The Senior High Youth of West Market went on a 10
day mission trip to Costa Rica (they left on Monday, June 23). While there, they continued construction of a vocational school at the El Sinai Methodist Church,
conducted a Vacation Bible school for over 200 children, and shared in worship and
fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ at El Sinai.
The following were mission team members:
Youth: Olivia Cox, Patrick Stovall, Ryan Gray, Sam Gray,
Alex Grimm, Natalie Hylton, Mary Katherine Melton, William Montgomery, Joe
Tracey, Matthew Tracey, Emily Wright, Megan Wright, Caleb Yow; Adult
Leaders: Sara Gray, Mike Kendro, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jeff Peck,
Beth Tracey.
We are doing great and excited about vacation bible
school for the children today. Here is our update for Tuesday, July 1, 2008:
Today
we are all planning and preparing for Vacation Bible School for the children. We
are expecting around 200 Costa Rican children to attend. We will have VBS this
afternoon and tomorrow afternoon. We have two themes...God Knows You and God
Loves You. We are using Noah and his story to teach these lessons. We are going
to construct a small ark on the stage and use the stuffed animals to board the
ark with Noah and his family.
We have a team that has gone out this morning to buy snacks for VBS and another
team that will provide recreation. We are going to use sidewalk chalk to trace
their image and teach them that God knows them.
We are also going to do a craft with the children each day. Today we are using
foam frames with a small mirror inside. The children will decorate the frames
and we will help them write the words "God Knows Me" on them.
Tomorrow morning we are going to wake up early and go shopping for souvenirs at
the ox cart factory. They make alot of things out of the local coffee tree wood
and we have been told that they have really good craftmanship. Then, tomorrow
after lunch, we will have the second day of vacation bible school for the
children.
Please continue to pray for us today as we serve the children and help them to
experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
We are all safe, healthy and happy. We appreciate each of you and look forward
to sharing our stories and photos with you when we return.
Serving God Together,
Jeff Peck and the WMSUMC Costa Rica Mission Team
June 30, 2008
Hola from Costa
Rica| It is Monday afternoon and we are at the Hiper Mas internet cafe.
Yesterday was a full day for us. We enjoyed worshipping with our Costa Rican
brothers and sisters in the morning. The worship was filled with excitement. I
(Jeff) was asked to deliver the message from Godīs Word and I thoroughly enjoyed
the opportunity to do that. It took some getting used to as Jackie translated
my words from English to Spanish. We presented their church with an Icthus
cross that we made from leftover pieces of ceramic tile from the bathroom.
After lunch, we went downtown to San Jose and shopped at the local market. We
enjoyed some ice cream from Pops, their local ice cream parlor.
Last night, we went to the Costa Rica theater to see a dance recital! It was
extremely diverse and we enjoyed hip hop, flamenco, jazz, modern and folk
dancing. One of our translators named Maria was performing in the dance recital
and she asked everyone to go. We all enjoyed the opportunity to experience some
local Costa Rican talent. The dancers were extremely talented and we had a
great time!
We returned to the church where we are staying, El Sinai, to discover that it
had flooded while we were out in San Jose. The flood came on rapidly, but
Pastor Alex and his family were able to save all of our foam pads which we sleep
on. They also managed to bring all of our luggage inside their home before
anything got wet. The water damage was fairly extensive and a vital retaining
wall behind the church collapsed. We decided not to do the zipline today so
that we can stay and help at the church.
We are all safe, healthy and grateful to be serving God here in Costa Rica.
There is a huge amount of need here. Please keep everyone on our West Market
Team and our Costa Rican brothers and siisters in your prayers.
Godīs Peace to each of you,
Jeff Peck and
the WMSUMC Costa Rica Mission Team
June 28, 2008
Today was a wonderful day for us. After three days
of hard work, we were able to relax and play today. This morning we went to Poaz,
which is an active volcano. We were all surprised at the turquoise color of the
lava. It was beautiful.
After Poaz, we went to La Paz waterfall gardens. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch
buffet. After lunch, we went the the butterfly gardens and saw a wide variety of
extremely friendly butterflies. They landed on our hands, arms, backs and seemed
to enjoy our visit as much as we enjoyed being there! Then we hiked down to the
waterfalls, which were absolutely incredible. They took our breath away and
reminded us of Godīs creative power and majesty.
We are now in San Jose and after hiking over 5 miles today, we are eager to
enjoy some good food for dinner.
We are all healthy, happy and having a blast serving God here in Costa Rica.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
Shalom,
Jeff Peck and the West Market Costa Rica Mission Team
June
27, 2008
Greetings from Costa Rica!
We are all healthy, happy and grateful for this opportunity to serve God in
Costa Rica. Today is Friday, June 27 and we have been working hard for the past
few days. Our projects have included preparing the metal work foundation for
what will become their new church kitchen and office space for the staff. They
also plan to use this new area to host future mission teams.
