the parsonage and begin coating the metal window frames and protective screens with anti-corrosion paint.

The drainage trench cuts diagonally across the parsonage.

Sam, Joe, Tony, Oscar, Mike, Duane, and Mary Peterson finished busting out and hauling away the 12 foot wide, 6" - 12" thick concrete slab for the location of the drainage reservoir.

Drainage reservoir base framed with re-rod, ready for concrete which was mixed by hand by the team on the lower driveway.

Reservoir base ready for concrete block tomorrow.

The leader of the drainage team is Jose, here with Duane.  Jose and his wife have three boys and a girl. He is doing a great job keeping us on track and making sure we keep everything square and properly sloped..

Painting the front of the church.

Ann, Ann and Lee were part of the team protecting the window frames and screens.

Bonnie and Carlos renovated the garden on the east wall of the church with new plants.

Tomorrow we will add concrete block to the reservoir and finish painting the windows and interior portico's of the church.

2nd Day at the Worksite

The ladies were awakened at 2:30a with what they thought was rain.  But no, it was a broken water pipe spraying water against the side of our lodging.  So much for a free day of shopping.  After devotions and breakfast, we were off to the worksite.  Another bright sunny day, so the exotic and original headgear soon came out.

And it was more of the same - painting the exterior of the church...

And sledge hammering cement and digging a trench for the drainage.

The sledge hammering soon became a contest, with style points awarded!

And the day ends with the ladies suntanning...

and enjoying each other's company in the sun here in Costa Rica.

First Work Day at Mansiones

Up at dawn to the birds and howling dog.  Great breakfast and onto the bus for our first trip to the work site at Mansiones Church.  Arrived at lovely church dedicated to Ann's beloved son.  

 Carlos, Duane and Sam starting the drainage trench for the Parsonage, little did they know that they would be cutting thru block by the end of the day.

The kitchen cleaning crew Bonnie, Lee, Nancy and Julie doing a lot of dishes while the cooks did all the grocery shopping, including new pots and pans.

Joe and Mike setting the scaffolding for the beginning of the complete new paint job for the church, a lovely, bright shade of yellow.

Sunday

Sunday, March 19th.  We went to the 8th Anniversary Celebration at Mansiones. We saw a video showing selection, construction and completion of the church. Even though the service was in Spanish, the words were on the big screen so we could sing with them and we were all recognized and introduced--and went on to Vacation Bible School (VBS), where we visited four different countries around the world. As you can surmise, one of the  countries was China where the kreative kids made panda masks.  The picture shows their handiwork.

VBS at Mansiones 3/18/2012

Do You Know The Way To San Jose... YES!

 We  found our way to Tibas and the wonderful Methodist House.  After climbing the "stairway to heaven" we discovered the same blue furniture, bunk beds and even our favorite coffee mugs.  Will and Ella greeted us with hugs and kisses.  But, the biggest surprise was that Luis was our bus driver...and some of you reading this know Luis!

Our first night we have to admit that we were mighty tired, but we had to get ready for Vacation Bible School.  Above, Duane and Marilyn are modeling our Costa Rican butterflies.  We did our best practicing songs, and then just gave up and headed for bed......ALAS, the stadium down the street was running a Motor Cross event that ended with fireworks at 11.  Hey, an American won the event!  We love this place and love all the friends we have made over the year.  We can hardly wait for the rest of our first week team to arrive tomorrow!  Good night!

The Team Has Arrived!

All 23 members of the team have arrived safely in Costa Rica. Great day on Sunday and first work day today. Still sorting a few glitches with the blog. Hope to publish details of our exploits so far later tonight.