Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Costa Rica Mission '08

June 13th
Dearest Trudie and Jeff,

Things are going amazingly well. We got all 60 of us in the multiple vans we rented at San Jose and made the grueling drive to Jaco for a late dinner and then the more grueling drive south along the coast through Quepos to Dominical. It was 2am Friday when we finally got to bed, and we put in a full day of work, painting a church in Playa Punta Uvita, a half hour south of here.

This afternoon I finally got in the water for an exceptional surf session, including several barrels breaking left on the shallow beach. Even the young guys praised a couple of my waves! It was the perfect reward for baking in the sun painting the back of the little church all day.
Tonight we´re dining at the school in Dominical where they´re conducting a fund raiser. I´m starving, so I won´t stay online for long.

I miss you both terribly, and am sad that there´s no phone service from the hotel where most of the group is staying. Six of us are in a house up on the mountain, which is actually a little cool at night. There´s no phone service there, either, and no internet.

I´ll write more later, but trust that I´m safe, happy, and making a small difference here.

Love to you both, Paul/Dad

June 15th
Darling,

The house on the mountain has no internet or phone, and they do have phone here at the hotel for $2/minute, so I decided to write instead. As always, I´m thrilled to hear from you too, and glad that your time with the Riveras went so well.

We worked at the church again yesterday and almost finished the painting. The associate pastor (Randy and Julie Russell) took us to his home in the mountains and we saw howler and white-faced monkeys, iguana, and horses. His wife fed us lunch and we relaxed for a couple of hours. It was a delightful break from the heat.

The Hettels kids passports had expired, but they were able to get a temporary one and arrived late last night. Dave finally got to surf this morning.

Today is worship and we´ll be there in Uvita, where the church is that we´ve been working on. It´s too small for our group so they´ve rented a larger space for today´s worship.

I love and miss you terribly, but the work is so satisfying, and the surf is amazing (more yesterday morning and evening, and again this morning) so the absence seems worthwhile. Can´t wait to hold you in my arms.

With all my love, Paul

June 16th
Dear Trudie and Jeff,

Today was back to the normal routine, morning surf session (huge), eat breakfast at the hotel, finish painting the Uvita church, and then lunch with my co-workers at a new place in Uvita.
Afterward, Dave Hettell took me in his van to check some surf spots and then back the beach near the hotel, where it had gotten even bigger, and I decided to relax and rest for tomorrow while he went out and charged a few barrels.

Two of our roommates decided to move out of the mountain house (too much back and forth, and being stranded here during the day), so I took them up to pack and we all got showered (a serious luxury here) and I brought them down to their new room at the DiuWak.

We're in the restaurant and I'm using Lee Buckner's computer on a wireless connection before we go out to dinner elsewhere and back here for our evening devotional.

It's raining (NO SH*#!) and I'm sweating already.

Tomorrow we're taking the day off and I'll have a morning surf session, zip line ride around the tree tops, and relaxing in the afternoon.

Robbie O'Brien is arriving tomorrow evening, and his flock is pretty excited about it. Most of them leave on Thursday, which means I'll probably make the drive then, and again at the end of the trip on the 26th.

I love you both and miss hearing your voices. I tried Skype today in the hotel lobby, but they don't seem to have enough bandwidth.

Paul/Dad

June 18th
Dearest Trudie and Jeff,

Today was the last full day for most of the Beachside group, who are leaving tomorrow morning at 8am. They took surf lessons, helped at the Dominical school, and lounged around. The street was being dug up today in front of their hotel, and right now the power and water are both off. ICE is working on the power, which will also restore the water, maybe. How´d you like to travel all day in the sweat and grime of a hot day in Dominical?

Robbie O´brien and his van of eight other Christian Surfers arrived last night. Sean decided to try to jump into the swimming pool from the top of the waterfall, and broke his tibia & fibula and had to be taken to the hospital in another town (I can´t remember the name right now). He´s hobbling around on crutches with a full cast from toes to mid-thigh, lots of fun I´m sure.

