The End Has Come

Well, the title says it all. We're now back in the US, recovering from a week of little sleep and little free time. But to say it was a week well spent is an understatement.

Yesterday we packed up and headed out to the airport around 8:30. Juan, our bus driver, effortlessly lifted all of our 40+ pound bags onto the roof of our bus and we said our goodbyes to Chico and Natie. We got to see the mountains one last time, got to go through the circle of death (a 3 lane round-a-bout) one last time, and experience the roller coaster of roads and chaotic traffic one last time. After checking in at the airport, going through security, and settling at our gate, we said our goodbyes to Bucky. Having her with us on this trip was one of the greatest experiences and we are all so glad she was able to make the trek from Chile.  As tears were shed and laughs were shared, we all expressed our love and encouragement to her before she left. Final goodbyes were given by Coach and Brittany, who had the realization that she would probably not see Bucky again unless someday we played Brit's future team. We all cried. As Bucky walked away, we lined up for our first flight and headed out to El Salvador, where we met up with the Track & Field team on their way back from Peru. From there, we flew into Dulles International, where we were warmly welcomed by smiles from the Hook's and Gallaghers with signs that said "Welcome Home Messiah Volleyball." But don't worry, the adventures didn't end there. While going through customs, Jane was randomly selected for a bag check, where she was secluded from the rest of our group and contained in a small room where her luggage was picked through and she was asked a few questions. After expressing to the guy that she had about 40 people waiting for her to get on the bus, the man graciously let her go and she rejoined us. The bus ride was filled with games, laughter, and reminiscence of the trip. We arrived back to Messiah around 11pm last night and I think the majority of us went straight to bed.

All in all, the trip was amazing. We grew as individuals. We grew as a team. We grew closer to Christ, together, as one. Our team is one of the most cohesive, uplifting, and encouraging teams out there, but maybe I'm just biased..
We want to thank Push the Rock, Aroma Ministries, and Messiah College for giving us this amazing opportunity to grow with each other and with Christ.


In closing, we want to thank all of you for your prayers, financial support, and encouragement to us on this trip. We truly could not have done this without you. Thank God for you and the body of Christ He has used to influence each and everyone of us through our lives, in preparation for this trip, and for the future of every person on this team.

We love you all.

Suzie, for the team, over and out.

Pura Vida es Verdad

Well, today concluded our time here in Costa Rica. In 8 hours we will be on the road to the airport to fly back to the U.S. Today was a more relaxing day here. Although we had to get up at 5:30 again this morning, we had time to nap on the 3 hour bus ride. We stopped for breakfast on the way, and went on this beautiful hike in a rain/cloud forest. We crossed many bridges, and learned about multiple different kinds of plants and trees along the way. When we concluded our hike, we continued on our way to the hot springs. The majority of the day was spent winding down the week with water slides and hot pools at the base of the volcano, Arenar. There were many different pools with different temperatures of water. It was so nice to just relax and let our bodies recuperate after a long week.  

We ate a delicious buffet for lunch then hopped right back in the pools for the rest of the afternoon. The bus ride home consisted of less sleeping and more games. Ellen taught us a new game called connection, which was very confusing and took me the whole bus ride to understand. Nonetheless we ended up playing it the entire bus ride back to the AMCA house. When we arrived safely back, we ate our authentic Costa Rican dinner and then followed it with team time. Team time was a great time to reflect on the week we had and to tell everyone how much we appreciated each of their contributions. Today looked different than the rest of the days we were here. We didn't stand out in the sun all day, play volleyball, or share testimonies, we did grow closer as a team. We've had a lot of fun, and are continuing to make memories that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Jenny, for the team.

The Early Bird Catches the Worm..or Pastries

Hola from Costa Rica!  This fine Thursday was filled with volleyball, new friends, and shopping!  The day started off at the crack of dawn - 5:15am (Thankfully, the sun was already out which helped in awakening our spirits).  Knowing that we were stopping at a tasty bakery for breakfast gave us extra motivation for loading the bus at 5:45am sharp!  After getting our fill of coffee, pastries, muffins, and bread, we were ready to tackle the day ahead of us.

With our bellies satisfied, we arrived at the Word of Life Christian school about 45 minutes away from our homestead.  Our first session began at 7:00am with the seniors (which is 11th grade) of the high school.  They were more than energetic and willing to learn as we ran the clinic.  The four grades (7th through 10th) following the seniors were just as enthusiastic to share the love of the game.  With only having one court with groups of about 15-20 students, we were able to have one-on-one interactions and were able to engage in meaningful conversations since all of the students were fluent in English!  Oh, how great it is to be independent from Bucky's superior knowledge of Spanish (we don't know what we would do without her).

After a total of five hours of volleyball under our belt and many beautiful testimonies shared, we were ready to get our shopping on!  Juan (our fearless bus driver) drove us swiftly to our destination of a local market where we learned the art of bartering.  We'd say we got a few great deals.  The team came away with many gifts.....sorry, no spoilers here.

From there, we traveled to a supermarket, aka - Walmart, to snag some snacks for our evening match against a local club team.  With players' families' cheers echoing through the gym, we were ready for the last match coached by Coach Tobias and Brittany Salloum.  Each game was played with passion and heart.  Coming away with four victories, Alycia shared the Gospel with the club team making known the love God has for each and every one of us - even on our bad days.

All packed up (smelly, sweaty, sleepy, and most of all - hungry), we climbed on the bus to make the trek "home" where we had a delicious dinner with the fam,  Once our bellies were full, the team went over the highlights of the day's activities keeping it on the shorter side since we have another early morning tomorrow.

All in all, the team is thankful for the opportunities of the day - especially since the whole team was able to be together.  With many getting sick early in the week, it is a blessing to be able to serve along side each one of our teammates and leaders.  Although the days of serving at the schools are over, we are ready for another opportunity of sharing the love and Word of Christ as we go on an adventure tomorrow as well when we arrive back in the USA.

Thank you for your continual prayers and support.  We feel so blessed with the people we have met, the experiences and laughter we have shared, and the love we have given and received.  God is faithful, gracious, and kind.  Please keep praying for our last couple days in CR and as we travel back to the USA on Saturday.   Until next time - much love,

Makayla and Jennifer

Day 5 in Costa Rica

It's been five days since we've been here in Costa Rica, and today was another amazing day! To start off, this was the first day that everyone was able to serve together (due to illness). We served at two different places today. The first was at the largest public school in all of Costa Rica, called Tibas. We arrived to about 40 kids waiting for us, and that was just the first group. These seventh and eighth graders were put through passing, setting, serving, and hitting drills. They seemed to catch on very quickly as translator Bucky effortlessly taught them the 4-1-1 of volleyball. There was one boy, named Andres who had cerebral palsy. Even though he had this physical deficiency, he still had the desire to play as the rest of the kids did. He touched all of our hearts immediately, but connected with Brooke on a deeper level due to her passion for teaching special needs kids. You could see the pure joy on his face as Brooke threw the ball and cheered him on each time he hit it. After about two hours of teaching the kids, our time at Tibas was coming to an end. To wrap us up, Jennifer and Alycia each shared their testimony to the kids. After this, an employee from the school, named Juan, took us on a tour of the school. It was really cool to see the different cliques throughout the school and how similar it was to schools back home, even though we are in a different culture and country.

This is a picture of the courtyard in Tibas.

After Tibas we came back to the house to eat lunch and rest up in preparation for our next stop: Cartago. This drive was one of the longer ones but it had some of the most beautiful views. Before arriving at the school, we received a text saying that the clinic we were supposed to run was going to be pushed back an hour. Luckily Chico and Nattie knew just where to take us! Cartago houses the first church of Costa Rica. It is no longer used for its intended purpose, but is now home to a beautiful garden. It seems to be the hangout spot for locals...and couples..

After spending 20 minutes at the church, we hopped back on the bus and were treated to Pops (an ice cream place) before arriving at Cartago's recreation center. This was the largest and nicest facility we had been to thus far. Yet again we were told news that changed our game plan. Instead of having 35 eleven to thirteen year olds, we had 16 total. The skill level of these girls shocked us. They had amazing ball control and an impressive amount of volleyball knowledge. We were able to put them through more complex drills that we would typically do in our own practices. Afterwards, Suzie shared her testimony that connected well with the girls and volleyball. Their coach voluntarily took us on a tour of the facility, which included two Olympic size swimming pools, multiple tennis courts, along with numerous other recreational courts.

We left the recreation center which led us to dinner. Chico had picked out a restaurant for us: La Tierra. We had the choice of either chicken, steak, fish, or pork for our meal. Since our team was dealing with the runs, we strayed away from the fish...We all were very happy with our meals but Ellen was most happy about the only dessert option. Ellen has an obsession with rice pudding, so when she heard that this was their only dessert, she was the happiest she has been all week. Along with every other night, she ate not only her dessert but Braedyn's as well (and a few others).

Important word of the day: Copyright.
Our team tends to take credit for other teammate's jokes, so we decided to copyright our own jokes to prevent "joke-stealing". Least surprising of all, Bucky has the most copyrighted jokes thus far.

Today was a great day not only for all of the memories listed above but because we were all healthy enough to serve our awesome God together.

