Day 5 (2/26): Back Down to Earth

“Those who exalt themselves shall be humbled.”  ~Matthew 23:12 

     Wednesday was our 3rd day on the job site and it was only a half day since we had to be at a church in Pavones after lunch to put on vacation bible school for the local children.  We arrived at the job site well rested and ready to serve in whatever capacity was needed. We would soon find out that our hearts would be humbled in several different ways.  The wall work that we were getting used to had to be put on hold today since we had run out of panels.  Many of us were given new, interesting tasks such as erecting the trusses on the 2nd bunk house and cutting rebar.  

 Most of the perimeter wall team, which consists of the more experienced builders in our group was moved to a project involving leveling the floor for concrete slabs (which was mostly shoveling and dumping gravel one wheelbarrow at a time).  They admitted that this “lowly groundwork” was humbling to them since they were used to building up structures that reached to the sky. Their success at building walls had likely inflated their egos, and when they realized they were only average at best when it came to "groundwork", it gave them a much needed new perspective.   


We took a short break for communion at 10am as usual and were humbled once again by the local workers and staff that took part.  Fanny’s father (97 years of age) joined us with a vibrant, youthful spirit that could only come from knowing Christ.  Rick asked one of the workers to assist in giving communion and as we broke bread and ate, we all started to feel like an extended family of Christians instead of Americans and Costa Ricans.  Much of the rest of the day on site was spent getting to know our new friends and brothers in Christ as we worked on our projects.  

After lunch we went to a new church in a part of San Isidro called Pavones.  The ladies in our group had prepared some great activities for the kids with a bible study theme of “Noah’s Ark”.  The event was a huge hit.  Other groups have done this before but never had as big of a turnout as we did today.  Over 50 children were in attendance as well as some of their parents.   The children warmed up to us almost immediately.  

We started the event out by giving each kid a piece of candy and having them do arts and crafts.  Once they had finished there we sat them down for a reading of the Noah’s Ark story in Spanish, in which we ended up acting out each scene for them (with limited props, costumes and acting ability).  We then played several different games as a group and the whole event culminated with a huge water balloon fight.  The kids loved it and we each felt so blessed to be able to bring them such joy despite language and cultural barriers.  They probably identified with us more since most of us speak Spanish at the level of a 2 year old Costa Rican.  To say we were humbled by the experience would be a huge understatement.