High School Mission Trip Blog: April 2006

Friday, April 07, 2006

Safe and Sound

Posted by: Faith
Tired and exhausted, we are here. Travel went smooth all the way to MIA airport...once we got there we got through customs quickly. Unfortunately, there was a huge accident on the Turnpike so the bus was about an hour late. Nonetheless, we got to the high school at about 9:15 safely. Everyone is glad to be home with clean clothes and no rice and beans! Thank you all for your prayers, they were greatly appreciated. Please continue to pray that God takes what was learned on this trip and helps us incorporate it into our everyday lives. Well it's been great and fun but you can stick a fork in me I'm done! Adios for now...and oh yeah...VIVA BANDA (Go Band)!

From the Seniors to the Freshmen: Advice to make it Through

Posted by: Class of 2006
During our reflection time last night we were each challenged to give advice to the freshmen on how to make it through high school. To close out our trip, we would like to give this to you:

Joey-work hard now and don’t try to make it all up later
Leche-work hard and don’t think that its just 9th grade. Bad grades stay with you
Kyle-don’t try to pick your college by yourself, make God the biggest part of your decision and let God tell you where He wants you to go
Timma-keep track of community service hours and awards an accomplishments for your resume
Joel-be smart academic-wise and if you aren’t smart get good grades because it helps a lot getting into college
Keev-be ready for Junior year because that is the hardest
Andrew-college comes quick and math is hard. So listen to Brucey.
Shelley-Ann Gregory-there are a lot of temptations in school. Be prepared to deal with them and know them that behind God school needs to come as a top priority and focus.
Kathy-go on all 4 mission trips and pray that you will see what God wants to show you on the trips beforehand
Aileen-stay focused. Don’t get off track because it is really hard to get back on track
Gray-pick your friends wisely because they could be a big part in who you are by Senior year negatively or positively
Collin-Do everything you can (sports, etc) and work as hard as you can
Yohana-Don’t just learn from your mistakes, learn to forgive yourself for them, or else you can’t move forward. God is always there even if you don’t feel Him and in His Word He promises He is there. He will always show up.
Shaye-Don’t let your enthusiasms and faith for God die throughout High school. The roughest times it starts to die out and that is when you need to hold on the most. Stay strong and continue to grow and don’t let it die out
Christian-keep your priorities straight “A friend will stab you in the front, an enemy stabs you in the back, a girlfriend/boyfriend stabs you in the heart, but a true friend carries a knife to stab them back” God needs to be main priority.
Faith-maintain a positive attitude. Listen to those in authority, and respect others even if you don’t like them. Remember God's ways are higher than our ways.

Over the River and Through the Rainforest

My apologies...This post was written last night and was to be posted last night but we had some problems with our internet connection...

Posted by:Keev
This morning we got an early start, with breakfast at 6:30 am at the Volcano Lodge. We had pancakes, omelets, fresh fruit and fruit juices, and, of course, rice and beans! Around 7:15 am we loaded the bus and were off to the canopy tour. We arrived and were all given a horse and a helmet, and instructions. We rode for about 20 minutes, until we came to the stable. At the stable, we handed over our horses and were given a harness for the zip-line. We all strapped up, and hiked up to the canopy level of the rainforest, a 10-15 minute hike up-hill. When we all made it to the first of nine platforms, we were able to get water, and then we were off! Zooooooom...!!! According to our guide, Amanda, today was a slow day on the lines, about 15-20 mph, but it was still fun. The shortest cable was only 120 ft, a three second zip, and the longest was 1500 ft, a thirty-five second zip. We were between 100 and 175 feet in the air. The two highest platforms were the two shakiest, so those who were afraid of heights didn't like those, or any, platforms. After all the zipping around, we got our horses back, and rode back down to the original stable. The canopy guide led some of the horses into an open field and were allowed to gallop! WOW! Scary and fun! After all that, we went to a restaurant called "Las Brasitas." There we all had a half of a rotisserie chicken, and french fries; no rice and beans, bummer. :( After lunch, we had a two hour drive to a beautifully ornate Catholic church called Zarcero, that also had an amazing garden. After Zarcero, we drove to another tourist trap, called Sarchi. At Sarchi, they had rainforest wood ornaments, and other items of the like. After a fun time shopping, we returned to the bus, once again, and drove back to Country Inn & Suites. We then had dinner, lasagna with rice and beans! After dinner, we had devotions, and a wonderful sharing time. See you all tomorrow, on my 18th Birthday!!!

