Stories From The Road: Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Monstro! Monstro!

Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

This is the second installment of our "Stories from the Road" series on Project Serve Costa Rica. 


If you were to ask me the most exciting and most terrifying hour of my life was, I might just say the football game that we took in while we were in San Jose. It wasn't for any real threat to my life or anything, but simply the sheer energy of thousands of people shouting and screaming in a language I didn't understand. But let me back up...


We had a surprise for our Project Serve team late in the week. Even our leaders didn't know what it was until the last minute. Our hosts had arranged for us to go to a professional football game. Aaron and I are not huge soccer fans, especially to the degree of some of our friends back at home, but in our minds it was like watching a Canadian hockey game: something that had to be done in Costa Rica. What was even more ridiculous was that the ticket's were the price of a latte at Starbucks, which is completely unheard of here. 

Miraculously we managed to find 26 seats in the same section. Thankfully, our hosts told us which team to cheer for. We were a few minutes into the game by the time we found seats, but it didn't take long to find out whether or not the ref had made a good or a bad call, based on the reaction of the fans. At one point, the guy in front of me cracked his head off of my knee as he threw his hands and his head back in disbelief at a penalty. Our youth watched wide-eyed at the spectacle of the game and stadium, and then something interesting happened. 

We got into it. As the ball neared the opposing teams goal, all of the fans started to stand up. At first, we stood up because that was the only way we could see what was going on. But then, we started to stand to our feet with a similar excitement as everyone else (keep in mind that we had no idea what the Spanish-speaking announcer was saying). And we cheered. And we groaned when the shot missed. When a player was downed by a hit, we talked about it as if we'd been following the team for a long time. We loved it. 


It wasn't a great game by our host's standards. And to be honest, I didn't know that there could be a scoreless game (didn't there need to be at least ONE goal scored in overtime?). But wow, was it an experience. It was a nice surprise in the middle of our week, and the team buzzed about it all night. And, it may have just turned me into a soccer fan. 

Stories From The Road: Costa Rica & Tico Time

As promised, this is the beginning of a series of updates focusing on our recent missions and camp experiences, in Costa Rica and Florida respectively.

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Our Team

I will be honest, I was excited to go to Costa Rica at first, simply because it had been on my short list of travel destinations. We had looked at honeymooning there, and ever since, I've been itching to go. Of course, as Project Serve came together, my scope of interest became much wider, especially in the months leading into our trip as we got to know more about the country and the people we were going to work with. 

Some of our team had travelled quite extensively, others had never been out of the province, so there was an interesting mix of anticipation among our team. Once we landed in San Jose we drove straight to the YFC House, right in the middle of the city and identifiable to us only by a local restaurant called "The Spoon" that happened to be on the next corner. Stepping inside, however, was a different story. Once we entered, we were in a hub of ministry and community. Many people come through this house owned by YFC: some for ministry, some for missions experiences like ours, and others to volunteer with the staff. Though some had moved out for the week to accomodate us, normally a handful of YFC staff live at the house, and from there minister through a variety of outreach programs, including their new skate outreach called SK8M.

Costa Rican & Canadian YFC Staff

One of the elements of our morning was "Tico Time". Ticos are what Costa Ricans call themselves, and for our team, this time was a time for them to encourage and share their hearts with us. Of course this was only a small part of our tico experience. Our hosts did a fantastic job encouraging community in our team. Early into our trip, they set up "Facebag" for us, recognizing that we were unplugged from Facebook for the week (the horror!). Reminiscent of Valentines bags that we all put on our desks in elementary school, it ended up being a memorable and meaningful way for us to encourage others and be encouraged ourselves. 

One of many, many van rides

By far, one of the most significant highlights for me was the unity our team experienced on this trip. Definitely, some of this can be attributed to the fact that we were together all of the time, but it was also very genuine. We wanted to be together. Like many of our YFC experiences, we incorporated small group time into each day, where smaller teams could talk about the day, and also focus on why we were serving and how this experience was changing our own lives. I know for many, this had great impact on their life and experience in Costa Rica. We became good friends with our tico hosts, and I think we will continue to develop a partnership and relationship with them. 

This was the basis of everything we did during our week in Costa Rica. I will be sharing about the work projects and some other specific stories. If we did not have this foundation underneath us, I'm not sure they would have gone as well as they did. I am grateful for our team and for our new friends in Costa Rica, they were an important part of this journey for me.

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To find out more about Costa Rica YFC/Youth Unlimited check out the following:

http://cryfc.wordpress.com/ (you'll need to translate this page if you can't read Spanish)

http://cr.yfci.org/ - Youth For Christ International's Profile on Costa Rica

One Month To Go...

It's been a whirlwind few months, and maybe this is going to explain why. In 25 days we are bound for Costa Rica. It's been just over a year since I last posted about Project Serve, so some of you might wonder if it's been off the radar. Quite the opposite in fact, 2011 saw one team go to Toronto, one team (made up of a few Toronto teams) do a work weekend in Huntsville, and team training beginning for our international trip this year. Our small group from Collingwood will  be joining a larger group from other youth centres to make up a team of 20 youth and leaders. 


February 12th we will be heading to the community of Cartago, located about an hour and a half outside the capital of San Jose, Costa Rica. While Costa Rica is a very affluent nation, the gap between the rich and poor is wide, and poverty is a significant issue in the community that we are working in. Our team will be partnering with a local church to build a room onto their building, and it will be used for serving meals to the community, outreach programs, and a variety of other things. 


What makes this trip unique is not the work that we are doing, but the partnership that we will have with Youth For Christ Costa Rica while we are there. There is a team of Costa Rican youth that will be joining our youth and we'll be working as a team for the week that we are there. What an incredible experience! For many of our youth, Project Serve has challenged them to grow in their practical skills, leadership, teamwork, and life skills, and it has made lasting friendships. 


We will definitely keep you updated as we return from the trip. If you would like to join us by financially supporting us, please use canadahelps.org, and after selecting "Donate Now" use the drop down menu beside "Fund" to select "Project Serve Mission Trip", then in the box beside "Message" type "Collingwood". Or, you can send cash or a cheque made out to Highlands Youth For Christ to the following:


Highlands Youth For Christ
9 Centre St.
Orangeville, ON
L9W 2W9

Please include a note that says "Project Serve Collingwood", and know that 100% of the money you donate supports the Collingwood team. 

We are so grateful for your support! We are looking forward to seeing lives changed as we serve the world around us!

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Check out our Facebook page for this group at https://www.facebook.com/costarica2012