Saturday, April 4, 2009

Trip to the jungle!!

Well it's been a week and I've been putting this off in order to find a house... We still haven't found one (so keep praying) but we have some possibilities. I figured that I better tell you all how my week was in Talamanca so here we go:
Well we picked the guys up at the airport on sunday morning, there were 20 of us. Lee, Forest, Gail, Mac (Dave Mcmahon), Beak (Bill), Dr. Dan, Luke, Seth, Dale, Doug, Hud, Bob, Jim, 2 Jeffs, 2 Daves, 2 Mikes and Me. We all jumped on the bus and drove all day to the south eastern part of Costa Rica to a reservation called Talamanca, in a town called Shiroles. We did a lot of work over the five or so days we were there, but that wasn't the best part so I'll just list it off. Together we: 
Dug Leach lines, poured a slab for a shower and toilet, and emptied an 18 year old septic tank (yuck)
Helped plant plantains.
Laid a lot of brick to finnish a dorm.
Poured a concrete column for a gate.
Started a patio cover.
Hauled dirt to fill below a future foundation.
Laid large drainage pipes for rain water.
Helped in a medical clinic (Only Dave, Seth, & Dr. Dan but we all still get credit)
Helped with some teaching (Jim the retired 5th grade teacher)
re-finished a dresser.
Put up a clothes line.
& had a lot of fun!!
It was great. We all worked really hard and had a great time doing it. The best part for me however was the "bible studies" in the morning and night. We got up every morning around 5A.M. and read a chapter from Ephesians  and then discussed it. We had some great conversations. Our facilitator was Gail, a great man of God, and he kept bringing us back to the fact that it's JUST all about Jesus. It doesn't matter about theology and denomination, It's just all about Jesus. 
In the evenings we all took turns sharing about our lives, past present and future, whatever we wanted to share. It was a good time to get to know others and see that we all have stories to tell of what God's done or how we need Him. 
For me the whole trip was great because I got to be around godly men who I could really understand (cause they spoke english). I really got to just glean off of their lives and they all encouraged me. 
After 5 days in the jungle we left. We went to a beach Cauhita to spend an afternoon on the way back. We did a canopy tour and white water rafting, and then got to shop before they left on sunday afternoon. (Don't expect all of that if you come on a future trip... Remember, we're working in the city now and it's all gonna be different) Over all I had a wonderful time. I was really encouraged to memorize more scripture and spend more time getting to know Christ personally. It's not about all the "do"s and "don't"s but it's all about Him. 
So there you have it... I'm hoping to go to the jungle at least one or two more times this year. We'll see what happens.
Thanks for reading. Jesus Bless.
Pictures to come later.... 
 

Oh yeah! Ella turns 4 tomorrow!! We'll post some video if our camera works;)

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