St. Francis Episcopal Church

2008 Costa Rica Mission Trip

Day 6

Thursday, June 5th

Costa Rica Update Day 6. We had a wonderful, emotional and spiritually uplifting day on Thursday! In the morning we were treated to a tour of Hogar Escuela which is the preschool run by the Episcopal Diocese of Costa Rica. It is truly amazing to see what has been accomplished there. The school has 120 children from 6 months to 12 years old. It serves as a day care and an afterschool program for the kids many of whom are from single parent families. Several of the kids have special needs as well. The costs of the program are paid for by government grants, by the Episcopal Diocese, and fees from parents though many are not able to pay at all. As Bishop Monterossa tells us, what finanicial shortfall there is "we pray for". They need our prayers and support! The children were all over us and were so much fun it was hard to leave.

After the school visit we has some time in the local "merchado" (market) to haggle and pick up some souveniers. Everyone claims they got "really great deals"!

We then returned to Diocesan House for an afternoon of more work. Many tired muscles and bruised fingers and hands (some folks hammer more accurately than others) later we had tons of rock, dirt, wood, concrete mix, cinderblocks, and sheetrock moved into place for the work to go on after we leave. We also got to demolish more cinderblock walls for new windows in the future dormitory wing. Franciscans, we did A LOT of work here in Costa Rica if I do say so myself. It is very rewarding to see it and to know we are helping to make it easier for future mission trips to Costa Rica to have a base to work from.

After showers we had a service of Holy Eucharist led by Bishop Monterossa and Jamie+ with a wonderful sermon from Paul Tunnell, our project coordinator. Curt coordinated the music. This was one of the most moving services I've ever attended and energized us all! We actually ended the service with the peace, and as seems to be the custom in Costa Rica it did last and last as we all had so many hugs to give to each other. After dinner we presented our gifts for the diocese to Bishop Monterrosa (see picture caption for details). Then to our delight Bishop Monterrosa gave us a beautiful metalwork rendering of the Last Supper engraved with words thanking St. Francis for our visit, our work, and our support of the Diocese of Costa Rica. We will display it proudly after our return to Greensboro.

This likely will be our last update before returning home as we are heading up to Lake Arenal and the volcano there for a little fun. Many thanks to all the Franciscans who have been praying for us and supporting us. We will be home ~11:30 Sunday night!

Rob

Hogar Escuela Dora Sign.	The children loved the camera!
Curt with kids losing his sunglasses.
Smiling kids!	Anne gets to play.
The playground is beautiful but the neighborhood is not as nice.
Quilts make a great gift.	Jay with kids.
Snack time!	The crib room.
Cindy with kids.
Lynn and Kitty get to play.	Mary taking a photo.
Smiling Kids.
These kids are beautiful!	Smiling Kids.
An outdoor market we visited.
Elizabeth bringing in the wet clothes before the daily afternoon rain.	But no more! We have purchased her a new dryer.
More demolition work.
We did work today. We knocked these walls out for new windows	But no more! We have purchased her a new dryer.
After dinner, Rob made a formal presentation to the bishop of t-shirts, 100 Spanish BCPs, three digital cameras with accessories, three sets of computer speakers, two printers, and three Gloria music boxes (which play 600 hymns in Spanish or English). We have also given quilts, prayer shawls, altar hangings, the dryer, and 25 chairs for the mission church in Heredia. We are also making arrangements to give a dishwasher.	Bishop Hector gave St. Francis a beautiful Last Supper as a gift.
Our special gift from Bishop Hector Monterrosa.