Fifteen of St. John’s youth and four adults traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica on July 1, 2006 to continue our work with the Episcopal Diocese of Costa Rica. This year we were again helping the Ascension Episcopal Church. An old friend, Arturo Morales. Morales has been appointed as interim rector following the death last fall of Soledad Robles Gonzalez. Morales, as he prefers to be called, has the support of the congregation as they work to continue to build their church.

The first two days we cleaned walls and metal work and then painted. The church got a nice facelift and we got a neater place to conduct Vacation Bible School. The new kitchen, built by the parishioners and funded by St. John’s, is a great addition as is the dining room. There remains a good bit of work to do on the physical plant.

After a day off at a nearby national park it was on to VBS. We had 50 – 60 kids each day, some friends from last year and some new faces. This was the youngest group from St. John’s that we have ever taken. They proved up to the challenge. One of our 9th graders commented to Brian that his group was starting to act just like freshmen boys back at school in Charlotte. He found himself in a new role as the teacher trying to keep order. The children, both ours and theirs, all had a great time with their VBS activities. I wish you could all have heard the singing.

We stayed at the Diocesan House as we have in the past. The cooking, provided by chief cook Sandra, a/k/a the Bishop’s wife, and her assistants was again so good that we never felt the need for a dinner out. Sandra even held an impromptu cooking class one morning at 5:45 for those who could get up. With our transportation needs taken care of by Fernando, driver extraordinaire we were well cared for wherever we went.

A full day on the west coast resting from our work in the city finished our week. We all broadened our views of the world a bit. I, for one, am looking forward to next year. Contributed by Garry Ballenger.

See photos below: