Some Pictures from Costa Rica (more to come!!)

Wow!!  That is all I can say!!  We are all having so much fun on our retreat!!  Yesterday we spent most of the day traveling.  We dropped some of our team off at the airport to return home, then made our way to the Bed and Breakfast we will be staying at Saturday night to drop our larger luggage off before heading to La Fortuna.  Then we stopped at a local Resturant for lunch.  Everyone had a great meal before we made the 2-3 hour trip.  Once we arrived we received our room assignments and made our way to the rooms to drop our luggage before supper.  Supper was unbelievable!!!  We had a buffet that consisted of pasta, steak, fish, potatoes, salad and dessert.

After supper, we had a singing devo and a short meeting before heading to bed.  Last night was the best sleep I have had since I have been here.  Most of the team woke up early this morning to participate in several activities.  Some went zip lining, some went on a hike, some are going to Baldi Hot Springs, and some will be going on a boat tour.  We are enjoying our last days here very much, and even better we are spending it with Christian and his family (the preacher at Purral).

I will be posting a combination of pictures tonight.  Some will be Honduras and some will be Costa Rica.  Sorry for the mixture!!

Love you all
Brandy B

It has been a whirlwind here in Costa Rica!! Our time has gone by so fast.  Last night was the last night for our gospel meeting and time with our brethren in Purral.  It was bitter sweet because we have made real connections with our brethren!!

Two days ago, the team went to the church for the last lady's and men's classes.  After the classes were complete we had lunch with our brothers and sisters.  Then the group broke off into groups for door knocking, while a small group stayed to do VBS.  Each day the VBS has gotten bigger, as well as attendance for the gospel meeting.  After VBS, we socialized with one another and had dinner.  Then we began with the gospel meeting.  Our children's classes have gotten so big we had to split into two groups.  We had about 35-40 kids in attendance two nights ago.  After worship, we spent time with our brethren before coming back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, the group went to an orphanage to see the kids and get an idea of how it was different than Honduras.  The group toured the facility and was able to eat lunch with the children.  THey were not able to play with the kids very much, because of the structure of the facility.  After they spent some time there, they loaded the bus to come back to the hotel to prepare for the last night of the gospel meeting.

We met around 4:30 to make our way to the building for dinner.  It was our last meal together with our brothers and sisters.  Tonight we had a record breaking attendance, as we have had every night.  There were 119 people in attendance.  As I said before it has grown each night.  It was a great way to end an awesome gospel meeting.  When worship was over we spent time with our family taking pictures and making more memories.  The Plurral family will be missed very much!!

Today is a day of travel.  I will attempt to post tonight both what went on and pictures, if internet permits.  We love you all very much and will see you soon!!

Brandy B

Good morning from Costa Rica!!  Yesterday was a great day of fellowship and worship with the church here in Costa Rica.  At 9 am we had a ladies class, led by Diane and Patty, and a men’s class led by Chase.  The lady’s class went really well and I hear the men’s class went well too.  At around 11:30 we had lunch and shared in fellowship with our Costa Rican brothers and sisters.  After lunch, we loaded the bus for a quick grocery store run to pick up things for VBS and things to bring back home, like coffee.

We returned for VBS and door knocking around 1:30.  The VBS crew was surprised with the crowd because we were told there might only be little ones due to school.  We had about 30-40 kids.  Today the lesson was about Daniel and Lion’s Den.  The door knocking team went out for about an hour before the rain came.  VBS was over around 4:00pm.  For about an hour we played games, painted finger nails, and conversed with out brethren.  At 5 we ate supper with our brethren.  The Costa Rican ladies have done a wonderful job preparing our meals for us.

At 6, worship started.  Tonight Thad Butts led us in our thoughts with Diego Rojos translating.  The lessons have all been about the importance of obedience.  The children had a class as well.  They continued the story of Daniel.  There were about 100 in attendance last night.  After service, we had ice cream and fellowship with the visitors and members.  We spent about another hour at the building, before returning to the hotel for some much needed sleep. 

We are enjoying our time here so much!!!  We are sad that we only have two days left worshiping with them.  It is going to be bitter sweet, because we are ready to see our family (or in my case my dog).  Please continue to pray for us as we finish up and travel through Costa Rica.  We love you all!!

Brandy B

Hey to those back in the States!!  I’m so sorry I have not been posting nightly, we we have been really busy preparing for VBS and travel to Costa Rica, and it has been really late when we finish at night.   I hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me because I know you live to read the blog ;) 

Ok, so let’s sum up the past few days.  Wednesday was a very fun day for a lot of the girls in the group.  Most of the girls went with Tricky Pat (Pat Gutherie) to do an all girl build.  Tricky was our fearless leader.  The girls worked really hard to complete the build and made many memories including running from large cockroaches, lol!! 

Another group broke down food and made delivery to Nuevo Oriental to ensure everyone in the community received food.  I’m pretty sure that the last distribution put the number to 750 bags of food that was delivered.  The remainder of the group went to Mololoa to work in the kitchen, the day care, and do some more landscaping.

When everyone was finished we made our way to the Mission House for Devo and dinner.  We also prepared for the next day visit to Didasko and the landfill.

Thursday was an extremely fun day for the group.  We had three buses leave early in the morning to ensure we had plenty of time to spend with the wonderful children.  One bus was the medical team that left first to set up for the medical clinic.  The second bus left to drop off supplies at the special needs orphanage then made our way to the bodega to pick up a slide to add to the play ground.  Once we picked the slide up, we made our way to Didasko.  The last group went to the grocery store to pick up the remainder of supplies for feeding those in the landfill.  Afterward they went to the bodega to prepare the meals.  After they finished at the landfill they loaded the bus and came to Didasko with the remainder of the group. 

At Didasko we had a VBS, daughters of the King, medical clinic, and made repairs to the playground.  The medical team saw 150 patients that day.  There were about 50-70 VBS participants and about 30-40 that were able to participate in the daughters of the King.  We spent about 5-6 hours at Didasko serving those at Didasko. 

On Friday the team left for the States, while a group of 9 of us came to Costa Rica. 

We arrived in Costa Rica around 3pm and loaded our things and went to Walmart to purchase supplies needed while we are here.  Then we went back to the airport to pick up the remainder of our team.  We have a total of 23 people with us from Honduras, MS, KY, TN, AL, and FL.  After we went to eat supper, we loaded the bus to make a 1 ½ hour trip to the camp we stayed at for next two nights.  We arrived really late at the camp and made our way to our cabins.  We woke early the next morning, to make our way to Plural Church of Christ.  There we began our VBS, women’s and men’s seminars, and the gospel meeting.  We had a group go door knocking during the VBS to share the times of the gospel meeting and seminars.

The seminars, VBS, and first night of the gospel meeting went very well.  We left pretty late Saturday night to make the 1 ½ hour trip back to the camp for our last night there. 

On Sunday we re packed our bags to load on the bus to leave the camp.  We went straight to worship at Plural.  We had two classes, an adult class and children’s class.  Terry Reeves preached Sunday morning.  After worship we had fellowship with the members of the congregation.  After lunch we loaded the bus to go check in to the hotel we are staying in for the next few nights.  Once we checked in, many of us watched the final World Cup game, while others napped. 

At around 4:30pm, we loaded the bus to return to the church for dinner and fellowship before worship.  Tonight, Chase Turner led the service in Spanish.  I have no clue what he was saying, but I was thoroughly impressed with his Spanish skills.  After service, we had refreshments and fellowship with the members.  Besides the services we are having, the fellowship is unbelievable.  We are building long lasting relationships with our brethren.  After about 30 minutes of fellowship we made our way back to the hotel for announcements and SLEEP!!  Tomorrow is another day of seminars, VBS and gospel meeting. 

We miss you all very much, but we are loving our time here as well.  I hope to post pictures soon.  They will probably consist of Costa Rica and Honduras.

Much love to you all!!

Brandy B

July 7^th

Good morning everyone!!  Yesterday was a glorious day to serve our Lord!!  Like all days, we started with a breakfast made of eggs, beans, and toast.  After breakfast, we met at the chapel for morning devo.  Tyler Steffy encouraged us to be of good courage and to be bold while we are here and throughout our lives.  After devo, we were given our instructions for the day.  Today we had three groups, one for construction and two for hospital visitation. 

The construction team was the first team to leave in order to get to the site in order to have plenty of time to complete the home.  The construction team built a home in Mololoa yesterday.  From what I am told, the build went smoothly and there is now one more family with a home tonight.

The first visitation team went to Hospital Escuela (excuse the spelling).  When we arrived we split into two smaller groups.  Each group went to different wards to spend some time praying with the families and sharing the love of Jesus.  It is important to understand visiting the hospitals is very difficult for a lot of people, me included.  This is my 10-year 15^th or 16^th trip and the hospital is the most difficult for me.  The groups were amazing despite the difficultness of it.  They showed the love of Jesus and loved on children and families that are in desperate need of hope and love.  After about two hours at the hospital we loaded the bus and went to the grocery store to purchase as much Gatorade as possible for a Gatorade blitz.  Once the Gatorade was purchased we drove around the city handing it out to the workers cleaning the streets and those at some construction sites.  I love the Gatorade blitz because of the excitement seen on the faces of those receiving something to drink in the name of Jesus.  Once we handed out all the Gatorade the hospital groups went to the Jesus Statue to write in their journals and pray over the city.  After about an hour and a half we loaded the bus to return to the mission house.

For dinner last night, we had pasta and roast beef with a roll.  Of course the ladies that have been cooking for us did not disappoint us!!  After dinner we loaded the buses again to go to the Jesus Statue for devo.  Tonight Tim Hines led us in our thoughts.  He encouraged us to be prepared to fight Satan at all times because he is always looking to cause us to stumble.  When devo was over, Tyler gave us our instructions for the next day and we loaded the buses to return.  After a long day, it was awesome to return to the mission house and get good nights sleep.

Thank you all for you continued prayers.  Tonight we are having split devo, so I might broadcast the guy’s devo so you all can join in with worship.  Much love to you all!!

Brandy B

More pictures