Pilgrims: Mary Anderson, Siena Gentry Charlie Haden, Alice Hensley, Andrew Johnston, Maya Langford, Owen Pearson, James Price, Will Ray, and Harrison White

Leaders: Scott White and Debbie Cox

Our trip began at 5:45 am from Trinity’s parking lot on Monday, July 25th and arrived in San Jose, CR that afternoon. One of the Costa Rica diocesan staff members picked us up at the airport and took us to the Diocesan house to get settled.

Costa Ricans said it was their winter season during the summer. It was cooler than I thought it would be. They called it the rainy season, also. It rained every day like Asheville lately.

The next day, we left for the Church of the Ascension to help paint their space of worship. We met Padre Eduardo of the Church of Ascension and he "gave us our assigned tasks for the week.". We bought the paint from a big hardware store. We painted the inside of the sanctuary and nave for 2 days. Everyone did a great job!

Wednesday afternoon after we had completed our projects, we went to Café Britt, a beautiful coffee plantation. We learned so much about coffee and the roasting process. We were offered a taste of each of the different coffees.

Thursday, we went to tour the CR waterfall, which had several animals. It was beautiful and I think the monkeys and the waterfalls were the favorites among the youth.

Friday, we toured Good Shepherd, which is the oldest Anglican church in San Jose. Afterwards, we enjoyed shopping at the market and being tourists.

We left Costa Rica on Saturday. Unfortunately, we had some travel hiccups coming home. We spent the night in Charlotte and arrived home on Sunday.

Our reflections were from The Sermon on the Mount each day, which we discussed each evening. Topics: Salt and Light, Anger, Anxiety, The world is not a stage, On Judging, Being and Doing

I have been on several international mission trips in the past twenty years. One of the things I enjoy the most is exposing our teenagers to the ways in which the church and its people exist in multiple cultures and about being in community with each other. Bishop Orlando of Costa Rica had a service for us in Spanish and English. I felt the presence of God even though I didn’t understand some of the words. Christ is the same in Costa Rica as at Trinity. Our mission in Costa Rica was to help Ascension beautify their church space and in doing so recognize the presence of God in this sacred place. It was my honor to be with these young people and experience it through their eyes! Thank you Trinity for your prayers and support!

Debbie Cox