Since 1994, the youth group of St. James' has gone on a mission trip every summer to a workcamp at which the participants help repair homes of people who do not have the means do that on their own. In the spring of 2005, some of us started thinking about making it an international mission trip in the summer of 2006. We settled on the Abraham Project in Costa Rica as our destination in January 2006 and began planning in February. The idea grew into an intergenerational mission trip involving twenty-one travellers from our parish who came together as a team in the spring of 2006 to raise funds to make the trip possible. You can read the background and general introduction to the trip and learn about our planning and fundraising activities here. But if you know all about that, let's move on to the trip, shall we?

Here's our group at the gate at Reagan National Airport at dawn on Sunday morning, Aug. 6th, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! Well, maybe not so bright-eyed. For some, it's the first time they've seen the sun rise in a LONG time! And here are scenes from the rest of our journey to Costa Rica that day.

There's a good overview of the Abraham Project in a little brochure they gave us. Reading the short history of the Abraham Project helps one understand how visiting groups like ours fit into the overall activities at the Project. The history page is part of the Abraham Project website. While we were working on the Project, we were expected to exhibit a standard of behavior outlined in the covenant, which we all signed. The tasks we did fell into three areas: (1) making furniture (cabinets, shelf units) for the daycare center and children's homes, (2) making drawers and cabinet coors for the cafeteria kitchen and installing a sink and wall there, and (3) pulling nails, treating wood, sanding, and planing. We also helped complete a covered walkway between two buildings, moved earth around, did some road work outside the gate, and anything else that needed to be done.

Here are some pictures of us working on these various tasks around the Abraham Project site.

Wood from crates that were used to ship plate glass is salvaged on the Abraham Project. The disassembled crates are transported to the Project site, where all staples and nails are removed. The boards are then planed, sanded, treated for termites and prepared so that they can be used for doors, stairs, cabinets, closets, wall trim, and furniture. This activity was a major part of our work, as it has been for other teams that have visited the Project before us. A prior visitor, Steve Homan from Fort Collins, Colorado, saw a parallel between the work of transforming the wood into beautiful products and the work of the Project to transform the lives of the children it serves. His reflection is posted here with his permission.

We brought a variety of hats -- practical for giving shade, but fun, too. The more outlandish, the better! Here's our hat gallery.

We stayed at a bed-and-breakfast run by a man named Franco, hence "La Casa de Franco". The house was originally the home of Franco's father and grandfather and it was the main house on their coffee plantation. The area has become urbanized and the house is now surrounded by other homes and businesses in a densely populated setting in a district called San Antonio de Desamparados. (This is in the Desamparados Canton of the San José Province.) In accordance with the quaint Costa Rican way of specifying addresses, it is "25 meters north of the Catholic church in San Antonio de Desamparados, white house, mulberry (or purple) roof"!! . . . Here's a look around the outside of Franco's and the neighborhood. And here are some pictures of the interior of the house showing our accommodations, which were quite comfortable. (For those who might want to call ahead to arrange a return visit, Franco's phone number was 276-9546.)

On Tuesday night, we went to a restaurant described by our Abraham Project hosts as 'typical Costa Rican', offering a variety of local food. Called 'La Casa de Doña Lela', it was fabulous! One of us took pictures of the building from the outside (so he could find it again???), another was enchanted by the food on the plates, and another was intrigued by the indoor trees. Here are some of those pictures. See if you can identify what's on each plate!!

One of the goals of the Abraham Project is to help the children in its neighborhood escape a repetitive cycle of poverty and crime. A way they see to do this is to provide opportunities for the local adults of young children to learn skills that they can use to earn a living without resorting to prostitution and drug-dealing. So, for example, they have sewing classes and English classes. We helped teach English to the adults one afternoon, and our peripatetic cameraman caught some scenes in the classroom.

In other parts of San José, the ministry of Ronald Villalobos in Cristo para la Ciudad is trying to reach a similarly disadvantaged segment of society. On Wednesday, we went with Ronald to distribute food in three areas of the Guadalupe section of San José. Read the reflection on Ronald's testimony and ministry, written by Don Mullins.

After we returned from our trip, we made a presentation to our church congregation on August 27th, telling them a little about what we saw and what we did in Costa Rica. This trip had a huge impact on us as we learned first-hand about the conditions some of the children of the world are faced with. These are the children that the Abraham Project is trying to help in their own neighborhood. Take a look at the presentation (it's a PowerPoint slide show with captions) to see more pictures that are not included in the linked pages above.

I have lots more pictures that fall into other categories, such as other scenes around San José, and pictures from our Saturday trip to the beach. I'll be working on putting these online, so check back!