Racing the Rain

Monday was pretty much back to normal. In the morning we headed over to the Villa, where I helped out some more with the new garage. It was a great day for working, and we were able to get a lot of work done. Before breaking for lunch, we got three posts set up, and began work on a fourth. However, after lunch it was a mad scramble to get the concrete poured and the fourth post up before it started raining. We kind of beat the rain. As it really started coming down hard, two of the guys were trying to prop the post up so it would stay level, and cover the cement so it would not get soaked. Unfortunately, it did not really work, because about five minutes later the post was leaning very noticeably to one side. Hopefully the cement will not set and make it impossible to fix. Once we conceded defeat to the rain, I helped out inside with some dishes, and also helped proof read a document someone was translating from Spanish to English. Some of the other workers also went to the grocery store to stock up for the week, so I helped unload the bus, that’s right, bus, when they got back. And I thought shopping for eight people was a lot! After dinner, I was able to relax for a bit before heading home.

Soccer Trip, Day 7, Sunday, June 21

After spending the night with our host family, they served us a big breakfast of beans and rice, eggs, and yogurt, which was all very good. Then we killed some time walking to the top of a huge hill to check out the area, before heading to church. This was my first experience at a Costa Rican church, and it sure was different, even more different than this past Sunday. In the beginning of the service, there was intermittent singing with presentations (not sure what for cause I could not understand), Bible readings, and a special Father’s Day song by a local musician. Our team also sang a song for the congregation. After this, the kids left for Sunday school and the main service began. When that was all finished, the children came back and recited some verses they had memorized, and gave their dads a Father’s Day gift. Two other things that were very unique to this service were that waving replaced applause, and everyone stood for most of the prayers. It was very interesting. After the service, we went back with our host family for a big lunch, and then headed back to San Jose, stopping for a bit in Sarci to shop. Overall, staying with another family was a really interesting experience. It was at times awkward, but the only real problem was the difference in language. The family we stayed with, Diego Sr. and Erica, plus David, Diego Jr., Dana, and baby Benjamin were all incredibly nice and helped make it a good time. Back in San Jose, we needed to stay at a local Seminary because this was around the time the two huge groups arrived, with a total of about 100 people, so the Villa was packed. At the Seminary we had dinner and later that night were able to play one last soccer game against each other.