Our First Day In Costa Rica

We took a "red-eye" out of SFO and arrived in Costa Rica June 27th at 9:45 am. Hector, Andreas and our bus driver Jimmy met us at the San Jose airport. We drove for about an hour and stopped for our first meal at this great restaurant. It was perfect. We had our first experience with Costa Rica food,
including blended tropical fruit drinks.
We were all pretty sleep deprived weary travelers, so the stop at this relaxing, beautiful location and and the cool drinks were a welcome treat!

The bracelet making was well received and we are had a great time mixing with the people of Tuis. This morning we went to Turrialba to the market place. We took the public bus and had two locals as our guides. We met Hector in Turrialba for lunch. We are all back now at the CISA building and the retreat is starting.
Everything is going great. The people are so loving, humble and hospitable. The whole community is excited about the retreat.
Adiós! Sandy

Hola from Costa Rica

Monday we prepped the wall for painting and then had a great canyoning tour. Tuesday was painting the wall followed by spanish class and soccer. Wednesday we started painting the murals. We are having great interactions with the school students who are fasinated by us. The principal is loving what we are doing too! After painting yester day, most of the group found a great spot to jump in the river. We had Spanish class again on Wednesday and then headed back down to the school for the basketball clinic. We had about 35 children turn out for that. It was high energy and a great showing of love to the school students from the community. Parents came to the basketball clinic as well as the soccer clinic to watch. Of course we had candy at the end for the children. Today we hope to finish the murals. The fresh paint really gave the wall a fresh look but the color of the murals really liven it up! Doug and I are leaving in 5 minutes to go with Daniel to deliver food to a home of one of their handicap friends in Tuis. Later today we are all meeting with Hector to get more information about the youth retreat. Friday morning we will all be taking a bus to Turrialba to go to the market and come back by 2 to start the retreat. Sunday afternoon Hector is going to take everyone on a hike to some place that he loves in the mountains around Tuis. Sunday night we will be having ice cream at Hector and Daniel´s as our farewell party. The youth are falling in love with thier Costa Rican families and many are already talking about coming back.
Thank you for praying for us! We love you! Hopefully the pictures will tell more than a thousand words!
Love,
Sandy

Teddy Bears For Costa Rica!

Thanks to Jacque Chamberlain's skilled hands and loving heart, we will be joined on our journey to Costa Rica by these adorable Teddy Bears. We get the privilege of delivering each Teddy Bear to its new child and witnessing the resulting glee first hand!

David and Kelly Meirik and their boys Noah (2 years 11 mos) and Nathan (10 mos) are part of our Costa Rica Summer 2009 Team! David is an art teacher at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma. He is planning and overseeing a mural painting project which we will be doing at the Tuis public school, while we are in Tuis, Costa Rica. Kelly organized two Mary's Pizza Shack fundraisers. Thank you Kelly! It was "easy money!" Show up and eat pizza with great friends! Thank you to everyone who came out to Mary's to support our team!

In nine days we will be leaving for Tuis, Costa Rica. We will be working and ministering with Voz Que Clama www.vqcmission.com and Christian Immersion Spanish Academy www.cisacostarica.com . We hope to keep our blog updated so you can follow our activities and involvements. Thank you for praying for us. Your support is the "wind beneath our wings."

Top row left to right: Elaina Rudd, Carleigh Beasley, Dayna Rinkor, Teddy Marshall, Mike Rinkor, Bryan Cabezud, Matt Rinkor, Sean Gray, Jeff Beasley, Aric Cabezud, Steve Cabezud.

Bottom row left to right: David, Kelly and Noah Meirik, Doug and Sandy Cavaliere, Nathan Meirik and Nick Sherry.

Not Pictured: Grant Gereghty