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Well it's 11pm Sunday night. We just had a great debrief time with Dena and Barb (directors heres). It was a massively encouraging time and was filled with Thanksgiving and praise to God for all He did.
One of the sweetest things was the missionaries response to our team. They said over and over that this was the best team that they ever had. It was one of our goals to not be a burden to them but to be a blessing. The Lord was good and used us as a huge encouragement in their lives. We laughed together a ton and everyone's hearts have been filled with joy.
The culture here has been so generous and good to us. We can't wait to see everyone. Pray travels are safe and smooth.
See you soon.

Sunday

Pictured are team members playing, hiking to the waterfall, and Priscilla with her "war wound". She's been hoping for one all trip and really hoping for a scar. I don't think it will happen.

Well the last day is finally here. I'm sure it will be a bitter sweet. One last day with the kids and the missionaries, but also the reality of coming home. This morning I'll be preaching at the church service. While this is always an honor, I'm always a bit nervous of what might be lost in translation. But God is good and will work as He wishes.
This afternoon we'll be doing some souvenier shopping and later tonight having our team debrief. Of course in between we can wonder in and out of the homes and play with kids and encourage the tias. So here we go for one more day...

Saturday

We've got a day and a half left and while we are all looking forward to coming home we all want to finish strong. So keep praying for us to love the children and encourage the tias and missionaries to the best of our abilities.
This morning Ali and Warren shared at Devo's and both did an incredible job. I know our team's testimonies have really been a blessing to the tias and the missionaries. Praise God.
It's the usual hot and humid and we were glad to finish up our last day of work projects this morning. That's the last set of clothes we'll soak with our sweat from at least the work projects. However, as Warren says it, "you'll break out in a sweat just picking your nose here." So more sweat will surely come but at least it will be from playing with children and not hauling branches. I will say though, we've made quite a difference in the look of this place. When we arrived there were branches everywhere and now it's been all cleaned up. In addition lots of painting has been done and a bunch of walk ways have been well cleaned.
Pictured you'll see Johanna chilling (literally trying to cool down) in the pool, some of us guys working, Brandon holding kids at devotionals, and a group of tias.
Today we found the largest toad any of us had ever seen. Brandon caught it and got peed on. And then we were promptly told, "don't let it pee on you, a dog grabbed it, got peed on and had seizers for 8 hours. Needless to say Brandon got washed off pretty quickly.
All in all, we are all doing well. Keep praying and keep posting encouragements.

Guess the team member

Life hasn't been the same since we ate the fuzzy fruit...

Friday

Pictured here are Brandon and I working with the cement mixer today. We finished one side of the drive way. Brody, Brandon, and I took on the Costa Ricans again in soccer, but this time it was in the pouring rain with massive puddles and lots of slipping and sliding. Ali is pictured doing toe nails of the little girls, Diane is enjoying a little one, and Johanna is checking out some bags in town.
Today Johanna and Brody shared with everyone at devotions and then we were off again to work projects and helping with the kids. In actuality most of the ladies spent time in the pool with the kids during the morning. During our break time a group went to town (watch out for all the coffee this team is bringing back, there are bags everywhere) and others of us walked to a local waterfall. It's a 60 foot water fall with an exhausting and dangerous hike in and out. We're about to head out to play with kids all afternoon and then more of the same...thanks for all your prayers and all your comments.

Wednesday and Thursday

Our day off was wonderful and much needed. You can see we met a nice sized lizard that would come up and eat droppings from the table at the restaurant (it was probably 4 feet long). We got to go the Ocean (which was a first for Ali) and enjoyed swimming in the surf, body boarding, and walking the beach.
While it was relaxing, it was also stretching for some as we soared from great heights at our rain forest zip line canopy tour. It was amazing and quite a rush. Not only was the activity exciting, it was entertaining as well listening to Ali scream from the moment she left each platform till she arrived at the next. (We started taking bets on how many screams she could get in between platforms)
We also got to stop at a bridge on the way and check out some local crocs. They were enormous with some easily being 25 feet long.
We ended the afternoon with some shopping in town and some much needed ice cream. On the way home we spent much time in prayer as we came back through the mountains in the middle of a horrible thunderstorm. (don't worry we only encountered 3 mud slides across the road) Let's just say we were thrilled to finally be back at the orphanage at the end of the day.
This morning Diane and I (Josh) shared during the morning devotional time. Although Diane had been fearing it all week, she did great.
They continue to work us hard as some of us mixed and poured concrete this morning (I have a whole new appreciation for these young men who do this all the time), while others continued painting, cleaning up brush, and or course watching kids.
Most the team took their brief afternoon break to run into town and now they are all back in the homes playing with kids during the afternoon rain.
We love your comments and definitely need your prayers. We're just over the halfway point now and it's gut check time as we ask God for more of Him and expect Him to use us in great ways.

Just a few pics

Just wanted to put up a few pics. Brody is pictured here with one of the many girls who calls him their future husband. Lisa is loving carrying babies everywhere. Warren and Julio have really taken to each other (Julio is the only physically and mentally handicapped child here). And the other is just the boys dressing up like superheros.

Wednesday Morning

It's 6am and in a half hour we're taking off for our day of relaxation at the beach. I think we all feel like we're in need of this in a huge way. Many of our bodies are aching in muscles we forgot existed and we're ready for this days break. Brandon, Brody, Ali, and I (Josh) took on a group of young men in soccer after they challenged us to a game. We played well, but couldn't keep up with their endurance. Score USA-4 Costa Rica-7. But it opened some huge doors for relationships and for us feeling excepted.