Martes 3/8/16: No lazy bums here

3/8/16
 
        If I had a dollar for every time someone expressed their fear of getting sick, I would not have needed to fundraise for this trip.  If we had a dollar for every time someone actually got sick, NO ONE would have needed to fundraise for this trip. (Let's just say there were a lot of runs today, but not on the track). Anyway, on to more uplifting and savory topics of the day: such as bacon, eggs, and pan dulce (sweet bread)- our breakfast. Next, our first stop was a public elementary school where we held clinics for the students. We had stations outside for hitting, setting, passing, and serving. While our red faces attest to our lack of sun screen, we have remained disciplined in our application of bug spray (fear not parents, your future grandchildren are safe-no Zika here). The students' excitement was evident as many skipped their lunch to continue playing. I guess you could say they were hungry for more... We enjoyed watching the kids improve in their volleyball skills and engage in the telling of the gospel.

      Afterward, we ate a delicious lunch of pescado y papas con queso (for those of you who do not speak much spanish-this does not mean we ate our fathers with cheese). We took a brief, but much needed siesta. We then went to Lincoln High School. It was one of the most beautiful schools I've ever encountered (Messiah, take notes). We held a clinic in half the gym while the other was used to play a friendly scrimmage with the girls volleyball team. Afterwards we had the opportunity to share with the kids the two sweetest things on earth: Jesus and candy.

      We were then on our way to a San Jose rec center to play a local club team. We won three out of five sets, however if our knees and forearms weren't flaming its possible we may have won all five (just kidding, they were hard workers and their victories were well deserved). Bucky did manage break one of their noses...not literally-I think... but luckily it was her of all people since she's the only one with the Spanish abilities to properly apologize.  Once again we had an awesome opportunity in which Jenny shared part of her personal testimony with the Costa Rican team afterwards and prayed with them.
                             
       Those of us still capable of eating enjoyed a delicious meal of arroz con pollo after the game. SOME of us enjoyed as many as two squares of freshly baked brownie. Emphasis on some...sorry coach...ya snooze, ya looze. Finally, we wrapped up the day with a meaningful team time which included all of the following: a bible study in Colossians on the identity of Christ, a skit of the trial of Brittany Salloum for the alleged abuse of some 18 innocent volleyball players in the form of push-ups(don't worry her allegations were forgiven by a paper-bearded Christ), and a grand finale of sub-par a capella worship which left much to be desired in terms of pitch and harmony(thank goodness its all the same to Jesus).
      Thank you for suffering through this blog post with us, we appreciate all your support and prayers throughout this trip.
      This is Bucky and Ellen wishing you a wonderful day all the way from Costa Rica.

Lunes, 3/7/2016

PURA VIDA FROM COSTA RICA!!

We were awoken with a soft whisper from Coach Brittany's mouth that urged us from our slumber at 6:15 AM (yes, you heard us right!). We ate a breakfast filled with panqueques, those weird things that we don't know what they were (but they were delicious!), and fruta! From there we headed on our way to San Agustin Private School to put on a volleyball clinic for the day. We spent about 40 minutes with each grade (1st thru 9th), which included 30 minutes of volleyball instruction and 10 minutes to share a Gospel message and personal testimonies. We set up stations outside of passing, setting/hitting, and serving so that the kids would get instruction in each area. Each grade came through during their allotted P.E. time. San Agustin was extremely hospitable with bringing us fresh fruit and cookies personalized with Push the Rock on them during a break. At lunch time we played soccer with the kids and ate homemade empanadas (YUM). After each testimony, we prayed with the ninos and gave them a gift of candy. We left around 2:40 and headed to the grocery store for some much needed snacks before our evening matches. As we were leaving, the principal thanked us and reminded us that we were planting seeds in the children's lives through our testimonies.

                     

While waiting for Chico to fetch our snacks, we entertained ourselves in the grocery store parking lot with charades and a game of telephone. Ya know, "the ol' play a game in the parking lot while you wait for Chico to get some snacks." We got our snacks, climbed the bus, and headed to the parque. At the park, we ate some plantain chips, granola bars (without almonds, for Jennifer!), apples, and bananas.We sat in the park taking in the culture while we rejuvenated for our big matches against the Costa Rican National Volleyball teams.


The U20 and U23 CR National Teams were really good competition, and it was an honor to play them. We also saw this an another opportunity for a few girls to share their testimonies and the Gospel with peers.  It was a long, HOT day full of burnt faces (oops Mom!) and tired eyes of teaching and playing volleyball for about 12 hours.

