A Reflection of Costa Rica

Hey Friends!
Sarah Beard here. In the case you have no idea who I am, I am Andrew Beard's (the new worship leader for youth) wife. I had the opportunity to attend week two of the Costa Rica Mission. What a blessing!
Andrew and I used to lead a student ministry, so this wasn't my first rodeo...but it was my first with HPUMC Youth, and my first experience with these specific people. For me, this trip was about helping the local church of Costa Rica and building relationships.  Parents, if you have not had the pleasure of going on a mission trip with your kids, here is what really goes on.
The work was hard work. There were days when the load wasn't so heavy, but there was always something that took a great deal of effort. Mostly we mixed and poured concrete, built cinder block walls and dug ditches/moved a lot of dirt! You may not be able to pin-point a single moment when someones clothes were dry - because the labor produced sweat and lots of it! The other thing the labor produced is help for this local community, it was such a blessing for them to have free labor to get this work done! Each day on the worksite and during lunch was of my favorite things was hearing the conversations taking place. The conversation ranged from "He's the one, but..." (A fun little game that gets played a lot around here) to "Does the end really justify the means". The conversations were both shallow and really deep and both of them allowed for more understanding of each other. The best time came from those little questions we asked each other..."Attribute of you that you are most confident in...GO." and everyone answered and discussed answers.
The lunch break was awesome and provided a great little while of down time - and some DELICIOUS fresh food made by locals!
VBS to follow. Watching your kids play with the little ones was so great. Wether they were playing soccer, coloring, carrying them on their shoulders or playing chase, there was such a great spirit of the community. It is so fun to watch kids feel love from other, older, kids.
And then back to the hotel...
At the hotel we tried to get clean and we tried to eat more rice and beans and then we had worship time. This is where I am going to spend a few minutes. Worship is always an experience - you are in the open air of the jungle with sounds of nature and you are hearing the TRUTH preached, sung, and discussed.
If there is one thing I would like to tell you, parents, about your kids is that they GET AFTER IT! They take it seriously. I just got goosebumps writing that. I led worship with Andrew the first day I got there, and I could barely take it. They worship through song loud and confidently and then they sit and receive the word either through testimony from peers or through teaching and then they go to small groups.
I led the girls who are going into their senior year. I was blessed by their openness and their willingness to share their doubts, struggles, and their strengths.
Parents, encourage your children to continue these relationships and know that we, their leaders, desire to partner with you to engage in the personal and spiritual development of your kids.
All in all, this was a great time for me to get to know the heart of this youth group. And let me tell you, it is beating strong. There are seriously a solid group of kids here who just "get it". I was so proud to lead them and to work beside them. I am excited to see where we go next!

Thanks for checking in, and keep coming back! There are lots of posts to come!
Sarah

This is Your Life.

Hola!  I am Lee Lueder, a senior at Lake Highlands High School.   This is my first week ever in Costa Rica, and it has been the best week of my life.  I have gotten the opportunity to help build the walls for a health clinic, dig a ditch for the sewage, build rooms for Sunday School, and build a stage for worship, all while forming and strengthening relationships with friends and strengthening my relationship with God.  Today, I had the luxury of sleeping in until 10 A.M, which was a welcome break to many days of 7 A.M. wake-up calls from the girls down the hall.  After a morning of rest and relaxation, I joined my fellow Wolf Pack members in seeing Costa Rica from the air via the zip line.  I will never forget the sights I saw and the relationships I strengthened today.  There I was lucky enough to hear Sarah and Andrew Beard share pertinent advice on how to effectively live your life for God as a high school student.  After riding the zip line, I came back for a delightful dinner of rice and beans.   Then I went to worship in which we sang the Lord’s praises, heard a touching testimony from Haley McCollum and listened to a fantastic message from Stephen talking about showing love through one’s actions and not just through words.  With a 3 A.M. departure, I have to go to bed now.  Thanks for reading!

