Kindra came up with the idea to have them write one of the blogs talking about their experience down here. Allowing me to take credit for one more blogpost after such a dry spell and not have to write more than a few sentences, I eagerly agreed.
I sent them a list of questions and told them to answer as many as they wanted as in depth as they wanted to go. A couple chose to answer all briefly and others to answer one specifically.
Before I post their thoughts, I'll give you some background on the trip. Everyone arrived here in San Jose on Thursday, December 22nd. We spent Thursday night in San Jose and went out to eat with Lauren and Gee as well as Jeff, a Costa Rican friend of mine. On Friday we set out for El Jardin. We brought Christmas presents to Jahayda's family, spent the afternoon with them, lunched on chicharrones (fried pig skin and fat), then headed over to Hazel's where we did the same thing, chicharrones and all, sang Christmas carols, visited Aunt Rita, and spent the night. The next morning, after drinking coconut juice for breakfast, we went back to San Jose where we attended the Christmas Eve service in San Sebastian (my house). Bright and early on Sunday Christmas morning we got up and left for the beach. We made a 4 hour detour around the most active volcano in Costa Rica and then arrived at Playa Conchal in Guanacaste on the Pacific Coast. We stayed there 2 nights (filling the days with horseback rides on the beach and late lunches on concrete tables an arms-length away from the reaching tide), then moved 30 minutes down the road to Playa Grande where we took advantage of canopying (ziplining) 80 feet above the ground to spend the morning with howler monkeys and iguanas. Every evening I watched the huge orange ball light fire to the waves and silhouette the unassuming surfers on the Pacific coast and tried to suppress the fact that one more sunset meant one less day until they had to go.
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
1. How were the community, the living conditions, the people, the experience, the country, the culture, etc. different from what you expected? What were your assumptions about these things going into the trip and what differed from these assumptions after you visited? What was a pleasant surprise? What was a rude awakening?
"Costa Rica is more lawless than I had anticipated. My impression was that Costa Rica was a higher level third world country; it was a bit of a shock."
2. How has your idea or concept of "world hunger" or "living in poverty" changed after your trip? How has meeting people and sleeping in these conditions changed your perspective?
"The experience brought poverty to a personal level. Abstractly one knows that there is poverty across the world, but this trip made it real. I visit the poorest places in Hendersonville every week. There is no comparison to El Jardin. Also as a side note, the places to where I go in Hendersonville are dirty, poorly kept, and have garbage all about. There was none of that in El Jardin. There was a sense of pride in what they do have.
I was amazed at the sounds of the night. I didn't know that one can identify a rooster by cadence and pitch!!"
3. Are there any ideas or stereotypes of these people, this country, these communities, that you think most Americans have, or you had before you came, that you found to be false after your experience? Any misconceptions you would like to confront and educate others about based on your experience?
"This is a difficult question because of the language barrier. Away from El Jardin, I perceived what I expected in the tourist areas that we visited."
4. What was the most meaningful experience you had? A moment of connection with other people, with the country, the culture, with God? Share a story of connection you experienced.
"I was touched by receiving a cross as a Christmas present from people that I had never met. It is evident that your message and mission has been most successful and you have made a huge difference in their lives."
5. How might your faith or walk with God be different if you had grown up in El Jardin versus in the United States? How might your interpretation of the Gospel been different?
"I would imagine that opportunities for learning would be limited, so my views would be more myopic. There would likely not be much biblical instruction as there would be limited access to pastors and teachers."
6. What was the funniest thing that happened on your trip?
".......put it on my tab." Also, taking away eating utensils from Kevin as he was intent upon drumming to the tunes played at the RipJack Inn."
7. How has this trip and your experience in Costa Rica with these people changed how you see your life? How you appreciate what you have? How you view your hardships? How has it changed your perspective of your life?
"I should be sent straight to hell for EVER breaking the 9th/10th commandments!!!"
8. Are there things that you expect to have available to you that were not available during your trip? Things you take for granted that are not available to others on a daily basis?
9. What will you walk away with from this trip that you would not have had otherwise?
"I was impressed with how happy the people are and how few material things that they have. It's a lesson that I'll remember. Also, they have a great sense of community. There is one blender for many residences. They share and care for each other. We could learn from that, as well."
Chris Smith (male version)
"I was impressed with the sense of community in El Jardin. A pig was slaughtered and the entire community fed off of it. There was enough pig fat, wasn't that dish called chicharrones?, to last several families throughout the holidays! (It would have lasted me a lifetime, and then some.) When Estebana and Rita began making tamales, they made enough for the entire neighborhood, and it was a communal effort. I remember Marilin taking the chopped vegetables to a neighbor to get them pureed because the neighbor had the only blender on the street. I grew up in a community where people shared when others were in need, but this kind of sharing seemed like a daily, commonplace practice. As I listened to the roosters in the early morning hours, I realized that they were community roosters. Each crow had a different timbre and cadence, so I began naming the roosters according to their crows. As they crowed, they moved about the community. Some ventured away from the house as their crows sounded in the distant; others from down the road a ways moved closer to give us the benefit of their wake-up-call. It was if each alarm clock foul took responsibility for waking up the entire community.
