Fellowship Bible Church, KS

This was the second time this team came to serve with us--and we had many repeat members!  We love when we have teams that want to return and continue to build the relationships with us!

The Fellowship 2017 team

The obligatory Phase 2 photo

 On Saturday, they came over for a tour and got to have lunch and play with the Children's Homes kids.

Here they are playing keep away from the kids!

Trampoline fun!

Hanging out with the littles

Damon does a good job with the littles

They switched sandals!

Playing at the playground with the kids

Dinner Saturday night at our house, always a good time

 After dinner, we went to the Project for a concert of praise and worship

The concert

On Sunday was church and then lunch again with the kids.

The team serving the lunch!

Everyone enjoying the lunch and fellowship

 This team unfortunately came on Monday with stomach sickness.  So plans changed--some stayed at the hotel to rest and the others came to the Project to help the daycare clean and bleach everything.

The guys that worked the kitchen had to wear their hairnets!

Some got to do yard work

And others were not feeling well and rested

 On Tuesday and Wednesday, they were supposed to do a feeding ministry and activities with a church in Calle Girales--however, because they were sick, they changed it to clearing the land for the proposed new site of the church.

The team starting to clear the land

Jaden working hard

The surviving non-sick workers with Pastor Santos

The boys decided to make a grass hut

Jaxsen fit!

The site of the new church after clearing the land

 On Thursday, we partnered with a new ministry in La Carpio, Las Gradas (the steps). There were 120 steps down to the river where the poorest of the area live.  All materials and activities and food had to be carried down by hand.  But God showed up in a big way and we had a hard but fruitful day.

The pathway to Las Gradas

The start of the 120 step descent down

When we got there, we met Doña Marielos, who runs the ministry.

 One of the needs in the area was cleaning the area where the ministry building was built.  It was built where the community used to throw their trash.  So our team came and helped clean the area.

Strategizing the cleanup!

Even the neighborhood kids came out to help us

Bruce in all his glory!

We also did some games with the kids before we headed up to do activities.

Unfortunately, the bags of trash were so waterlogged, they had to be pushed out into the river.  Although this is not what we wanted to do, the first rain of rainy season would have done it for us.  The river is already HIGHLY polluted and sewage from the houses above us actually drain right into the river.  In order to improve the area from this point forward, we had to get rid of the trash.  After we got rid of it, the team placed a fence so as not to have this problem again.  The ministry leader also wants to place trash receptacles in different areas in the neighborhood so this doesn't happen again.  All the trash has to be carried up 120 step to the main road.  There are no government workers, sanitation workers or hospital workers that come to this area.  It literally is "unknown" and "forgotten" by the government.

Pushing the trash out

The river carried it away.

The clean up-all the area to the right is black water (sewage) run off.

We did bible activities and crafts with the kids.

At the end of the activity all the kids received a snack and a drink before heading back out

The group also mixed concrete to set the posts for the barbwire fence to protect the river from more trash

Met a Deaf boy named, --no language, but smart as a whip!

At the end of the day, in front of the ministry building and the fence they built

This is all of the trash that was collected and carried up by hand, by our team and from the local neighborhood kids.  Hopefully, this serves as an example for the area to keep the area clean--that is the goal of Doña Marielos.

It is normal for the kids to walk in, play in and swim in the river that is HIGHLY polluted.

The older neighborhood kids--they don't go to school, so they hang out

Our team getting ready to leave and there was a fist fight between two girls as we were leaving.

On Friday, we came back to Calle Girales to finish up our work on the land and the activities with the kids and a feeding program, since the team wasn't able to participate.

The walking path from the new property to the old property--through the river and up the hill....

The changes didn't leave many kids for us, but we really got to know the 10 or so kids that came!

Drawing and fun and games with the kids

From the church window, right below is where the ground washed away from under the church.  The team was looking at it from the street.

Carson gave Blanca a flower--when we saw her later that day, she still had the flower--a simple gift given in love.

The church is up that hill.

 When we got back to the Project after the hal.f day of work at Calle Girales, we had a surprise birthday cake for the leader/Pastor Damon! This is the second year he celebrated his birthday with us in Costa Rica

After the trip to Calle Girales, all the cars were washed!

And for the fun day, the team did the Tortuga Island catamaran tour. We saw lots of wildlife and got to hang out at the beach all day!

Got to see some wild pigs

Wild peacocks

White tailed deer

The team picture

Rode and I went as the leaders and hung out on the beach and got to snorkel!

 On Saturday, the team took the Children's Homes kids on an outing to Irazú Volcano and a picnic.
It was cloudy, rainy and cold on the volcano--but we had a good time!

The bus ride up.

The kids were FREEZING!!!

And we couldn't see a thing--we were in and out!! HAHA

More Costa Rican wildlife- a pizote

 After the volcano, we came back down to where it was warm and not raining and had a picnic with the kids at a park.

Everyone had a sack lunch and then played with the team.

 And after the picnic, the team got back on the bus and headed downtown!

This team was such a blessing.  They were hit with sickness and changes again and again, but never once did any of the team members complain.  In fact, we heard testimonies of how God used their sickness and down time to draw them closer to Him.  What an amazing God we serve!

Thanks Fellowship Bible Church for being just--AWESOME!!!

In HIM,

the crawfords