-Lee

2 Languages. 1 Love.

Greetings from Costa Rica!!

It’s Emily Provost here! I am an incoming senior at Highland Park High School.  This is my second week in Costa Rica and this trip has been absolutely amazing! Every aspect of the past two weeks has been life changing! The people, the leaders, the work, the worship and the sermons are absolutely mind blowing.  I was told we missed a blog last night so here is a recap! Yesterday was a FANTASTIC day! We worked hard, heard two great testimonies, celebrated Stephen’s birthday and ended the night with an awesome dance party!!!  Side note- A RODENT JUST JUMPED FROM THE CEILING ONTO LAUREN BAGWELL’S HEAD. WOW THAT WAS GROSS.  Well anyway, today was our last day of work for this trip, and it was a great day! I can’t believe this trip is coming to an end! Luckily, we got to see all of our hard work pay off today as we saw some finished results on the smaller work sites.  Seeing our hard work pay off was a moving experience because we got to see how our small time here has affected the lives of the locals here!  The best part of today was the post work whirlpool! After a long, sweaty day on the work site, we all jumped in the pool in our clothes! We created a whirlpool by all swimming the same direction and it was awesome!  Tonight we had worship and a sermon at the church where we have been working. Wow, that was crazy! It was crazy to worship and experience God in the same place that we were building and trying to make a difference!  The most moving part of worship was without a doubt singing the same song in Spanish and English.  It is hard to express the beauty in praising God in two different languages yet showing the same love.  After worship we returned to the hotel for small group! And wow! It was a great one! The senior girls small group started off on an awkward, barely talking, note…and tonight we ended by spending almost two hours talking! We have all bonded on a higher level and now could talk about anything! These are just few of many relationships I have made this week! Which brings me to my favorite part of Costa…TESTIMONIES! It is SO great to hear everyone talk about their struggles and trials with God and to hear how they overcame them! I have learned so much about my peers, and have related to them in so many different ways!  It is great to learn that everyone struggles in their relationships with God, and we can all relate and help each other with those struggles! Well… it is my bedtime! All of this hard work has kicked my but so I am off to sleep! We miss you ALL and cant wait to see you on Saturday! We love y’all so much!!!!!! Kisses and hugs!

-<3 Provost J

Time and Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Hello all. This is Andrew Beard coming to you from the Hotel El Bambu. Today has been a great day but extremely busy...so unfortunately we ran out of time for a student blog post. We will get one up tomorrow about all we did today. Sorry for no detailed post, but look forward to one tomorrow. Thanks.

Andrew

Chugging Along

This is Drew Alleman blogging from the lobby of the Hotel El Bambu. We headed to work this morning facing the fact that we are now at the halfway point of the workweek. The whole trip seems to be going by so fast as Tova Sido predicted at the beginning of the week (she wanted a plug in the blog so there you go). Nonetheless we had a great day of work with an hour-long rain/ snack break with dance lessons though by the one and the only Bill Gepford. I am proud to say I did not participate. Finishing the work was probably the best part of the day because awaiting us in a tin roofed building a hundred yards away was one of the best lunches I have ever had prepared by the local women of the church. During lunch instead of napping on the ground like we normally do we had a 50 kilo. bag of rice (a major staple here in Costa Rica) that we had to divide up into ZiplockÒ bags to be handed out on the medical trips that were being done by parts of our team headed up by David Bullinger (he wanted a plug, too).  This was a very cool experience knowing that this food would feed someone in need. VBS after lunch was one more push of the day but it was a fun one with all of the kids from the local area. Getting back to the hotel after the day was a major relief. In closing today was another great day in Costa Rica. 

This is Drew Alleman signing off. 

