Tuesday we finished a lot of our projects. No, we didn't get the wall built, but we got as far as we could. I don't think that we could have gotten any more done on the wall than we did. The only way would have been if we didn't have the half day of re-digging the trench, but still, that equates to about another ten rows of block maybe?
So the final post is this. I don't want to finish this thing only talking about The Pits and not mentioning any of the other projects. Between our two groups, there were roughly 60 of us that went down to work. There were just over 30 in our group and 30 in the first group. Between the two groups we represented 28 churches.
Here are some of the other projects that were completed while we were there.
The cabinets that Jim, Bernie, and Steve built.
One section that was repainted by the painting crew.
The wall and ceiling that was sheet rocked. Before we started there was no ceiling and particle board for walls. Now it's a classroom.
Some of the sewing crew that made aprons for the cooks and drapes for all the windows in the houses we were staying in.
The wall right outside our houses that was first scrubbed down, painted white, then beautified by Vicki and one of the Sue's.
Here's where we left the wall. As you can see there's only about nine rows laid. But like I said, we couldn't get any farther than this.
And here's the crew of Group II.
We flew out of San Jose at around 3 pm. Connected in Charlotte and made it back to MSP right after midnight. We pulled into Heron Lake at 4:15am. I've been worthless for the past couple days, but am now rested up.
Final thoughts on Costa Rica:
The mission trip was phenomenal. It was very well planned and organized. We had a great crew that worked well together. We completed many projects and left the wall at a good place to be finished for the next crew.
It was a great learning experience for me. I've never been out of the country (save for Canada, and then it was only to Winnepeg). It was very educational to be put into a place where I didn't speak the language and had to make due. Sure we had interpreters for some of the time, but there were other times where we had to figure out how to communicate. Also, we saw a fair amount of poverty, especially when we went to Los Guidos. The discussions that evening were largely about how people couldn't believe the poverty they saw and that it struck a deep chord and desire to help these people. The point was brought up that even though the poverty in Los Guidos is so evident, it's not too far from what we see in our home towns. No, there's no tun roof shanty neighborhoods in Worthington. But there are still families that have no income, live in questionable housing and go to bed each night on the floor wondering when and where their next meal is going to come from. Sure we have a better social system set up to try and provide for these people, but it's still here. There are still families in Worthington that are searching each and every day for any sliver of security in their homes. Poverty and injustice may have different faces and people in Costa Rica as opposed to Worthington, but the problems are still there. At the very least, the mission trip to Costa Rica reignited my call to service within Worthington. No, I don't think that we will ever be able to cure poverty. But there's still a need for people to feed the hungry their fish to put at bay their hunger now. And also there's a need to teach the hungry how to fish, so they can eliminate their hunger for the future. Are we willing to take the first steps against poverty? Well that's a question we each need to answer for ourselves.
-Kyle
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