Tomorrow, bright and early, the rest of the interns and I head off to language school. We will be studying at the Christian Immersion Spanish Academy in a small town called Tuis. Tuis is located on the east side of San Jose, outside of Turrialba. I will be living with a host family (the Vargas) - an older married couple and their adult daughter who has Down's sydrome. I will be there for 2 weeks! The program looks very interesting. In addition to living with a family and attending spanish class everyday, I will also get to participate in Cooking classes, volunteer with the indigenous population, and take a rafting trip!
Please pray for me, Brad, Josh, and Steph during our time at language school. That we would be intentional and determined throughout our learning experience, that we would avoid spending too much time with eachother, and that we would be blessed with a divine power to speak and comprehend spanish!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Day at the Beach!
Upon returning to Costa Rica, my team and I took the day off and headed to the nearest beach! Brad, Josh, Steph, and I caught the local bus out to Jaco Beach. The bus was packed so we were forced to stand and the drive took about two hours. But the landscape was beautiful and the drive was well worth it! We spent a few hours on the beach... soaking in the rays and enjoying the waves. Then we hit up a local taco bar for lunch. After lunch we paroozed the tourist shops and rented a boogie board for our last couple hours at the beach. We rode some waves, but then had to book it back to the bus station to catch the last bus back to town.
The day was great and the beach was gorgeous! But next time I think we'll all be a little more careful with our sunscreen application!
Enjoy the photos! Pura Vida...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Casa Bernabe
Week 2 of project trips in Guatemala has come to an end. My Costa Rica team, several volunteers from the States, and I just completed a week long project trip at an orphanage in Guatemala City called Casa Bernabe. This mininstry has been around for several years and has a really cool organizational model for their orphanage. There are about 8 different houses (casas) on the campus into which the 100+ orphans are divided up by age and gender. Each house has a couple bedrooms with several bunkbeds, a kitchen, a living room, and a set of devoted house parents. The kids eat, sleep, and live with their respective families. The model shows a lot of promise... but is it of course not free of struggles. 
All of us that came to work for eMi on this project got a small glimpse into what it means to be house parents at Casa Bernabe. On Monday night the orphanage sponsored a special speaker to encourage all of the adults on campus. In order for everyone to get the chance to enjoy the speaker, we were asked if we could watch over the kids in each of the houses. I was assigned to Casa Lamar which houses the older girls (ages 9 to 15). After the house mom left, we put on a movie and relaxed. When 7pm rolled around... it was 'bed-time' for the house. So, we turned off the movie and pointed the girls toward their beds. However, 'bed-time' seems to be more of a polite suggestion than a rule. It was constant noise and complaining and chaos until after 9pm. By about this time it seemed that house had finally hit the sack. I was able to do a few dishes and clean up just in time for the house mom to arrive. I was so glad that my time had come to head back to my child-free, careless life! The rest of the eMi stand-in parents had very similar experiences in their houses. All of us really gained an incredible respect for the work and energy that all of the house parents put in everyday!
Anyways... about the actual project. The assignment at hand was to design an addition to the school building on campus. The site engineer had the vision of building directly on top of the existing school. It seemed good enough in theory, but we were very adament about really testing if such a project was realistic. After determining that there really weren't many other possible locations, we decided to take on the challenge. In addition to the school expansion project, the ministry also requested that we survey actual locations of buildings on campus and the existing sanitary sewer system in order to make recommendations for system upgrades.
I worked with a young Civil Engineer named Emily from Illionis. Emily was a past intern at the Guatemala office and has been working in industry for about 3 years. We worked with a couple of the other interns in order to create an accurate map of the orphanage campus and the sewer system. Our work was very labor intensive since we only had an 'old-school' theodolite to complete our survey work. However, it was a great review for me and took me back to my sophmore surveying class. By the end of the week, we had completed all of the necessary site work and the architect and structural team had completed a good deal of the school design. The staff at Casa Bernabe seem very happy with the work to date and are eag
er to get started on the construction of the building.
The most enjoyable part of our time at Casa Bernabe was Friday night. On Friday night we had the opportunity to spend time at the older boys' house. We ordered several pizzas and enjoyed getting to know the boys over games of cards and a movie. They were quite enjoyable!
Although Casa Bernabe has many victories to celebrate, there are still daily struggles. On Friday night alone, 3 kids ran away from the orphanage (one with a laptop), and Steph's camera was stolen. There are a lot of broken kids in this place that need your prayers! Pray also for the ministry staff, the house parents, and the daily provision that the orphanage needs to survive!
All of us that came to work for eMi on this project got a small glimpse into what it means to be house parents at Casa Bernabe. On Monday night the orphanage sponsored a special speaker to encourage all of the adults on campus. In order for everyone to get the chance to enjoy the speaker, we were asked if we could watch over the kids in each of the houses. I was assigned to Casa Lamar which houses the older girls (ages 9 to 15). After the house mom left, we put on a movie and relaxed. When 7pm rolled around... it was 'bed-time' for the house. So, we turned off the movie and pointed the girls toward their beds. However, 'bed-time' seems to be more of a polite suggestion than a rule. It was constant noise and complaining and chaos until after 9pm. By about this time it seemed that house had finally hit the sack. I was able to do a few dishes and clean up just in time for the house mom to arrive. I was so glad that my time had come to head back to my child-free, careless life! The rest of the eMi stand-in parents had very similar experiences in their houses. All of us really gained an incredible respect for the work and energy that all of the house parents put in everyday!
Anyways... about the actual project. The assignment at hand was to design an addition to the school building on campus. The site engineer had the vision of building directly on top of the existing school. It seemed good enough in theory, but we were very adament about really testing if such a project was realistic. After determining that there really weren't many other possible locations, we decided to take on the challenge. In addition to the school expansion project, the ministry also requested that we survey actual locations of buildings on campus and the existing sanitary sewer system in order to make recommendations for system upgrades.
I worked with a young Civil Engineer named Emily from Illionis. Emily was a past intern at the Guatemala office and has been working in industry for about 3 years. We worked with a couple of the other interns in order to create an accurate map of the orphanage campus and the sewer system. Our work was very labor intensive since we only had an 'old-school' theodolite to complete our survey work. However, it was a great review for me and took me back to my sophmore surveying class. By the end of the week, we had completed all of the necessary site work and the architect and structural team had completed a good deal of the school design. The staff at Casa Bernabe seem very happy with the work to date and are eag
er to get started on the construction of the building.The most enjoyable part of our time at Casa Bernabe was Friday night. On Friday night we had the opportunity to spend time at the older boys' house. We ordered several pizzas and enjoyed getting to know the boys over games of cards and a movie. They were quite enjoyable!
Although Casa Bernabe has many victories to celebrate, there are still daily struggles. On Friday night alone, 3 kids ran away from the orphanage (one with a laptop), and Steph's camera was stolen. There are a lot of broken kids in this place that need your prayers! Pray also for the ministry staff, the house parents, and the daily provision that the orphanage needs to survive!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Compelled
"For Christ's LOVE compels us, because we are convinced that one died for ALL, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a NEW creation; the old has gone the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
I struggle everyday to deny my worldly desires and embrace my new identity in Christ. However, I feel incredibly blessed that I have been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ. I have done nothing to deserve such an offering... but God loved us so much that he called his only begotten son to die in our place... so that we might be holy in his sight!
Now that I have realized this blessing, I cannot go on living for myself. I am compelled to love others just as Christ has loved me! And the greatest form of love is sharing this news of reconciliation with those around me. Christ died so that we might know God. Be reconciled to God and be compelled by his incredible love!
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a NEW creation; the old has gone the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
I struggle everyday to deny my worldly desires and embrace my new identity in Christ. However, I feel incredibly blessed that I have been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ. I have done nothing to deserve such an offering... but God loved us so much that he called his only begotten son to die in our place... so that we might be holy in his sight!
Now that I have realized this blessing, I cannot go on living for myself. I am compelled to love others just as Christ has loved me! And the greatest form of love is sharing this news of reconciliation with those around me. Christ died so that we might know God. Be reconciled to God and be compelled by his incredible love!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Nebaj...
