Day 6 - The Rich Coast

Saturday, we got to venture out to the coast to the national park, Manuel Antonio. We saw all kinds of wildlife (monkeys, toucans, iguanas...). We got there at about 9am, but since it was the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week... kind of like our "Spring Break"), the beach was already pretty full. We were excited to find there was a large tree completely vacant, so we happily plopped down under the shade. Of course, after an hour or so, we found out why this perfect shade tree was vacant. Beach goers started coming up to us telling us that the tree was "toxic." We didn't really believe them (thought maybe there was a mis-translation; how could a national park have a toxic tree just out there on the beach with nothing blocking it off or anything!?) Finally a park ranger came over an explained that the tree secreted a toxic mist from the sap of the branches causing potentially extreme allergic reactions to some people. Essentially, we were sitting under a poison oak tree. Fortunately, none of us were allergic. In fact, ironically, the toxic tree had actually helped us from our real threat: the sun.

Wow this story is starting to go downhill fast. We actually had a wonderful time (despite the fact that several of us wished we would have applied a bit more sunscreen). The water was incredibly warm: like a bathtub. What a bizarre sensation for us Oregonians to walk into the ocean and wish it were just a few degrees cooler. Crazy, eh?

It really was a relaxing day. They have a saying in Costa Rica that they use quite a bit. "Pura Vida." Translated literally, it means "pure life." But it means more than that. It means something like, "all is wonderful" or "I'm living it up." When you ask someone "Como Esta?" (how are you) the response is often "Pura Vida." "Did you have a good weekend?" "Pura Vida." At the beach, I had fallen asleep. I sat up and turned to a guy who was relaxing nearby. I asked him what time it was. He looked out at the water, and with a smile said, "Pura Vida." I said, "awesome," and went back to sleep. That sort of sums up the day.

One more thing: We also made some friends! Check out this little guy who befriended us all day (including visiting me while I slept). Here's him saying hello to Erica.

Day 5 - Roblealto

 Here are some pictures from our visit to Roblealto. Julie already shared a bit about what we saw there. Here are the kids posing with Erica, our driver who we serendipitously found out was actually orphaned and raised herself at Roblealto. She hadn't been back in 20 years, so it was neat to be able to tour the grounds of the homes with Erica, and to see where she was raised. The last picture at the bottom is the House Mother we were able to help move. We also got to check out the Roblealto farm where they raise dairy cows, as well as chickens to help offset the cost of the ministry. Pretty inventive stuff!

BEST DAY EVER!!! We visited the Roblealto Hogar Biblica. This is a Bible Home for at-risk kids. We helped a 50 year old house mother move down the hill into a new home for she and the eight children who live with her. The steep hill was getting to be to much for her to go up and down. The kids were going to camp, so we helped load all the food to go along...remember 60+ kids for one week. We toured the property and learned about their self-sustainable farm practices. This mission turned out to be very close to my heart. They not only take in at risk kids, but work in trying to rebuild the family unit by providing psychologists and others to work with individual families. Look it up on line. They have other ministries as well, so I encourage you to check it out. They do have a child sponsorship program, and because the farm profits cover administrative costs, ALL the money goes to help your child! Let me know after looking at their website if you want more info. I would love to share what I experienced.

Day 4 - Visiting the Public School

 Day 4 at Colegio Monterrey, and we had the opportunity to sneak away for the morning and visit the neighboring public school. After having worked at the private school all week with its (relative) abundant resources and facility, it was interesting to see the public school down the street. In Costa Rica, the English language opens many doors for employment and at Colegio Monterrey, students begin taking English classes in kindergarten. By high school, science classes are in English, and most students are quite fluent. In public schools, though, with limited resources, students aren't able to take as many classes, and their foreign language classes are limited as well. While at Colegio Monterrey, school runs from 7:30-3:00pm, at the public school, in order to maximize the facility, students come from 7:00-11, then another group comes in from 11-3:00, then in the afternoons from 3-6, the building is open for older students who have fallen behind. It's actually quite impressive the way they have the schedule worked.

