United Methodist Volunteers in Mission
Alajuela, Costa Rica
February 2013

Columbia First UMC, Columbia, Tennessee
Indian Run UMC, Dublin, Ohio
Marysville First UMC, Marysville, Ohio
Cokesbury UMC, North Charleston, South Carolina

Front row: Sharon, Joy, Erin, Sally, Maria, Robin, Jamie, Reagan.
Back row: Larry, Woody, Lou, Howard, Steve, Randy, Lory, Rob.

Click on a date below to see the photos from that day. From there, photos may be advanced by playing the slideshow, or single clicking to the left or right of the displayed photo. Hover your mouse over the thumbnail "film strip" on either end to scroll the thumbnails.

• 2/9/2013 - Team members fly from their respective states to the San Jose airport in Costa Rica and settle into our new home at El Mesia Iglesia Metodista in Alajuela. Today we help Reagan celebrate her 16th birthday!
• 2/10/2013 - We are afforded the opportunity to attend a portion of the worship service at El Mesias in the morning. In the afternoon we pack 200 food bags decorated by members of Columbia First UMC and Marysville First UMC. We also prepare the necklace craft bags for activities planned with the children on Monday.
• 2/11/2013 - Seven members of the team remain at El Mesia in the morning to begin work on the new dining area for future volunteer teams; most of today's efforts are welding and running conduit. The other nine members of the team join the Rice and Beans Ministries staff to visit a school about a half hour away. At the school the R&BM staff lead the children in three songs, before we break up in groups with the various classes to color, do the necklace craft, perform a puppet skit, and distribute class photos. In the afternoon everyone on the team participates in the distribution of food bags and prayers with families in an area selected by the R&BM staff.
• 2/12/2013 - With an expectation of an even larger school than Monday, eleven members of the team join the R&BM staff to visit children at another school this morning to do similar activities. Five members of the team remain at El Mesias to continue construction. In the afternoon everyone on the team participates in the distribution of food bags and prayers with families in two other areas selected by the R&BM staff.
• 2/13/2013 - The morning starts differently as everyone gets to participate in the construction project including welding, running conduit, pulling wire, cleaning and painting steel supports, erecting steel beam walls, and installing light fixtures. In the early afternoon five members of the team join the R&BM staff to do activities with the children who were missed in a couple of classrooms on Monday. In late afternoon five members of the team remain on the construction project while eleven members of the team go with the R&BM staff to do food bag distribution.
• 2/14/2013 - Today the entire team gets to work on the construction project for most of the day. A lot is accomplished, and the pastor tells us he wished we could be there for a couple of months! Seeing walls up and sealed off and the dining room illuminated at night is a real change. In the late afternoon the R&BM staff takes us to visit the Carmelas Iglesia Methodista where future volunteer teams will work on the church and its parsonage.
• 2/15/2013 - Today is set aside for sightseeing. It begins with some ziplining followed by visits to the Volcán Poás National Park and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.
• 2/16/2013 - The Ohioans are transported to the airport before daybreak for return flights to Ohio, while the Tennesseans complete a little project work and then head to the airport for an afternoon flight.

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