My team and I just finished our first project trip in Guatemala. The project was in a small town called Nebaj in the highlands of north Guatemala in the Ixil region.
It took about 8 hours to drive to Nebaj from the capital city. When we finally arrived in the town it was completely overcast and raining, which was a same because Nebaj lays in a beautiful, green, lush valley. The town itself was small but charming. 
The people mostly dressed in the traditional attire and many spoke the regional language of Ixil.
For the design project we partnered with an organization called the Agros foundation. Agros had already purchased a large plot of land (maybe 20 acres) and planned to construct several buildings that would eventually include offices, classrooms, hostels, an auditorium, a meeting center, several workshops, and greenhouses. Our job was to assess the master plan for the project that they already drafted, design water and electrical master plans for the site, and fully design the first workshop building which would be the carpentry workshop.
Our team was made up of Tom and John from the EMI staff, me and the other four interns, and about six design professionals from the States. Each volunteer from the States represented a certain specialty and was responsible for that aspect of the trip. I got paired up with a guy named Ben from Denver whose specialty was water. It was great to work along side him and learn a great deal about designing a water distribution system and sanitary sewer system for the site. Although he was by far the youngest of the volunteers, he proved to be quite knowledgeable and really fun to work with!
We ended up making some very large changes in the master plan as far as locations of buildings and overall layout. The Agros staff was hesitant at first but ended up really embracing the changes. The project t
rip was very successful and we made our final presentation to the Agros ministry on Friday morning. The staff was very happy with the progress that our team had made throughout the week and very thankful for out help. They feel like they can really get aggressive about fund raising now that they have a very detailed plan of action for the site.
I really enjoyed our time in Nebaj. It definitely brought back fond memories from my time in Bolivia. The people and the indigenous culture are very similar to Bolivia. We even found a pretty large population of shoe shiners in the main plaza!
We spent Friday afternoon walking through the town and doing some shopping at the local market. We also received a presentation from the women that work for Agros in the area of textiles. They go to various Agros villages and teach the local women how to weave and create beautiful items to sell to tourists and locals. Several of us bought some of their products and some of the coffee that is grown at Agros villages.
It took about 8 hours to drive to Nebaj from the capital city. When we finally arrived in the town it was completely overcast and raining, which was a same because Nebaj lays in a beautiful, green, lush valley. The town itself was small but charming. 
The people mostly dressed in the traditional attire and many spoke the regional language of Ixil.For the design project we partnered with an organization called the Agros foundation. Agros had already purchased a large plot of land (maybe 20 acres) and planned to construct several buildings that would eventually include offices, classrooms, hostels, an auditorium, a meeting center, several workshops, and greenhouses. Our job was to assess the master plan for the project that they already drafted, design water and electrical master plans for the site, and fully design the first workshop building which would be the carpentry workshop.
Our team was made up of Tom and John from the EMI staff, me and the other four interns, and about six design professionals from the States. Each volunteer from the States represented a certain specialty and was responsible for that aspect of the trip. I got paired up with a guy named Ben from Denver whose specialty was water. It was great to work along side him and learn a great deal about designing a water distribution system and sanitary sewer system for the site. Although he was by far the youngest of the volunteers, he proved to be quite knowledgeable and really fun to work with!
We ended up making some very large changes in the master plan as far as locations of buildings and overall layout. The Agros staff was hesitant at first but ended up really embracing the changes. The project t
rip was very successful and we made our final presentation to the Agros ministry on Friday morning. The staff was very happy with the progress that our team had made throughout the week and very thankful for out help. They feel like they can really get aggressive about fund raising now that they have a very detailed plan of action for the site.I really enjoyed our time in Nebaj. It definitely brought back fond memories from my time in Bolivia. The people and the indigenous culture are very similar to Bolivia. We even found a pretty large population of shoe shiners in the main plaza!
We spent Friday afternoon walking through the town and doing some shopping at the local market. We also received a presentation from the women that work for Agros in the area of textiles. They go to various Agros villages and teach the local women how to weave and create beautiful items to sell to tourists and locals. Several of us bought some of their products and some of the coffee that is grown at Agros villages.
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