The principal of the public school was a friend of Rebekah (Don Alfredo's assistant at Colegio Monterrey) and showed us around her school. It was encouraging to hear the work they are doing with students with disabilities despite the budget difficulties. When Rebekah came to pick us up, the principal told us the story of how they are connected with Colegio Monterrey. She told us the story of a little girl at their school who was orphaned suddenly (losing both parents). The future looked bleak for this girl, but Colegio Monterrey stepped in and "adopted" the girl giving her a full scholarship. The principal started to tear up a bit when she spoke of how this girl's future path changed through Colegio Monterrey and the possibilities that would open to her through her education there. She was quite grateful that the work being done at Colegio Monterrey. It was pretty encouraging to hear as we shared more with Don Alfredo. Around 16 percent of the students at Monterrey are on full scholarship like the orphaned girl. Kids from difficult backgrounds, generational poverty. It was incredible to think that through Monterrey, for many of these students, it meant ending the cycle of generational poverty. These students would graduate with an education that would almost guarantee gainful employment. It was encouraging to see the impact this school was having in the community and to think that we were able to help be part of that.

What another wonderful day! I have been working with the students more closely the last two days, and they have become less shy around me. I was told by the teacher that my Spanish has improved (in their class, they speak mostly in Spanish) even with only being here the short time we have been. During English time today, I read a book called God Made You Nose to Toes that we had brought with us from the States. They enjoyed the book and related well to it because they are studying body parts in English. After school today, we stayed for a tutoring class. We thought it was going to be for students, but the teachers showed up. It was very touching to hear why they want to learn English. For some, their jobs depend on it. Like some jobs in the US, you must be bilingual in Spanish to be hired. It is getting that way at Colegio Monterrey. One teacher had said that in two to three years, the school wants the teachers to be bilingual. One high school Science teacher expressed wanting to communicate with her students better in English. When the students reach her class, they are pretty much fluent in English, and she desires the same. Another man, the janitor at the school, sais he wanted to communicate with others outside school. English is the second language of Costa Rica, and he said that more and more people are speaking English here. It was a great way to end the day. I will post pictures of everything when I return home because I forgot the cord, and Glenn's adapter doesn't fit my camera. My best to you all.

Day 3 - After School Activities

After our classes today, we were able to get involved in after-school activities. Tyler played with the boys on the soccer field and Kira was able to join the girls in the ballet class. The adults sat in and helped with the adult English classes. The school offers an after-school class for faculty and staff to learn English, so it was very helpful for us to be able to converse with the teachers, and give them an opportunity to practice their English. We all were able to make several good connections. Successful day.

costa rica day 3:soccer edition

Hola amigas y amigos; esta Hannah! Our Costa Rican experience has been so amazing. Meeting all these new people and exploring a new climate and environment has been such a great and new experience. Today Marisa and I went from class to class with our Costa Rican friends we have made these past few days. The people here are so nice and welcoming its just unfortunate that we can't understand some of them because they don't understand English and i don't understand Spanish. Marisa and I played soccer with the girls from the school we are here with, and it was a surprise. Me and Marisa were on one team and I scored 3 goals and she scored 2. It was 5 to 1! Afterwards all the girls were saying Marisa and I were so good and one of the teachers said that we need to come here to play on their team. We did really good and the Costa Rican culture is different then i expected. Everyday i know its going to be harder and harder to leave Costa Rica.

Day 2 - Jumping In

Day 2, and everyone seems to be diving in. They have three "recesses" two for thirty minutes each and one for 10 minutes. Some students choose to eat during those "recess" breaks, but the girls dove right in and jumped in a pickup game with the boys.