Sister Sister

Hi friends!!!! It’s Allison and Lindsey Whitmeyer! We are twin sisters and we both just graduated from Highland Park High School! Allison is going to the University of Oklahoma and Lindsey will be going to Texas A&M University. This is our second week in Costa Rica and we have absolutely loved being here! This has definitely been one of our favorite mission trips!!!! Today was our first day of work for the second week. I (Allison) was at the big worksite and I helped lay bricks for the foundation of the clinics. I (Lindsey) was on one of the two smaller worksites! I helped make concrete to make the flooring of a new church and I also poured dirt for the foundation of their stage. We are so happy with all the new kids that have come in for the second week! They are amazing and have such positive attitudes! Another favorite part of our trip is worship at night! Worship is such a great experience to come together with everyone on the trip. Our worship leader, Andrew Beard, is literally the most AMAZING person ever. He didn’t tell us to say that at all. J. Tonight, Tova gave a sermon about humility and how we are accustomed to placing people in certain “ranks”. We tend to think about ourselves instead of other individuals. Another great part of Costa Rica is being able to be self-reflective. We have so much time to build relationships and also learn more about ourselves. With college around the corner, these messages and moments have helped tremendously by giving a stable foundation of our faith before we leave. THE FOOD IS AWESOME. I just had to put that out there. RICE AND BEANS. YUMMMMMYYYY!!!!!! No one is going hungry. Trust us. We hope this message finds you well and we hope that Dallas (or wherever you may be at this moment) is wonderful! We can’t wait to see y’all and tell you about all of our adventures. We love you! And give someone a hug. It might change their life. J

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Allison & Lindsey Whitmeyer

P.S. Hey Mom and Dad!!!! I (Allison) fell off a cement brick today. I’m okay. Just an interesting fact that I thought y’all should know about. Hey! (It’s Lindsey) I miss y’all bunches and love y’all! I’m having a blast (if you couldn’t tell) and Allison is clumsy. 

Small Groups-Big Change

Buenas tardes mis amigos! My name is Ryan Ragnell and I’m sitting down to tell you all about our fun filled weekend here in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Yesterday, some of us slept in and some got up early, but we all got enough rest after the long week of work. Before and after we ate lunch, people went to the market and to various places as they often do on our off days. A lot of people went to play soccer at a nearby small turf field in the afternoon while many people just kicked back and relaxed both by the pool and in the lobby of the hotel. Later at night around 9 o’clock, after dinner, a lot of us went back to play soccer at that same field. We had the pleasure of playing a group of local Costa Ricans, or as my “Bro Group” small group calls them, Brosta Ricans (some may understand this, others may think we’re weird…). We returned back to the hotel around 10:45. After trip B people arrived last night around 11 o’clock, we headed straight to bed to get up early this morning for church.

            This morning we woke up decently early around 8, some later than others, and ate breakfast and headed off to church around 9:15. About two hours later, after a wonderful service, we headed back to the hotel for lunch. More people just went straight back to relaxing, and others went back to play soccer at 3. We came back around 5 or so in time to hop in the pool and cool off before dinner. After dinner we hung out until time for worship. Worship, just like every night, led by our wonderful Andrew Beard, was fantastic. I speak for everyone when I say that worship is probably the best part of the day. It’s so incredible to take the time to just sing and worship God each night after working or after doing anything. Getting to see everyone worship God is just the best feeling in the world knowing that you’re surrounded by people that love our Lord just the way he loves us. I’m now typing this after we finished up our small groups after worship.

            Speaking of small groups, I just want to take the time to say how incredible these small groups are. Earlier in the week, I was talking with one of our bus drivers in Spanish who sits in on our “bro group” (Roger) and he said something that defined small groups in just a few words. He said “Me gusta como ustedes comparten los buenos y malos tiempos”. For you non-Spanish-speakers, that means, “I like how y’all compare the good and bad times.” That really is what it is all about. Getting to sit down with just a few of your close friends and a few of these amazing adults (my group’s leaders are David Bullinger and Bill Gepford, both, just like all other staff/adults, are incredible people) is the best. We get to share back and forth our experiences and our advice on each of our lives. Through the thick and thin, we will always have these relationships with these people. Each bit of advice each of us shares with each other help us more and more not only now but also later on in life. God is with each of our groups leading us along and it makes us grow both spiritually and as a person. Sometimes one finds his or herself in a situation where you just don’t know what to do or where to turn, and with these groups, it’s essentially a jury of your peers that you can turn to. Everything is confidential and each of us are here for each other no matter what. In short, small group time is just the best time of day because we end the day by just sitting down and relaxing; everything is set out on the table and we all have each of our backs.

