Costa Rica – Day Six

Posted on January 31, 2007 by rbirkey

6:00 AM
The alarm rings. We get ready for a quick breakfast before the concrete truck arrives! I also eat “monkey brains” at breakfast!

7:00 AM
We are busy getting forms and areas ready for fresh concrete. I spend the morning floating and edging new concrete driveway and walkway sections.

11:30 AM
We break from work. I jumped in the pool and swam a few laps to cool off! Felt great!. Then I spent some time reflecting on Jesus as our Chief Cornerstone – Ephesians 2:20 – and drew a picture to illustrate my thoughts.

12:30 PM
We gather or lunch at the Casa Grande.

1:30 PM
We work on framing up additional sidewalks and another section of driveway. We clear out areas we are done with, and fill in gravel. I “marked” our sections of concrete with a cross and then Calvary 07 – as has become my expected job. While working, I had a nice chance to talk with Bob about the future direction of Calvary and where God is leading him and us as a church.

4:00 PM
We take a break and have ice cream sandwiches – they tasted great!

4:30 PM
We work on framing up a circular section of the driveway. We end by leaving one section of ripped 1×4 soaking in water in a drain overnight to soften up. We hope this will enable us to bend it easier and stake it in place tomorrow.

5:15 PM
Time to clean up for dinner and our evening crew meeting. I need a shower!

Costa Rica – Day Five

Posted on January 30, 2007 by rbirkey

6:40 AM
Our alarm went off. I quietly and stiffly got up and went up to breakfast.

7:00 AM
Breakfast at the main house consisted of fresh fruit, pancakes, coffee and juice.

8:00 AM
The concrete arrived. We did another 18 foot section of the main driveway, and a couple sections of walkways. I did mostly hand “floating”, edging and a little framing reinforcement around some steps.

11:30 AM
We broke for quiet time of reflecting on our verse for the day, 1 Cor. 3:11, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” I drew a diagram to help me process these thoughts.

12:30 PM
I headed up to the house for lunch. It was spaghetti, Costa Rican style. It was good! Then I checked my email and am heading out to work again.

5:00 PM
We end our afternoon work to clean up for dinner.

6:00 PM
We leave in 2 mini-vans for a Brazilian restaurant that serves meat carved off of skewers! We arrived by 7 PM. The food was delicious! We then shopped at a nearby supermarket, and I had a Costa Rican, Choco-Bigger ice cream bar. I bought Britt coffee beans and Vanilla to take home. We had a great time of laughing and talking while traveling in the vans both to the restaurant and back.

9:49 PM
Bedtime. We get up earlier than normal tomorrow because the concrete is coming at 7 AM!.

POSTSCRIPT
One of the joys of this week are the campus dogs! Mandy is Brian and Stephanie’s dog, a mix of Irish Setter and Golden Retriever… a great mix! She has a sister here named Sydney, then there is also Donald and Erika’s Golden Retriever, Clifford, and the Edward’s dog, Puppy… and a black and white mix named Cassie. Here is Mandy enjoying a short siesta during one of the hotter days! Ah, what a life as a missionary dog!

Costa Rica – Day Four

Posted on January 29, 2007 by rbirkey

7:00 AM
Our schedule varied a bit today. We had a great breakfast, then went right into our time reflecting on the idea of God as our Rock. After that quiet time, we headed back to the shop area and framed up an area to be filled with concrete, as well as a sidewalk area. Later in the morning the concrete truck arrived and we poured those two places. I helped with the finishing work using a hand “float.”

12:30 PM
After a lunch break of grilled meats and salsa and guacamole, we worked on framing up additional driveway and sidewalk areas for concrete pouring tomorrow. I did a lot of gravel transportation by wheelbarrow, and helped frame up some of the sidewalk.

5:30 PM
I am now getting cleaned up for supper at 6 PM.

Dinner will be followed by our “Crew Meeting” where we will share our thoughts today on God as our Rock. Which reminds me, I need to find a rock for our meeting tonight! That reminds me of an old Larry Norman song… Jesus is “The Rock that Doesn’t Roll.” And of course, the old hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock” -

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

I found these in my iTunes library and listened to them… great songs!

Costa Rica – Day Three

Posted on January 28, 2007 by rbirkey

7:00 AM
Another beautiful day in San Isidro, Costa Rica. Sun is shining and the temperature must be in the 70′s. I just finished breakfast, with lots of good Costa Rican coffee!

The night was a little rough due to the tingling in my hands and forearms from the hard digging yesterday. I have new appreciation and thankfulness for the principle of a “Sabbath Rest.” I REALLY need one today!

8:00 AM
In about an hour, we leave en masse for a local church service. Last night at our “Crew Meeting,” Mark Edwards asked us to observe and make note of cultural observations we have while experiencing the Tico style of worship and “doing church.” I am looking forward to the experience.