I did a morning surf check and decided to wait Ășntil later, which turned out to be a good move. After our morning devotional, our construction team went to Dominicalita and built a bus stop shelter where the main road from their town meets the coastal highway. It was challenging with rusty saws, no power, and local lumber (crooked, wet, and heavy). It ended up looking pretty good. So many people stopped by to thank us, ask questions, and praise our work. It was one of the more rewarding things we´ve done yet.

Dave Hettell, Ted Bolt, and I drove to Punta Dominical and surfed huge waves coming in over the reef. It was tricky getting out through the rocks in a narrow channel, and a very long paddle to the outer reef, but the rides were long and fun. Well worth the exhausting effort. We finished just before dark and ate a local soda, Casado con chuletta for me. Yummy!

Tonight we´re going to have a going-away party for the Beachside group, if the hotel gets the lights back on. We´ll see.....

Honey, I´m glad to know you made it safely to CA and the lap of luxury....you deserve it! I only wish I could give you this hug in person. XOXOX

Jeff, I´m really looking forward to seeing you again in August, and hearing your voice when I get home on the 26th.

BTW, I´m using a much faster PC at a local internet cafe to send this message.

I love you both madly, and miss you terribly. Paul/Dad

June 19th
Son,I´m so sorry to hear about the mishap, and trust that those involved will eventually come to some peace about it. Bad stuff does indeed happen to good people. It´s a very traumatizing experience to see another person badly injured or killed, as you know. Just this morning I was telling someone how you watched as another student was hit and killed by a car on his bicycle.I took it very easy so far today.

Cal got us stuck getting up the hill from the mountain house to the road, and Jack Driskoll had to be awakened to get us out.We got here on time and helped get the four vans loaded up and ready to go for the torturous drive to San Jose. My main job was sweeping them out and throwing away all the trash that had accumulated during the week.

I stayed behind while the new group of Christian Surfers spent the day searching for the perfect wave (they didn´t find it), had lunch with Larry Scovotto, and a smoothie with Coral, Mirla Rodriguez, and Cal´s dad, Mike. The rain started while we were a Coco´s, and hasn´t let up yet.Tonight we´re doing a devotional here at the hotel and praying that our rear-wheel drive van will make it up the mountain after all this rain....it´s one of the downsides of being located off site.

I love you son, and miss our regular calls. It seems like a long time, for sure.Dad

June 20th
Dearest Family,
Today was hotter than normal, and no rain. We spent the morning arranging equipment, supplies and teams to begin the first round of our surf contest this afternoon. I managed to sneak in a session around 11am. The water was quite stinky from all the runoff from yesterday's torrential rains.

I was one of the judges for the "expression session" heats this afternoon, held in 5 to 8' waves with locals, tourists, and traveling surfers competing for cash prizes.

I just returned from Coco's where we showed movies of today's action and awarded the male and female top surfers.Tomorrow is the main contest, with Grommet, Juniors, and Pro divisions. There's been a bit of a dustup with the pro federation of CR and they aren't supporting the contest, so registrations are low enough that we may be able to hold the entire event tomorrow.

Our awards ceremony at Coco's will preceed a World Cup elimination soccer match between CR and ?, which will be well attended, so we should have quite a turnout for that.This evening Cal, Coral, Ted, and I moved out of the mountain house and into the DiuWak near the contest. It will be much more convenient than pushing the van up the driveway every morning!

If you'd like to see some pictures of what's been going on here since the 12th, go to www.thebeachsidechurch.com and look at Steve Graham's blog.Missing talking with all of you and looking forward to a Verizon call when we return on the 26th.Love, Paul

June 21st
Darlin´,
Sorry that you´re hotter in CA than you´d have been in CR. Glad to know you´ll soon be in Huntington where the morning fog will keep it cooler until later in the day. Please give the Smalls my regards.

Jeff´s story about his friend being killed really hit home, since I´ve seen so much death during my life, and know how tenuous our grasp on life is. We really should enjoy every day as a gift. Mike Fisher turned 88 yesterday, a birthday none of our parents have seen.

Today we held the surf contest, and besides helping setup, I was one of three judges for all 15 heats. There were between 6 and 7 surfers in each heat, and it was taxing keeping track of everyone´s rides and their scores. We´re about to go to the awards ceremony at 6pm here at DiuWak.

