Score International

Day Five (Josh Blog)
Day five seems almost over, but we still have a lot to do. Today we got to do some zip-lining around the rain forests of Costa Rica. Amazing.

This afternoon we purchased food for a homeless shelter and after dinner we will be preparing food and then helping distribute the food. If I were to try to put a finger on what God was trying to teach us this week I would guess that it is humility. It seems to be the reaccuring theme in what we have been discovering in our devotions as well as what has been coming up in our debriefings in the evenings as a group. There have been a lot of unexpected tasks that God has used to reinforce what we have been studying together in our evening devotions.

Let me again encourage you to pray for our bus driver from this past week. His name is Guillermo (William) and he doesn’t know the Lord. There have been a lot of opportunities to talk with him, and seeds have been planted. Unfortunately I don’t think we will see him after today. We have left him with ways to contact us as well as a team shirt, because we have really come to care about him. You can also be praying for the town of Los Guidos that we have been able to work in three of the days we have been here. We have done many different things there, working with a pastor and his church. While we were there yesterday, we had many opportunities to talk with people from that town about why we were there, again, seeds were being planted. Also, yesterday we were able to hand out over 800 tracks in a central market place in the capitol city. There were about 5 major converstations that our group was able to start with different peopel through that exercise, so please keep those planted seeds in prayer.

Besides that, there are various sicknesses and whatnot floating around. No one is down for the count, but a few are not feeling %100 on a daily basis.

We covet your prayers and support. I hope that you are recieving joy from our reports! God surely has been blessing…

RE:Costa Rica - Day Two (Josh Blog)
So… day two was really interesting. It didn’t start as I had expected it to. The weather was great, and everyone had caught up on the sleep the so desperately needed, and I was really excited to get out and do some ministry amongst the people of CR. My friend who works with SCORE was supposed to meet us on the bus, but he didn’t show! Oh well… no biggie, I had an idea of what we were supposed to be doing for village work. We drove for over a half hour (and still didn’t make it out of the capitol) and ended up higher in the hills in an area that reminded me of the slums of northern Mexico. I was getting excited about all of it… we were finally here and finally going to be getting to meet some people. But little did we know that all we would be doing was sorting recycling out of garbage and cleaning. Honestly, I was disappointed. I was hoping for more. But God was only setting the stage for us to come back to that community later in the day and get into the schools to work with 3 (or 4, I’m not really sure how many showed up) of the grades and do songs, skits, music and some speaking with them.

My attitude in the morning got me thinking. Did I think I was too good for helping that community with their garbage? Did I not think that this was still missions work reaching out to them? Well, obviously I didn’t. I’m so selfish and prideful, and God knew what kinds of things I need to break me of that. I look forward to those kinds of stretching challenges God has in store for me this week.

In our group devos we are working through Philippians and have talked about our need to endure the circumstances of life for the Glory of God, and tonight we dealt with the need for unity to actually live worthy of God’s calling in our lives to Christlikeness. I’m excited for our group and what we are going to learn in Philippians.

You can pray for our group too. There is some homesickness, as well as some of our team not feeling well. We are praying for our bus driver William (Gillarmo) and his salvation, the seeds that were planted and watered at the school we were at today, positive communication amongst our team, postivie/christlike attitudes… we have a long list.

Because of the weather patterns, (sun in the morning/rain all afternoon and night) we are splitting our free day in half. Tomorrow we are visiting a big tourist trap in the area… a volcano. We will get to go to the top and walk the rim. Pretty exciting.

RE:Costa Rica - Day Two (from the Sauders)
This is Terri Sauder. Today we arrived at a church in the morning, all dressed up and ready to do some ministry! Then we got to clean! Haha it was pretty much awesome… separating recycled stuff in a dress! Got to love that! So we did that for a while and it was fun! They have this one type of milk (milk here is in small card board boxes like juice boxes but a lot bigger) that apparently a lot of people drank because we had our own separation just for that brand of milk! We met two ladies, one was named Elizabeth and they are paid to separate recycling from the government. Then we came back to the villa and ate lunch. The food is amazing! So that is a huge blessing! Then we went back to the same church. Next to the church is a public school. When we came we had no clue how things would go, but in the end they worked out really really well! So praise God for that! When we got there they were having recess so we gave out our tracks and brought out the soccer balls. Then it started to pour. Every day it rains here for like a couple hours. Then after our program we did a service project by sweeping, mopping and picking up trash all around the place. Then we when we were suppose to be leaving, some of us were still picking up trash out of the gutters in the rain. As I was the bell rang and all the kids came out of their class rooms. They were all wondering why we were picking up the trash in the rain. Then a kid talked to me in Spanish and I said si, not understanding what he said and then he started helping us pick up trash in the mud in the rain! I just thought that was the coolest thing! God is teaching me a lot! I’ll fill ya in, in the next blog! Lots of Love, in Christ Terri Sauder

