Por Fin (Finally)

I have arrived at the end of a long and grueling month and a half. We had four "weeks" of groups passing through Pura Vida. I had a blast, but I'm so beat and I have an annoying cough which might be part of a sinus infection, I'm not sure.

So I don't even know where to begin. A whole lot has happened. It will probably take me several entries and several emails to convey all that I really want to. And I probably still won't get everything out. There's no way to record everything that happened, but I'll do my best.

So here's the basics. I led four groups with the coolest co-leaders Julia and Missy. Missy was the voice for our leadership team. Julia took care of the finances. I was the logistics guy for our team. We led the youth from Hernley Mennonite Church, Kingwood Vineyard, Virginia Mennonite Missions, and Mount Joy Mennonite. The groups were here for 9 days each. We led training for two days when they first arrived, and then we would head out on outreach for about 5 days and then they had one vacation day before returning home. Training was here at the Pura Vida base. During that time DeLynn would lead several sessions about being familiar with Costa Rica and also with being disciples of Christ and being "Recklessly Abandoned" to serve Him. I also helped Josh teach the groups The Family drama. Our cook Rosario would serve the same meals every week. Wednesday night when the groups arrived was Mexican soup. Thursday lunch was chicken with ketchup sauce. Thursday night was chalupas. Friday lunch was mashed potatoes with roast beef. Friday dinner was chicken with delicious white sauce. On Friday afternoons we would always get together and the groups would perform their dramas, and the Kids Ministry group always sang "Esta va para los ninos" (This goes for the kids) which was a rather annoying techno song that we all had to dance to. On Thursday night DeLynn would give his lesson on Pride and then he would give everyone an opportunity to write down their struggles and place all of those notes in a backpack. The staff would then burst into the chapel and reenact the trial of Jesus and His crucificion. I played the part of Pilate. It was always a very meaningful experience for the youth and for the staff even though we were just the actors. Unfortunately, the rain prevented us from doing the play the third week when my Bible Study was here. I also helped run "The Pulpe" which is our souvenir store and I ordered the inventory for the store while the groups were here. As our logistics guy, I often had to call the pastors that we would be working with during the training days and make sure that we had the schedule completed and all of the supplies that we needed.

That's pretty much it for how the first two days of every group went. These were considered our Training days. They happened every Thursday and Friday. I will fill you in on a little more, a little later.