July 16 - Gulf Coast Mission Trip

Our first day on the job site was composed of about half Spanish-speaking Costa Ricans and half English-speaking Missourians. I was worried at first about communicating. Once we got started into the work, we all understood the gestures, signs and body language of stirring paint, rolling paint on the ceiling, ripping up carpeting, and do you need water? What first began as a halting attempt at basic communication soon became a fun sharing of each other’s language as we practiced different words.

During a lull in the work in the afternoon we stood around chatting and asked, “What is the Spanish word for bathroom?” “How do you tell between the feminine and masculine forms of words?” and “Do you have slang versions of words?” We were surprised to learn that Linda and Christian from Costa Rica were afraid of insulting us by using expressions or phrases incorrectly.

By the end of the day we had all worked together to paint a kitchen ceiling, lay a laminate floor and remove sheet rock. We were beginning new friendships. Even the homeowner, Miss Elaine, joined us both in working and sharing our life stories.

Link to photo album http://www.mychurchphotos.com/AlbumPhotos.aspx?id=30048&album=2030138