Note from Faith: Mr. Spidell found another stray cat at the stable! (See the pic) Thank you all for your prayers each day we really appreciate them. Please pray for safe travel tomorrow. Tonight's devotions were the best we have had all week...please pray that God continues to work on all of our hearts as we move on to another chapter in our lives. We love you all!

Back home!

Posted by: Patrick

Just a quick update to say that the junior class is back home here in Florida and we're all safe. We had a great time hiking and shopping yesterday in Sedona, but all of us are happy to be back in the comfort of our own homes. So much has happened and all of us were impacted so greatly on this trip. It's been fun, and we're happy to be home!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Sophomore Reminder

High School Mission Trip Blog
Hi Sophomores!
Last night while I was at church, I was reminded of a commitment I had made to the Lord, while in Atmore, and have not followed through with it. On the second night at the revival, we were challenged by Pastor Spiller to share our faith with someone before Easter. The Lord specifically spoke to me about inviting some of my neighbors to our Easter services. I am grateful that the Lord reminded me of this commitment before it was too late. I did not take the time to record it in my Journal, so it was easily out of my mind. I know that God desired to speak to each of us while we were in Atmore. Do you remember what He said to you? Now that we have been back for almost 2 weeks, have you gone back to the status quo or are you continuing to seek His face? I pray that you would be encouraged by His love and reminded of how truly blessed we are. I love you all and will continue to pray for you!
Mrs. Riter
aka; Lunch Lady

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Uno Momento

Posted by: Faith
I only have 5 minutes on this dialup computer so will have to be fast. Today was a great day with lots of water! We drove to the Volcano in Fortuna, Costa Rica and we got to our hotel. It is a very cute place and everyone is having a blast. Shortly after our rice, beans, and fish lunch we headed out to see a very beautiful waterfall. Pics will be posted tomorrow. After the freezing cold waterfall we got to go and visit hot springs, which is water heated by the volcano. It was a blast! After that we got to see the volcano erupt. (Don´t worry it was only smoke and it erupts every night) I will post again tomorrow when I have a better connection and more time. My time is up so I have to go...and oh yeah I got a great video today but you will have to wait till tomorrow to see...=) I forgot, we got a great American dinner of cheeseburgers! Yum!

PS Mr.Mockler your note to us was not found : (

Prayer Requests¨: safe travel tomorrow as well as God transforming those in our group who are not yet saved. Pray that God would impact this class in new ways never known before. Thanks for your prayers!

Grand Canyon Day!

POSTED BY: Patrick
Okay, just a quick update from me tonight before I let you all entertain yourselves with the writings of my peers. We’ve had a long day, but let me tell you, it’s been loads of fun. Seeing the Grand Canyon was absolutely amazing - also, on our way to one of our stops at the Canyon, we passed some woods with snow-covered ground! I doubt I have to tell you what happened next, but I will anyways: the mother of all snowball fights. It went on for over twenty minutes and much fun was had; we did have a few incidents, though. Aaron’s eye made a date with a snowball, but he’s doing fine and is only a little worse for wear. Kenneth took a fall and hurt his ankle, but he’s doing much better now, too. You should have seen the teamwork that we pulled together to help Kenneth out, getting him back to the van and then helping him out to see a fantastic view of the Canyon. Well, that’s all for me tonight. Goodnight!

POSTED BY: Gisselle and Kaila
Bonjour! Gisselle and Kaila reporting to you live from the van traveling through the climatically bipolar state of Arizona. Right now, at present, we are careening through the two lane roads leading up to the grandest of canyons. Currently, we have passed a total of one other vehicle. The weather is a tad bit nippy, but we’re tough cookies. We have passed a herd of bovines calmly grazing in their little pasture! On a more serious note, we arrived in Flagstaff at the hotel earlier this morning and it came to our attention that they have an indoor pool. Free breakfast with the ever-necessary waffle maker, and lastly, cable TVs! Woop woop! The schedule today for the juniors of Boca Raton Christian High School consisted of the following: prying ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4:45 AM, after thoroughly exhausting ourselves by dancing the night away with our lovely new dance partners, senior citizens! Gotta love that! We got ready, packed all our stuff into the vans, and departed to pick up the strapping young men. Following that, we proceeded to go to the “Zone,” and serve breakfast to the homeless. The women in the discipleship program treated us to a wonderful breakfast of eggs, tortillas, an assortment of baked goods, and scrumptious orange and apple juice. We all piled into the vans and porceeded to fall asleep on an over 2 and a half hour drive to Flagstaff. We dropped off our bags at the hotel, and this is where we meet up with you fine folks at home! I love you mom! Stay safe and we will see you in three days! Love always, KK and Giz! P.S. Happy Birthday to Momma Fabara!