After school, I (Glenn) was able to share with the teachers during their staff development meeting. In many ways, my presentation on "Equipping Learners for the Future" was more of a pep talk than an exchange of information. The staff was very receptive during the sharing times and many are eager, if not already incorporating many of the technologies we discussed. It was exciting to see them start to brainstorm and set goals for their classrooms, and to share frustrations as well as strategies for moving forward. Greg did an excellent job translating for me. I even threw some tough ones at him (like "paradigm shift") and he nailed it out of the park. We had a great time. Can't wait to get to talk with some of these teachers one-on-one tomorrow in some of their classes more in-depth.

work shop work shop you can tell that the costa ricans have anticipated our arrival, they were happy to see us here and have been very welcoming. The differences are extreme for our school and theirs. We are making friends rapidly and today they found it easier to approach us and ask questions. They are trying to speak more English with us because they know that it is important for them to learn, but they are more shy than we are about mispronouncing. our time will be all to short. I have been invited to go to the Coronado mountains with my new friend Lilly. She has a daughter that has been out of her life for too long and is trying to find her, She is rapidly trying to learn English. Shelly

First Day Impressions

I (Glenn) was most impressed today with the director of the school who greeted us with open arms, and had breakfast prepared for us on our arrival. (He's the one in the picture eating breakfast and intently listening to Hannah, Jared and Marisa). He is certainly a rare human being. Even when he walked into the room, he sort of felt like royalty. The man had a special humility about him, and it didn't surprise me when Greg told me about his back story and ministry.
Greg confirmed that he was very much like royalty in Costa Rica as he is so well-respected in the community and his heart for service was inspiring. He serves on the boards of several ministries (in addition to directing the school, Colegio Monterrey) and the one story I caught that most impressed me was the story of his organization: "Casa Vida." They looked around Costa Rica and saw there wasn't a foster program meeting the needs of displaced and orphan children. The children were simply placed in large group homes in less-than-ideal facilities. So they went to the government and said, "can we start a foster home program?" They stepped up and began to offer this support service where they would reach out to community churches and select a family within the church where they would place a child not just in a family, but in a church community. It wouldn't simply be the family caring for the child, but the commitment of the entire church community to surround and support. What a great example of the body of Christ stepping up and taking responsibility.
This philosophy came through in the school as well. Looking around, we noticed quite a few students with special needs (Downs syndrome and others...). They were not ushered away and hidden in a separate room; they were integrated into the community, and supported from within--as part of the community. I was in a music class with first graders and when a group came in with Diego (a child with Downs), he sat down with the rest of the students. When he got restless, another first-grader (Camille) pulled her desk over beside Diego, put her arm around him, and reassured me saying, "It's OK; I'm his care-taker today." Absolutely precious.
Here's a picture of the class singing, "El Reloj." (Notice Camille and Diego in the back)

What a wonderful first day. We were all welcomed with warm smiles. I was blessed today to work with a teacher named Karla Montoya. She is amazing!!! Her heart for her students with Down Syndrome showed throughout the day. I learned something today that I have neve really thought about, but I do all the time. She called it positive discrimination. This is when a person gives special privileges or special attention to a person with special needs. She is actively working to have the students gain independence and be a functioning member of the community. It was awesome to be a part of their prayer time in class. Hearing each student pray aloud was so heartwarming. One little girl, Edele, (I say little, but again she's 14) stutters severly, and to hear her pray despite the difficulty to speak brought tears to my eyes. Please keep Karla in your prayers as she serves these students. The students, Sofia, Edele, Jose and Daniel. Please pray specifically for Daniel as learning about his past is troubling, and pray for his older sister (only about 24 years old) as she is his caregiver. Thank you for your prayers.

After more than 24 hours of traveling, we finally made it! I, Julie, thought it would be more jungle like, but it is an ordinary city with lots regular trees mixed with beautiful palms and banana trees. When looking out beyond the city the hills in the background are beautiful. The city itself is not like any city I have seen before, but Glenn says it reminds him of downtown LA. I am now more grateful for the adopt a highway program! We had talked about bars on the windows before coming down, bit everyone lives behind bars. The bars enclose the entryways to houses. It took some getting used to. Overall, the day went well and ended with seeing a parrot in the backyard after dinner. We leave at 6:15 in the morning for the school, so goodnight and thanks for being a part of this journey.

