Costa Rica, Day 1

Greetings from Earth University in the Límon Province of Costa Rica!!

Our trip began today at 4:15 am with a prayer outside Emmanuel. There wasn’t a lot of traffic at that hour, so we circled up in the middle of the road and Meaghan led us in a prayer to thank God for the opportunities that lay ahead.

Our team consists of Meaghan Kelly. Michelle and Ben Kaiser, Lauree, Nick and Sarah Kruyer, Kirby and Joanne Kilpatrick, Jason Davis, Ray Brown, Jennie Rose, Martha Parsons and Stuart Mills.

After a quick dash to the airport, we met at the gate and waited for our first flight. While waiting we became aware that there were mission trips from other area churches leaving on the same flight – one for Haiti and one for Jamaica. It was exciting to see that others are also inspired to reach out to communities less fortunate than our own, and that we all seemed to be leaving on the same flight.

Martha Parsons immediately bonded with a group from Wilmingotn, NC – they were on their way to Haiti. Here is a picture of Martha and some of her new friends:

We departed on time from RDU to Miami, and made our connection to Costa Rica with no problems.

At the airport in San José Costa Rica we were met by Bishop Hector Monterrossa (“El Obispo”) of the Episcopal Diocese of Costa Rica and Clarence Fox, the Liaison Officer from our own diocese who has recently relocated to Costa Rica to assist with North Carolina mission trips such as hours. Clarence will spend the week with us in Límon. We hope to see El Obispo later in the week on the worksite. Here are pictures of Clarence and El Obispo (the Bishop is wearing purple):

About 1pm Costa Rica time (which is 2 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time), we left the airport for a drive through the rainforest in our trusty bus. After the rainforest we stopped for lunch at Rancho Robertos:



The food was great, and we set off in a well nourished state for Earth University where we will be staying for the week.

Unfortunately, we soon discovered that our first bus was not as trusty as we thought. We spent some time on the side of the road waiting for a replacement. While waiting we engaged in a lively game of Apples to Apples (thanks to Sarah Kruyer for providing the game for us). Here are pictures of our smoke filled bus and our roadside entertainment.

(Michelle was really not this upset.)

After a couple of hours, our driver (Fernando) procured a new bus, and we were on our way again. Everyone’s spirits were so high that the bus incident was taken completely in stride. Still, were all happy to arrive at the Earth University.

We are truly looking forward to beginning work tomorrow on the school/parish hall for the Santiago Mission in Estrada, Límon. There were many highlights to the day, including the safe travel, the Bishop’s presence and kind words upon our arrival and the game played roadside while we waited for our new bus.

None of this would be possible without the support of many many people of Emmanuel Parish, not to mention the grant from the St Lukes Foundation.