Just a normal day in Campamento Roblealto

Everything started with David, the Maintenance boss, who got the nice idea to rebuild all these old crappy benches around the three fire places. After three days with blood, sweat, two broken axes and one shovel everything were cut and split. Next quest: Cleaning up the mess. We used the next day to digging new holes for posts. Today... we are exhausted but we kept working without any complaining! So we started to put the posts and the dirt back in the holes and packed everything. Actually the benches aren`t done for our next devotion, but... WHO CARE`S!!!

Mischa aka Mech aka Micha

Harry aka Harald 

Working Hard, the Costa Rican Way!

The interns have started a new week in the sunshine of Costa Rica. The week started with Sunday worship. We were all excited to hear some familiar tunes and the message of being made in God's image (thanks to translation by Arthur) has been a reminder for me all week. Back at camp there were many people to meet and simple Spanish to practice. I must have said "yo me llamo..." 30 times! Everyone here is so friendly and a smile goes a long way. 

Jesse, Josh, Rebecca and Maya are in program this week.

Rebecca the designated photographer is enjoying the time to be creative. Jesse has been following groups diligently to catch film for the final week-end memories presentation.


Josh and Maya have spent time making friends with the campers. (Josh is in the white shirt)

Nathan is the dedicated pool technician, waking early in the morning to have the pool clean for the campers.When he's done at the pool, Nathan picks up some other maintenance jobs.

 

 Picking delicious Costa Rican fruit? no, just taking down Christmas lights!

Gideon, David, Micha, Harald and Danielle have been doing Costa-Rican style maintenance:

 Costa Rican safety!!! Whatever gets the job done.

 Scrubbing the pool edges wasn't so bad with an eventual tan (after the burn disappears) for payment.

 Micha and Harald wanted to work with chainsaws, but what's wrong with this picture? 

Enjoying the sunshine,

KL

Greeting from Stanley

Ola! From Costa Rica! I have really enjoyed my time here so far. The Costa Ricans (Tico’s) have been really nice and welcoming.  The language barrier hasn’t really been too big of an issue because there is always an English speaking Tico by your side ready to Translate for you. Even a lot of the Children speak English. 

The past two days I have spent mostly painting but also repairing a shed that will store chemicals and paint. It has been A LOT of painting but we finally completed it! Other interns have been building a wood shed and doing programming as well as other odd jobs. 

After my day of Maintenance I usually have a shower. The showers here are quite different. They are called Widow makers (not sure why …but they are) and they heat the water by running electrical wires right to the shower head. It was a scary thought at first but actually works quite well.

In the evenings I spend my time singing songs with the kids at Sunset (an activity a little bit like camp fire but just while you watch the sun set), and also playing wide games. I love playing with the kids at night …it is a good way to end the day.  I cannot wait until next week when I get to do programming and hang out with the kids the whole time.

You can always count on one thing here in Costa Rica ….you will eat rice and beans for nearly every meal, even breakfast, along with a side dish of some sort of meat or coleslaw. It is VERY Delicious despite the lack of variety!

It has been very windy the past couple of days. In fact 4 trees have blown over. Also it has been raining or lightly misting which keeps you cool in the hot sun.  Cool enough to put pants and maybe a sweater on. Many of us interns are beginning to get sunburned, but who cares we are livin’ life in Costa Rica, what more could you want! Yesterday there was a beautiful FULL rainbow in the sky, it was a reminder of God and how awesome he is and how awesome his creation is.

Overall I am having a lot of fun meeting new people and enjoy typical camp life!

Until Next time,

Rebecca (aka Stanley) Foell 

Wednesday

The last two day have been a time of forming routines and emersing ourselves in camp life.

Our mornings begin with a time of prayer and a short devotional at 7:30 in front of the guys cabin.  We like to have it at the camp fire pit but the last two mornings have been windy and wet.  We have been using ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) to help us focus in prayer, and we have had great participation.  On Tuesday Robert Bruno, the camp director, and Adam Carlson, a staff member and our liaison joined us and Robert shared about the purposes of the trip (Personal Growth, Cultural Experience, Living in Community and Service).

Breakfast starts around eight.  A big difference between Costa Rica and southern Ontario is something we affectionately call 'Tico Time' (Tico being the nickname for Costa Ricans).  Things run at a different pace here and schedules are frequently altered in response to how activities are going.  People are not stressed about what time things are at, and the children are, in my opinion, able to occupy themselves, when there is a lull in the action, than average Canadian kids at the same age.  Overall we have found the people here very relational and alway eager to talk with us and each other.

