Costa Rica 2010: We're here and we're exhausted

Most of us haven't slept in over 36 hours, but we arrived safely and it's been amazing so far! We left the barn at 3:00 am this morning, took a plane to Atlanta, then flew to Costa Rica. Our team leaders were waiting for us outside the airport, so we piled into a bus and drove through San Jose to the PVM base. The city itself is very westernized. On our way we saw a McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King and even a Papa Johns. It's a beautiful country. We are in the Central Mesa which is about 5000 feet above sea level and we're surrounded by mountains. The weather is also amazing. We all put on sweatshirts tonight..so yea, be jealous :)

We arrived at the PVM base and they had a delicious fruit cabob snack waiting for us. Some of us ate star fruit, guava, a really spiky koosh ball looking lychee nut thing and the pineapple was heaven! The base itself is small, but nice. It's mainly one building with six really big, long rooms; a cafeteria, chapel, girl's dorm, boy's dorm, common area, and storage. There's also a big field in the back equipped with a volleyball net! The dorms have 18 columns of triple bunk beds. That's 54 + a double which is 56 beds...all in one room and pretty much filled! I'm assuming the guys dorm is about the same :)

There's 9 or 10 Vineyard churches here, 98 guests and the PVM staff. Our team leaders are Meghan, Josh, Ryan, Donika, and Tricia. We are joining with Manchester Vineyard for the outreach part of the trip. We will be doing our outreach in the city of del Esta and Vina del Este church. Manchester has 9 total people; 3 leaders, and 6 female youth..oh and an 8 month old baby boy!

It's been a pretty chill day of settling in, team building games, and orientation. The food is also amazing. For dinner we had rice, beans, pork chops, fried plantains with cinnamon and sugar, Costa Rican salad which is cabbage, beans, tomatoes and cilantra. To drink we had guava juice!

After dinner we had worship in both English and Spanish and DeLynn, the leader of PVM, gave a teaching on why we are here. We are here to glorify God and that's why we were created. It's all about love and building and continuing to work on relationships. Love must be sincere to glorify God.

Now it's about 9pm here and everyone is settling down for bed. Tomorrow we have a day full of training for the outreach. Our group will be learning two skits and a puppet show for the kid's ministry.

Everyone is doing great! And parents, we have a certified nurse on our team. She's a leader from Manchester Vineyard. Continue to pray for boldness, unity, and the willingness to step out of our comfort zones to glorify God!

Thanks! We miss and love you all!
The Costa Rican Team :)