Hope

Here is a post I wrote days ago while in Costa Rica.  Had trouble uploading pics, but here some finally are!  Hope you'll come this next Sunday, March 11 at 10:10 am to the Parish Hall to learn more about our trip and how you can be a part of Emmanuel's ongoing partnership with the community of Estrada in Costa Rica in the days to come.

Sometimes it is easier to pray.
Here, out of my comfort zone is one of those times.
Words come quickly.
I look at the trees and the skyline and am in awe of God's greatness and attention to every detail.
And then I walk into the some of the poorest parts here and I pray even harder.
I pray for the children and all who will walk upon this square piece of land that the Diocese owns in the Estrada community. I hear the airplanes overhead and know that pesticides will be sprayed from the planes onto the banana crops and that some of the people's homes are nearby.  God's children of all ages live here.
I wonder about their homes in this world that can be cruel and unfair.
With poverty everywhere, I wonder how anyone can live in such conditions as a beloved child of God.
And then their smiles come and I know that God is full of hope and love and that in the midst of such, God is clearly present.
They have been cautious at first and hesitant, yet curious to learn more about these newcomers to their land.  All rightfully so.  And in time, there is joy on their faces.  The team has brought God's love to them too in a million ways.
The children color and paint as if the crayons and paintbrushes are jewels.
I help paint the red door for the front of the church along with them and I imagine people walking past it in the days to come.
At times, do they hope for better?  Where is their hope?  They have dreams; they have wishes.  One child told me today she wanted to be a forensic doctor.  Hope is here in the midst.
And God nudges me and tells me that God is their only hope.  And that it is an honor to be here as a bearer of that.  If we don't come, who will?
And today, today is all God has given me.  And so I pray.
And I hold onto God's hope.
And I am thankful that words come easily.

Let our prayers rise up always, O God as incense before you.

Empower us to be your beloved children who are full of your extravagant generosity, hope, and love for all your children far and near.
May we always remember O God, that we are your Easter people.  Poverty, wrong and need are not the end.  We full of Hope to share with everyone.
Amen.

The Reverend Amy Huacani

Wow, What a Day!!

Today was our last day of work in Estrada, where we are building a school for at risk children, to support both the kids and their mothers. Tomorrow we head back to San Jose (with a little zip lining on the way!!).  On Saturday we catch an early flight back to Raleigh (with a long lay-over in Miami).  We will see you on Sunday morning in Southern Pines!

We completed many of our construction related tasks today.  The doors of the new school building and the Church have been painted Episcopal red and attached to their hinges.  The trim on the school building has been repainted Smurf blue.  And the apple green paint on the front of the building has been cleaned of dirt and mildew.  Let's just say it is a very colorful building!  And it looks so much better than when we arrived last Sunday.

The tile floor is nearly completed.  The frames for the ceiling tiles are in place. The site is much cleaner.  There is also a new bridge over the rain water swale in the back yard.

The Bishop of Costa Rica, Hector Monterosa, and Father Rodrigo visited our site today.  They played soccer with the kids, ate lunch with us and led us in prayer.  The Bishop shared his vision for the Diocese of Costa Rica and its companion relationship with the Diocese of North Carolina.  We were so inspired!!

The Bishop informed us that he believes the national government of Costa Rica will pay the final construction costs for the new building.  He also said that we should not wait for the final construction to be completed, that the search for a new teacher to organize the school and lead classes should begin now.

As much as we love the Bishop, the stars of the day (of the week really) were the children.  At least 50 local children were on site today.  They played soccer with us.  They painted.  We passed on to them the many gifts sent by you (over 50 shirts, over 80 caps, at least 40 pair of shoes and 10 soccer balls). The jewelry will be distributed tomorrow in San Jose at the Hogar Escuela.  The gifts were accepted with smiles and grace.  And as usual the givers got more than the receivers.

OK, so that was the polite chronology of the day.  Now I am going to tell you what I really think.

