Recent Posts:
Reflections
March 7, 2008
March 5, 2008
March 4, 2008
March 3, 2008
March 1, 2008
February 29, 2008
February 25, 2008 

Reflections:

Melinda's reflection-             
            After I returned to the states I was bombarded with eager questions regarding Costa Rica particularly regarding how was it? Trying to respond to these inquiries all I could say was that the trip had been simply an incredible blessing. The Lord had taken me and five others from Providence Christian College to Central America on our spring break and prepared our hearts to serve. This was a mission trip filled with reflective moments of wonder like watching the sunset on the beach, and memorable moments of fun activity like leaping off the first platform on the zip line. One of the most treasured memories of this trip was participating in the school chapel on the last day we were there. We simply sang a few songs in English for the kids and even though many of us had no voice or were just recovering from colds they greatly appreciated our efforts. It seemed like such a small thing to do, but yet they were so delighted and thankful for it. It just made the heart glad. The Lord doesn’t always need us to do big things, sometimes we serve him best in the small things, the offering of a glass of water. 
             It’s not ability, but availability that is important for one to serve the Lord. In many ways I believe that was the lesson I took away from Costa Rica. A couple serving down there mentioned this to me and it stuck. Too often I have made up excuses, just like Moses, about why I am not qualified for the job, how there are ones better than me, but the Lord replies that he hasn’t chosen those other people to serve he picked me. I am reminded how Jeremiah protested that he wasn’t old enough, wise enough, or good enough, but the Lord said he had chosen him and formed him to do this task. Jeremiah just had to depend on the Lord’s strength to do the Lord’s work—as the saying goes “where God guides he provides.” It isn’t my weakness that matters, the true importance is the Lord’s strength for where I am weak he is strong. Amidst all the cultural experiences of this Costa Rican trip, the fresh-air market, zip lines, speaking Spanish, drinking chan, the Lord reminded me of this important lesson, that he is glorified and served in my weakness.   Soli Deo gloria!

 Tracie's Reflections-
Costa Rica was an incredible trip for me for many different reasons. It was a great opportunity to go and serve other people. We were able to use the gifts God has blessed us with to help share his love with another community of people. It was also a blessing to spend time with the Greens. I had known a little bit about the Greens before I went down to Costa Rica. However not until I went and saw firsthand all that they do did I truly understand the extent of their ministry. God is using them as a beacon of his light in that community. It was truly a blessing to watch their love and deep appreciation of God’s faithfulness. Finally, although I learned many other things while I was there, the most important thing I learned and what made this trip an incredible experience was the Sovereignty of God. All around you can see God’s faithfulness: from the little children praying in the classroom to the green rainforest to the beautiful sunset on the beach. Everywhere I looked I could see how God is the Creator and how he is taking care of his creation. It was amazing to see that the God who we serve here in the states is the same God that is worshipped and glorified down in Costa Rica. God is truly the Lord of all, and this trip has taught me to remember that he is in control. My experiences down in Costa Rica were truly a blessing in my life, and I hope that I will be able to share the love and faithfulness that I witnessed with those around me. Thank you for all those who supported us whether it was monetary or with your prayers. I am truly grateful for the opportunity I was given to go and see another part of God’s indescribable creation. We truly serve a faithful, loving, and merciful God.

Bethany's Reflection-
I had an amazing time in Costa Rica, I loved every minute of it, it was a rewarding experience in many ways.  I have always loved the Spanish language and enjoy being able to utilize the little that I speak.  It was a great experience for me to be in Costa Rica, speaking the language and practicing it.  At the school, surrounded by children, whether it was selling snow cones or donuts or just being around them, I was blessed to have the ability to communicate with them as much as I could.  It is always rewarding for me to be surrounded by the language to hear and pick up on things that are being said and to be encouraged by Michelle to try to talk with others.  The whole trip was amazing, the God we serve is so great, He is served by his people in the United States as well as in Costa Rica and every other country and going on this mission trip really reminded me how great our God really is, and the love that he showers on his people is evident by the smiles on the faces of those I met on this trip.

