The Flood

When I lived in Costa Rica, it seemed like every week I had a new story of adventure or new experience.  Now I am back in Lubbock, and I was feeling as if adventure was far from possible.  I couldn't have been further from the truth.  Last weekend I was feeling that hunger for excitement, so I bought a backpack, borrowed some gear, and set off for a nearby masterpiece of creation known as Caprock Canyon with my good friend Tyson.

 

I am actually not very experienced when it comes to outdoor activities, and not a big fan of planning ahead either.  This was not a good combination of characteristics for an overnight backpacking trip.  "What's the worst that could happen?", I said to myself.  Well let me tell you...

 

The journey began on a mild weathered Saturday afternoon in the plains of the Texas panhandle.  We had a two hour drive to our destination across nothing but tumbleweed infested cotton fields.  It was a windy day, but still warm.  Thankfully, the winter cold had not yet set in. (Yes, it does get cold in Texas.)  The map on my Iphone seemed to be doing a great job in getting us to our destination until we arrived here.  (See below) 

 

I was under the assumption that the directions to "Caprock Canyon State Park" would direct me to the park's entrance.  Instead I was directed to take a dirt road for a couple of miles into the middle of nowhere, then hike another mile or so into the center of the park.  We decided to go find the proper entrance which was about 20 miles on the other side of the park.  Tyson and I are both pretty positive guys, so this detour didn't disturb us one bit.  The only effect it had on us was the fact that we lost an hour of sunlight for our hike.

 

After we literally drove around the entire park, we finally made it to the entrance, paid our entry fees and began our beautiful hike.  Our plan for the day was to hike 1.25 miles to the designated camping area, set up camp, then hike to Fern Cave and back.  When we arrived at the designated camping area, there were already 2 families there so we decided to continue on and create our own campsite further up the trail so we weren't all sharing a small campground.  The trail was pretty mellow until we approached the area on the map that was "extremely steep and rugged."  There were a few areas where climbing was necessary, and we weren't quite sure if it would be as easy going down.  Either way, we continued on to get to the cave.  For some reason our destination became the cave assuming that we would find a decent place to camp, possibly with extra shelter.

 

This was what the mellow section of trail looked like:

 

 and this was the "Extremely Steep and Rugged"

 

There were many beautiful sights to be seen:

 

Tyson looking over the our trail and the campsite we had bypassed:

 

When we reached the the top of the canyon we assumed we had almost reached the cave, but we were still about a half mile away.  About this time, the sun was on its way down and the clouds where on their way in.  We knew we needed to set up camp soon, but we were determined to make it to the cave.  We just knew there would be a good camping location there.  After continuing on some steep and rugged terrain, we finally made it to the cave area.  It was a beautiful that really made me feel as if I were in a far away land, when in all reality, I was about 5 miles from civilization. 

 

By this point we had about 30min left of daylight so we found the first reasonably flat piece of land to set up our tent on.  As you con see, dawn arriving quickly.

 

So we ended up getting our tent set up both before darkness and before the storm hit, but oh how the storm hit!  At about 7:00, just after I had finished cooking a bowl of Wolf chili, it began to sprinkle.  Then around 7:30, it began to pour with the accompaniment of bursts of lightning and deafening thunder.  Tyson and I were both tired from lack of much sleep the night before so we decided to go to bed early.  I tried to sleep for the next two hours, but the storm only grew stronger and stronger.  There were no breaks between thunder claps, just a continuous rumble.  Neither one of us got much sleep, and we both sat up at about 9:30.  It felt like it was 3:00 in the morning...but it wasn't.  Tyson started to look around the tent and started to notice a puddle that was forming in his corner of the tent.  He was determined to dry the tent out, and I was determined to ignore it and just sleep through it, but the rain continued and so did the growth of the puddle.  At this moment I began to get a little uncomfortable.  Sunrise was still about 9 hours away, so the thought of waiting this out was fading, but I continued to lay there just hoping to fall asleep and wake up to a beautiful morning...