            That’s about it for today, and I can say that we’re all having a great time. I hope you parents aren’t missing us too much. I’m off to bed, have to wake up early tomorrow to get ready to go out and start a great week of work. God bless you all, and have a good night. We’ll see you all on Saturday!

Out of Chaos, Life is Being Found

Hey, it’s Grant Carter. This is my last day in Costa Rica; I really wish I could stay longer.  Today was more of a relaxed day. We all had the choice of zip lining through the rainforest, hiking through the rainforest, or staying here, at the Hotel El Bambu. I chose to stay here at the hotel with my BFF, Blake. He’s awesome. And cool. We played soccer in the rain, swam, and watched movies while the others hiked and zip-lined. This past week has been one of the most memorable times of my life so far from working on the work sites to worship every night. Here, you fully experience God’s presence and warmth. You have no idea how sad I am to leave this beautiful place. I have been coming here for four years. The relationships I have built through this church and in Costa Rica have been ones I will never forget. My last and final comment will be a shout out to my boy, Roger, the bus driver. He truly spoke to me last night when he shared his incredible testimony. Hearing about his problems in life really made me put mine into perspective and it truly showed me the amazing power of God’s grace.

-Grant

How He Loves Us

Hey y’all this is Thornton checking in from Costa. It’s been a busy week that is sadly coming to an end soon for those who are only going for one week, like myself.  Today was another tough day out on the work sites. At the big site that I was at, we have almost finished digging a ditch to help remove sewage from the nearby building. It took a lot of teamwork and communication to make the ditch the right width and depth. The lunch was amazing (as usual) that the local women prepare for us. The food was not around long! When we got back from VBS we all jumped in the pool and created a massive whirlpool. That was really cool having everyone swimming around and around. But tonight was something special. After dinner and ice cream at the local heladeria, it was worship time.  Tonight we had a special guest with us, Roger (Rojere), our bus driver that takes us from work to the hotel. He was willing to give his testimony about his childhood and the problems he faced when he was growing up. I could not believe what all he went through, to get where he is today. And to be honest it was the first time I had ever cried in worship time. Everyone was touched by his words and his experiences. After everything broke up, it began to rain. I feel God was trying to say something tonight.

-Thornton

Another Day in Paradise

Hi Parents!! It is Emma Alpert blogging today here to tell you about my day today. I was on the big work site today and we got so so much done in so little time. It was crazy. We carried about 100 loads of cement on wheelbarrows, and carried them into the house and laid them down where Roberto asked. By the end of the day I’m sure we all felt quite accomplished. It didn’t rain here as much as it did yesterday, but it is unbelievably humid. I bet the amount of sweat each individual person has had just in one day is more than the amount of a whole entire football team. Maybe more. But it just cooled down right now because it just started pouring raining as me, Andrew, and Bull sit down in the worship area. The other night there was a HUGEE storm and I bet half of the people woke up in the middle of the night thinking they were going to die. The thunder was so crazy loud, and the whole room shook with every thunder.  A big group of girls and I have been scouting out monkeys in our forest by our hotel rooms, unfortunately with very little luck, yet the amount of beetles/June bugs could possibly make up for it. You really cannot even walk into your room without a nice long train of beetles waiting to get in before you. Gross. Andrew and Bull are requesting I talk about how great the leaders have been soooo I guess I should say they are good. Just kidding, but actually they have all been amazing. They have all made it so easy to just be here, and be relaxed and feel so loved. It’s really been the most amazing time and I’ve only been here 4 days. Everyone just really comes together and becomes so close no matter who they are and whom they are friends with. I definitely wish I as staying for week two. Well, it’s time for bed now but we all miss you all, and will see you guys soon, even though I’m sure most of us could stay here forever. Goodnight, Hope Dallas is good!