March 7, 2008 

Our time here in Costa Rica is quickly coming to an end.  We had a very fun day yesterday.  We left here a little after 7:30am in a van we had rented for the day (complete with a driver, we felt a little bit like we had a limo :)).  We had about a 2 1/2 hour drive to where we were going on the zip line.  The zip line was so much fun.  I've since discovered that not everyone knows what a zip line is so I will explain. :)  Everyone puts on a harness, helmet, and gloves.  We had to walk about 15 minutes into the forest to get to the start.  What they do is hook your harness to cables that are tied to trees (very securely).  And then you lift up your fleet and glide down the cable to the next platform on a tree.  I'll put pictures up tomorrow and then you'll be able to see what I'm talking about. :)  It was a lot of fun, especially for Michelle who says she's always wanted to be a monkey for a day. :) 

After that we headed over to Jaco beach.  On the way we stopped at a bridge where there are crocodiles in the water below.  They were really big and moved really slow, but no one was willing to see if we could get them to move faster.  :)  We stopped at a Subway for lunch then it was time for fun in the sun.  Everyone went in the water and had fun diving under all the waves.  The water is a lot warmer than it is in California.  We were at the beach till sunset, which was a little disappointing because clouds decided to come in right as it was ready to drop at the water, so we didn't actually see it set on the water, but it was still beautiful none-the-less.  Most of us decided we really wanted a hamburger for dinner, so we stopped at a place right by the beach for hamburgers, fries, and Coca-Cola. :) 

We climbed back in the van for a 2 1/2 hour drive home.  We were all pretty tired by the time we got home at 9:30pm.  We talked for a while with the Green's while Julie checked us all in on our flight and got our boarding passes.  We had a time of prayer, read our letters from our classmates, and then it was time to walk Josh home and call it a night. 

This morning we sang in chapel for the high school.  After chapel the classes stayed and could ask us questions about why we came to Costa Rica and about Providence.  They had quite a bit of questions (mostly for Josh :)) and then they asked us to sing again.  It was a lot of fun to converse with them and tell them a little bit about us and Providence and why we serve.  After wards a bunch of the students wanted to take pictures with us (and a lot of girls wanted to take pictures with Josh:)). 

After we were done there we headed back to the house to make about 100 donuts.  We had already made the dough and Mrs. Green had cut them out, so we just had to fry them, glaze them, and then put sprinkles on.  We headed over to the school to sell them.  They were definitely a hit again.  It was fun to be able to help out the teachers with this fundraiser.  We had some lunch there at the school and then headed back to the house.  It's now time to start packing and cleaning up. 

We have to do chapel at the grade school in about an hour and then we'll come back and get ready to head to the airport.  It has been a wonderful 8 days down here.  The Lord has blessed us tremendously in all the different things we've had to do.  I've asked the students to write down some reflections and I will post those tomorrow when we get back, as well as put up the rest of our pictures.  I want to take this time to thank you all for all of your thoughts, encouragement, and prayers.  We have definitely felt them while down here.  It has been both a very fun and challenging time and we are excited to share all we've seen and done when we get back. 

Blessings,
Julie (for the entire time)

March 5, 2008

Hola!!!  Today was yet another busy day.  We didn't start out too early, but all got up a little before 8.  We had some breakfast and then went to work making donuts.  Mrs. Green had cut them out of the dough for us, so we had to cook them in the oil and then glaze them.  We took them over to the school and they were a hit.  We were only able to go to 3 classrooms before we sold out of them, so we decided we'd make more for Friday. 

After we sold those we went to work doing inventory on the library books.  In the past the school has had a room designated as the library, but due to the need for classrooms, the library is now now a classroom and the books are dispursed throughout the different classrooms.  We were doing inventory on the English books, so Josh, Tracie and Bethany worked in the grade school English room and Melinda and Julie worked in the High School English room, writing down every book title, author, and ISBN number.  This was quite a task.  During this time Michelle planted some flowers.  We all met for lunch a little before noon and then went back to work with the books (except for Michelle who is the next lucky victum of this nasty cold, she went back to sleep for a while).  We finished up with the books (not before Julie found a cockroach in the books that crawled on her hands...yeah, she wasn't so eager to reach into the bookshelf after that) and then headed out to put a second coat on the games we painted on the playground yesterday.  It was a lot of fun to watch the kids play on them today.  Josh even joined in with them and made a lot of new friends.  :) 

We finished up pretty early and headed back to the house to relax for a while.  We had a wonderful dinner of tamales and soup.  After dinner, Josh and Tracie had fun playing with Legos.  They even made a tower taller than them.  And then of course Tracie had to knock it over. :)  We played a lot of hands of Speed Uno with some of Michelle's friends from High School.  After that we had devotions where Bethany challenged us to look at all the blessings God has given us and realize what our true treasure is.  She also reminded us that God is Sovereign over all and is here in Costa Rica just as He is in the States. 

