Abraham Project Day #2

Today was another day working with the Abraham Project just outside of San Jose, but it was much more laid back. We arrived around 9am and were given a very thorough tour. This is an amazing ministry in San Jose that was started only 10 years ago. It was the vision of a few women in a dying church, and now consists of a 350 member congregation, a 75 child day care center and a children's home that takes in abused and foster children from the neighborhood. They work hand-in-hand with the government in many ways, but they also rely fully on God's provision. They told us many exciting stories of how God had provided money (from places like the Japanese Embassy and a national soccer star) and helped the students understand the cycles of poverty in countries like Costa Rica.

As you look at the pictures, you'll notice there are many pictures of wood. It may seem odd, but this is one example of how God provides, and how resourceful this project is. Several years ago, the leaders found out that the owners of a window company were simply throwing away the crates that they shipped their windows in. They asked if they could have the scrap wood, and the company agreed. Now all of the wood that is used to build the children's homes, the day care center, and the new multi-purpose building is made from this scrap wood from the crates that ship windows. The wood goes through a careful treatment process (see the pictures of the wood in stages) and eventually becomes the beautifully stained and sturdy structures that you see in the pictures. It was a beautiful a inspiring sight.

After our tour of the facilities we talked with one of the head missionaries, Steve. He told us more stories of working with abused children - some the children of prostitutes, others abandoned - and also talked about how God had called him into mission work. Then we went outside to help with a little more work. We were part of the first stage of wood treatment - nail removal. It was a lot harder than what you would expect because the nails often didn't have heads, or would bend very easily. But we got the hang of it and developed our own techniques.

We only worked for an hour or so, and then enjoyed another fantastic lunch. After lunch we played games with some of the day care kids. There were 10 kids - Isaac, Jesus, Christian, Tamara, and others - and we started out doing relay races with soccer balls and frisbees. The kids were having a blast. Once it started raining, we went back inside and sang a few quick songs, and then let the kids use the shoe decorating crafts to color and design some cards. We would have liked to have been more prepared for a craft, but we didn't know we would have that much time with the kids. Nevertheless, our GCCS students did a great job, and Candance noted that she had never seen these kids so well-behaved.

We're back at the hotel now, cleaning up, and getting ready to head out to our nice dinner. Apparently we drive up into the mountains and enjoy a more fancy dinner that even has typical Costa Rican dancing performances. Everyone is looking very spiffy, and the students are excited for heading to the beach tomorrow.

I double-checked the pictures, and some of the links were bad but I tried to fix them, so hopefully they are all good now - thanks for letting me know about the bad links, and please continue to comment or email (schroeder.jesse@gmail.com) if there are problems.