Senior Reflection

Group photo after church service on Sunday.

On our first day, we experienced two different types of church services, amazing local foods, and beautiful site seeing. We were warmly welcomed into the local church where they only spoke Spanish. The service was amazing, passionate, and also 3 hours long!! (There was even an intermission) Thankfully after service we had a relaxation time to either sleep or explore the neighborhood. After that our friendly translator Stacey took us to his church for ANOTHER service, but this was simply an hour long. We were treated to dinner at the mall. It was a huge 3 floor mall nothing less than the ones we have. Afterwards we went home and finally got some sleep. It was a great introduction to our life changing week in Costa Rica!!

Benjamin Pumpelly working hard on the first day.

On our second day in Costa Rica we worked at the Iglesia Divino Salvador. We were put to use working on beautifying, repainting, and fixing things up around the church. We have been hard at work but we have also been fed very well by the gracious church community... WE HAVE SO MUCH FOOD!! They have been gracious enough to provide us with more than enough quality dining MULTIPLE times per day.We have already experienced so much in the short time we have been here. We figured out very fast that using the peace sign, instead of waving, to locals is appreciated greatly and understood by all. We also realized how much we stand out when walking through the mall and walking through the streets. Now to talk about the craziest thing here... the driving. There are no rules of the road and motorcycles are reckless and free. Thankfully our bus drivers are very experienced and bold. The three lane round-abouts of death are the scariest part and drivers don't know what breaks are. Everything is covered in art expressing their culture.

Making an impact on the locals through building relationships was found to be more rewarding and important than the physical labor we provide. Even though communication has been very challenging, work is difficult, and change in lifestyle, we have surpassed all obstacles through our faith in Jesus Christo.

We will continue to update you throughout the week with our amazing and life changing stories.

Sincerely,

Seniors class of 2012!! 

(Richard, Morgan, Hallie, Ben, Kenzie, Grant, Michael)