"Small" Group is...

...getting "larger" Praise the Lord! This is the small group that began meeting in our house this past November, twice a month. It's a group of kids that attend the Youth Group of our church on Saturday nights; but the entire Youth Group is compromised of members from 4 small area towns. Each small town now has their own "small group" which also meets twice a month in a home, in addition to meeting with the large Youth Group every Saturday night. This picture is of the teens that meet at our house in our town, La Alegria, across the river from Orosi. It started in November with 5 kids and it has been growing ever since! Last night we had 17 attend. Heather and our Youth Pastor have planning meetings and have a strategy for the direction of each small group meeting held in our home, but last night it was outside in our garage because of the games they were playing. Before eating snack which we provide for them, they got into a circle to share individually something that they were thankful for and to pray! Please continue to pray for these teens, and for our Youth Pastor and Heather as they share the Word of God through these meetings!

Wednesday's ministry with the Orphan Home, kids accept the Lord!

As with a lot of the things that we do at the camp, there are always "behind the scenes" activities that no one hears about or realizes go on. Here's a picture of Ken, the Grill Master, cooking hot dogs for all of the kids and the entire team of workers! This was a repeat performance from Saturday's ministry at the camp with the orphans, but I forgot to get a picture of him. I wanted to give credit where credit is due! Thank you to my husband, Ken, who cooks the "perfect" hot dog and for making sure all of us got fed on time!

Here is "Willy" the clown, a friend from "God Festival" one of our partnerships! I realized that I have never seen "Willy" without make-up until he came to the camp on Wednesday and I walked right by him not knowing who he was! How embarassing! He is a wonderful Christian with an awesome testimony. He drove over two hours to come and donate his time and bring with him some other volunteers to help us make this day very special for the kids! He played Christian music for the kids, made popcorn and cotton candy, made balloon animals, had a team who did face painting and did some comedy tricks with the kids. They absolutely loved him and he had their full attention!

These are two of the orphan home Mom's who are enjoying their day off. They accompanied the kids to the camp, but once they arrived, we took over their care and treated the Mom's to coffee, special breads and a day to walk around the camp together, talk and just relax. Here they are enjoying some cotton candy!

With 28 kids in all, we had to break them down into smaller, manageable groups to oversee them in the pool. Here are a small group of the younger kids who have swam and are now taking a break to make some foam sun visors!

Here's Heather and one of our Christian neighbor's, Ivan, taking a much needed rest, legs up after helping with ALL of the day's activities. Without Heather and Kyle and some good Christian neighbor's, we would not have been able to watch all these kids ourselves. They too, enjoyed "Willy's" whimsical balloon creations!

Well, I had to have some fun too!!!! The face painting techniques that are used here are really different than at home. I took this picture for my brother, Peter, since I thought it might interest him, my favorite artist! Their face paint is much more of a powder make-up that is applied with sponges and then the actual painting is only done of the lines of detail. Up close when finished the face has a very soft, powder, more like make-up foundation look to it. Of course, here, you can't see the glitter that they have added. This sweet lady was my face painter!

At the close of Wednesday's activities, Lynae sang and shared her testimony with the kids. Ken wrapped it all up with an explanation of the plan of salvation and an invitation to accept the Lord. We had three Youth, (the kids who attended were from ages 4-18), accept the Lord today!

Please continue to pray for them and for us as we follow up with them through our continued ministry at the Orphan Home!

Ministering to the Orphans and a full day!

This is Kimberly. I found out quickly today that she LOVES to work with beads! It was interesting to see her gently touch the beads and look them over as she carefully "chose" which ones she might use. Very politely, she asked if she could make another bracelet today. She doesn't like to have her picture taken and it is hard to get her to smile. I talked with Kimberly today about not knowing my biological mother and being dropped off at social services and my adoption. That's when this smile crossed her face. Today, I got a big hug when she left and I feel like we made a connection.

This is Onry. After our Bible lesson today he asked if I had anything to color. I happened to bring some Bible story coloring books with me as gifts for our music students today. He was so content to sit alone with me since none of the other music students had arrived yet for their lessons; to color and not have to share the crayons of have anyone to pull his book away from him. He is the sweetest boy.

This is our intern, Lynae. She is teaching Steven to "count" out measures by clapping his hands for "notes" and to stop clapping for "rests". Steven was so embarrassed that I was taking his picture. He beams when he gets to the hold the guitar and strum away.

Here is Luis practicing finger placement with Lynae. Today, they worked on "A" and "D" note finger placements. Music seems to come pretty easily to Luis and he really settles down to enjoy his lesson. We sometimes have a difficult time with him since he is kind of rough around the edges...aren't we all?