After devotions and reading another fun letter from our classmates Julie and Melinda headed to the kitchen to make 2 1/2 batches of dough for donuts on Friday.  At one point everyone was in the kitchen to "help," but Julie had to kick a few out because she didn't think shotting rubber bands at her while she was trying to make the dough was much help. :)  We just finished up the dough and cleaning up the kitchen, and the girls are just getting back from walking Josh home, so that means it's time to call it a day and head to bed.  We are all very excited for our day away tomorrow.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for health as now Michelle is joining Julie and Bethany.  The cough syrup is flowing over here. :) 

Julie- for the whole team

March 4, 2008

Josh says "Greetings" to everyone from Costa Rica!!!! We just finished eating our homemade ice cream and brownies and decided it was time to fill everyone in on what we did today. This morning we were able to sleep in which was nice since many were very tired from our long day of work. We set off to the grade school for another day's work. Julie who was still not feeling quite up to par stayed at the house and made brownies and donut dough for a fundraiser for the teachers. The rest of us went off to paint a wall. After first painting it purple (we didn't mix the paint well enough), we painted the wall a light shade of blue. Tracie took up the challenge of climbing up the tall ladder to reach the top of the second story wall. Thanks to Melinda (she held the ladder the whole time) the wall successfully was painted from top to bottom.

We then had lunch at the grade school, and Julie went back to rest. Josh then headed to class, that's right he went to class on spring break :-) He was helping out the English teacher for a couple hours. He really enjoyed his time in the classroom and conversing with the students. Tracie completed her two and half day project of cleaning the chairs and Melinda put the finishing paint touches on them. Michelle and Bethany made the trip to the hardware store and got some paint for our playground court project. The preschool and kindergarten teachers had a great idea to paint hopscotch and other children games on the playground court. Michelle drew all the games on the cement and the rest of us grabbed a color and began to paint. After a couple hours and painted, sticky hands our project was complete. We all had a lot of fun trying to get the oil-based paint off our hands and legs (Josh still has paint on his feet :-).

We came back to the house and took some refreshing showers and had a delicious dinner. After dinner we relaxed, many of us reading books and one actually taking a nap. Michelle then woke up and decided to make some homemade ice cream, so Josh, Bethany, Michelle, and Tracie headed to the local corner store to get the needed ingredients and Michelle set to work. We all were called outside to help churn the ice cream (I don't know if churn is the right word, but it's fun to say so we will go with that). After about 15 minutes, the ice cream was ready, and we enjoyed some delicious homemade ice cream and brownies. At this moment we are being serenaded by Rev. Green on his guitar, and soon Josh will be leading us in devotions. The girls will then walk Josh back to his house and another day will be in the books.

We would like to thank all of you who are continuing to pray for us. Please continue to pray for our health, especially Julie and Bethany who are still fighting bad colds, and for our work that it might be an effective testimony of God's love, mercy, and faithfulness.

Until next time,

Tracie (for the team)

March 3, 2008

Sorry we haven’t written in the last couple days. I know for some of you this is the highlight of your day ;-) 

So continue from where we left off at the Farmer’s Market, we then came back and had some lunch and then headed out from some shopping. We went to Moravia (which is a local tourist trap) where we spent some of our newly exchanged colones. We then came back and Josh, Michelle, Bethany and Tracie played soccer with some of the Michelle’s friends. Needless to say we got put in our place. Then we came back and lounged around the house while Michelle cooked a delicious dinner. After dinner we played card games, and then we had devotion led by Tracie. She read a passage from Philippians 2 about how we are to be shining lights in this world. After reading a letter from our CARE groups, the girls walked Josh home (it’s the highlight of his day ;-) 

The next morning we had an early wake up call for family breakfast before church. We then got ready for church and waited for the pastor’s son to pick us up. When went to the church in Los Cuadros which is a daughter church of the Tepeyac church. On the way to the church the car we were in ran out of gas on a hill. It was highly interesting, but we made it safely to church. The service was very nice, both for those who could understand and those who could not. The congregation was very different from what we all are used to; consisted of more young children than older. Los Cuadros is in the poorer section of the Guadalupe area.

We then came back and had a nice dinner/lunch (it’s a common battle between all of us here) with about 20 people. Julie wants me to let everyone know that we had rooster for dinner (I guess she thinks that is pretty exciting). It was like Thanksgiving all over again. After the meal, Josh, Michelle, Bethany, and Tracie played soccer again with Austin (Michelle’s brother) and some of her friends. After watching one of her friends get egged (it is a Costa Rican tradition), we came back and had quesadillas and played rook with 10 people. It was pretty crazy since some people had never played before, but it was a lot of fun. Julie led us in devotions and talked about we are to live holy lives and be examples for others, and the girls once again walked Josh home. 