Our beach day will consist of stopping at some tourist sites on the way (crocodile filled rivers included) to the beach and a complete rain forest tree top canopy tour on zip lines. So you won't hear from us on the blog till late tonight...so we're off.

Mid-trip Update

Tuesday

Hola everybody, it's Johanna!! (haha just practicing the very little Spanish I know) Today is Day 4! We are having an awesome time. The day started early for us. Breakfast was at 6:30- we enjoyed a great meal and fellowship together as a team. After breakfast we had plenty of time to be alone with the Lord before we met for testimony in the pavilion. Today Lisa and Coleen shared their testimonies. They had some heartfelt stories- even a few Tias were crying! After we finished up, the team split up for work time. Again, we had some team members painting and others cleaning up mango tree branches. We are making some great progress! It's been fun and at times very interesting ... Warren has been known to jump barbed wire fences to stop the cows from getting out, yeah, he's got a little energy :) Brody found a trimillipeid as Brandon calls it. I just call it a GIANT bug with a million legs. Lisa, Coleen and Ali were hanging out with the kids during work time. Coleen has discovered a clever way to make the children stop crying- she just pulls out her camera! Works like a charm :)
It's lunch time now and the Tias in House 3 made us some amazing food (as usual). This afternoon we will enjoy a couple hours of free time. If it's not raining, some of us may go into town, go swimming or maybe take a little nap. Our little Ali has been known to sleep at random times- she catches some flack from the director Tim for that. Around 2:30 we will be doing craft time with the kids. We plan on taking each of their pictures and putting them in a frame that they will get to decorate. We are grateful for your prayers and ask you to keep them coming! Praise the Lord for the opportunity to bring love to these beautiful little children! Talk to you all next time! Keep the messages coming.
Love, the Team
P.S. Hi Dustin, Carter and Tegan! I love you and I miss you! See you soon :)

Monday...

It's 1:40pm and like clockwork it's pouring rain. Our mornings are hot and humid and then in the afternoons the rain comes and drops the temps about 20 degrees. Up till that point it's easy for us to have already taken at least 2 showers. This morning Brandon and Priscilla did a great job sharing with the kids and staff, which was followed by work projects. 5 of us hauled Mango branches to a massive burn pile (I think we could have filled a couple buckets with our sweat) while others painted and others helped in the homes with the kids.
At this time some of our team is helping with a few kids who can't sleep through the storm, while Warren and myself ran to town to get some supplies and some others played with kids in the pool. (that's suffering there)
This afternoon is all kid time and I'm sure we'll be ready for sleep tonight.

Keep your comments coming, they are incredible encouragement to us and we long to just check the blog and to read the comments of those who are reading, following us, and praying for us.

Finally with the kids...

We got out with the kids this afternoon and got to visit and play with them in the homes. There are 3 homes here with about 10 kids per home. In addition to all the time we'll be spending with the kids tomorrow, we also starting what will be our regular schedule for the week, beginning with breakfast at 6:45 as a team and off running from there. Brandon and Priscilla will be sharing at the devo's tomorrow morning, (please pray for them) which is for all the kids and staff. Each team member will share one day this week. Then many of us will be doing work projects in the morning which will likely consist of clean up of brush and trees that have been cut down by the previous team while a few others will be helping with the tia's in the homes.
We just spent the evening with Tim (the missionary who started Hogar De Vida) and we have just been encouraged and challenged in awesome ways. Praise God for him and his bold words to our team. Pray God uses us to bless the staff here as well.
Will write again soon...

Well, we had a great morning, with a vibrant church service (dancing included), and just finished a great lunch. Our afternoon is pretty laid back with personal rest time as the entire orphanage is taking their siesta. Then we'll have an orientation and tour of the facility this afternoon. We've got a bit of organizing to do of all the supplies we brought...but truthfully we'll have a relatively easy day before hitting the ground running tomorrow. And we'll be running, since yesterday was Mothers Day and tomorrow they are taking all the staff off site for some relaxation and leaving us with the kids for a few hours. We've already had some great interaction with the kids and tias (house moms) and we can't wait for all that lies ahead.

We made it!

Well it was quite a day of travel but our team made it...and I'm blogging from our kitchen table. We're going to be incredibly blessed with wireless internet right here on site. So hopefully those following this blog will have regular updates.

We had a eventful day, including watching a man receive CPR in the Miami Airport (our team prayed for him, but don't know if he made it) and sitting on the ground in a hot sweltering plane for over an hour while making repairs on our plane. There were a few noises we've never heard before when flying, but all was good and the pilots didn't say anything was wrong.

All in all, our bags all arrived and we got through customs without a hitch. We met up with Tim and Dina, the missionaries here, and were at Hogar de Vida by 5:00.

Pray for us, our energy levels after a long day of travels and kicking off working with the kids tomorrow.

More updates soon...
(written by Josh, but the whole team says hi)

5 Days Till Take Off

Well the team has prepped and planned and now we're at a full scramble to get all our last details together. We're still collecting items to take to the orphanage, so if you know of anyone wanting to contibute get it all to the church asap. We pack on Friday morning and we fly out Saturday at 6:30am. Thanks for anything you can help provide.