When I compare what I have with what the folks of El Hardin have, I don't necessarily get a sense that they are impoverished. Of course, by my standards they are. But are they according to their standards? I wonder what they did for entertainment before the soap opera entered their lives. Did they play games with each other? Sing? Tell stories? Have conversations? When the time for the soap opera arrived, everything stopped. They were all glued to the television. It reminds me of our kids glued to their video games, completely absorbed by them. I sometimes think that our high-tech way of life has taken away some of our sense of community, specifically communication, and especially among our children. I hope they preserve their sense of community as they acquire more "things." We haven't."
SUE FILSON
"When Kevin, my husband asked me if he thought we should go to Costa Rica and visit Nicolette for Christmas, I didn’t take too long in answering, “I think if we don’t go, we’ll be missing the trip of a lifetime.” And that is just what it was. Nicolette prepped us for this blog with a few questions about our trip, one being “a moment of connection you had with other people, the country, the culture, with God?” I have to say that Christmas Eve was indeed just that experience. We helped the pastor set up the “church” (in ILCO’s volunteer house where Nicolette lives) with chairs and the altar, preparing for the Christmas Eve service. Pastor Daniel wrote the lessons and the songs on the white board for the service. At some point during the evening, I was aware that our church in Hendersonville was reading the same lessons, observing the same liturgy and singing some of the same music that we were with the 20-plus people who attended our service. We were worshiping and communing with the same God at the same time in two different countries and two different languages. And throughout the world this was taking place within our churches. What a marvelous realization that I knew existed but had never experienced. This was an incredible connection of being in God’s community for me.
Costa Rica has some of the most gorgeous countryside and scenery I have ever seen. We traveled through the dense, beautiful green rain forest and saw the lush vegetation of exotic and edible plants, took in the awesome views of a silently spewing volcano, and rode horses on a beach with breathtaking views you only see in magazines. But at the end of the day, (and for many days following), when my head hit the pillow and I thought about this once in a lifetime journey, I was mentally sitting in the homes of the Costa Rican people we met, sharing food, many laughs and feeling welcomed into a culture I knew very little about. It is the memories of them sharing their Christmas pig with us, wanting us to taste the special small banana that grew in their yard, singing Christmas songs in our almost non-existent Spanish, and our hosts insisting that we sleep in their beds while they slept in a room near the house that will linger with me forever. Yes, there was a language barrier between us as well as cultural differences, but the love and graciousness that they showed us, their foreign neighbors, was overwhelming. With their family and neighbors, they visit and play cards, cook and literally spend hours together without the “luxury” of many of our electronic devices. Don’t misunderstand me; these are the hardest working people I have ever met. They get up long before daylight and work at jobs most of us wouldn’t be able to do physically. But when they are home and with family and friends they are taking care of one another. The opportunity to fulfill Jesus’ second commandment presents itself many times daily.
Costa Rica has some of the most gorgeous countryside and scenery I have ever seen. We traveled through the dense, beautiful green rain forest and saw the lush vegetation of exotic and edible plants, took in the awesome views of a silently spewing volcano, and rode horses on a beach with breathtaking views you only see in magazines. But at the end of the day, (and for many days following), when my head hit the pillow and I thought about this once in a lifetime journey, I was mentally sitting in the homes of the Costa Rican people we met, sharing food, many laughs and feeling welcomed into a culture I knew very little about. It is the memories of them sharing their Christmas pig with us, wanting us to taste the special small banana that grew in their yard, singing Christmas songs in our almost non-existent Spanish, and our hosts insisting that we sleep in their beds while they slept in a room near the house that will linger with me forever. Yes, there was a language barrier between us as well as cultural differences, but the love and graciousness that they showed us, their foreign neighbors, was overwhelming. With their family and neighbors, they visit and play cards, cook and literally spend hours together without the “luxury” of many of our electronic devices. Don’t misunderstand me; these are the hardest working people I have ever met. They get up long before daylight and work at jobs most of us wouldn’t be able to do physically. But when they are home and with family and friends they are taking care of one another. The opportunity to fulfill Jesus’ second commandment presents itself many times daily.
In addition to all this, I got to observe firsthand how they have taken our daughter into their homes and treated her like one of their own."
KEVIN FILSON
THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
"I had the opportunity to visit with some people in a remote village in Costa Rica, far from the 1.5 million of San Jose and the beautiful beaches, who have made my daughter a part of their lives.
The popular concept was that, although they have very little, they are happy – content. I don’t know that.
I wish I could have talked to Jehayda’s parents out on the back porch where, for a while, we were congregated – until my daughter left – and the “conversation” was over. I would have liked to ask her dad about his work, his land and maybe even his plans. How did he run the one electrical wire, attached to an extension cord, with a power strip plugged into that, which seemed to power everything in the two room house? What kind of plantation did he work in and what did he do? But I couldn’t.
