Meet our Summer Interns!

Meet our Summer Interns... 

This summer we are bless to have 6 amazing interns!!! 

They got here in towards the end of May and will be here till the end of summer season. 

Their role for the summer is mainly to support each of our ministry sites 

and teams and they have ROCKED it so far! 

For those of you coming to SICR this summer, we are excited 

for you guys to get to know our interns! 

If you would like information on how to be a summer intern for 2015, 

send us an email @studentsinternationalcostarica@gmail.com

The last few months....

Ah! It has been a couple of months since the last blog.

Let me catch you up on what has been going on here in Costa Rica!!

We survived March Madness!!!
March was our busiest month this Spring. We welcomed 2 teams,  the SI board and a Vision team of professors that month. We had a team come from Mississippi and Bethel U. They did a great job jumping in at the ministry sites and getting to know the kids and women from the neighborhoods.

Some of the Mississippi team with the Tutoring Center Kids 

Having fun at the Micro Finance/Social Work site

 While we had teams in CR, our semester students went to visit SI Nicaragua. They were there for a  week to work with our SI-Nicaragua team. It was a great transition for them. They had just finished  6 weeks of language school and needed a little break from their studies.  While they were there, they got the chance to do a little sightseeing of Granada, explore the local markets in Masaya and go on a little boat tour in Lake Nicaragua.

 

After all the sight seeing, they spent the rest of the week working at the various ministry site that SI-Nicaragua has. 

AT::

Sports::

 Social Work:

 

Medical::

 Micro-Finance::

And at the end of April we said Good-Bye to our Spring Semester. We had a great 4 months with them are know that God is going to use them in a mighty way! 

 

Semester Program Spring 2014 and SICR Staff

May Showers::

The month of May is the beginning of our rainy season. It rains from May to November. It is also the beginning of our summer outreach season! A few weeks ago we welcomed Fresno Pacific University MBA program. They spent a week with us, observing and coming up with some great ideas for some of our sites. They also visit some local business while they were here. 

This week starts our summer marathon. We will be welcoming new teams every 2 weeks till August! We are excited for the teams that will be coming and serving along side us this summer. We know that God is going to do great things with each and every person that will be with us!

This Week:: Semester Students are at their ministry sites!

Our semester students have been in Costa Rica for a month now.
They have been in language school for 3 weeks and this week they were at their ministry sites!
Here are some pictures of the fun they had this week! 

Social Service ::

Just a little bit of fútbol (soccer)!  

One of the Las Fuentes soccer team having their weekly practice.  

Carissa, Jillian and Shiaman with one of the Las Fuentes students 

Woodshop:

John tearing apart pallet wood to be able to use for projects. 

 Elvira  sanding wood for a project.

Tutoring Center and Special Education:

                         

                                      Since it was election day last Sunday, the tutoring center decided to hold
                                      their own elections. 

Jennifer helping out with an Valentine's Day project.

Kourtney helping with a Valentine's Day project.

Jennifer and Marina 

Hello 2014!

We started 2014 up and running!

 The first week back, we welcomed our spring semester students to Costa Rica! They spent the first few days in orientation, learning about the country, the do's and dont's of the program and then going over their syllabus. (yes they are taking classes here and still have homework) 

Our Spring 2014 class! 

By the second week, the sites were ready to go! 

The tutoring center decided to have tallers (workshops) for the kids in Los Guido. Since it is summer break for the students, it is a perfect time to do varies activities that are not the norm for them. 

One day they made Angry Bird (like the game) pizzas that were a hit! 

Learning how to measure with our SI staff Rebeca

The finial product! 

Then they did a taller (workshop) on making musical instruments with pcp pipes.

The kids also made soft baked pretzels!

Yummy! 

This last week the sports site and social service came together and had a day of water games! 

There were kids from all ages that came out for a day of fun!

Throwing water balloons, squirting water at people and just laughing. 

Rooming shaving cream with a water launcher! 

A pool full of water balloons = FUN! 

Once the water balloons were gone, the little ones got to swim and play in the pool.