POSTED BY: Kevin
Hey y’all! We are having an awesome time here in Arizona! The Church on the Street program has been a reqarding experience for all of us. Serving the less fortunate is a great experience, especially when we are used to getting served instead! Today we went to the Grand Canyon and it was an incredible experience. You can really get a sense of God’s creation and how small we really are. :) Cheers, Kevin

Paddle Hard!

Posted by: Shaye
Today was amazing and wild! We went down to the Pacuare river to go white water rafting. We split up into three boats and paddled our way down the river. The sights were amazing! We floated through a canyon with a gorgeous waterfall, and even got to get out of the boat and swim. Our guide, Amanda, explained to us how our life is like a raft ride with God as our guide. We have to listen to God's voice to get through life, just like we have to listen to our guide to get through the river safely. We all had a blast! Oh yeah Faith flew out of the boat during one of the rapids but don't worry she is fine!

Posted by: Faith
I agree with Shaye, today was amazing! The drive up was about 3 hours long but it was very beautiful to drive through the rainforest. We stopped for breakfast on the top of a mountain with a beautiful view. Once we got there we took a 1/2 mile hike down the mountain to the place where the ride started. It was really fun to ride through the rapids with our friends as it brought us closer together. We faced class 1-4 rapids and it was "muy fablioso!" It rained too but it felt good. We had excellent fruit half way through that included pineapple, watermelon, papaya, cantelope, and hearts of palm. At the end we had a great lunch of sandwiches. Thank you all for your prayers and comments, even though a lot of them were "irrelavant" ;)

Prayer Requests: That God would continue to work in the hears of our Seniors, for a safe drive and hike tomorrow, and for the continuation of the building of class unity.

Unfortunately, I am not sure if I am going to be able to get an internet connection tomorrow night. Rest assured, I will update the blog as soon as I am able! Stay tuned!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Link to Senior Pics & Videos

Posted by: the Moderator

For those having difficulty scrolling down to find the link to the Senior Pictures and Video page...there' s a handy link in LINKS section of the right sidebar. ------->

Church in the Dirt!

Posted by: Aileen
Hey everyone! Today was an amazing and tiring day. We woke up at 7:30 and had a meeting before going to La Carpio. When we got to La Carpio we did a lot of construction work. We tore down a wall, moved 3, 5-ft tall piles of dirt and rocks. Others picked up random piles of trash. It was very hard but it brought us together as a class. After the construction, we had an amazing lunch provided by the church in La Carpio. After lunch, we went to the smaller church in La Carpio and did arts and crafts with the younger kids. Games ranged from coloring to face painting to blocks and bubbles. We had a lot of fun getting to know the "La Carpioans". the language barrier was tough but we managed to get through it and build friendships. After that, we came home, stopped by the am/pm store, had dinner which was chicken and beef, and of course, black beans and rice. We then ended the night with devotions done by Joey and Shaye. We are all very exhausted and looking forward to a full day of white water rafting tomorrow!

Prayer Requests: Sore muscles, and for the La Carpio church that God will provide what they need for their ministry to grow. In addition, safety for white water rafting and the rest of the week.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Finally, a real update!

POSTED BY: Patrick
Well, after two and a half days without an Internet connection, we’ve finally found sweet high speed wireless access in a Starbucks. The trip so far has been absolutely amazing and we’ve been doing a ton of bonding as a class. New friendships have been made and others have been strengthened, and we’ve all found out things about each other that we hadn’t known before. We had a fairly good flight over here, and we’ve been busy since. Today we got up early to go and do a morning street outreach with Church on the Street, serving breakfast to the homeless and putting on a skit and doing some songs. The past two days have been filled with several street outreaches, where we have served food and spoken with the homeless. Well, I’m going to go ahead and let everyone else post their entries, so keep us in your prayers!