As a Parish, we should be so proud of what we have accomplished here over the last 3 years!! 

When we started, this lot was inhabited by only a worn down but beautiful wooden mission church on stilts, with a dedicated but shrinking congregation.  Today, this site was the most exciting place to be in this small town (about 6,000 people) in one of the poorest counties of Costa Rica..  The activity was head spinning.  Soccer, construction, worship, gift giving and sad goodbyes swirled together to the point of being almost overwhelming.

There is a new building, that is beautiful!  Our hard work over the course of 6 mission trips, financial support, parishioner involvement, the dedication of the local congregation, and the work of many local workmen, are coming together as a fabulous space for God's work.  Our human labor has truly been blessed.

Relationships have developed -- with the Diocese of Costa Rica, with the local parishioners in Estrada, with workmen, with bus drivers, and with students at Earth University where we spend our evenings.  Most importantly, we are developing relationships with the children of Estrada.  As our bus driver said last night, the experiences we are already providing to these kids may be the best days of their lives, because they have so little.  There are countless opportunities here to share God's love, and we are sharing that love, no doubt.

Each of these trips strengthens our own congregation, and this one has been no different.

The most beautiful part is this:  no one person made this happen.  No small group of people.  No committee.  Our entire Parish has contributed to this effort -- gifts of labor, treasure, prayer, soccer balls, caps, shirts, jewelery, shoes, walking, wisdom, etc. have arrived from all corners of our congregation, and these have been gratefully received.  This is no Emmanuel fringe group!    So many have contributed, and we couldn't have accomplished  this without everyone's gifts.  We can do so much when we work together.  More than 50 Emmanuel families have sent representatives to Costa Rica, spending at least $1500 per trip.  The 11 of us here today are so blessed to be first hand witnesses to our community's accomplishment.

Open your eyes Emmanuel!! Our work here is making a huge impact!!!

And looking forward, this project will provide our Church family with countless opportunities to be the hands and feet of God!

I hope everyone will understand how important our work is here.  I hope everyone will be as proud of Emmanuel as I am today. 

Here are some pictures from the day!!

New Friend

New Friends

Circle of Friends

New Building with Very Red Doors

Emmanuel Red Door Painters Striking a Pose

Upstairs Veranda

Future Members of Emmanuel Youth Group

 Emmanuel Thrift Shop, South

Stuart Mills

Wednesday

Just a quick note to say all is well. Internet challenges keep me from uploading pics. Busy, long days here yet God is good in the midst of it all. God's creation here is stunning at times. The children point me to God. We look forward to sharing about our journey here on Sunday, March 11 during th Adult Forum in the Parish Hall. Will try to blog and upload more pics as we can. Thanks so much for your prayers. Pure grace! The Rev. Amy Huacani

This is how we roll. Together in Christ.

Carrying over the title from last year Ninja John is completing the second row of the 12x12 ceramic tile.

 As John finishes the opposite end; Scott,Melissa,Joseph, and Wilbur round the corner.

 With a view of some mountains in the background Sara prepares the floor to keep the dust down before painting the six panel doors.Marvin came by to show off his beautiful 5 month old baby.

Marvin has helped out on many of our trips. Its a blessing to have him living next door. He can take part and see it all come together.

Raymond Brown

Sunday!

 Hi!  Here is the team, taking a tour at the Santa Maria Parish, on our way back from the Estrada community to Earth University, where we are staying.  The woman with the green shirt is Sonja, the rector of the parish.  She was so gracious to let us visit at such late notice. 

 Here we are in front of the Santa Maria parish.  It has been a great, yet exhausting day. 



I'm in awe of how gorgeous God's creation is here.  It is just beautiful!  Here is a glimpse.  We even spotted a sloth, an anteater, and toucans all in one day while on the bus traveling from one place to another.