We had an even earlier wake up call on Monday morning. We had to help in the conversational English class at 7. The students had to ask us questions. It was a lot of fun, and all of us were surprised at how well they spoke English. After that Julie, who isn’t feeling too well, decided to go back to bed and the rest of us set off to do our work. Josh, Michelle, and Bethany painted some of the walls and then made a cement slab. Melinda painted the steel beams again and then helped with the cement. Tracie painted the trim in Mrs. Green’s office and then cleaned some chairs. After a hard days work we came back and had dinner. We then headed up to the high school and had a bonfire where Michelle was able to single-handedly start the fire (without lighter fluid). After being up there above the city and seeing all the lights and the stars, we came back and Michelle led us in devotions about how we are to humble ourselves and depend on God. The girls didn’t have to walk Josh home because he is staying at the Greens tonight. 

I hope that everyone is doing well at home and if you could remember us and our health as some of us, especially Julie and Bethany, are sick we would really appreciate it.

Goodnight to all and we will write to you soon!!
Tracie- for the team

March 1, 2008

We just got back from the open air market where we tried many different types of fruit.  Some were good, some were "interesting."  We have a little bit before we have lunch, so we thought we'd share what we did yesterday.  After a great breakfast of pancakes and pineapple made by Michelle and Tracie, we headed over to the grade school.  We helped the teachers with a fundraiser.  The teachers will be traveling to Nicaragua to have a conference with teachers from the Christian school there and also from Honduras .  In order to help with the cost, the teachers are doing different fundraisers.  Yesterday the fundraiser was snow cones.  So during the breaks the students could purchase these snow cones.  This involved shaving ice from a huge block of ice, putting it in a cup with powered milk, cherry syrup, and top it off with sweetened condensed milk.  They were a huge hit and a lot of fun to make. 

The rest of the day we spent doing different projects at the school.  Tracie and Julie spent a long time taking the paint off the chairs from the Kindergarden room.  The chairs are formica and when you paint them, they turn brown, so we had to use paint thinner and a scrapper to get it all off.  It was a lot of work (and a lot of fumes inhaled :)), but it was fun to bring them back to the classroom and have the kids excited for "new chairs."  Bethany mowed the lawn and then helped Michelle and Josh mix and pour concrete.  They had to move bags of cement that were 50 kilo.  When they were moving them they thought 50k meant they were 80 pounds.  They were pretty impressed with this.  During dinner we discovered the 50k really is 110 pounds.  They were really proud of themselves them. :)  Melinda painted the steal support beams on the cealing.  This was quite a task because she had to be up on a ladder as little kids were running out to recess, right next to the ladder.  But she never fell off and even managed to not get any paint in her hair.  Her hands, however, were a different story. 

Once Julie was done with the chairs (she thought her and Tracie were all done, Tracie, however, found about 4 more chairs that had to be done:)), she picked up the paint brush and started painting benches and soccer goals.  A lot of the steal here rusts because of the humidity, so we're painting it so it looks a lot nicer.  Once Michelle, Josh, and Bethany were done with the concrete they went and painted a curb yellow for the school bus.  They came back and helped paint more things blue (your only options for colors for steal paint here are red and blue, so we went with blue). 

We finished up a little before 5 and went back to the Green's house to clean up.  We had a wonderful dinner of spagetti and bread (we're not sure if it was so wonderful because it was just really good or because we were really hungry after working all day, I'm sure it's a little bit of both :)).  After dinner we decided we wanted ice cream, so we all piled into the van and first went with Mrs. Green to the super market.  We had a lot of fun in there, especially after Mrs. Green told us we had to get more snacks and drinks.  We didn't have to be asked twice.  :)  After the market we went to Pops, an ice cream shop.  The highlight of that was Josh ordered his own ice cream cone in Spanish.  He ordered a "Grande cono con fresa y chocolate` en un cono regular" which means a double scoop of strawberry and chocoate in a regular cone.  Josh was very proud of himself and the lady behind the counter just smiled. :) 

After this we headed up to the high school to see the sights.  The high school began construction in 2001 and is still quite a ways from completion.  They hope to at least start holding classes in the 6 classrooms they have almost complete in a few months.  We walked around and even got to see a fireworks show off in the distance.  We still can't figure out what the fireworks were for.  The only thing we could think of was it was the 29th of February, something that doesn't happen very often. :)  We came back to the Green's house and enjoyed some grapes and "Chan" which are litle black seads that you put in water and they expand and fizz.  You then add flavored syrup (like you'd put on a snow cone) to it and drink it.  Everyone was supposed to try, but after Rev. Green called them "moldy fish eyes" Julie and Bethany just couldn't bring themselves to try. :)  We had a lot of fun just sitting around the table talking with Rev. and Mrs. Green. 