POSTED BY: Morgan and Joanna

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Cats and dogs! Shelby, Sammy, and Ninja! Okay, so here’s the scoop: we’re having a super blast here in Arizona meeting some new bro’s and sis’s in Christ. It’s great to help the people out who need it so badly! Yesterday we climbed a huge mountain and took some awesome pics (don’t worry mom’s and pappy’s, we’re not being too risky!) Tonight we’re going to be really cute and go square dancing! Alright, we miss you freshy’s and sophy’s, HOLLA! We love you all! Peace out.

POSTED BY: Dezi
I love you!

POSTED BY: Kellie
Today was an awesome day and it is only 3:00 PM our time! We all (at least the girls) woke up about 4:45 AM to get ready. All of us are getting along great. So much so that we are having singing contests between our vans! Merideth’s van won last night (Go odds!) We are sitting here in Starbucks after a great day of outreaches, morning at the Zone, and afternoon at the Desert Cove Spanish church. Can’t wait till square dancing tonight. Just remember that we’re three hours behind you all, so think before you call. Miss you all, can’t wait to tell you stories when we get home!
P.S. Miss you Stef, Katie, and fam.

POSTED BY: Aaron
Hi. Questions are not completely answered.

POSTED BY: Andrew
Hello all! How’s everyone doing? This trip so far is awesome. It’s been so cool ministering and feeding the homeless people at the “Zone” as they call it. They have nothing. And its weird how we all complain about stuff. So yeah, we are staying at the church in the sanctuary. I slept on a pew on Saturday night and Mr. Mockler said I fell off but I don’t remember. LOL. The class is bonding so well and mingling around with people they’ve never really talked to. Well I love you all and miss you.
P.S. Hi Steff (told you I’d say hi)

POSTED BY: Kaila
Hello everyone! We are all having an awesome time here in the dry desert of Arizona. It’s great to work with all the people that we’re working with. It’s like a whole different world that people don’t know about. We have done some great hikes - a lot of us slipped and almost fell down, haha. But overall it has been awesome! Our class is all bonding. God is great and I miss you all. xo

POSTED BY: Karina
Her all! We’ve been serving nonstop! But it’s all good as I’m sure you’ve already heard we’re so glad to not be at school right now! See ya soon, hopefully we will keep having a great time doing god’s work. :)

POSTED BY: Kenneth
Hi all, I’m having fun. Miss you, bye.

4/3/06 Mrs. Barnhill's Arizonia News

Mrs. Barnhill called this morning, 4/3, at 5:30 Arizona time. They are having trouble with an internet connection so she gave the following report:

Saturday's trip to Phonix was smooth and uneventful. On Saturday evening, the students served food as part of the evening outreach and went hiking in Papago Park. Mrs. Barnhill said it was wonderful to see the way the students were helping each other as they climbed the rocks and hiked. Yesterday, Sunday, Aaron, Andrew, Joanna, Kellie, and Precious led worship during the adult Sunday School time. Mrs Barnhill and Mr. Mockler attended a Marriage and Family class. Some students helped in the Children's Church and everyone else attended the regular church service. At the afternoon outreach, Kaila gave her testimony, and then everyone went hiking again, this time in South Phoenix Park. This morning everyone is up, preparing food for the morning outreach. After the outreach, the students will be doing work projects at the church and then it is off to a square dance tonight! Yee Haw! Mrs. Barnhill said the students have had amazing spirits, everyone is working together, and no one has complained about anything! Continue to pray for health. Everyone is okay and participating, but there are a few who are fighting colds.