The team arrived at the Estrada community this morning just in time for worship at 11 am, which lasted almost two hours.  At the last minute, I was asked to celebrate the Eucharist in Spanish, so that was interesting but worked okay.  During the offering time, we gave the church three prayer books in spanish and a typewriter that Ray brought.  One of the young boys remarked at how he wanted to learn how to sew so he could always have clothes.  After worship, we all gathered in the community building for lunch.  More pictures to follow of the building and the children tomorrow.  Oh, and rice and beans has been available at every meal. Typical Costa Rican food.  It is a joy to be here!

The Reverend Amy Huacani

February 25: We Have Arrived!!!

Eleven missioners from Emmanuel arrived in Costa Rica after a long day of travel:  Amy, Beth, John, Joseph, Mary Gayle, Mav, Melissa, Ray, Sara, Scott and Stuart.

We will have lots more to say tomorrow. For now let me just say that our travels went incredibly smoothly, and we enjoyed each other's company all day. It was quite a long day (beginning at 3:45 am outside the Church in Southern Pines) and most of us are turning in early, real early.

Here are a few snaps of our group eating dinner at Rancho Roberto's, a favorite Emmanuel haunt:

Stuart Mills

The Weekend!

Friday, June 17th

Today was our last day working in Estrada, a lot has gotten accomplished over the past five days and it is amazing to see how our building has come along. Since the day before we had finished painting almost all of the building we all took turns with making concrete or playing with the kids. We all felt the pressure of trying to balance work and play, making sure that we gave as much time and attention to the kids as possible while still contributing to the finishing of the concrete floor.

Our time spent with the kids was full of excitement and joy but at times, frustration and an inability to communicate with the children due to the language barrier. We spent the majority of the day in the church since the building was getting the final sections of the concrete floor filled in. The whole day we made bracelets and colored an enormous amount of Disney coloring pages. Several members of the group, including myself, found ourselves frustrated at times because we didn’t understand how the kids could keep asking us for more, until we realized that they have nothing at home, and then we were happy to give them more. We started to see how us being there was positively impacting the kids and how we had built friendships over the past five days.

We later departed after lunch for Puerto Viejo where we would spend two days just enjoying our time together and wrapping up our trip to Costa Rica. We arrived in the late afternoon and we were joyously greeted by air-conditioning and hot showers (at least for most of us). After frolicking in the pool for about an hour, after we had settled in, Joseph found himself being reminded of our cold showers at Earth, when Gracyn, Kelsey, and myself along with Joseph and Buck’s power was shut off, which we have come to the conclusion was caused by every possible light and fan, along with the air conditioning, being turned on. Let’s just say we got a tad bit carried away by the excitement of familiar surroundings that reminded us of home.

That day we reflected about our time in Estrada and on all the friendships that we had made with the sweet children. After dinner we only drove around town, we saw a pack of dogs (which is never a good sign) and decided that night, Puerto Viejo didn’t seem like a good idea.

All of us are enjoying our time together and have seen how we can impact the lives of the kids of Estrada and hopefully have created lasting friendships that they will remember for years to come. We are all starting to miss our friends and family, but the trip is fast approaching its end and we are not ready to go back to our normal lives and leave our new friends and our new found home of Costa Rica.

-Colleen K.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Today was our whole day at Puerto Viejo. After enjoying my first breakfast without rice and beans (although they were still an option) in five days we went to go zip lining. Cait conquered her fear of heights and came along for the ride. It can be seen in the video. We got to fly 300 feet above a raging river and see howler monkeys in the trees. Nick was attacked by an iguana perched on the third platform. Animals in Costa Rica seem to dislike Nick. It leapt a good seven feet from a standstill. The second half of the day was spent at the beach and in the town of Puerto Viejo. The beach was nice. I was attacked by a crab pinching my toes. In town we bought souvenirs for our families and ourselves. I successfully haggled a vender for the price of a stuffed animal sea turtle from $6000 ($12) to $5000 ($10) although by this point I was almost broke in colones so I didn’t buy it. It was very enjoyable to have some vacation time while we are here. Returning to rice and beans was painful afterwards. Overall a great day.