This is Daniela. Hmmm...I wonder why I might like her name! She is in the morning classes since she is younger. She's a bit shy, but has a huge, beaming smile. She is a graceful young lady and is new to the orphan home just over the past couple of months. She is just one of those kids that when you see her in a place like this you wonder, "why"? But God knows and in Daniela, I believe He has big plans!

We worked with the children today from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. I had made a commitment to be back at the campground at 3:30 and was late in getting back because we took the bus back. Once there, I helped set up and cook dinner for around 50 Youth Group kids. The American group is still here and today through Saturday morning they are hosting four other local, national, church Youth Groups at the camp. They are all spending the next two nights with the American Youth Group. Heather and Kyle have been at the camp since 9 a.m. working with the small groups as interpreters. They seemed to be having a good time with all the other Youth. They were invited to spend the night at the campground too! It's been a busy day today, but a lot of fun! Days like these I just go to bed at night exhausted, but thankful for the really fun and enjoyable ministry that we often get to be a part of with children and Youth! It makes me so happy!

Ministry on Chira Island-Team PBA

Here is "most" of the team from Palm Beach Atlantic University sitting down for a meal at the camp, though there are a couple of empty spots on the benches. The team consisted of 30 pharmacy school students, two pharmacists and Dean Mary Ferrill, one of their teachers.

To get to Chira Island we got up and departed from the camp at 2:30 a.m. last Saturday morning, traveled four hours by bus to the port where we loaded down one boat with the mobile pharmacy, tents and children's ministry supplies. The other boat carried all of the team and their personal belongings. The boat ride was 45 minutes long to get to the port on the island.

Once there, we quickly loaded our belongings on to a truck off of the boats and then we loaded a school bus (the public transportation system for the island) to get to this church where we quickly got settled in and set up. This is the patient waiting area.

Here are some of the pharmacy students, Elizabeth on the left, Alba on the right standing in the tan shirt, Jason in the back checking patients in to the Triage area where they have their vital signs taken and wait to see a physician.

Here we have set up physician examining rooms, not quite like the States. Elizabeth is escorting the patient into a "consult room" to see the doctor on the patient's right, Dr. Manuel.

While the doctor's see patient's, outside more are lining up in the patient waiting area. To calm fears and to begin to prepare hearts, Laurence, Heather and Elizabeth are singing worship songs in Spanish.

While all of the above is going on, underneath a tree, the Gospel has been shared by Amir, second to the left in the red shirt to a couple of patients in the circle. Kyle (you can just see his blonde hair in the background) has interpreted Amir's message into Spanish. Some of the other students who are on the evangelistic team have joined in praying for these who are accepting the Lord.

We spent our nights on the island inside the church buildings in tents. Initially, our family wanted to sleep outside in the church yard. We got the tent all set up in the yard, sleeping bags inside, suitcases, pillows and went in the church's fellowship building to have dinner. However, during dinner, it began to pour outside. Ken jumped up to check on our tent and not only was there standing water inside, but it looked like a mud slide went through our tent. This is the next morning, our clothes hanging out to dry on the fence.

Children's ministry is always a challenge with mobile set ups. This is the next day after it rained and a group of the "guys" decided to play some soccer with the kids, puddles and all.

In this picture, the team brought down lots of hygiene items that had been donated to them; new toothbrushes, shampoo and perfume samples, trial-sized toothpaste, lotions and conditioners, Q-tips and just a slew of things. Here, we are filling lunch bags with some of these items for all the cooks and volunteers from the church who fed us our meals and helped us with support staff. Katie and I are giggling because the camera was not working properly when someone was trying to take this picture and this was the third attempt.

Serving Costa Rica as Missionary Kids

As we were preparing for some upcoming clinics with our summer missionary interims; on a couple of occasions the team would go out into the neighborhood to practice taking BP's, weights, temps and heights. You be amazed that by offering this "Free" service, it would open the doors for them to share their faith, pray for people, hand out tracts and cultivate relationships. They were also able to get the word out about the church meeting at the campground. This is Jordan with his backpack loaded down with tracts handing one to a young lady in the neighborhood and talking to her.

This is Kyle with Kat as his interpreter praying for a man in our neighborhood.

Heather...the "bead queen" taking a break from the triage area of a recent clinic to string some beads with the kids!

On one of the "walks" through the neighborhood Heather practiced taking blood pressures as Jordan looked on.

There are always "jobs" to be done at the camp. On this day, Heather helped us out with painting a cabin. She is proud of her new smile. Notice that she has had her teeth capped! Gone are the West Johnston High School Marching Band Color Guard trophies! This was done recently by a missionary dentist for free at one of the God Festivals. God is good!