First Team!
We excitedly and nervously drove to the airport to pick up our first short-term team - the very first group we’ve welcomed as a family to Pasteje.
Any nerves we felt melted away as we drove out of the parking lot. Why? Because these 19 to 26-year-olds were singing! They carried joy with them. Over the next ten days, they joined our hearts and hands with theirs, serving, laughing, sharing, and eating together.
Shawn, Joel, Lyndon (aka Flip), Karena, Danielle, Brittney, Kimberly, and Emily quickly wove their way into our hearts as they joined in our mission to restore Pasteje, preparing for the next season of building mighty men and women of God.
Flora and Lady prepared the exquisite meals. Flora has been one of the cooks on Pasteje for decades, but her sister Xinia typically completes the dynamic duo. Two days before the team arrived though, we received a message from Xinia in the hospital saying she would be having an appendectomy and wouldn’t be able to serve as a cook. However, she sent her daughter-in-law, Lady, who did an outstanding job and was an absolute joy to have with us.
We gave the team a challenging list of projects to tackle, and they proved they were up to the task!
Front gate – repair, paint, replace post, repaint Pasteje sign
Barbed-wire fence – remove all interior fences, including posts
Cottage – take all ruined drywall and construction trash to the street
Stone wall – rebuild the stone wall by the fountain
Upperroom – empty, sort, organize, remove ceiling, repair
Chapel – replace glass in the broken windows
Psalm 23 signs – restore and repaint salvageable signs
Helmuth residence – install the cast iron tub, move and clean bunkbeds for the boys’ room
And they did it! All of this!
We even spent one morning doing some work at our church, Encuentros Church International, in an effort to curb the destructive effects of the heavy rainfalls. Then they joined our oldest three at the Wednesday night youth group and shared their testimonies.
After long, tiring days, we spent most nights together in worship and sharing our stories. They also thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance of the natural setting here on the farm. We found out that on two separate nights, the girls and then later the guys ventured down to the creek (after midnight!) for a cellphone-lit cold dip in the water!
We ended the week delighting in God’s creation at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Zoo.
We praise God that the electricity stayed on, the water didn’t go out, there were no flat tires, no one was injured, any sickness was mild, and there were no earthquakes… EVERYTHING went smoothly.
Until the team left.
We had literally just dropped the team off at the airport. Dave was driving our oldest three kids to the AMCA youth group when the engine oil light came on. He pulled over at the nearest gas station. The dipstick showed “empty,” so he bought a few quarts of oil. After checking again, with identical results, he added a third quart.
He then decided to check under the van for signs of a leak and found all three quarts puddled on the concrete. We had the van towed to our mechanic and, a few days later, found out that there had been a hole in the high-pressure oil hose that sprayed oil all over the engine, ruining the alternator.
We’re grateful that there was no significant damage, and our van is faithfully serving us again. But that’s awfully suspicious timing, wouldn’t you say?! The enemy seemed to be firing back after we took significant ground with the team.
God continues teaching us to stand. To stand firm. To be strong in Him.
This first experience of hosting a team nurtured a strong desire in our family to host more and more teams! We’re beginning to schedule teams for 2024, with a few already aiming to come in the summer. Would you like to talk about bringing a team down? https://www.adlibmusic.com/missions
Here are some pictures…
These wonderful people came to us from Global Tribes Outreach, a ministry based in Terre Hill, PA! They were on a six-month missions program where they are based out of Bogota, Columbia, and take roughly ten missions trips from there. They are told little about their assignments and, in fact, were only notified two hours before leaving for the airport that they were coming to Costa Rica! It’s great missionary training. This was their first trip, which made a great pair for our first team.
Love,
Dave, Heather, Aspen, Clementine, Louis, Juliana, Huxley, and Caspian Helmuth
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