Today, much like yesterday, has taken some surprising turns, but has been a blessed experience. We've all been plagued a bit by the exhaustion that comes from a day full of travel, complicated by weather and missing luggage. (Still waiting on poor Jake's.)
We got a terrific breakfast this morning featuring very Costa Rican style foods, such as gallo pinto and plantains. We went to the church building where the church members had started gathering and prepping to make some lunch for the group. The morning consisted of dividing up into several areas.
Stacy and a group went to the lumbar yard with Ronald to purchase the needed materials to rebuild the stage after they tear down the current one. We will wait until after church tomorrow before doing any demolition.
There was also a large group from our group, led by Debbie, who worked together with young adults from Desamparados to practice the four skits we have prepared for Monday-Thursday. They made a lot of progress.
The final group was working on separating out all the materials from our duffel bags so that we can be prepared for all the stations, each day of VBS. So much work has gone into the trip, and it's really gratifying to see the Costa Rican's eyes lighten up when they see some of the things we had prepared and brought with us. The materials look good, and we are feeling good about most of the things we've been getting ready for.
Our lunch was delicious. It was a sort of Italian-style dish with salad and fruit punch. We were able to surprise Maylee Johnston with a cake, card, and some singing for her 13th birthday.
The intention had been that for dinner tonight, we were going to take several of the church members with us--mostly those who had been volunteering on the VBS program--to a restaurant. But something happened in Panama that has created waves throughout Central America. I haven't really tried to catch up on the news, but there was some sort of explosion at a power plant that is a major provider for several nations. There are international connections, and therefore power outages from Mexico to Panama. In Costa Rica, the power has been mostly out, certainly at traffic lights. Porras showed his expert skill as a bus driver in taking us around town, but everything is very congested because of the lights.
When we came back to the hotel to regroup and learned a little more about the larger situation. We decided it was a more responsible choice not to go out driving around. We have missed the opportunity to connect more with the Costa Ricans but did make the most of our time here in the afternoon to connect better as a team. We've all struggled all day with tiredness, residual from yesterday's travel issues. We ended up having a very nice meal here at the hotel, and were able to work in an additional devotional time together, singing in the stairwell of our area of the hotel. We all talked about ways in which we want to stretch ourselves to grow and do more.
Tomorrow we will be worshipping with the Desamparados congregation, and then we have several things planned that will involve us with the whole church enjoying food and having fun together. Several plans have had to change here and there, but things are going very well.
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