Posted by: Mrs. Lynch/ Mrs Parkins

El Rio

Posted by: Kyle
Well...Mr. Spidell and his room awoke at 3:00 AM to a random, unfortunate wake-up call, but went back to sleep only to wake up again at 6:00 for breakfast. We met for a Costa Rican breakfast of eggs, fruit, and toast. We met up with another Joshua Expeditions group from Texas for breakfast and shared the bus with them on our way to El Rio (Thats spanish for "The River" for all you gringos). We had a 2 hr drive through the rainforest where we saw monkeys and birds and looked for sloths. We met the La Carpioian church at the river and then walked 1/2 mile to our picnic area by the river. At the river we played with the Nicaraguan children in the river. The guys and Mr. S played against the Costa Ricans in a futbol game. The Americanos team was creatively named "The Boca Juniors" by our excellent goalkeeper Brucey. We lost because Big Bruce let a penalty kick go through his hands and legs. Led by Christian, we taught the Costa Ricans how to play Football Americano, and Gray added a few hitting lessons (even though it was two hand touch). They fed us lunch and surprisingly we didn't have any rice or beans. We found some places in the river to jump off the rocks. Xtreme Timma got a few cuts and scrapes from jumping through trees into the water. Others did flips and still others fell off the rocks back into the water. We had to leave because of the rain and began our trek back to San Jose. We cleaned up at the hotel and then went out to eat. Chicken coated with cheese was the favorite of everybody except the lactose intolerant... and of course we had some refried beans with that. Back at the hotel we watched some traditional Costa Rican dancing (which was free) and then had our devotions. Kyle, Hunta, Gray and Kevin shared tonight. Well it's past my bedtime and we gotta work tomorrow so Adios Amigos...Oh yea Mr. Spidell found a cat at the hotel, in fact he is playing with it right now. im guessing he'll bring it back into his room and spread fleas to his roommates. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAIGE!!!

Prayer Requests: All the little bumps and bruises from the river, and that we can effectively minister to the children tomorrow.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Heard it through the grapevine...

Posted by: Doug Watler, Boca Raton

Dez called at 3:30 ET and said they are having trouble getting an internet connection and have not been able to post on the Blog. She requested that the BRCS family pray for rest for the team and quick healing as several members have gotten sick.

Pray for open hearts as they serve the homeless and for God to give them energy to work hard all day.

P.S. from the Moderator: If you have more news from the juniors, please share it with us by adding a comment to this post. Remember to sign your real name to all comments.

Safe Arrival

Posted by: Katy Carpinello, Boca Raton

Kellie Harford called me yesterday around 1:00 PM or so but in Arizona it was like 11:00 AM but they did arrive safely. Keep them in your prayers.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Costafreekians

Photos and video are available! Click here to view photos and video from today. We will continue to update it the rest of the trip! There's also a permanent link in the Blog sidebar. --->

(Note: To view the videos, it may be necessary to download the free QuickTime Player available here. )

Posted by: Joel

After leaving the high school around 6:30 this morning, we soon found ourself lost in the middle of the Miami's ghetto. A traffic jam on I-95 prompted Al to take the back-roads to MIA. The minute we pulled up to the airport, Gray pointed out that Alonzo Mourning (NBA basketball player) was in front of us getting into his range rover with his bling and ice and 26 inch rims. I think he even grilled me when I shouted his name out the window. hah
We then waited and waited and played cards and ate until our plane pulled into the jet-way. We boarded and luckily the plane was partially vacant so our class had freedom to pick any seating arrangement desired. We landed, passed through customs, and never saw English since then. As we stumbled out of the airport, the wall of Costafreekians all tried to grab our luggage to carry for us so we would tip them. Joey found the way out by ripping his bags away and shouting, "NO TOCA, NO TENGO DINERO!" Onto the bus we went where we greeted our guide Amanda and headed towards downtown San Jose and the market place where we went shopping. The market place was loaded with cheap, cheaply made goods. Tim was the winner as he came back to the bus with handfuls of full bags. All I heard as I passed through the market place was, Ehhh Amigo, Mira! Mira! 1.5 hours later, we arrived at our hotel, stopped by the local am/pm store, ate endless rice and beans dinner, par-took in devotions by Kathy and Shelly, and hung out around the hotel. Tomorrow we plan on joining the La Carpio church at the local river all day. Curfew in 10 minutes so hasta luego.

Add on from Faith: Please pray for us as we minister to those in La Carpio tomorrow as well as for continued safety. Thanks for the comments...we are enjoying them!

Quick Update from Costa Rica

Posted by: Joel

We arrived in san jose safely around 2:30 costafreekian time. We only had to ward off some of the locals from trying to take our luggage and help carry it. We already went shopping at a market place and checked in our hotel. Now were about to go to dinner, all you can eat beans and rice...mmhmm, that sounds good, we´ll have to stay away from joey for awhile.
Pictures later tonight
Adios

So Long Seniors!

The bus pulled out of the high school at 6:45 a.m. bound for Miami Airport. According to the American Airlines website, they took off ahead of schedule, and are expected to land in San Jose around 2:30 our time.

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