We then did devotions where Melinda challenged us that when we are called to do things, like go to Costa Rica, and we don't think we have to strength to do it, we must remember that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.  After devotions we each got to read a letter written to us by one of our classmates.  Each CARE group (our small groups at Providence that meet everyother week during chapel) was assigned a person going on the trip and everyone in the CARE group wrote that person a letter.  It was a lot of fun to share what people had written, especially Scottie and Clay. :)  After this all the girls except Julie walked Josh home and got him there just in time for his curfew. :)  We all enjoyed a wonderful night of sleep after a hard day's work.  And then this morning we slept in a bit and went to the market.  That pretty much brings you up to date on what we've done.  I was able to get my pictures on the computer, so we'll try to put them on the bottom of this page.  I hope you've enjoyed this and we will talk to you later! 
Chao!!! (yeah, I spelled it wrong yesterday :))

Julie- for the whole team

February 29, 2008- We made it!

We are here in El Carmen, Costa Rica!!!  Everything at the airport went really smoothly, which was a blessing.  We had quite a long wait in line at LAX, but we made it to our gate about 20 minutes before we started boarding.  The flight was 5 1/2 hours.  We got a little bit of sleep on the plane, but not a lot.  We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica a little before 9am.  Our luggage came right away and we zipped through customs and walked right outside into the beautiful Costa Rica weather.  Rev. and Mrs. Green got stuck in some traffic, so we had to wait at the airport a little while, but we didn't mind.  It was nice to just sit outside. 

Once we dropped all our stuff off at the Green's house, we then walked over to the grade school, which is right in the Green's back yard.  Mrs. Green gave us a tour and it was fun to see Michelle back in her old stomping ground.  Michelle then took us on a tour of the neighborhood.  We had lunch back at the grade school and then headed back to the Green's house for a much needed nap. 

After sleeping for a few hours we all sat down and planned out our week.  We're going to be painting at the high school, helping out at the grade school in some of the English conversation classes, doing chapel, and whatever else they might need us to do.  Once our week was planned, we decided it was time to move around, so we took another walk around the neighborhood.  We found a park with an old slide in it.  Tracie and Melinda thought it would be fun to slide down it.  Well, it ended up being more like scooting down it, but was still fun non-the-less.  :) 

After a great dinner of pizza (during which Rev. Green serenaded us with the guitar) we played Taboo.  Tracie, Julie and Michelle dominated Josh, Bethany and Melinda, but all had a great time.  Michelle decided we needed to try Trit's, an ice cream treat, so we headed to the corner store, but they were out of them, so we settled for ice cream sandwiches.  She's determined to have us try them, so I think we'll probably try another store today. :) 

We came back to the Green's house, had devotions together where Julie encouraged us to think about the fruit of the Spirit and how they are evident in our everyday lives.  By this time, everyone was ready to head to bed again, so Michelle and Bethany walked Josh home (something all the girls found very funny), and then we all went to bed.  Now we're all refreshed, ready to sit down for some breakfast and then take on the day.  I couldn't get my camera to hook up to the computer, so for now, unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share.  I'll try again tonight when Rev. Green is here to help me figure it out.  :)  Chow!  (This is what everyone says to us when they are leaving).

Julie- for the team

Monday, February 25, 2008

We are all getting really excited to head to Costa Rica this week.  Right now, the students just want to get through mid-terms.  Pray for them as they prepare for mid-terms while trying to get ready to go to Costa Rica.  Here is a list of those going on the trip so you can keep them in your prayers:

Melinda De Vries- Sophomore from Lynden, Washington

Michelle Green- Freshman from Guadalup, San Jose, Costa Rica

Josh Van Grouw- Freshman from Rock Valley, Iowa

Tracie Vanden Heuvel- Junior from Chino, California

Bethany Van Dixhoorn- Sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa

Julie Vanden Heuvel- Assistant Dean of Student Life

We have a direct flight from LAX to San Jose, leaving early Thursday morning at 1:30am and arriving in San Jose at 9:00am (Central Time).  While there we will be working with missionaries Bill and Aletha Green at Tepeyac Christian School, painting, digging, mixing cement, and maybe helping out in the classroom, all sorts of fun things.  We are all really looking forward to serving together in warm weather. :)  It is supposed to be 80 all week!  We hope to write a blog every night and let you know what we did that day and maybe share a few pictures.  Here are some things you can pray for:

- The students as they take their midterms and get ready to go on the trip

- Traveling mercies and that all goes well at the airport

- Health for everyone going- sickness has been going around the campus and especially at this time where they study more than sleep, it's hard to stay healthy

- The Green's ministry down in Costa Rica- to learn more about their ministry, check out www.reformedmissions.org