August 4th

Today was an amazing day in many instances, but we had to say goodbye to Joan and Evan Smith which was a difficult experience for many. Today we spent the whole day playing with the kids! One group hiked on a trail with the children 9 and older and the other group did arts and crafts with the younger children! Everyone had just an extraordinary time with what ever we did ! The Hikers visited the pig farm, a river and played with a slip-n-slide, it sounded like they had an excellent time! It was raining while they were doing the slip-n-slide, which made it even more slippery. Everyone was covered from head to toe in mud! The other group set up arts and crafts in the gym, which included: Beads, coloring, painting, reading, board games, bird-houses, and stickers! Let me just tell you the kids were so excited and the mom´s of each house were glad to have a little time off! The little kids had lunch at eleven so the crafts group was free to take a little time off until the other group got back, so most of us went to the computer lab, it started raining so hard, there were water falls everywhere and a river running through the road! Not knowing where the hikers were we really couldnt do anything about it and when we got home from the computer lab, they were home soaked from head to toe!! It was raining so hard it started to come into the house, it was very scary! Now we are off to go to a english speaking youth group! That should be really a great experience!

More pictures to come, camera problems

Until next time,

Costa Rica Mission Trip

****Hanna Oimoen****

August 2, 2007- Day 6

This trip has been amazing! Last night was such an inspirational and eye opening night for everyone! It was around nine o clock and we were all sitting together singing worship songs and reflecting on the day when Jonathan asked us to share a moment where we saw God in the trip so far. Each person shared a moment, there were 26 different sightings of God that made each of us bond closer together, laugh, cry, and truly understand the meaning of this trip! Through the children´s faces and the love and passion for their faith keeps all of us in awe. And strengthening the relationships between those within our youth group has been awesome! Today was our last work day (we have all worked hard but the adults on the trip have definately taken much time out of their schedule and given up a lot to come here and they deserve a ÿou rock for all the effort and time they have put into this trip! you have worked so hard, thank you!) and there is a carnival for the children set up by another group from California. But the excitement in the children´s eyes and desire to get their face painted was adorable! It was very generous of this other group and for us it was fun talking to them, finally a group that speaks english! However I have found myself beginning to think in spanish! It´s really crazy! We all (even back in the house) with just people from the youth group have started picking up spanish words and speaking them to eachother! We have all grown together in our faith, in our sense of self, and in our relationships with others! Thank you God for all that you do, this trip has truly been a blessing to all of us!

*Marisa*

We have now been 5 days away from our home at Ascension, yet the spiritual richness continues to grow. The Roblealto children are constantly hugging us, kissing us, stealing our hats, playing American Football and smiling. They seem to be truly happy that we are here, and their outward affection is fueling our own spiritual growth and motivation to work. The food that is fueling our bodies is almost as satisfying. Beans, rice, meat, what more could you ask for? Believe us we need the energy for all the construction and painting we are doing. We had to repaint the house a different color than what we used the first two days, but that didn´t damper our spirits. The construction team is going strong. We are ripping off old metal siding and replacing it with nice boarded siding. Our group has grown so much on this trip and we can not wait for more.

In His name,

The LYFE Team

The Painting Crew