-Ben K.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Today was our last full day in Costa Rica. We started the morning with a nice breakfast (without rice and beans) at Puerto Viejo. Most, but not all of us, were awakened by the annoying, but really cool howler monkeys. All though it doesn’t really matter, the sun rises at like 5 here. At around 8, we took off for Estrada for the last day. We had a morning service there. The church service was very nice even though I didn’t understand half of it. The kids were still lined up outside the church. Even through the dark, they find light in God.

After saying our goodbyes to all the kids, which was very difficult, we headed back to Earth University for our last night’s stay. We had a big group game of soccer and finally had some downtime to reflect on the amazing week that we just experienced.

-Ryan W.

We woke up early this morning and worked hard, so hard that we were able to leave the job site at three instead of four. It was a slow, but exciting day. We did a lot of concrete, which Buck was excited about because earlier this week everyone painted. Around ten or eleven, all the children started arriving. We made bracelets and colored. We had to set a limit for how many beads they could use, because some would use about twenty for only one bracelet, it was a very big deal for them when we told them they could only have nine. Once the bracelet excitement was over, all the boys came walking towards us all excited, and one had something in his hand. It was a baby parrot, and they explained how it had fallen from its nest and they didn’t want it to get eaten. We told them to put the baby back in the tree so that it wouldn’t die, and one boy climbed up the tree and put it back. The same child threw rocks at a dog earlier, so it was interesting to see him so sweet and gentle towards an animal.

Soccer seems to be the kid’s favorite game here; we have a “world cup” everyday, Costa Rica vs. the Americans. I hate to say it, but they seem to be much better than us, even the five year olds. There was always laughter going on today, from some children starting a paint war with Kelsey or Joseph swinging the younger kids on his arms. They always seemed to have cute little smiles on their faces. Even we were laughing, because even with a language barrier the kids are really funny and precious.

Once we got back to Earth University, it was pouring down rain. So instead of rushing inside to get dry, we played outside for a little while. We slid around in the mud and splashed in the puddles; I was even picked up by Ryan and Nick and dropped in a giant puddle. During the rain, I stopped and realized that even though I really miss my family and friends at home, we are also a family here and how nice it is to be together.

-Maddie D.

Youth Trip Wednesday: Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Today is my sixteenth birthday and in my family we have a tradition of eating birthday cake for breakfast, because it is very difficult to have the whole family together at once in the afternoon. So my older sister Gracyn bought a pastry and declared that as my birthday cake, which started my day and birthday off with a bang. Which was needed since we had an interesting night with new species of bird called the Ryan Wade. Needless to say the night was interesting.

Once we arrived at the school, we got right to work with the girls painting again and the boys mixing concrete. Of course with our amazing girl power we had the entire bottom half of the school painted before the guys had even finished mixing the first batch of concrete for the day.

When the children arrived we went into the church and taught them how to make bracelets, which turned into the youth member making the bracelets and the children playing with beads. While working today we also had background music and five second dance party every thirty minutes.

One of my favorite parts of today was playing soccer with the children and whenever the ball would fly over the fence, all of the children would run to climb over the fence and get it. After we finished working for the day a few of us walked to the shop down the street and I bought mini malo (which is a kid that follows Joseph around) ice-cream. It made my day when the first thing he did was offer everyone a piece of his ice-cream cake.

To finish the best birthday a girl could have; we were at dinner when the group made me stand on my chair while they sang happy birthday in Spanish to me and everyone in the cafeteria started to tap their glasses.

If I was able to spend my birthday with anyone besides my family, I’m glad it was with these people because they are like cousins that you see all the time, and I love them.

Kelsey D.