Tonight I´ll have another dinner of rice, beans, salad, meat, etc. Shocked? I really do love the food here, and usually pay about $4 for dinner. I had huevos rancheros this morning for $2.50!
Tomorrow is worship in the Uvita Church we painted, and then a free day. We may go back to the waterfall with the rope swing, since no one was killed there the first try....

I love you, and miss you so much (Jeff, you too!)!
Paul/Dad

June 22nd
Honey I,

By now, I´d guess you´re at the Smalls, and enjoying their fine hospitality. Please share my regards with them.Of course I´d love to see the Norris´s any time they´d like to visit. They´re so much fun, and I´m just sorry we can´t golf with them. Well, a little....

Today I rode some near perfect shoulder to head high waves just after sunrise, then off to church, the one we painted in Uvita, and then off to get a flat tire fixed in one of the vans.

I then ran into another part of our group eating ceviche at a roadside stand, and they were headed to Las Ventanas, an amazing rock formation where the waves pound through two caves that pass under a huge rock outcrop at the end of a cove. We swam through the caves into and out of the ocean, pretty scary stuff, but lots of fun too!

Tonight we had a devotional, dinner at Coco´s, and now it´s off to bed to get ready for tomorrow´s dawn patrol.

I love you so much and miss you terribly, Paul

June 23rd
Trudie and Jeff,

Today was rainy (surprise!) but productive. It started with a morning surf session, during which I got out with some difficulty, backed out of a wave, got caught by the next one and my leash broke. So, swim to shore, come back to the hotel and put my spare on. Walk back to the beach, paddle out (easier this time), catch one wave, paddling back out, backup leash breaks, swim in, give up.

Bought a new leash at South Wave Surf Shop, ate breakfast, drove up to the mountain house to borrow tools from Jack Driskoll, visit ¨lumber yard¨on the roadside in the mountains and picked up 7- 3X2s and 10-1X14s, to build a lifeguard stand on the beach here.

Working with 200´of extension cord and a drill, started building the deck while watching a waterspout during a driving rain storm....the usual stuff for CR.

After lunch we went back to work again until we got rained out again. Got the floor joists installed and started cutting the decking, all with a hand saw and very wet wood. Whoopee!

We had our devotional early, and I just finished a delicious dinner of mango y leche, arroz con camarones with papas fritas with Robbie O´Brien and Mike Fisher. Very filling and delicious!

I´m turning in early in hopes of redeeming myself in the AM with my brand-new leash.I´m really getting excited about hearing your voices on Friday, and catching up on your happenings.

I love you both so dearly, Paul/Dad

June 25th
Darling,

I´m really looking forward to snuggling up with you tomorrow night after my shower. It may be as late as 3am when I get home. Poor Ted has now broken two rental boards, and quit surfing after the second one, two days ago. Needless to say, he´s pretty bummed about it.

Today I ate breakfast first, then surfed (another good day, just not so large), ate lunch with Ted and Robbie, rushed Sharon over to the pharmacy in Uvita to get medicine for Audrey (terrible ear infection that has spread into her jaw and throat) and then Ted and I took Jamie, Sarah, and Anna to a huge waterfall that is a strenuous hike to and from.

We hiked through mud up to our ankles for part of it, the total distance each way about 6.5 km. It was a trek, but well worth it. I´ll have pictures from the girl´s cameras when I get home. I swam up to the falls and it was like a dozen fire hoses all hitting you at once. The water drops at least 80´where I was able to get under it.

The hike back was a killer, much of it uphill, and poor Jamie barfed twice. It´s sad to see a 19 year old in such poor physical shape.

Tonight we had our devotional, Ted, Jack, and I took the last of the tools back up the mountain to Jack Driskoll´s house, and Ted and I just finished dinner. Now I have to pack, which should be easy since I´m leaving so many of my clothes here for the needy.

We leave in a caravan at 4am for San Jose. It will be a long day, since one flight leaves at noon and ours doesn´t leave until 5pm.

I love you with all my heart and can´t wait to see you, Paul

June 26th
Trudie and Jeff,

We're waiting at our gate in San Jose, and leave in about an hour and a half. I'll call Trudie when we land in Ft. Lauderdale about 10pm.

Love, Paul, Dad, UP, etc.

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