Our 2011 Mission Journey Begins

Greetings from Costa Rica, and many thanks for your donations, support, prayers and well wishes.  We departed the St. Mark's parking lot at 8:30 on July 30 for our US Airways flight to San Jose.  The flight was lengthened in duration due to tropical weather over the Gulf of Mexico, but was otherwise uneventful.  We arrived to rainy 76-degree temperatures and boarded our bus after going through Immigration.

Our bus driver Eslavin Flores navigated the streets of San Jose and Rte 32 getting us to Earth University at 17:20 Tico Time. Earth University has a campus of 8,000 acres, and is home to 420 students from more than 25 countries.  Students at the university study for four years to earn Bachelor of Science degrees in agriculture, learning eco-friendly ways to grow food and medicines and manage waste in areas with limited resources, both financial and material. 

Upon arrival, we met our CDO Liza who assisted us in navigating through our check-in and dining procedures. We spent some free time walking the grounds and marveling at the lush plants and flowers surrounding the buildings and pathways (the consensus was that the campus was like something out of “Jurassic Park,” which was actually filmed in Costa Rica).  We had a nice dinner in the university's cafeteria (hot dogs – “perros calientes”) . Shortly after dinner, the members of the St. Mark's Youth Mission Team 2011 arrived from their excursion. It was nice to greet them and share Compline and discussion. We then retired for the evening.

2011 Mission Team members include:

Alice Bayne

Liz Gail

Roger Benskin

Matt Addington

Ralph Fischer

Scott Hundertmark

Philip Lloyd

Paul Dienemann

Jackie Dienemann

Crista Cohen

Ash Hollar

Sarah Hollar

Whitney Hollar

Sharon Vaughn

Rebecca Yarbrough

Mike Tinsley

Donna Osborne

Clarence Fox

Pura Vida