9:00 AM
We left for church and arrived at Cominidad Cristiana Hijos Del Rey about 40 minutes later. We were a bit late due to detours we needed to make in order to avoid the preparation for a parade which I will explain later on. The service had already started, and we could hear the praise songs from the street. The service was a very interesting study in cross-cultural worship styles and expressions. Here are my sermon notes and observations from the day (Page 1 and 2)

4:45 PM
We have just returned from visiting downtown San Isidro where we watched a parade, visited the Roman Catholic Church, and walked through the street viewing street art made of flowers, fruit, plants and sawdust, plus various other elements – all in celebration of the parade. Although we do not yet fully understand the meaning of the parade, we heard that it will help raise money for the local public library. I guess they have not heard about the separation of church and state in Costa Rica.

8:45 PM
We have just finished evening dinner and our Crew Meeting. By the way, the food here at the training center/campus has been very good. Dinner was preceded by a time of discussion in our room with Ken and later with Bob, about post-modern thoughts and trends in the church, and in culture, especially in light of the cross-cultural exposure we had during the day. At dinner we asked about the meaning of the parade we saw in town that afternoon. The explanation was that once a year, the townspeople have a parade to celebrate that Christ is the King of their town! The question that immediately came to mind was, “Then why did they appear so sad?” The music they played and the way they walked and looked was very-very sad… almost like a funeral dirge and procession. It still did not make much sense to us who saw it.

Costa Rica – Day Two

Posted on January 28, 2007 by rbirkey

Today was our first full day of physical labor! I ended up working on a septic drainage pipe trench digging crew with Bob Boerman, Stewart Nelson, Ken Kool (Karen Edwards’ brother) and our foreman, Ken. We figured that we dug a ditch about 80 feet long by one foot wide and 3 feet deep. By my calculations we moved 9 cubic yards of earth!

BULL FIGHTS!
After our “Crew Meeting,” we went to a local version of a bull fight. The Tico’s had constructed something like a small town fair that I remember from growing up in Fisher, Illinois. In one area of the carnival was a large round structure… obviously temporarily built. We entered and went up the rickety, creaky stairs, and walked along planks we were not sure would hold us! After finding our seats, and watching the pre-show warm-ups, they released a bull into the center ring. Several “clowns” flashed the red capes to attract attention and the bull charged.

The whole idea seemed to be to antagonize and frustrate the bull, and gain much hilarious entertainment in the process. Men and boys from the audience would also climb over the protective railings and either enter the ring with the clowns, or hang on the edges to kick and worry the bull as he came by. The more drinking went on the more daring the men became.

All in all it was entertaining – especially when two of our “crew” jumped in as well! Mike (yellow) and Eddie (red) performed admirably, avoiding the charges of several bulls. They did look quite funny running away and hiding behind protective fencing!

THREE AMIGOS
Three of us went across the street to a local pub after we returned from the bull fights. The place was very busy and loud! A couple Tico’s recognized Mike as one of the Gringo’s who had been in the bull ring! It was fun to get to know Pat and Mike a bit more. We talked about our spiritual journeys, how we met our wives, about divorce and remarriage issues, as well as the good things God had done in our lives in spite of our immaturity and mistakes. It was a great way to end a long hard work day.

I went to bed very tired, with my hands and wrists in tingling pain from the workout they received during the day.

Costa Rica – Day One

Posted on January 26, 2007 by rbirkey

We made it to Costa Rica – safe and sound!

3:45AM
The day started at 3:45 AM, getting up and packing the van. Deb drove me to pick up two other guys, Eddie Alexander and Pat Italia. We met the rest of the team at 5:30 AM at the U.S. Airways ticketing area of Terminal 2. After checking in and going through security, we boarded the plane and left Chicago O’hare Airport at 7:30 AM.

10:30 AM
First stop was Charlotte, N.C. with a 1-hour layover. Next flight left Charlotte around 10:30 AM and we arrived in San José, Costa Rica at around 2:30 PM.

The process through baggage claim and Immigration went smoothly. We all piled into a smallish red van for the trip to the Multiplication Center in San Isidro – about an hour away.

3:30 PM
Arriving at the center, we had a chance to greet our hosts, check into our rooms, and take a tour of the facility, led by Brian Claus. After a short free time, we headed to the Casa Grande for dinner around 5:30 PM, and a time of orientation and fellowship afterward.

7:00 PM
At our evening Crew meeting, Mark Edwards shared how God had brought him to be serving in Costa Rica with his family, as well as what the vision and purpose of the ministry of Sonlife is in Latin America.

8:00 PM
We shared some good “Tres Leche” cake provided by Karen Edwards, along with coffee (decaf) before heading off to catch up on some needed sleep.

The highlights of the day for me were some good conversations with Mark Dodgson, Bob Boerman, as well as seeing Mark & Karen Edwards, and Brian & Stephanie Claus.

I look forward to sharing more with you all here each day.

Going to Costa Rica

Posted on January 13, 2007 by rbirkey

I leave for Costa Rica on January 26, 2007 with a group of men from my church. We will be working at and around the Sonlife Multiplication Center near San Jose. You can get more details about it here, and view a short video put together by Brian Claus, one of the staff people at the center, for our benefit and orientation. We will be in Costa Rica about one week doing manual labor as needed. I am looking forward to this trip. Thank you to all my friends and family who participated in supporting me for this ministry opportunity. I will post updates here as I am able during and after the trip.