Youth Trip Day 2

The group started the day off with a bang today, my sister Kelsey took her malaria pill before eating which results in an extremely upset stomach. Needless to say breakfast was very eventful. After breakfast we played a rousing game of ninja and for all those who don’t know what this game is it is awkward slow motion karate in which you freeze after moving. Upon arriving in Estrada we were given the task of painting the outside of the parish hall. The ironic part was all the girls on the mission trip were outside while all the boys on the trip were inside. ( even though I was pleased not to be mixing concrete). We painted the entire outside of the parish hall before lunch just in time for children to arrive.

Today we played world cup , USA vs. Costa Rica ,with the children with a soccer ball five times too small with so many little bare feet around us. Not to brag but USA won ten to nine the first game, and the second game we lost terribly. The kids here take soccer very seriously, one tripping Ryan Wade because we were winning. We also had a mystery bug bite/ rash that attacked Ryan after he climbed the fence to get our miniature soccer ball back. 27 bug bites and too much Benadryl later he was exiled to his own seat on the bus until they went down.

While we were all busy playing outside and playing with Ben and Buck were working hard in the building mixing and pouring concrete. They worked nonstop until lunch and then even harder after.

I know I am missing my friends and family back home, but it makes it a lot easier with all these people here. This is not your average mission trip group or youth group. We argue like family and play like family. This is my second family and I love them all for it. I think that is what makes all this so memorable. They aren’t just people you are here with they mean something to you and I am so blessed be able to spend this time with them and experience this with them.

-Gracyn

The floor of the Parish Hall

Painting the exterior

The local children help paint

Painting Ninjas

Youth Group Trip to Costa Rica!

Today, the first day of our time here in Costa Rica, we worked hard, met many unique people and ate nothing but beans and rice (which is quickly becoming my least favorite food). This is actually my first time out of the country. Costa Rica has been very different. Although I am loving my time here, I find myself wanting to spend time on Facebook, and catching up with friends. Hopefully this urge to connect with technology will pass. Today we did a lot of painting and mixing of concrete. The highlight of my day was when a couple of church parishioners and I took a short trip to the local store. We walked with many of the kids, most who were outgoing, however, some tended to stick to themselves. I met some kids who look to have a shaky past, but hopefully my time as well as my group’s time with these children will help them to find love in Christ and find love in friendship.

-Nick W.

Kelsey in the tropical rain

The group from the second floor of the school

The author, hard at work

On the bus in Costa Rica!

Maddie washes the concrete steps!

Playing with the local children in the field

(look at that bridge to the right - beautiful!)

Friday, Final Day in Estrada

It is hard to imagine that we have been in Costa Rica for nearly an entire week, but as we look around the site of our mission project in Estrada, it is clear that much has been accomplished. Today's work included the erection of the final fence posts forming a perimeter around the church and school, and we are told that our efforts have laid the foundation for securing this property in the coming weeks.

Our "boss man," Sergio, aligning the fence posts

While the work outside is quite demanding, the relationships among the missioners has grown and the load of each shovel full of dirt is lightened by humor and many hands.

Bishop Hector (crouching) with the digging crew

Likewise, the relationships among all of us and the children continues to flourish. Our departure from Estrada today was especially heartening, as we shared a noon time Eucharist service and a wonderful meal (on fine china) with our hosts.

Joseph and the "Amazing Technicolor Entourage"

The impact of this building project is growing with each trip, and we are all encouraged by the local participation of the parents and their families as the structure takes shape, and its uses can be imagined.

Our departure from Estrada and the accommodations at Earth University led us back to San Jose, where we were again greeted by Bishop Hector and his gracious wife, Sandra. Following worship and reflection in the Diocesan House chapel, we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Sandra and got ready for the long day of travel ahead tomorrow.

We are all looking forward to our return to Emmanuel and can't wait to share this experience with each of you in person. Thanks for following our adventure and for your prayers while we were away.

Written by: Marcia and Gary Krasicky