We have also been working to create two bathrooms for the church. The first
bathroom is almost completely tiled now and today we are working on the grout
between the tiles. We created a beautiful mosaic cross in the floor as you enter
the bathroom. It is a beautiful reminder of the love and grace of Jesus. The
second bathroom is now prepared for the tile, which we will begin to place
today. We are working with a wonderful foreman, who is helping us to learn each
new task. We have a translator, Richie, who is helping us to understand what he
is saying. Today another group of our youth are clearing the ground out back for
a future playground space for their children.
Their church, El Sinai, is filled with wonderful people who absolutely shine
with the love of Jesus Christ. They have been extremely welcoming to us and make
sure to treat us like family. We feel loved
and cared for each moment. The food has been wonderful as well! Yesterday we had
burritos for lunch, and pasta for dinner. This morning, we enjoyed french toast
for breakfast! And the pineapple, bananas, and papaya juice are delicious
treats!
Our youth continue to serve with strength, patience, and love. Everyone is
getting along extremely well and we are constantly grateful for the opportunity
to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ here in Costa Rica.
We are journaling each day in our new LIFE journals. It is a beautiful
experience to open up the Bible together each night and read the same scriptures
together in silence. Then we each write how God is speaking into our lives.
After we all finish writing, we have a chance to share what we have written with
the group. We are learning from one another, encouraging one another, and
sharing life transformation together.
We have worked extremely hard since we arrived in Costa Rica! Each of our youth
and adults have served with strength and love. Tomorrow we plan to explore Costa
Rica and experience the beauty of this country. We will go to see a volcano and
La Paz waterfall and butterfly garden. We will also enjoy a seafood dinner at a
Costa Rican restaurant.
Today is laundry day, and we are all looking forward to wearing clean clothes
and sleeping on clean sheets! We are grateful for each blessing we are receiving
from God.
Most of all, the love of our new Costa Rican brothers and sisters is inspiring,
energizing and beyond anything we could have imagined. They are overjoyed to
have us here and extremely grateful for everything we are doing.
We
want to thank each of you for your continued prayers. We will send another
update as soon as we can.
Serving God Together,
Jeff Peck, Elizabeth Mongtomery and our West Market Youth Costa Rica Mission
Team
June 25, 2008
We have arrived safely in the lush, green country of
Costa Rica! It was beautiful as we drove from the airport to El Sinai, the
church where we are sleeping, eating, working, worshipping, and well, everything
else too! The guys were first placed in a primal "man cave" but we have been
upgraded to sleeping in the sanctuary because we lost power and lights in our
deluxe cave! Thanks to Matt Tracey and Sam Gray's creative idea, we have pulled
the pews together to form extra long beds that are working rather well for us.
The girls are sleeping in one of their childrens classrooms down the hall. We
were all exhausted yesterday and managed to get some much needed rest. The food
has been very delicious...lots of rice and chicken! The watermelon and tiny
bananas have been real treats as well.
The church where we are staying is called El Sinai, and they threw us a huge
welcoming party and we worshipped with incredible authenticity and passion. We
formed a circle insterspersed with our new Costa Rican brothers and sisters and
they prayed extensively for each of us as well as West Market Street UMC. They
are overwhelmed with gratitude for our willingness to work and serve them here
at their church.
Today, our tasks have incuded shovelling out huge piles of dirt from the
bathroom which we are finishing. This is extremely important because we are all
in need of a shower. Once we complete the bathrooms, we will be able to get
clean and will all smell much better :)
We have also taken alot of trash and junk from the corners of the future
bathrooms and burned them in a huge bonfire. We are now preparing the showers
and bathroom stalls by scraping the excess grout and preparing tiles for
installation. We are excited, needless to say, about the potential of these new
bathrooms.
Everyone is getting along extremely well and feel grateful for the hospitality
of our Costa Rican brothers and sisters. They want us to be comfortable and are
providing small treats such as ice cream and water for us to drink.
Please continue to pray for us as we serve God here in Costa Rica. Everyone is
safe, healthy, happy and following in the pathway of Jesus Christ.
Godīs Peace to Each of You,
Jeff Peck and our West Market Street UMC Costa Rica Mission Team
P.S. We will send some photos as soon as we can for the website.
Today
we are all planning and preparing for Vacation Bible School for the children. We
are expecting around 200 Costa Rican children to attend. We will have VBS this
afternoon and tomorrow afternoon. We have two themes...God Knows You and God
Loves You. We are using Noah and his story to teach these lessons. We are going
to construct a small ark on the stage and use the stuffed animals to board the
ark with Noah and his family. 
After Poaz, we went to La Paz waterfall gardens. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch
buffet. After lunch, we went the the butterfly gardens and saw a wide variety of
extremely friendly butterflies. They landed on our hands, arms, backs and seemed
to enjoy our visit as much as we enjoyed being there! Then we hiked down to the
waterfalls, which were absolutely incredible. They took our breath away and
reminded us of Godīs creative power and majesty. 
We
want to thank each of you for your continued prayers. We will send another
update as soon as we can.