-Emma

Knocking Down a Wall

Hello my name is William Ruppert. Today my team, workgroup four, went to the Evangelical Methodist Church Jesus Cristo De Buenos Aires. Our main project was filling in an entire slab of concrete so the church would be less vulnerable to flooding. We filled in about a twenty-foot by eight-foot slab of concrete about two inches high. To maximize our work output we had eight people filling up buckets of rocks and sand and four people moving the concrete with wheel barrels and in turn dumping the concrete to make the slab. After the concrete was dumped there were two more people smoothing it out so that there was a nice smooth surface. This project took us about four hours and as a sort of reward we got to tear down a wall. I was lucky enough to be able to man the sledgehammer and go at the wall. At first we were sort of clueless and just attacked the wall top to bottom. We quickly learned that this was a lot more tiring than going from bottom to top. My friend Tripp Russ and I got on a roll and tag teamed the wall fairly quickly to its fall. This work was very tiring and at the end I was drenched in sweat and had acquired a very manly musk. After work we went to a phenomenally prepared lunch by a few local women. The lunch consisted of rice with chicken, beans, outstanding pico de gallo, rice pudding, mango, and pineapple. The fruit here is delicious and always the ripest and freshest fruit I have ever eaten. For sort of a dessert we had Chickys, which are these almost vanilla wafers with a strawberry frosting on one side. These have quickly become my new favorite candy. After lunch we went to a different church a few miles away from Puerto Viejo where we participated in a Vacation Bible School. We sang, danced, and drew pictures for about thirty minutes, and then the real fun began. After we had finished the required work we played soccer with the kids and it was a blast. Unfortunately our game ended early because both of our soccer balls got kicked into the river by the field. After an exhausting, but fun day of work, we came back to the hotel to another wonderful meal. We had chicken, pasta, rice, and strawberry mango lemonade for our drink. After dinner we got some free time before worship where we sang, heard a testimony, and Wes Cole had a “text message interceptor” where he read out “intercepted” text messages. When worship came to a close we went to our small groups and in my small group we all shared a good, bad, and ugly part of the day. Today has been exhausting, but very rewarding and is definitely an experience of a lifetime. 

First Full Work Day

Hi I’m KK Hudson and I am writing the blog today! To start off I am just going to put out there that I am not the most outgoing person in the world. I get kind of nervous when I meet new people, and this whole experience is great for helping me work on that. Everyone here makes you feel welcome and at home. This is my first mission trip and so far it has been amazing. This morning we woke up at 6:30 and were awake and at breakfast by 7:00. After, we went back to our rooms to change into our work clothes. Once we were all ready to go, we broke up into our groups and headed to the worksite. When we got there we didn’t feel awkward or out of place at all. We were quickly put to work and didn’t stop until snack and then until lunch. People shoveled, made cement, built walls, but most importantly put all their effort into whatever they were doing. No one was lazy, sat around, or complained. Everyone worked their hardest and accepted their job. After worksite, all the groups met for an amazing lunch. Once lunch was over we left for vbs. Vbs was an amazing experience. We met, and tried to talk to the children even though some of us didn’t know how to speak Spanish at all. Even with our lack in Spanish speaking, the kids coped with us and loved every minute of what they were doing. The kids loved the songs we sang with them and the story/skit we showed them. After we left vbs we took the buses home to shower and eat dinner. Once we were back at the hotel we rinsed of in the shower or quickly jumped in the pool, not bothering to change into swimsuits. After everyone showered and changed into clean clothes, dinner was served. Worship and the sermon were after dinner and after an amazing dance party and an amazing worship time, Steven spoke. His sermon truly touched everyone and related and applied to everyone listening. After working, helping with vbs, worshiping, hearing the sermon and having small group, I can take away so much from the day. In our small group we talked about how going home our life would be put into a different perspective and we would be grateful for everything we have at home. I feel that everyone took something with them from the day. We are ready for a great day tomorrow!  