Hey Ya’ll Greetings from Costa Rica!!!
So currently we are staying at a seminary place that is about ten minutes from the actual villa of Score, because there are so many groups. On Friday we are suppose to go to the villa and stay there for the rest of the time. So I know you all have heard a lot about our day so far but in the afternoon we did a program at the school we went to and we had only about a half an hour. The pastor of the church that we worked with told us that we had to really wait on the principal and see what mood he is in order for us go into the school. But in reality he didn’t really let us just do our ministry stuff he let us because we said we would clean which was cool too. But the school is different because it is set up as class rooms that are open to the out side with an interesting gutter system. Back to the program, it was really interesting we got to do two of our skits and sing songs and Katie Ewing and Jordan Schaeffer gave their testimonies. We ministered to a lot of younger kids so we had their full attention for only a short time but I think the message was plainly spoken out, so I think they understood, so only God knows if seeds were planted or watered but I’m sure they were. I have definitely been opened to the culture down here and just wish I knew more Spanish…I mean I took two years in high school so I know basic things but not enough to carry and full conversation. When we were sorting trash this morning for recycling we really didn’t have a translator it was basically here walk down the street and sort the trash, it was hard in the beginning but we made it through! The seminary that we are staying at is bigger than the villa and has an amazing view of mountains that surround our complex so that is really cool to wake up too!! Well I have to go but tune in next time to blog with Katie!!!

RE:Costa Rica - Day Two (Team Blog)
Today we actually got into the work part of the trip. we went to a mission that a pastor uses for children’s ministry and such. They split us into two groups. The first group of five of us cleaned the mission. We washed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms inside. We also scrubbed the outside walls. Manuel (a man from the SCORE Villa) took us over to work with Pastor Gabriel and some other people. We also had some great discussion with Manuel afterwards. He has been in Guatemala and Argentina as well as Costa Rica and it was very interesting to hear the differences between them. I have to say that the way we cleaned was very different than the way we do it at home. To mop the floors, we actually just sprayed the floors and then swept them. The other group went and sorted recyclables. So that was our morning!
Hasta Luego,
Kaylin

Greetings Calvary Monument family and assorted other persons. So far things have gone amazingly. Today we went out in the the villages for our first immursion into the actual Costa Rica culture. When we arrived at the village, and we got split into two groups. Unlike Kaylin, i was on the other team, the one that went and sorted the recyclables. At first I kinda looked at it and thought, “we’ve traveled this far to come and sort Costa Rican garbage?” But then I thought about it, and I remembered that Jeff had told us. He said we should be F.A.T. (Flexible, Avalilable, and Teachable), and I thought about it this way, “if this is what they want us to do, then that’s what we’ll, and I personally will do it to the best of my ability because that is what God calls me to do.” So long story short, all I needed to do is change my mindset into one of service. I have a feeling this isn’t the only lesson God wants to teach me, but I think I’m ready to learn the rest.

In Christ,

Jon Gouge

RE:Costa Rica - We are here!
We have arrived and are safe in Costa Rica. And what a long day it has been. For most of us… it is just a continuation of yesterday. Sunday and Monday have blended into one long, tiring day. Everything went fine getting to BWI and making our connecting flight at JFK. All our luggage arrived and we had no problems making it through immigration and customs. God was really gracious.

We did have an exciting landing here in Costa Rica… we basically came out of the clouds and were on the run-way. It is winter here, technically the rainy season so it rains a good part of the day, and there is a lot of beautiful cloud cover that comes over the mountains that brings lots of rain.

–
In His Faithful Service,
Pastor Joshua Vaughn

Pastor of Youth and Single Young Adults
Calvary Monument Bible Church
1660 Mine Road
Paradise PA 17562

“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice”
– John Calvin