-Jane and Taylor

Livin' la Pura Vida

Our first full day in Costa Rica!! The day started with everyone being woken up at what is to be our latest time of the week: 8am. 18 girls, two bathrooms makes for a chaotic morning. Our hosts at the AMCA house have been so great with keeping us well fed and giving us the sustenance to take on the day. Once our bellies were full and our caffeine levels were maxed out we hopped on the bus with our trusty driver Juan and headed off to church at CED where we were greeted with fresh fruit and coconuts. The service began with worshiping in song (all in Spanish), some songs were new, but others were familiar. The people were more welcoming than we ever could have hoped for. One of the worship leaders took the initiative to address our team in English and invite us to the front to kneel before God as she spoke words of encouragement and blessing over us, reaffirming to us that we have a purpose here. The passion and energy throughout the church were incredibly powerful and we felt so uplifted and inspired by them. During the service, we had who we all agreed to be the most entertaining translator. After the service, we traveled back to AMCA for yet another delicious meal before we left to play our first match of the week against The Bank of Costa Rica volleyball team.

The match was a lot of fun and it was really cool to be able to connect with them through the sport of volleyball since we were not able to connect as well through language. The floor was quite slippery which made for some memorable plays :). About half way through, we were visited by an adorable stray dog that continued to come in and out of the gym. He (or she, who knows) even joined the spectators in the stands. After the match was done, we were given the opportunity to join the team on the court and Kristen shared her testimony and prayed with everyone. They were very friendly and seemingly receptive to us and our mission. Overall a great first match!

We arrived back at the AMCA house where I (Hannah) wandered down to the kitchen where I was faced with my first completely solo Spanish interaction to find coffee (the things I do for that stuff). All of the avid coffee drinkers on our team were excited to find out how great Costa Rican coffee is, which the AMCA staff makes sure is always available. After a caffeine fix, we headed to the mall for dinner, then back to AMCA for team time which included devos, a time of prayer, and preparations for tomorrow. Day one was very promising as to what the week will hold for us. Looking forward to the ways God will work in and through us. Hasta manana! All for Him.

- Hannah, Dani, and the team (P.S. Kristen and Brooke wrote the update from yesterday, in case you were wondering :) )

Hasta la Vista

Well the anticipation has finally ended. We have officially arrived to our beautiful destination of San Jose, Costa Rica. The day started with a 5:45am bus call. We arrived tired, but were soon woken up with the excitement of Frosty Llama donuts (Thanks Annie). With our bellies full of sugar we were ready to load up and move out. Without the help of Randy and our bus driver we never would have loaded all our luggage on the bus in time. The nest 2 hours to the airport were somewhat of a haze. I'm pretty sure most of us slept the whole way, at least that's what I did! When we arrived at the airport we had a smooth and surprisingly friendly journey the whole way through. WE did however get lots of stares. You don't see a group of 19 college students wearing the same outfit (khakis and grey pullover) on a daily basis. This was a great opportunity for some of us to explain our trip and our mission. Next step: boarding on the plane. We had a 4.5 hour trip ahead of us, from DC to San Salvador. This was not the smoothest flight I've been on, but everyone was very friendly and we arrived safely to our layover destination. As soon as we got off our plane we were hit by a heat wave, or so it seemed. It's hace calor in Central America! (We will bring some of this warm weather back with us) At the airport a group approached us saying they were from Mechanicsburg. It's a small world, isn't it? Our time in San Salvador was all too short. Before we knew it, it was time to catch our next and final flight to Costa Rica! This flight was a peace of cake. We took off, received our drinks and snacks, and before we knew it we were descending. An hour past and we were already in San Jose. Stamped passports, check. Luggage gathered, check. Customs, check. After some small delays in the airport it was time to load our luggage on the bus! The bus was not big enough for us and our luggage to go inside, so instead we put it on top. Our bus driver climbed up the smallest ladder I've ever seen. Taylor, Jane, and Ellen hoisted the luggage up while our bus driver, Juan, effortlessly lifted and stacked all 20 bags. I think it's safe to say that he's done that before. Although we were tired from a day of traveling, that didn't stop our excitement to be here. As we drove to our base we were able to take in the beauty of the lights of the city. We arrived at the base, unloaded, and made our way up to our rooms. We were ecstatic to meet up with our teammate, Emily (Bucky),

from her study abroad program in Chile. We had a delicious dinner prepared for us and are now settling in for the night. God is going to do great things with this group. Thank you for your continual prayers and support.

In Final Preparation

Here it is!
The time has come for us to pack up and head out. Our team has been preparing for this trip for the past 6 months by sharing testimonies, going through team devotions, and putting finishing touches on our training which we had this evening. To say we are excited to go out and share the love and good news of Christ to the children and adults of Costa Rica is an understatement! We are ecstatic!
Tomorrow morning, 18 of us will hop on a bus and drive down to Dulles International where we will say farewell to the US for a little while and head down to San Jose.
Continue to pray for our travel and safety as well as for God to continually prepare our hearts and minds to be able to plant seeds and be a light for Christ.

Each day this week, you will be hearing from a different member of the team, but each day will hold new and exciting things!