 

Then I heard something.  It was a soft roar in the distance.  I asked Tyson if he heard it, and he said it might be some farm equipment over the canyon.  In the pit of my stomach I knew what the sound was.  It was flowing water, and it sounded just like a waterfall.  Now the puddle was continuing to grow so we started taking action to preserve our dry clothes as well as our phones to keep them safe, and then it hit.  A wall of water slammed into the side of our tent and in no time, we were almost floating.  Only the weight of our bodies kept us on the ground, but in an instant we were in the middle of a river.  I immediately tried to get out of the tent, fearing the water wouldn't stop, but the zipper was jammed.  Shock and fear began to set in, and then panic came.  Then I realized that the tent was still doing a decent job of separating us from the rain and water so we waited.  Almost everything we had was soaked, but we still packed up everything as quickly as we could.  At this moment all I have on is a pair of short soccer shorts, and Tyson is in his boxers.  Our jeans didn't survive.  Once we got everything packed up we continued to wait for the rain to stop.  We knew we had to move so now it was decision time.

 

Do we wait for the sun to rise before we move out? (It was only 10:00 PM)

Which direction would we walk? (We were no longer on a trail)

Do we bring the tent?  (The tent bag had washed away in the flood)

 

For some reason, I was determined to find the tent bag more than anything else because the tent was borrowed.  This ultimately helped us make the best decision of the night because we decided to follow the river hopefully to civilization.  As you can see on the map below, we were surrounded by "extremely steep and rugged" terrain.  We knew this and thought that the river bed would probably be the easiest path at the time when all we had was one tiny flashlight to guide us.  We were so shaken up that we were not sure whether or not following the river would take us closer to a campsite, or further into the unknown.  Anyway, we just started walking and didn't look back.  I was able to pack then tent in my backpack, so we left nothing behind.  2 guys hiking down the river in the middle of the night with just one flashlight was quite a feat.  For the next 2 hours, we sloshed through the water and jumped from rock to rock all in soaking wet shoes with no socks on.  About a quarter of a mile down river I found a piece of my gear that had washed away, but no tent bag.  To avoid thinking about our situation, and how far away we were from the car, I stayed focused on finding the tent bag.  I was holding the flashlight so I kept shining it under rocks looking for the bag sometimes leaving Tyson stepping in the dark.  It seemed hopeless, and pointless.  The tent bag wasn't really that big of a deal, but for some reason I kept searching, and it finally appeared, wedged beneath a rock about a mile away from where we had lost it.  I was filled with excitement at such a small discovery, but it gave us hope.  We were still about 4 miles from the car and we didn't know where on the map we were. 

 

Not to long after we found the tent bag, we also came upon a trail marker.  We had no clue what trail, but we knew if we just followed a trail we would soon be able to find ourselves on the map and navigate back to the car.  Pretty soon, we made it to dry land and things were looking up.  We had found the bag, found the trail, and realized where we were.  The only bad news was that it was midnight and we were still a good 3 miles from the car.  Our sleeping bags were soaked so there was no alternative.  We must make it to the car. 

 

The final leg of the hike was pretty uneventful.  We had plenty of time to reflect on what had happened to us and on how blessed we were that the temperature didn't drop in the middle of all that happened.  Temperature-wise, we were actually somewhat comfortable throughout the entire night.  The batteries in our flashlight did die before we made it to the car, but luckily we saved our trusty Iphones to light the rest of the way.  We finally arrived at the car with each having less that 10% battery in each phone.  We relaxed for about 5 minutes, then hit the road back to Lubbock.  What a night...

 

Here is a map of our journey.  They black route was before dark.  The blue route was after dark.



An interesting observation from the night was that neither Tyson nor I looked at the event as a disappointment.  When I first told the story people said that it sounded like a terrible experience.  There were times of fear, but the overall trip was packed full of excitement, adventure, and life.  That is what I enjoy: Life to the fullest.

 

-Kevin

 

A Winner's Journey

www.awinnersjourney.com

"When Helping Hurts"

For anyone who has ever spared his change for the poor and the questioned whether or not you made a difference or just encouraged someones addiction.  For anyone who has ever wondered if going to Africa for a week is any better than just sending the money that you would have spent on the flight directly to the people there.