I wish I could have asked Profidio, Hazel’s dad, about his work at a plantation. Was he one of the machete-carriers we had seen on the road? Did he bag and push the bananas? What was if like walking through the maze of banana trees and treachery of the thousands of cords anchoring the trees to the ground and to each other?
I wish I could have asked Profidio, Hazel’s dad, about his work at a plantation. Was he one of the machete-carriers we had seen on the road? Did he bag and push the bananas? What was if like walking through the maze of banana trees and treachery of the thousands of cords anchoring the trees to the ground and to each other?
How – and why - did he build the “guest house” in back? How much land does he have?
I would have liked to have chatted with Hazel’s fiance’. How did he and Hazel meet? Where were they going to live? Did he live with his family? Where? How often do you have to sharpen your machete?
And Rita – so friendly – always smiling. You’re whose aunt? Do you have any children? Where is your family?
I think if I could have just chatted with some of these people, I would have a better idea of their satisfaction with their station in life. But I couldn’t.
What I do know is that these people have seen something in my daughter and have taken her into their lives and want her there. They have seen her soft heart, her wit and her commitment to her word. Because of that, they invited me into their homes. They fed me. They gave me their own bed in which to sleep. They sang with me. And they looked into my face and smiled.
I guess that’s all I need to know.
On Christmas Eve, in San Jose, the small church welcomed the two gringos to play music for the worship service. I loved that. But for a few who spoke English, I could talk with no one.
We shared the peace of the Lord, we shared communion and we shared the joy of the celebration of our Savior’s birth.
I know that too.
Nicolette’s Dad."
I would have liked to have chatted with Hazel’s fiance’. How did he and Hazel meet? Where were they going to live? Did he live with his family? Where? How often do you have to sharpen your machete?
And Rita – so friendly – always smiling. You’re whose aunt? Do you have any children? Where is your family?
I think if I could have just chatted with some of these people, I would have a better idea of their satisfaction with their station in life. But I couldn’t.
What I do know is that these people have seen something in my daughter and have taken her into their lives and want her there. They have seen her soft heart, her wit and her commitment to her word. Because of that, they invited me into their homes. They fed me. They gave me their own bed in which to sleep. They sang with me. And they looked into my face and smiled.
I guess that’s all I need to know.
On Christmas Eve, in San Jose, the small church welcomed the two gringos to play music for the worship service. I loved that. But for a few who spoke English, I could talk with no one.
We shared the peace of the Lord, we shared communion and we shared the joy of the celebration of our Savior’s birth.
I know that too.
Nicolette’s Dad."
KINDRA FILSON
How were the community, the living conditions, the people, the experience, the country, the culture, etc. different from what you expected? What were your assumptions about these things going into the trip and what differed from these assumptions after you visited? What was a pleasant surprise? What was a rude awakening?
"Well, being the world traveler that I am, :) I had seen conditions that were similar to, if not almost identical to the places we visited in Costa Rica. The Dominican Republic and even parts of Chile related closely with those of Nicolette's home in El Jardin for the past 5 months.
My pleasant surprise was the way in which my family (of course I am including the Smiths) and our Costa Rican hosts carried themselves. Setting - Their house: 30 ft by 30 ft square concrete floor, wood panels for the sides of the house and a tin roof. No insulation, cracks everywhere. That small space divided in half to separate their beds from the other "all-purpose" room, ie kitchen, living room, dining room, etc. The furniture: 2 wooden benches and a chair, 2 small tables, 1 portable two burner stove. The people: 10 Costa Ricans and 6 gringos (Americans). So, there all of us were, Nicolette our only connection. God decided that it was going to be a good day. Completely out of our comfort zone due to size, dirt, animals (chickens for me), modern conveniences, forced to be in such close proximity with one another, it was a completely wonderful afternoon. We gave the children our presents and then played with the toys and cards with ease and smiles on our faces. Nicolette was our translator which made many of the interactions much more meaningful, as the rest of us could communicate only on the most basic level. But it was truly the demeanor of everyone. I could imagine that our host family could have felt a bit embarrassed of their living conditions because they know what we have by watching movies, using the internet, etc. Likewise, it could have been easy for us to sit awkwardly waiting to be entertained. Yet we all took our places on the benches, drank the sweet milk that was offered, and ate (well some of us were able to sneakily avoid actually swallowing) the fried pig fat that was so graciously prepared for us upon our arrival. Our host family's faces were so kind and it was evident that they were proud to share their home with Nicolette's family. Nicolette has shown them love and they wanted to return the gift to her family. Again, it would have been easy to politely decline the food and drink or to have sat uncomfortably in their home as the benches are not exactly lazy boys, but that was not the case. Each one of us allowed God to open our eyes and to relax us so that we could feel the sense of family that Nicolette feels everytime she travels to El Jardin. That was more than my pleasant surprise I guess; that was my gift."
Here are some greatest hit pictures from our trip...