We've Arrived!

After 24 hours of travel, we made it safely to our home for the week at AMCA in San Francisco De Dos Rios. The facility is fantastic, and Christina, Tyler and Kira made for a wonderful welcoming party.

The Vegas Odd-makers would have a field day with this statistic: There were 8 of us travelling, each with multiple bags and carry-ons changing planes three times with quite a bit of layover time. 7 of the 8 of us at one point or another left an item behind they had to go back and retrieve (No need for worry, everything was found...eventually). ONE person made the entire trip without forgetting their bag/coat/pillow, etc. Want to guess!? SHELLY!

All that to say, we are here, and exhausted. Needless to say, we will all sleep well tonight. We have an early morning tomorrow, but are excited to get to Colegio Monterrey. More later.

=Glenn

En Route

A couple of us got some sleep on the overnight leg from Phoenix to Charlotte, and as we await our final flight from Charlotte to San Jose, Costa Rica, I (Glenn) was wandering around the Charlotte airport looking for a Starbucks. I stumbled across a sign that said "Catholic Mass 10:30, Inter-Faith Service 9:30." I looked at my watch, which read 9:27, and thought, "It was meant to be; guess I have to." An elderly priest (black coat, white collar and all) sat with 3 or 4 travelers in the small airport Auditorium/Conference Room. They welcomed me in, relaying that this was going to be a super-informal deal. The priest explained that he had planned on sharing a story from the gospel of John, and then we'd just visit. When he said he would like to talk about the story of Lazarus, one of the other travelers grabbed out his iPhone Bible Application and said, "What chapter?" I said "I KNOW THIS! John 11!" We had just studied this the last couple weeks in our Sunday morning service in Butteville. While the priest didn't have the flair of Pastor Ken, he shared an interesting insight that I thought I would share with you all.
He pointed out that this is one of the rare passages of the gospel where Jesus is not with his disciples, or with crowds, or in the synagogue, but instead, he is with his "friends." This offers us a special look into the humanity of our Savior. I got to thinking, that we often lose sight of this deep emotional connection Christ had with his friends, and those he was in relationship with. Ultimately, this is a reminder of the desired connection we are intended to have with God. The priest mentioned the importance of us not losing sight of this "soul" (as he put it)-connection we are to have with our Savior. I couldn't stop hearing Pastor Ken's description of this same concept: our "Yetzer." I thought that was an encouraging note to start off this Sunday morning. We'll touch base when we land in Costa Rica. Thank you all for your prayers!

What is this trip all about?

The Need:
• Colegio Monterrey is a private school on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital city, San José. Founded in 1956 by the Latin American Mission, the school instructs 750 students from preschool to 12th grade.
• The Roblealto Child Care Center is home to over 100 abandoned and at risk children living outside of San José.
The Team:
• On March 25-April 1, the Butteville Community Church is sending a group of three high school students, four adults, and a family who has served overseas in Costa Rica for several years with connections in these schools and several other ministries around San Jose.
• Of the adults in the group, many are teachers, so it gives the team a unique opportunity to grow and serve with their strengths.
The Mission:
• Working alongside teachers at Colegio Monterrey to bolster the school’s bilingual program.
• Offering tutoring and academic assistance during after school programs.
• Leading Bible Studies for children of different age groups.
• Fostering relationships for future outreach and exchange.
Support:
• Pray for team unity, safety in travel, and the ability to serve effectively at Colegio Monterrey as well as at the Robealto Child Care Center.

Welcome to the Buteville-Costa Rica Blog

Welcome to our Blog. We'll be posting updates and photos about our trip here, so you can keep tabs on us while we're in Costa Rica. Feel free to pass this address along to family and friends that might be interested in hearing our stories. Enjoy!