I just recently finished reading "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert which contains, in my opinion, the most helpful information regarding poverty alleviation in your community and around the world.  If you have any care or compassion for the poor and suffering in our world, I suggest you read this book, not only because you could be hurting others and yourself, but it also gives you the proper perspective on poverty in general.


Whether or not you are a Republican or Democrat, Christian or Atheist, or none of the above, I bet that most people would agree that, "There should be no poor among you." Deuteronomy 15:4.  Corbett and Fikkert expound upon what God wants for his creation, and how we can be a part of it.  


One of the most important points made is that "A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development."  This idea is huge.  Giving somebody a $100 may be the most critical thing that you could do for someone, or it could be counterproductive towards their relief from the poverty that they are in.


Some other powerful ideas that are explained in this book:


"Our perspective should be less about how we are going to fix the materially poor and more about how we can walk together, asking God to fix both of us."


"Avoid Paternalism:  Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves."


My favorite ideas which could really could be revolutionary if considered and taken seriously:


"We do have much to share out of our knowledge and experiences, but oftentimes the materially poor have an even deeper walk with God and have insights and experiences that they can share with us, if we would just stop talking and listen."


"But more importantly, we started a process of empowerment by asking a simple question: what gifts do you have?  When one is feeling marginalized, such a question can be nothing sort of revolutionary."


"And finally, the good news of the gospel of the kingdom is that Christ is not just sustaining all things, but he is reconciling all things."






If we truly want to help our brothers and sisters suffering in material poverty, we need to do something about it.  And if we want to do something about it, we need to do the best thing possible.  I believe that this book lays out the groundwork for you to be able to make the proper judgement to find where and what you should do in the area of poverty alleviation.


Thanks for reading.  Hasta Luego.



A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com

The Injection

Today, I thought I would share with you a story about the health care I have received here in Costa Rica.  I would like to say that I have continued to have perfect health since I have been here, but I have had a cold a couple times; pretty much nothing compared to malaria (or whatever I had).

Anyway, Costa Rica has a universal health care program for all of its citizens and residents, which I am neither. What I do have is a host brother who works at the local clinic (the Caja).  This inside connection allowed me not only to get access to free health care, but also an opportunity to bypass the long wait to see a doctor.  Before I first went to the Caja, I had heard stories about different experiences some of the staff here as long as locals have had there.  All of the stories included long waits of up to 3 hours, and most concluded with an injection in the trasero (the rear).  No matter what the patient had, they were always prescribed an injection. The question is, is what the injection actually is composed of.  It has become a joke here in the office that it is actually just a placebo and they have a huge barrel full of it in the back of the clinic.

So when I started to get sick, I tried to rest as much as possible and let it pass so that I wouldn't have to go to the hospital.  At the time I was expecting to pay about $150 for a visit to the clinic, so I was trying to avoid it for as long as possible.  Also the thought of a possible injection made me shy away as well because I do not like them.  After about 3 days of being sick and missing work, my family finally convinced me to go see the doctor by letting me know that my host brother would be able to get me access to "express" health care at no cost.  The next morning I decided to go, expecting to be waiting for several hours before even seeing the doctor.  This was not the case.  As soon as I arrived and found my host brother, I was escorted through the doors and back to the first doctor in sight.  My host brother asked him if he would be able to see me and he agreed.  What he agreed to was to ask me what symptoms I had, a 10 second visual exam, and writing a prescription, and what for?  an injection, as well as some antibiotics and cough syrup.  The entire visit with the doctor lasted about 5 min, was all in Spanish, and the doctor did not even ask me my name.  Right after that, I was escorted back to receive my injection which took about another 5 min.  It was a very painful injection that required me to limp all the way back to the car.  I was expecting at least to have to pay for the bag of medication that I received, but even that was on the house.  Thank you citizens of Costa Rica!  The total amount of time spent in the clinic was less than 20 min.

A few weeks later I started getting a sore throat.  Once again I tried to wait it out, but it didn't pass.  I had to go back to the Caja.  This time my visit with the doctor was even shorter.  The examination lasted about 5 seconds before the doctor was prescribing me the same injection and antibiotics.  This time I went to the clinic by foot, so I had to hobble all the way back to my office (about a 10 min walk).

