Tag: mission trip

The weekend is here!

08/11/2006 / Blake

Crap! I typed all this stuff out and then Firefox blanked out on me! So I’ll hope to be able to retype it all as good as before.

So now everyone is back from Costa Rica and the kids are back in school. It feels weird to think that just earlier this week we were down in Central America working, sweating, painting, mixing concrete, and dancing to a rap group from Honduras.

I think about a third of our group got sick down there. Most of those even got shots. I’d have to be pretty bad off to get a shot down there I think. But I thought some were maybe over reacting. But after not feeling bad while down there, I come home and start feeling puny. I ran a fever one night (had chills and everything) and a cough that didn’t want me to talk. Now I’m good except for a runny nose.

It was awesome to have The Wife down there w/ me. She’d heard a lot about C.Rica from me, but wanted to be able to experience it herself. She misses it now. Wants to go back…and I mean before next summer. Sure, it’s a cool place. And it’s beautiful and breathtaking some of the things you get to see. But it’s the people themselves you really fall in love with. To be able to go to church w/ them, eat w/ them, work and sweat along side of them, and see the genuine care and love in their eyes when they talk with you (whether you understand them or not). You really want to take some of them home with you…or go live with them!

Bomitada Fest happened again. When I get all the pictures from it I’ll give a more detailed description. But it was Utah, Becca, and me again this year and we more than doubled our fund raising from last year! And there was some more drama and excitement w/ the contest as well. More to come later (I promise!)

Let´s Fly

08/03/2006 / Blake

So here I am. I´ve been to the internet cafe here a few times but have not been able to find the time to post what´s really going on. It seems most of my time has been on the email circuit or answering PM´s from MST. I´ve not even looked at those tonight and probably will run out of time. Life is so full. But here´s an ultra quick recap of the last few days

Went to the airport with no sleep at all. Slept probably about 15 minutes on the plane once. The Wife beside me slept a lot. I was pinned in and couldn’t try to get comfortable for my own rest. But I sacrifice my rest for her any day.
We arrive and quickly load up on a bus. Everyone has their stuff except Bob, the pastor. Turns out his luggage went to Utah. He had a firefighter´s luggage. How funny.
It´s hot and there´s no AC. I kinda like it, but don´t want it always.
We are going to put the trusses up on the top of the church. But we gotta paint a whole lot of metal. And then flip it and paint some more.
I hate to paint.
So we paint more and more and more.
We sleep a little, then paint more, and then sweat.
No, that´s wrong. We sweat no matter what we do unless we´re in the internet cafe.

That´s the life here so far. Eat, sleep, paint, play w/ Costa Rican kids, go to extra long church services in HOT rooms w/ lots of people and no AC.

I´ll try to give a more precise update tomorrow. Bomitada Fest should happen in the next couple of days. Here are a few pics to tide you over.

Ice Cream Eating Contest (Bomitada Fest!)

07/26/2005 / Blake

Still here in Costa Rica. One more work day and then a day to get things together to head home.

I feel sick. Like I need to puke. We had an ice cream eating contest tonight. Me, Becca, and Utah. Here´s the setup:
1. Eat 8 ice cream bars from the cooler. Rotate different types. Eat them all together. You can´t go on to the next one til everyone is ready.
2. Then run about 3/4 of a mile. Again, not a race. Run it together.
3. Eat 7 more bars.
4. Walk half a mile, then actually race back. This is the only part that is an actual race.
5. If you hurl, you´re out.

Yesterday Becca was talking about how much she likes ice cream. I suggested an ice cream eating contest since I liked it a lot too. Utah said he was in. So we went to the store and bought white shirts to make our own commerative shirts. Bomitada Fest. Means Puke Fest or Vomit Fest

At lunch today we were all thinking it was going to be harder than we expected. But pride was already making us talk big game. We started and hit a mini wall after eating 6 ice cream bars. But kept on going, no problem. It was quite funny. I figured there´d be 6 or 8 people who would watch us. But there were dozens upon dozens..all with cameras and the like. Felt like we were having the paparazzi shower us with attention. Seriously. Crazy.

Then the run. We had people running with us, people on bikes, people in cars going along side of us. We felt like we were running the last mile of an Olympic marathon with everyone cheering. But the run was no problem. Actually made us all feel better.

Then the next 7. Figured these would be harder. They were. At around bar 11 or 12 it was a bite by bite thing. Tough. Very hard to swallow. But we did it. Becca and Utah were feeling it pretty hard. I didn’t feel it as soon as they did, but it hit me hard too. Each bite was a chore. At #14 Hannah tried to help Utah and poked his bar in his mouth and he pukes. Then pukes again. Thankfully there was a trash can right beside him. He´d been close arleady. Sorta stinks that Hannah caused him to bow out though.

Number 15 was the hardest. It was one of those cones wrapped in a cone. We both eat the cream and then work on the cone. Very slowly. Veeeeeeeeeery slowly. We didn´t want to stand up for the race in fear of losing it all. Our stomachs felt so heavy and tight.

But we walk the first leg. A crew still around us but not quite as large. Then we hit the garbage can and start the trek back. Starts as a walk. Becca asks if she starts running would I run too. The van is beside us so I run around the back to the other side. She thinks I’m sprinting so she starts to run. I see her and she slows. But then starts to run again. I run slowly thinking she´ll slow down..but she doesn’t. So I have to sprint to hope to catch her.

I finally catch her, and we talk as we sprint. We both agree we feel like blowing chum everywhere. I expect her to win at this point because I had to catch up. But I slowly pull away and make it back to the tree to touch it first. At this point neither of us have puked any. But we both are feeling quite distended in the abdomen area.

But the cool thing is that it was a fundraiser for the church down here. We will have raised a little over $345 when all is said and done I believe. Then you subtract $25 for the ice cream bill. Many pictures were taken. So I will post some when I get back

But hats off to both Becca and Utah. I would have quit way before if not for them. It was good fun with good people, and I hope to never do it again any time soon…until next year!