Picures Report
Joel carries a rock to be used as one of the demarcations for the soccer goals.
He also lets you know how he feels about the whole soccer thing.
On the left, Kenneth fakes out both Lauren and Megan. On the right, Kelly and Ashley are chasing the ball (barely visible in the upper right).
We haven't had many pictures of Jim, and this is the best that we had today. Sorry.
In Jim's defense, he is being pre-tired - not looking forward to travelling overnight tonight from one mission's trip to an Evengelism training conference,
with no time to do laundry in between. Personally, I hope he has good deoderant.
Of course the outreach involved those fun get-to-know you circle games.
There was a new rule, if you messed up, you had to do the chicken dance in the middle.
Tessie and Lauren couldn't decide who had messed up, so they both did it.
Then each team had to come up with a team name, make a flag, and write cheer.
Grace was totally into writing the cheer, then she realized it would need to be in Spanish, so finger painting seemed like a better idea.
Crazy games were soon to follow, with three legged races (left), water balloon volleyball, tug-o-war with a kidde pool in the middle
and passing the cup full of water (right).
There was one final game that the gringos had never played - eat the hanging pineapple down to the core. It was a little out of our comfort zome for some,
but Kelly and Stephanie were all about it, especially Stephanie because even as a vegitarian, she's taken one for the team and eaten meat this week,
so she is all good fruit when it is available, and these were really good pineapples.
Costa Rica Day Nine – July 7, 2007
I promise this will be shorter ha-ha.
It was a rainy morning but we still went to the park to play soccer. We picked teams and divided into 4 different groups. We started our three hour tournament but it luckily wasn’t too hot. It was my first time playing a real soccer game (since I never really participated in gym class) so I was very intimidated. I was on Kelly’s team with the ticos but Kelly was also on everyone else’s team since some teams were down a person and the ticos thought she was awesome (she was).
Most of the group went to the mall for lunch but a few of us went home thankfully. My tica’s mom made a delicious rice & chicken dish for lunch.
We returned to the church at 4ish. The groups decorated the church for the outreach retreat. It was now time for us to step back and let them lead and take over. After playing ice breaker games we divided into 4 teams and made flags and cheers. I was a Galactus with Meg & Eric! Ya, we won it was fun.
OK, I said this would be short so we’ll get to the best part of the day. After the games we had Chip & Christopher (tico) give their testimonies. Then we had a time of prayer and worship. It was amazing to see the ticos in worship and how we’ve spent so much time with these people and it was one our our last nights. I realized that everything is in God’s hands. Some of the ticos gave their life to Christ. I was standing between Lauren and a tico for the songs. The songs were sung in Spanish & English but we had one thing in common, we were all worshipping the same God. The time we’ve spend with the ticos is coming to an end, but we’ve mad such connections and shared so much love.
Thanks for your prayers,
Ashley
Hi Everyone!! Well today was the day that we put all that we have worked on this past week into practice. Today was the day of the outreach that we planned with the Ticos.
Our day began at 10am when we all walked to a park near the church to play futbol (soccer). We divided into four teams and started a little tournament. However, this wasn’t normal Costa Rican futbol. In this game there were no goalies, the goal was a rock and a basketball hoop, and we played on concrete while it was raining…safe, huh?
I personally didn’t play, but it was fun being a spectator and watching my fellow gringos try and keep up with the Ticos. Around lunchtime, after those who lived close to the church went home to shower and eat, the rest of us piled into one big van and went to the mall for lunch. Most of us ate “American Food” for the time in a while, which included Taco Bell, Wendy’s and Subway. I have to say, it was nice eating fatty American food rather than homemade Costa Rican food for a change J
Ata bout 3:45 we all returned to the church and decorated because the outreach was to begin at 4. We didn’t end up getting started until about 5, but it was all good. First we played ice breaker games and then we separated into teams. Each team was to make up a team name, decorate a banner, and create a cheer. I was on the team “The Stars” and we were by far the best team J
The real competition began when we started the real games. We played tug-o-war with a pool in the middle, thee-legged race, and mine and Lauren’s favorite: beach volleyball. Perhaps the grossest game we played was the pineapple on a string. Two teams faced another two teams & it was a race to see who could finish one pineapple first…I don’t think that I’ve ever shared that many germs with people in my life & I don’t think that I want to ever again.
The worship session came next. David, Jonathan, José and Joel led worship in Spanish and English. All of the boys did a great job. The Ticos also performed the mime, which was, as always, very impressive. Also Chip and Christopher gave their testimonies.
I felt like tonight was a huge success and I’m so proud of the Ticos for planning it. There were a lot of people there & I think that the mime & the testimonies were a good way of spreading what Christ did for us & how He took away our sins. Hopefully you’ll pray along with all of us for the hearts of the Ticos that were changed today by the outreach.
Thanks for listening. See you all in a few days,
Grace