After breakfast the program staff help clean up the dining room, though currently don't have to do dishes, and the work project teams head of the meet the maintenance manager and get there jobs.  The team have completely transformed one of the maintenance sheds (the one they cleaned out and organized).  It now has had broken boards replaced and a new coat of paint.  Tomorrow will probably see the roof extension to the shed finished and the new wood shed complete.

Cleaning out the maintenance shed

Assessing Repairs

Painting the cabin

A new paint job

One exciting thing today was the taking down of a tall pine tree.  The maintenance staff had noticed a crack at the based of the tree and every time the wind cause it to sway the crack would expand and contract like vertical mouth.  Needless to say, the tree needed to come down.  Jesse and Micha have been helping with the clean up.

Making sure the tree falls in the right place

The tree comes down

Another project we have is pool maintenance.  Nathan has taken this role and will be vacuuming the pool each morning and making sure it is ready for the kids later in the day.  This will involve him getting up while the rest of us are asleep.

Le Piscina Muchacho (I think that means something like Pool Boy)

The program team (Harald, David and Danielle) have been have a great time with the kids are are getting well acquainted the game, or should I say serious sport, of four-square.  Anytime there is a free moment a game seems to form.  We thought that it would endear us to the kids if we weren't very good, but we were wrong.

4-square (the sport of Kings)

The work crews finish around 4 in the afternoon, then compare sunburns and have showers.  Joining everyone at dinner (around 6, remember Tico Time).  Meals here are a somber affair; NOT!  They are full of laughter, cheers, music and tonight even dancing, as one of the counselors gave what looked like a performance of a traditional Spanish style dance, though I am not cultured enough to know the origin.

After dinner there is cleanup and evening games.  Some of the project team join in and others take the opportunity to rest, write/call home, update facebook and enjoy each others company.  Each week we will switch who is on the program team so everyone has an opportunity to serve in that capacity.

It has been amazing how fast the time has gone.  Please continue to pray for us and may you experience the blessing of God as much as we are feeling it on this trip.

on behalf of the interns
Allan

Camp Has Started

A Beautiful Costa Rican Sunset

Saturday night was spent with a trip up a volcano.  Now before you are alarmed, understand that Costa Rica has many volcano's and only some of them are active.  The camp is located half-way up a dormant one and as you climb you are rewarded with a wonderful view of Costa Rica's central valley.  Though we didn't go to the very top we were able to go up to a spot where you can see 4 provinces from.  While looking at the lights of San Jose, the capital, and surrounding area, representing over 1 million people, we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  It was a great ending to our first full day in Costa Rica.

Camp fire Saturday night

Sunday mornings are special, as we know that we are joining millions of brothers and sisters in worshiping the Lord, all around the world.  This Sunday we joined the congregation of Monte de Dios (Mountain of God) in the local town of San Jose de Montana.  It is a lively congregation of over 300 with services at 8am and 10:15am each Sunday.  As we arrived at 10 am the first service was still going and didn't get out for another 10 minutes.

The church was so welcoming to us, with volunteers coming back to sit with us, after an hour long praise set, to translate the sermon.  It was wonderful to worship with people from another culture and recognize that we all praise the same God.  The pastor spoke on Hebrews 13:1-4, and gave practical examples of how to apply the text to our daily lives. The 2+ hour service went by quickly and we returned to camp for lunch.

Meals have gone really well, and not just because the food is excellent.  Meal times are a great opportunity to interact with the other people at camp.  The team is quickly making friends and involving themselves in the 'camp activities' at meals, like cheers, chats and welcome tunnels.

Allan at a camper's table

Sunday afternoon was open for rest.  Some walked to town, and realize how steep the hill is to get out of camp.  Some played soccer with the Roblealto and Pine Cove staffs while others connected with home over the internet (which is good but spotty at times, today it is working well for me).
In the evening the week's camp team come together for orientation.  It felt at little like a camping summit as we had representation from 5 countries and at least five camps.  One of the lessons shared was a principle of service; 'That it is not about you".  We were encourage to serve others and not always our own interests.  When we serve in this capacity we can bring more glory to God, reflect Christ's example and feel greater joy while we serve.

As the night closed we readied ourselves for bed (some more quickly than others) knowing that the kids would arrive in the morning and so would our work projects.  To best serve the camp each week our team will be divided into two groups; one on program and one on work projects.  Everyone will get an opportunity to join the program team for a week and do two weeks of work project (with the evenings free to get involved with games, other camp activities and rest).

The Kids have arrived and are learning their cheers

At Roblealto the kids are picked up by a bus carrying the counsellors, that had to leave the camp at 6 am, in San Jose and driven back to the camp, arriving around 10:30.  Before the bus returned we all had a maintenance orientation, and got started on a project (organizing two maintenance areas).  The program members joined the kids when they arrived and the others continued on their projects (which they did really well, according to the maintenance staff).

