The Inn of Bethlehem

Another Long Day... and it is only 6hrs 20 min until we have to get up and grab some breakfast before we leavefor white water rafting at 5 am. i am glad we are taking a break in the middle of the trip as some of my little lambs are looking a little worn down.

Today we 4 runners were up at 556am, and were joined by Anna, Liz, Christine and Ashley. The run was better as it was slightly cooler and not near the school traffic. \if you ever want a quick lesson in humility, run with a bunch of long legged teena ge cross country runners! Paul got lots of extra running as he would lead the group, then circle back and keep company with me, then sprint to the front so the girls weren't left alone either... I told them on the runs, THEY were chaperoning ME and had to make sure hey didn't leave me behind!

We worked on the job site, forming and cementing, while teams of 4  youth took turns sorting and packaging up all the donated items we brought down. We had 4 long tables right full of clothes, school supplies, construction stuff etc. It was a truly impressive sight!  Cheers to Huronia, who daonated 85 shirts and nymerous hats... our team is especially grateful, as all of us have taken to wearing the white shirts they donated in an effort to reflect some of the sun, and even the most die hard "I want to get a tan, I look stupid with a hat, I don/t wear hats" are ALL wearing the hats to try to protect ou slowly roasting faces. You can tell we are all from the place anyway in all our matching clothes... The shirts are actually pretty cute, as they all have Mickey mouse on the back, so we look like a disneyland crew! We are going to have them washed and donate them AFTER we leave!

We divided the majority of the items into two sections, to take to the two poorest areas of town, and we also made 32 matching bags of donations for the youth at the Inn of Bethlehem... thats the english translation of the name, I can't remember it in spanish.

We visited the Inn of Bethlehem this afternoon. In CR abortion is illegal, so the catholic priests have established this as a home for teenage mothers. These mothers are all between 12 and 18, and have been removed from their home by the CR equivalent of Childrens Aid because of physical sexual emotional  abuse, and the babies are the results of these abuses or rape. At the home, the girls are  educated, taught a trade, counseled and receive child care for their childern who live with them.

Our youth were very moved by this experience. As Paige said, " To hear the horrible stories, but to see something good and beautiful coming from it all,, is really powerful". Our kids were able to meet some of the mothers, and play with the children, and are planning to facebook with them when they get home! What a small world it is anymore.

After supper we walked up to the local Evangelical Methodist church for a 2 hr service. The frist part , with it's music and clapping and dancing in front of the church was a hit with most of the group, but I think they found the translated preaching part with it's shall we say powerful style of preaching somewhat overwhelming. They did all enjoy watching one of the dogs that attended the open air service... he lay down beside his owner when she sat, stood when we stood, and actually put his head down to pray when we did at least some of the time, and slept during th sermon!

The walk back in the dark had its one highly entertaining moment when we Paul jess emilie and I who were leading the group accidentally turned down a dead end street, and then tried to trick the group into believing something bad was happening. Only Paige fell for it, and she took off like the hounds of H___ were after her, and we had to chase her down a bloick later! She took off like sh was shot from a cannon, and even us sprinters couldn't catch her, and it was all up hill <note from editor, I think everything in CR is uphill*
I am actually still laughing out loud as I sit here and type this, I have never seen anything like that before!

since it was allready almost 930 when we got back from church, I told them we wouldn't do our usual prayer session if they could come up with the 5 lessons they were supposed to take from Isaiih6 and they gor the first four  1* Be not afraid 2 Your are not alone 3 God is the reason for your existence 4 God provides but they missed  that if you remember 1thru 4, then 5 You will be in gods righteouness, and so will you family and wonders and miracles will occur! \they said the preacher was yelling so loud by that point, they couldn't keep us with the translater, who wasn't nearly as animated! So I let them off the hook and sent them to bed.

Anyway, all is well all is good, we have only had one person caught for whining...and it was ME! But really, if you had the bright red stripes in weird places where you missed the sunscreen, you would probably whimper a bit from pain too! The kids actually think it's pretty funny, as they have been doing this prety rude but fairly humourous imitation of me in a whiny nasally voice telling them all to drink water and put on sunscreen... and then I end up being the one with the worst sunburn. Where is the justice in THAT I ask you

Only 5hr 46 min  until breakfast... not that I'm complaining of course!!!! But I need some ZZZZ Buenos Noches from Carillos, CR