Both visits to the Caja have ended quite successfully.  I like to think the the injection has a magic ingredient that can cure anything.  If you ever journey to Costa Rica, I recommend you pay a visit to the Caja in Atenas.  Ask for Warner and tell him you know me, and you will get the best "express" health care you will ever have.  No waiting rooms, no waiting again for the doctor after you have seen the nurse, and the best part of all is that you will get the magical injection!

Until next time...



A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com

Waterfall!

Hello everyone,


My internship is officially halfway though!  It is exciting that I have done so much, but sad that I am going to be done so soon.  I have been hard at work here continuing on our project design for Ecuador.  If I get all of my work done, there is a possibility that I will get to go on another project trip to Honduras!  


During my time here we are working quite a bit, but every once in a while we get to go on some pretty cool adventures.  Last weekend we decided to go find a waterfall that we had heard about by word of mouth... Spanish word of mouth.   That means that our directions may not get us to where we want to go. Brad had actually looked the week before and not found it, so we decided to go with him and give it another shot.  Here is a video I made that captures most of our trip.  Sorry (family and friends) I am not in it very much, but somebody has to be the cameraman right?

Here are some photos from the trip:

Also, while I was going through my video footage I found some old stuff from last year that I forgot to produce into a video.  So here it is:  Snowboarding with my friends in Boreal California:

Thanks for coming by!

A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com

Ecuador

Welcome everyone to another episode of A Winner's Journey.  I think that every post I have is going to have an apology for being late, but at least I still got around to it.  I try to document as many stories as possible because I once read (paraphrase) "If we do not remember our past, our stories, then it is as if those stories never existed."  I really took that to heart and began writing.  This idea really motivates me to remember the journeys that God has taken me on, and to share them with others so that you may enjoy them and be encouraged as well. 

It has already been 5 weeks since my trip to Ecuador, so here it is.

I traveled to Ecuador from Costa Rica (a short three hour flight) with Dan (eMi staff) and Brad (eMi intern).  We met 10 other volunteers there who had all come from the U.S. Our purpose in Ecuador was to complete the design of the Master Plan of a Youth Camp  as well as a detailed building design of the Multipurpose Building for Word of Life Ministry in Quito.  They are a ministry that seeks to reach youth for the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the training of youth in Ecuador to serve in their communities and other countries.  Our design of the camp is going to play a vital role in what they are doing because they are already actively running camps on their property with insufficient housing and meeting space.  The property is located in the heart of the Andes Mountains just outside of Quito.

This is the view we first saw when we pulled up to the site.  It was like we were in the Misty Mountains, but with palm trees!  It was truly a beautiful sight to see.  

The only problem is, as you can see, the site is on the side of a mountain, which is extremely difficult to design on as well as dangerous.  As we first walked around the site, one of the first things we were shown was that there is a landslide area on the north side of the property which is threatening the site.  It has formed a cliff which drops off over 100 feet or so.  It was actually kind of scary to be so close to such an unstable area, but of course, we had to go look over the edge.

Our team spent about 3 days on the property site surveying and designing.  I did a little bit of both...

There are only two seasons there: dry and rainy.  We were there in the rainy season.  That means it rains almost everyday.  Because I was on the survey crew, we were the first people to get to work each day and work until about 12, when the rain would begin and not end till late at night.  

Because I wanted to be a part of the architectural design team as well as the survey team, I was working from about 7 in the morning till 10 or 11 at night each day we were there.  It was hard work, but fulfilling, and I love it.  We had an amazing team of volunteers who also loved to work hard and the project design progressed quite quickly throughout the week.  After only 5 days of design we were able to present our design of the master plan and the multipurpose building to the ministry.  This is one of my drawings of the multipurpose building we came up with.

Every day the pictures that God painted for us in the sky were more beautiful than the day before.  I really love palm trees.

Every time I go somewhere, the most influential experiences that I have involve the people that I am blessed to come into contact with.  This week in Ecuador we were able to spend a whole week with the Daniel and Ana Gonzales.  Let's go ahead and add them to my list of heroes.

