Costa Rica Work Project: Mission Impossible

The sun was hot as we stood, waiting for Ciro to finish his conversation with the owner of the parking lot, who also happened to be his brother-in-law.  It felt so good to be in summer weather in January.  As we left the parking lot and began walking the streets of Alajuela, I quickly realized that our missionary partner knew most of the people in this city.  I jokingly asked through Lori's translation, “Do you run the mob down here?”  He laughed and replied, “No, but I have a very large family!”  We spent the day with Ciro, getting acquainted with the town where we would be staying for the next week and getting ready for the arrival of the team the next day.  When we  were shown the work project for that week, I thought back on all of the manual labor I had done over the past 3 years, and I knew that there was no way that a group of high school students with no previous experience, would be able to dig into the side of a hill where there was no flat ground, make it level, mix concrete by hand, pour 492 feet of sidewalk and apply a top coat in just 4 days of work.  It seemed impossible to me, but it was a need of the community.  There were a lot of kids that lived in that neighborhood and the hill made it unsafe for kids to walk in the street...the only street that came in and out of that community.

The next 4 days were incredible.   Without the help of any machines for the entire time (besides welding the forms together) here is what happened.

Wednesday, they tore into the hill and leveled most of the ground.  Thursday, they finished what was left to be leveled and started mixing concrete and pouring the first chunk of sidewalk.  Friday, they needed to have a huge day of work since we were going to be working a few hours less on Saturday because we were going to church Saturday evening.  They worked furiously all day Friday, mixing and pouring for the entire left side of the street, and setting themselves up for success, if they had enough energy.  Saturday, they poured what was left of the right side and applied the top coat to the whole thing.  They completed the project, exhausted but very excited.  I thought it was totally impossible to do what they did.  And they did it in about 3 1/2 days.  I was blown away.  I really think the Lord gave them strength and energy to complete it.  But it wasn't like they just completed it.  They completed it with a joyful working attitude.  The people in the community would come watch them work again and again, because they couldn't believe how happy everyone was during the whole thing.  It was an incredible testimony.  I think the words in Nehemiah 8:10 were seen to be true throughout the whole experience: "The joy of the LORD is your strength."

Here are some pictures, not necessarily in order, of the work project:

Just a handful of kids from the community

Matthew 19:26

"But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"

While this was pretty amazing, we saw God do much bigger things in our time there.  I look forward to sharing one of those in my next post.

Poas Volcano National Park