Cleaning out the shed: Step 1- Take everything out

Step 2: Clean It

Step 3: Put everything back in its new place

Micha helping Jesse carry a tarp 

Josh Fixing a board

Rebecca and Maya removing nails

Gideon and Nathan after a job well done (sorry no before shoot, but I can tell you it was really, really messy)

Please continue to be praying for us; that we would be safe, be a blessing to the people we meet, and that we will be positively changed by our time here.

On behalf of the interns,

Allan

PS hopefully tomorrow we will have a post from one of the interns.

Safely at Campamento Roblealto

We have safely arrived at our destination, though the journey was long.

Our travels started at 4 pm on Thursday as we exited the gate of Fair Havens in two vans.  Our first stop was Newmarket as we needed to pick up something from the mall.  We gave the interns an hour to get anything that they needed and we back on the road at 6.  The snow picked up and the drive through Toronto was slow, slow, slow.  We were able to make it to London around 8:30 where we picked up Jesse (who wasn't able to attend the orientation) and had dinner at Swiss Chalet.  Snow once again slowed our drive, as we drove to the border crossing at Sarnia, but we made it there safely.

At the border my van needed to stop so that the German interns could go and sign forms, which are required for them to enter the States.  There was no one waiting in the office, so we were back on the road in 20 minutes (all time record).  We made it to the airport at 2 am and settled down for a wait.  They didn't open the check-in till 4 am, for our 6 am flight, but all the interns were in good spirits.

Waiting at Detriot's Airport

We flew to Houston, and then to San Jose with no problems at all.  The flight actually arrived a half-hour early.  With us on the plane was another group, mainly from East-Tennessee, that was coming for a missions project in another area of Costa Rica. It is great to meet brother and sisters in the Lord for around the world.  We got through customs fairly quickly, but it could have been faster (If you are travelling always make sure that you fill out your forms in pen and not pencil, else you have to go to the back of the line.  Learned by an intern first hand)

Arthur was there to greet us at the airport, along with weather that was in the upper 20's and Sunny.  As we loaded our luggage into the trailer, we were greeted by Robert Bruno, the camp director and chair of CCI Latin America.  The trip to the camp takes only 30 minutes but the group stopped at a grocery store for snack on the way up.

The Girl's happy to be in Costa Rica

The Boys Cabin ("La Choza")

The Girl's Cabin

The camp is beautiful and overlooks the central valley of Costa Rica.  We can see all the way to the ocean, on a clear day, even though we are almost in the center of the country, as the camp is at around 6000 feet in elevation.  We will be staying in 2 cabins (one for the girls and one for the guys) so we will have lots of room. The food has been well received by all the interns, even though some were worried about eating rice and beans (which are nearly always served, along with other food).

At the camp we have been meeting the national staff.  Many of them, thankfully, speak some English.  There is also a team from Camp Pine Cove, in Texas, that are staying for a few more days.  They helped with camp last year and a few of them were here last year when last years team was here.  It has been nice for the interns to talk with them about their experiences integrating with the camp and working with people that don't always speak the same language.

Making Friends with the Pine Cove Team

Tomorrow morning we will be off to Monte Dios church in the nearest town.  We will write again soon,

On behalf of the interns,

Allan

Orientation

Over the past few days the 2010/11 Interns have met together to learn to work as a team better, practice a little Spanish and pray in preparation for their month long trip to Costa Rica.

Each day we have started with a devotionals (so far: challenging us to loves or enemies, step out in faith, taking time to talk with God), then had a Spanish lessons and team building activities.  The team has worked great together and have really enjoyed learning four-square, which was a popular activity at Campamento Roblealto last year when the 2009/10 Interns traveled there.

We have also had a few prayer sessions.  We are specifically praying that God would prepare us to be used by Him.  I encourage anyone reading this blog to be praying that pray over the next few weeks.  Also be praying for our health and safety.  A couple of team members have coughs and colds, and one has not been able to join us yet due to illness.  We hope he will be well enough to join us tomorrow.

Last night we tried having a meal where English wasn't allowed.  It worked fairly well, though I assume that people fluent in Spanish would have had a pretty good laugh.

Today we are working on Skits and Games that we can teach, if asked, while we are down there and confirming our plans for tomorrow.

Once we are in Costa Rica we hope to have several posts a week from a number of different interns and leaders.  Please check this blog regularly to see how we are doing.

Adios,

Allan (on behalf of the Intern Team)