Both Daniel and Ana have unique stories that begin on opposite sides of South America that ultimately bring them together.  Daniel is from Argentina and Ana is from Colombia.  Ana grew up in Colombia.  Her family was not a Christian family, and it was not until her brother went to work for a mission organization, unbeknownst to him at the time, where he ended up first giving his life to Christ.  Ana noticed the change in her brother's life and gave her life to Christ as well.  When this happened, she didn't just say a prayer and continue in her normal life.  She made a decision that she was going to follow Christ with all of her life, no matter where he took her.  Ana soon became interested in preaching the Gospel to the natives in the jungles of Colombia.  She said that this was interesting because at the time, "only gringos were missionaries in the jungle."  She had the desire in her heart to serve her own people.  At the age of 19, Ana fell in love with a man named Ramon who also desired to be a missionary in Colombia as well.  As soon as they were married they got connected with a mission group in the jungle, and they both had the opportunity of serving God where they desired.  I do not remember the timeframe exactly, but less than a year after they were married, Ramon went to work one day, into the dangerous jungle of Colombia, and that was the last time that Ana saw her husband.  Ramon gave his life for the Gospel that day and his story continues on today.  (A more detailed story of Ramon's Story has been written: "Crossing the Valley" Dan E. Nuesch.)

Ana was emotionally destroyed by this and soon after had to leave the jungle for safety reasons.  Although her husband had been taken from her, she was determined to persevere in her faith in Christ and continue to serve him.  She ended up hearing about a missionary center in Argentina, where she next moved to continue to serve.  This is where she met Daniel.  When they fist met, she was in the mindset that she would never be able to love another man.  Again, I forget the timeframe exactly, but I think it was about a year or two after they had both been serving faithfully in Argentina that they began to date and were soon married.

The next chapter of their life came, when Daniel received a call from Word of Life Ministries saying that they needed someone to serve in Ecuador.  Daniel and Ana had never considered Ecuador before, but they prayed about it and moved there to begin their own ministry together.  They have been serving the people there now for over 20 years I believe and are still pursuing their calling today as strong as ever.

One thing that I will always remember, that is really special to me, is that our work in Ecuador, designing the youth camp, will give Ana the opportunity once again to serve her people in the jungle again just as she had desired to do since she was a young believer!

Below are some more photos from Ecuador:

This is actually the crater of a volcano in which people have actually settled. 

This is the Basilica of Quito.  Normally when you come to visit a building like this, there are always roped off areas that you are not able to access, but this basilica was all open.  We were able to climb all the way to the top of the bell towers and even ring the bells.

Me and my cool hat.

The view from the top of the bellower

Standing on the Equator!  Some say that this is not actually the "real equator" but it is simply variable and dependent upon the chosen mathematical datum.

Interesting graffiti on the streets of Quito.

Another view of the basilica from above.

While on the equator I was able to show off my balancing skills by balancing an egg on the head of a nail (a trick that is said can only be done on the equator, but is actually not dependent on latitude).  It is still cool though, right?

Support Update: Support Needed: $9,300, Support Raised: $7,199.

Support can be easily donated online at https://emisecure.org/donate.html

Be sure to select my name from the list of Interns.

Thanks and God Bless you!

New posts coming soon.

-Kevin

A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com

Life in Costa Rica

As I promised.  Here are some photos that pretty much sum up my first month here in Atenas, Costa Rica

I actually live in a very small town Rio Grande, which is about 15 minutes from Atenas, where I work.  This photo is a glimpse of what I get to look at every morning from the bus stop where I wait for the bus from San Jose to bring me into town.  Obviously, they are pretty enjoyable mornings.  Sometimes I am a little distracted by the ant bites all over my legs that I receive the night before though.  It is usually this time of the day that I remind myself that I am actually living in Costa Rica!

Our first week in town we visited the capital city San Jose.  I chose to show this picture because high heels are worn everywhere in Costa Rica.  These were the highest heels I could find.  Note: If you are a woman traveling to Costa Rica, you may want to bring yourself a pair if you want to blend in... They are seriously everywhere.  I am trying to convince the two intern girls to be more Tico (Costa Rican) and buy themselves a pair, but they act like heels are painful and difficult to walk in or something.

This is a cool picture of an artist doing his work on the streets of downtown.  I thought it was a cool shot.  He is pretty talented.