Over all it was a good day to be a kid in Las Fuentes.











At the woodshop, they kids are working hard on projects!

There has been a huge growth at the woodshop over the last serval months. It has been so encouraging to see new teenagers coming and learning how to build items that they can sell but also learn a trade that will benefit them in the future.

Jean-Carlos sanding some wood for a project 

Daniel measuring wood
 

We are excited for this coming year. We know that God is going to do amazing things through each one of these sites, communities and students! 

Special Education Ministry Site

Special Education... Our Newest Ministry Site! 

Meet Rebeca, she is our newest national (Costa Rican) staff member to join our SICR team! She is the site leader for our newest ministry site: Special Education. 

Our Special Education ministry site partners with the elementary school in La Capri.  In the education system in Costa Rica there are numerous children who need a little extra assistance in school, but do not qualify for the special education programs for a variety of reasons.  These children often slip through the cracks as they pass from grade to grade in the regular classroom, often not learning much.  Since they are in the regular classroom the teachers are not able to give them the attention they need. The special education site works with these students one-on-one or in small groups to help them succeed in school often focusing on literacy, math, and life skills. 

We are so excited to be able to offer this ministry site and cant wait to see how God will used this ministry to further His kingdom. 

Growth & Opportunities at the Woodshop

Our Woodshop ministry is growing and prayers are being answered. Joshua and Jehudi are doing a tremendous job of guiding the Woodshop as it grows.  Here is Joshua's perspective of what is currently going on at the Woodshop.

 "We are seeing growth in various areas of the ministry, and most importantly in our focus on the Gospel. Due to all the new students at the shop we have had to implement a more formal schedule as up to 15-16 kids have been showing up every day. We now regulate the schedule according to the student's school schedules if applicable. These kids often ask just the right questions to get into the good news of Jesus' work and resurrection, and through prayer the door is open for the gospel to go forth.The Lord has provided for the shop step by step and it could hardly be more encouraging to see how the Lord has been investing in this ministry through His people. I give thanks daily for this opportunity to be involved in what the Lord is doing and I am grateful to be able to share this blessing with our many supporters. " 

INA

One of our dreams has been to be able to partner up with INA (Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje), which is the Costa Rican national trade school in hopes to be able to offer nationally recognized certifications. This is something that we are in the beginning stages of investigating, but hopefully one day this dream can become a reality. 

Opportunity to Buy

We have been renting the Woodshop building for the last four years, and now there is the possibility to buy the building! Being able to buy the  Woodshopbuilding means extra space and freedom of ownership which would really streamline the  Woodshop's ability to maintain the facility and modify it according to our needs. It would also allow us to grow into a trade school to be able to potentially offer more than carpentry. Some of the ideas are: graphic design, baking, sewing, business, etc.

But we cant do it with out your help! In order for us to buy it, we would need the extra help from our donors. We lack $60,000 to be able to purchase the property free and clear.  However a generous donor is providing the opportunity of a $30,000 matching gift.  This means we only need to raise an additional $30,000 and we can purchase the woodshop!  This is a tremendous opportunity to double your gift.  Click here if you would like to help make this dream a reality!

La Casa Verde en Las Fuentes

Welcome to the NEW Social Service House! This last week our social service site celebrated their BIG move to their new house by hosting an open house. SICR has dreamt about having a house in Las Fuentes and being able to have more kids/teenagers from the neighborhood come. And that dream has now become a reality. 

There was a lot of work, money and time that was spent getting it ready. And now it's up and running and the turnout has been amazing. Here are some pictures from the Open House! 

 

Welcome to the Community House :) 

Before the party started 

A weekly schedule 

Breaking in the Foosball Table 

Rebeca (SICR Staff) with some the kiddos 

Some of our semester students playing Jenga

Some of the kids enjoying the snacks 

The Social Service would like to Thank everyone who helped make this dream a reality. 

THANK YOU

to all those who donated your time, talents and to those who donated financially.  

We are excited to see how God is going to use this house and cant wait to share the stories of lives being effected by this new change! 

If you would like to donate to the Social Service site for the house, you can do so here :)