-KK

Costa Rica First Full Day

Regularly we'll have students update you on what we've done and what they've experienced here in Costa Rica.  Enjoy today's blog post by Reed Russ.

Today we had our first full day in Costa Rica after an interesting journey to get here, but nevertheless it was a great one. My name is Reed Russ and this is my first ever day on a mission trip, and it started early at least for me. At 8am most of us boarded the bus for a church service. The service was full of confusing Spanish, but also it really made me realize how grateful these people in Costa Rica are, and how much of a role Christ plays in their life. After a mind blowing church service, we had a delicious lunch from our hotel. I could spend all day writing about that though. Next we went to play in my favorite part of the day. Soccer. I have been playing soccer since I was 5, and I have never sweated more in my life, and also never seen a shorter rainstorm in my life. The rain came to everyone’s delight but left 1 minute later. I am convinced the weather consists of 100% humidity here. At the end it was all worth the sweat, my team won and we all had fun. We used our last energy to watch the U.S women’s team defeat in the World Cup and jump in the pool, a for sure necessity. Everyone swam and had a great time. We saw Blake Lueder do a handstand on ground and played Frisbee. The next event that happened was what blew my mind on day one. I went to the super market looking to buy rain boots, but after getting my boots our group of adults and kids ended up in a bakery. The price was nothing I have ever seen. I’m sure I could bring 100 dollars to this country and live here for a year. It’s heavenly. We bought a foot long bread for 1 dollar and five pieces of pound cake for $1.50. Like I said, I plan on moving here soon. Later on we ate a great dinner till no one could force any more food in his or her mouths, but most important we had evening worship. The worship ceremony started with great songs and an incredible atmosphere. Next we went into our small groups in which we traveled in. It helped me realize what I love most about being involved in the church. There is no one mean here, everyone includes everyone and it is a great feeling. I know I have made great friends already on the first day. Then at the end of my list I am here writing and realizing what a great day my first mission trip day was. I can’t wait for round 2 tomorrow.  

-Reed

Touchdown in Costa Rica!

Costa Rica Blog #1

We safely arrived in Costa Rica tonight around 11:30pm local time after some exciting traveling! Our plane had to make an emergency detour through Belize to deplane one of our fellow travelers who was requiring emergency medical assistance (she was not a member of our group, but please respect her privacy) So that means….two countries for the price of one!  We deplaned so the flight crew could restock, do inspections, clean the plane up a bit, and then resumed our trip to Costa Rica.  The landing in San Jose was smooth, and the trip north to our home took us about 2.5 hours  – while that seems like a long time to travel 60 miles in the USA, that is actually quite good for down here, and well within our expectations.  We are all safe, and the kids are sleeping soundly in their beds.  Thanks for your prayers, and we love you all!

Bill

All Systems are Go.

Welcome to the HPUMC Youth Blog.  Here we will be posting all sorts of thoughts and reflections of ministry, of mission trips and retreats, of current teaching series, and more.  We want you to stay updated with everything related to HPUMC Youth.  As many of you know, many of us will be heading out to Costa Rica to serve the people in and around the area of Puerto Viejo for two weeks.
As internet allows, we will hopefully be posting what we do throughout the week from a student's perspective.  Please know we will do our best to get posts up regularly, but unfortunately the internet at the place we are staying is pretty spotty.  In addition to checking out this blog, you can follow us on twitter (@hpumcyouth).  Most importantly, please pray for our trip.  We want to be the hands and feet of Christ showing love in all that we do.  So please pray for safety, for great work to be down, and for God to be glorified in all that we do.