Colleen to Costa Rica



August 1, 2010

Hey all,

I am back from my mission trip to Costa Rica. And what a rewarding adventure the Lord blessed me with.
Week 1:  My first day of work/ministry at Sojourn was great. I thought that I would be working with the K-1st graders along with Elsa, the assistant secretary, but as Elsa and I were taking the kids up to their first class—crafts—Miss Carolina brings me to a little boy who is hugging a blue pole. I ask him, in a sweet and calm manner, if he would like to come and join us. He sticks out his limbs and makes a funny noise and shakes his head. I try a little harder. Then Mrs. King comes up to me and explains that this child hugging the pole has a disability. I can’t recall the name of the illness but it does not allow him to adjust to any changes well. And when change does occur or something that he does not enjoy, he has a terrible tantrum.
So I come to find myself all alone with this boy while all the other children are in the crafts room. I stand there with him trying to get him to let go and come with me to the next class. He then starts to hit me. With more kicking, he started to run from one pole to the next to the next. Miss Carol tells me that I have to be tough and stern with him. So I do, and he finally tells me that he is scared to go with the other kids. I finally succeed in encouraging him to do all the other activities, and he was all calm. Once we got to the last 15 minutes he started kicking and screaming. It was very tough.
The only problem with these next few weeks is that our school’s special needs teacher will not be here. So the "jefe" of the camp told me that I will be working with him the first week and will then shuffle with another teacher. This was the week God worked on my patience and calmness.

On the home front, we had our first mouse incident, at the Woolford’s where I am staying. It was a funny and strange experience, filled with lots of screams and barks. Uncle Cam and Alyssa both whacked it with brooms while the rest of us stood to the side. Princess, their small dog, than killed the poor thing, and it was a good thing too.

Thanks for all the prayer. I am enjoying seeing the school and working with the teachers all over again.
Week Number TWO: We started week number two of Sojourn Summer Camp on Monday, July fifth. Instead of being placed with the student with special needs, I was placed with the biggest and rowdiest group of the whole camp. That’s right, the 2nd -5th graders. I had 15-18 kids—the group actually built up through the week as more and more kids heard about the camp.  
The Spanish teacher who was supposed to be with me and taking care of the kids, taking them from class to class, became sick, which provided another amazing sign from God that I am meant to spend much time with kids in the future: I enjoyed my time to the fullest, and so did the kids. We had Gym, Folk Dance class, Camping Skills class and Puppet class.

Along the week we had a few minor problems. For example, one girl broke her ankle, which meant I had to carry her around for a full day (she was a very sweet girl). We also encountered another mouse. This time it was dead, and squished. One of the little girls, Emma, came up to me and was all excited about it; of course she would not tell me what it was that she was so excited about until I about stepped on it. One exciting thing my group/class got to do this week was the Camping Skills. Our high school science teacher taught this, we built tents and a fire, and of course along with the fire we roasted marshmallows and ate Smores :)

Each week we did something big and special on Fridays. The first week it was going to a pool and swim­ming with the little kids. That was FUN! The second Friday, we held our own Olympics. It was filled with Tigers, Sharks, Polar Bears, and Turtles (the teams of the kids). I was actually asked to work with the tech group, some­thing I have not done in a year or so. It’s another thing I really enjoy doing and was very pleased to help there.

A praise/blessing that I had in this week was most definitely that one of the girls with whom I am staying, Alyssa Woolford, began working with me, but in another group. She’s really good with kids (she did grow up as the eldest of five), and she has been a true blessing to the school and to me.
I also hit my head on a pole in the middle of the week. I was focused on the line of kids behind me and I accidentally turned too far to the right, and as I turned around I hit a pole—not just tapped it, but hit it HARD. Yes, it hurt for about a day, and thank God I had no head injury or concussion that stopped me from working the rest of the days.

The church, Roca Viva, is small but mighty. They are truly a great and godly church. I had hoped to be able to go to the Youth Retreat and help serve the youth next week, but because of the camp at Sojourn, I was not able too. Too bad we can’t serve in two places at once huh? :D

"Pero los exhorto a temer al Señor y a servirle fielmente y de todo corazón,
recordando los grandes beneficios que el ha hecho en favor de ustedes."

"But be sure to dear the Lord and server him faithfully with all your heart;
consider what great things he has done for you"
I Samuel 12:24

Weeks 3 and 4: For the end of the weeks, I had thought I would be working with the older kids, and I did, but not in the way I had expected….

The teacher who was supposed to teach the drama class had to suddenly leave for the states that last week of summer camp. Therefore, the director of the camp decided to take control of the drama class herself, and right off on Monday morning she asked me to help. Of course I did.  

She explained to me everything we were going to do.  We would have all 6 of the older kids play the main roles of animals on Noah’s ark. We were going to put a play on about how difficult life was in the ark. The smaller kids sang a song about each animal. It seemed like an awesome idea. So we sat down with what we thought were to be 6 teens, but in the end there were only 5. I was then asked to play Dorkas the donkey. What a surprise. Never in my life did I think I would put a tail on and act like a donkey J. It was a fun experience. The younger children performed as the other animals that were to be on the boat. They also made the rainbow and the altar for the play. It was very enjoyable.

For the first time of the whole month I had one hour in which I had no one to watch or take care of. So I was then asked to help with sports and carpentry with the teens. We got to build two ping-pong tables and that very Mid-western game called Corn Hole (Of course, I was an expert in that as we play it all the time here in Ohio).

I grew very close to the teens and enjoyed exactly what I have enjoyed these last four years: I got to help these teens through perhaps their hardest change, a new culture. They asked me questions about how the change has affected me, they asked me questions about leaving behind friends and making new ones, about the culture differences and language. It was a great time to get to help these new friends through a rough time they were experiencing.

The Fun Friday that week was when I experienced the most touching moments of my whole experience. We had a huge presentation for the kids’ parents. The kids received awards from the teachers, the younger group demonstrated their beautiful voices, and we older kids showed off our acting skills.

We then had a carnival, set up by all the teachers (including me). I got to be in charge of a jail where kids could pay to put the parents or a friend in. Or sometimes parents pay to place their friends or children in for about five minutes. All the money went to purchase kinder­garten toys and some flowers for around the property. The kids really liked the idea of their parents in a jail, so they would go up to a parent and ask for money, come to me give me the money and I would send a jail keeper (one of the teens) to go fetch the parent. How ironic.

In those five minutes, the parents finally figured out that I was the “Miss Colleen” every one of their children was talking about. This was probably one of my most rewarding times of my whole mission experience. The parents were so very grateful. They would not stop telling me how much they appreciated my work, and how often they had heard of me and how their kids enjoyed camp so much. There was specifically one parent that had depended on me for the previous three weeks. She would come to me when her daughter was feeling sick or her son hurt himself the day before and would ask me to watch over them. She gave me a huge hug and told me how thankful and happy that I had come into their lives.

It’s nice to know that you were placed in someone’s life and actually made an impact. It’s nice to know that I could do something so little, but it touched someone in a big way.

In summary, my trip was filled with many adventures, struggles and blessings. I am very thankful that I was sent for this summer to Costa Rica. I was really blessed through this opportunity. Thank you so much for sending me out and keeping me in your prayers all along the way. Although I wanted to work with the teens at the church, I am glad I had more chances to work with the kids at Sojourn; they have given me memories I will never forget. Thanks for all the prayer and support.

Ephesians 2:1-10 ( LOOK IT UP! See how we use to be and how our amazing Lord has saved/changed us).
Thank you again for all your prayers,


Colleen Reilly

 

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