This is the local "skate park"  It needs some work.  I would like to be able to build some new ramps here because there are actually a lot of skaters in the town with nowhere but here to skate.  We will see if my financial situation will allow for that.  If you are interested in supporting me financially to build this town some new ramps, let me know.

These are a couple of my new friends.

This is the National Stadium of San Jose where I got to watch my team: Saprissa play some futbol.  I have been to two games already and they are so much fun, even when no goals are scored like this night...  The most interesting thing about this stadium is that it was actually a gift from China.  Thats right, as a "token of appreciation" for the partnership that Costa Rica and China have, (which I am still not very sure what this partnership consists of) this $100 million stadium was constructed entirely by a staff of Chinese workers, and funded completely by China.  

This is Saprissa and their mascot before the game.

This is a crocodile we saw on the way to the canopy

After one week of of orientation in the office, they sent us to language school for two weeks to learn Spanish.  The first weekend they took us on a trip to the canopy for a zip line tour and then to the beach.  I love the beach.  Here is a view from the canopy.

And another one, with a little bit of ocean in it. 

 This is one of the zip line runs.

 This is a bat in one of the trees that we were in.

Here is a video of me flying!

As a part of language school we also visited a coffee plantation.  This is the birthplace of a Starbucks coffee bean!

Here are some coffee beans laid out to dry in the warm Costa Rican sunshine.

My first weekend in Costa Rica I was determined to go to the beach.  When all of my friends had other plans, I had to go on my own.  That meant I had to ride on a bus for 2 hours where absolutely nobody spoke english.  I forgot to mention that those two hours I had to stand up on the bus swerving through mountain roads because there were no seats left.  After a long ride, I walked straight to the ocean and was amazed by the amazingly warm temperature of water.  I took a similar trip like this 2 years ago when I moved to California, except for when I was in San Diego and I ran to the beach, I was terribly disappointed by the temperature of the water!  Costa Rica also has better waves to surf on.  Hopefully I will have some surfing pictures someday.

Did I mention I love the beach?

I have more to say, but this post is already getting long so I will end it with this picture of a once beautiful fish who was fried into a delicious dinner.  Yummy!

Hasta Luego,

Kevin

 

A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com

Yay!

Ok, it is time for a new post.  It has been a busy month settling in to life here in Costa Rica, but I am still alive and well.

Interesting news:  If you have been reading my blog, you would know that I had a malaria diagnosis last November in Rwanda yet the blood test was negative.  Just to double check when I returned to the states I had some more blood work done to see if the diagnosis was correct (plus I was continuing to develop symptoms off and on).  I was treated for malaria again and the symptoms went away... but the blood test was still negative... Finally I decided to go to a specialist who wanted to do one final blood test that would be able to tell me precisely whether I had ever had malaria or not, and once again... negative.  Therefore I never had malaria, but I definitely had something.  Only God knows apparently because I have been to 4 doctors and they cannot figure it out.  One thing that my final doctor did find is that I have a high probability of having Crohn's disease.  That has nothing to do with malaria, but it was a fun little bonus to add on to my stress at the time.  I am not writing all of this so that you will feel sorry for me.  I am only writing this as a preface to my next story.

With all of my doctor visits and sicknesses over the past year, and the new diagnosis of Crohn's disease, I was beginning to feel a little anxious and worried about my future.  This was just a few weeks before I left for Costa Rica, a time when I was supposed to be super excited, but the excitement just wasn't there because of all the distractions.  That was until I went to Colorado Springs where I met all of the other eMi interns for the spring.  We spent a lot of time in prayer that week, praying for our trip and any other needs we had.  I had everyone pray for my health the whole week.  I also know that many of you were praying for me as well and I have to thank everyone because, I was a little sick my entire time in Colorado Springs, but ever since I stepped foot in Costa Rica, I have not been sick for 1 day!  Praise be to God!  I have not gone 4 weeks without getting sick since last June, and now I have been healthy for 5 weeks now!  Thanks again for all of your prayers, and please continue to pray for me as I will be flying to Ecuador on Saturday for my project trip.

Kevin

Stay tuned for Costa Rica Pictures coming soon!

A Winner's Journey
www.awinnersjourney.com