High School Mission Trip Blog

Now I know why Beth calls La Carpio blessed! We had an awesome day where our kids worked so hard, digging, pouring cement, organizing pantry shelves, etc. All of the goods that it took several suitcases for us to bring had to be organized and bagged as well. It took several of us about four hours to just do that! That is how much stuff we brought with us, thanks to Mrs. Hudson, Mrs. Bonorandi and all of our students who gathered loads of goodies in just a couple of days to bring over. The precious church ladies fixed us a very special lunch and went out of their way to make sure the table was beautifully set. Then the kids came...about 100 of them. We did everything with them from skits, to praise and worship, to games, including Easter egg hunting and musical chairs, just to name a couple. Mrs. Hudson gave the Resurrection story with the carton of eggs. As the children left, we handed out hundreds of care bags full of items. We handed out clothes to moms and children as well. I cannot begin to describe La Carpio's conditions, as my words will be insufficient. The constant smell of the garbage assaults one all day long. Everyone lives in shacks with barely a front door, let alone furniture, etc. There are approximately 100,000 destitute people living in a one square mile city that is full of these shacks. What impressed me the most today is that these people have joy! You would have been proud of our students! I don't even want to know what they were digging out of some of those ditches, but they never complained! Even the Pastor and his wife, who are Costa Rican, live in a shack behind the church in La Carpio. Mrs. Bonorandi went inside their "home" and could not believe the conditions! These are precious servants, because they are choosing to live like this in order to minister to the refugees!

Tomorrow, we go to the Volcano Lodge where the kids will get to hike and go to the Hot Springs as well as the Volcano Arenal, which is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. I don't know if I will get to email you tomorrow night, as Beth told me the computer there is not very good. I will try though! If not, I will email you on Wednesday night!


Please pray for one student who is not feeling well. Mrs. Hudson has been a good mom to him though, and is making sure he is getting the care he needs. A lot of our kids are suffering from cold or allergy symptoms, but are trying to not complain! -- Love you all, Mrs. Lynch

We have had an amazing day here! We started the day very early by going to the river in the Rain Forest with hundreds of refugees from La Carpio. The pastor of the church was there to baptize several of his members. As if this wasn't cool enough, Meagan, Jake, Casey and Janet all decided they wanted to be baptized too, so the pastor baptized all of them in the river! Joy...Jake says he still wants to be baptized in the FL ocean, but he could not pass up the opportunity to make a public commitment in the rivers of Costa Rica. We got lots of video and pictures!!!!

This evening was very different...much more than we had bargained for! We were in La Carpio for the evening church service. They were expecting a larger crowd than usual because they had a well known preacher coming. He is a 16 year old who has been preaching since he was 11. He has been on the radio and is very well known in Central America! The pastor was also going to give communion to the four of our students who had been baptized. We were all very excited to see this preacher and to worship with the La Carpio refugees. All of a sudden, the power went out! And it stayed out! Beth decided to have the bus pick us up early, as the pastors were concerned for our safety. They weren't worried as much about our physical well being as they were for our valuables. Anyway, they protected us well until our bus arrived and then gave us an escort to the bus. It was all very exciting, but I felt badly that we were not able to stay! We saw two transformers blow as we were driving out of La Carpio, so they were going to be out of power for awhile. The kids have been great and tomorrow, we have a busy work day at La Carpio. God is good! -- Love, Mrs. Lynch

Update from a parent: Just heard from Jeremy.  They are having a wonderful time. They went to a baptism at the river today with the church in La Carpio. Four of our students along with others from the church were baptized in the river today. They had a great lunch.  Jeremy said the steak and chicken are fantastic. Lots of rice though...  Tonight they went to church which was supposed to start at 6:00 and no one arrived til 6:15.  (Guess they are on island time like the Bahamas....) A few minutes later the power went out. The people of the church surrounded the students and leaders to keep them safe. They escorted them out to their bus in single file so they were all kept together. They boarded their bus and headed back to the hotel. The people of the church look at them as their honored guests and feel responsible for them, Jeremy said.  They would not let anything happen to them. Even if someone scrapes their knee, they feel responsible. God is truly watching over this team during their time there. Pray for them as they minister to the people of the church in La Carpio. -- Mrs. Harford

(via e-mail) Hi everyone...I am using Jeremy´s account...don´t ask! Anyway...we arrived safely...went to hotel first to check in...then went into San Jose...had a traditional Costa Rican dinner (delicious) and then did a little shopping...Jake got a couple of great masks...some of the other kids actually bought hammocks...again, don´t ask! We then went back to the hotel, rested, had devotions...Beth gave a great orientation to La Carpio...had dinner here at the hotel...we told the kids lights out at 11:00. We catch the bus at 6:30 am, 7:30 FL time to go to church at La Carpio. Church tomorrow is a baptism at the river and the La Carpio moms making lunch for everyone...of course, we will be there all day and there is no bathroom facility, so that will be somewhat of a challenge...you should have seen the looks on some of the girls´ faces! Everyone is doing well! Only a few stomach aches! Beth is great!!! Please pray for us tomorrow that our kids can stretch out of their comfort zones and not worry about the conditions of the camp, but instead concentrate on serving...I´ll write tomorrow night -- Love, Mrs. Lynch


Adult leaders: Mrs. Lynch, Mr. Mockler, Mrs. Bonorandi, and Mrs. Hudson