Debriefing on what enriched and what surprised....

Back in the states now reflecting on how the Lord blessed, our group of five shared some of the blessings of the experience.

Bob and Barb Nesbitt

For my part, I could not be more thankful for those people there in Costa Rica who made the experience a smooth one. I especially thank the Nesbitts--Bob and Barb--for their continual care and concern that all was well during our time there. Also, the staff and faculty of ESEPA and especially the host families--Paul and Sofia, Magaly and Rodolfo, Viviana and Antonio, and all their family members. How well they took care of us and even spoiled us.

Eduardo ("Negrito") and Tattiana

In regards to the work, we enjoyed so much getting to know and working with Tattiana, Eduardo, Andres, Libya, Daniella, and Tiffany. We thank the Lord, too, for getting so much done, and we pray that those at ESEPA will continue their love and labor at that beautiful spot in San Jose.

Jose and Paulina (fabulous cook)

For Barbara, the most enriching was the warmth and generosity of everyone we met and the abundant natural beauty of the country. For her, the most unexpected of the blessings there were all the treasures we found in the library (the urna collection, books older than 1935 and/or with other unique characteristics).

Stephanie shared, "I so appreciated the hospitality that we were shown. The Costa Rican people were extremely generous and thoughtful.  The staff and students at ESEPA were so kind, and our host family made our experience very memorable." Stephanie did not expect to get to travel so much and see the various parts of the country.  "We visited the mountains, famous parks and cathedrals, and some of the famous waterfalls as well."

Antonio, Viviana, and Diego

For Camille, the most enriching part of her stay in Costa Rica was time spent with the believers and getting to know the family with which she stayed. The most unexpected experience, for Camille, was our short time at the beach. "Normally," she shared, "if I had the choice between visiting a museum or going to the beach while visiting another country, I would always choose the museum. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the beach at Esterillos."

Madison shared that "Life is hollow without relationship and this trip certainly flooded the well of my heart by connecting with so many people....My life is enriched by the stories, the shared experiences and the souls of faith God allowed me to encounter while in Costa Rica." Madison states, too, that God surprised her by introducing her to ladies who were so joyful and so filled with Christ in spite of holding pasts of extreme pain. "It was amazing to witness living proof of God's redemption and restoration that He constructs in the lives of His beloved."

Moto, Paul and Sofia

For myself, Tia, it was so enriching living with the Tico families. For as many years as I have lived overseas, they have always been with my (wonderful) Gringo family. This was an amazing experience of culture and food and family. (I was especially impressed by Viviana: she's a stock broker with a crazy schedule; yet she is totally involved in her church family AND she makes hand-made tortillas for breakfast.)

For me, the most unexpected experiences came with horse-back riding on the beach (loved it, even if brief) and taking the buses to get to church and work. 

I praise the Lord especially for the team with whom I worked.  Wonderful workers and fantastic friends.  Thank you, Barb, Camille, Madison, and Stephanie (alphabetical order :) ).

Made it home to the USA!

last view of Costa Rica

...just in time for the Olympics, I might add.

We did make it home safely and soundly. We had a few small glitches in the last few days, but nothing that wasn't dealt with through the help of friends or the airlines.

I will write more after our debriefing meeting this week.

Down to the wire

Daniella and Tattiana working on reference

Our last work day at the ESEPA library was--from a librarian's standpoint--a bit of a nailbiter. We knew from the beginning of the time here that much of the reorganization of this 18000-item library would be out of a two-week reach, but Tattiana had certain goals that she wanted to see complete. This week's work entailed many of these, and the last of those tasks demanded that we reorganize the location of all the books in the general collection for more effective access. (Next week before we leave, I hope to get a more accurate estimate of how many books these were...but there were 13 rows of bookshelves...)

Daniella and Stephanie cleaning and protecting books

Tia, Tattiana, and Camille cleaning books

Tia and Camille working on labeling

Barb helping Eduardo move shelves

We did not get to this task until the very last day, and due to several other obligations, we were not even going to have all of us working on it the entire day. Also, we had been told that the administration wanted to provide a thank you "despedida" for us starting at 3:30pm. The challenge in moving all the books involved a variety of variables. For instance, books could not be put on a shelf until other books were removed (an ongoing circulation of teamwork); and the order of the books was changing not only from one end of the library to the other end of the library, but each row would therefore be going in a different direction than it had before. Basically as we moved the books as a team, we had to think backwards and forewards at the same time... with numbers, with letters, with Spanish and with English,. Suffice it to say, we now know who on our team is best at  thinking in two directions at the same time.

Eduardo y Tattiana

3:30pm -- Finished!

We also had Eduardo ("Negrito") and Tattiana working with us, and just at 3:30pm exactly, we had all the books in their new places. With great exaltation and relief, we enjoyed a sweet time of coffee and donuts, reflection and gratitude all around.

We so appreciate the love, generosity, and hospitality 

of the ESEPA family.

Sarita

On to our second week of work

Our weekends were all spent differently, since we live in different spots, but some highlights included 1) for Barb and Stephanie a ladies Bible retreat and then up a mountain for trout fishing and fresh trout dinner; 2) for Madison and Camille, an evening worship service on Saturday and then on to Los Sueños resort at the beach; 3) for me, all day working on my master’s thesis, with an evening break at a great Chinese restaurant, and on Sunday, I grabbed the bus again, and made my way to Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, where I enjoyed services with my church family from the four years we lived here. What a blessing!

Now it’s back to work for all of us. We’re back into the “bodega” room –the one with over 3000 used-to-be-unsorted books. Last week we worked on pulling out books for the special collections room (and in there, we are now well past 1020 books, cleaned, organized, and shelved). Monday and Tuesday of this week, we are sorting through the others which we have already separated into processed and unprocessed. Now with those processed, we are getting those in order and ready for Tattiana to go through for catalog checking and correcting. Very busy we are… and dirty.

Madison with Tattiana, the librarian

Today is a sad day for us in a way. Today we have to say goodbye to Maddie, who leaves earlier than the rest of us. With her spunky spirit and strong hard work, Madison has been a blessing to us all. She has left special marks on hearts of those around her: bringing a spark of play and especially of love to her team members and to those with whom she visits and stays.

End of Week One

While looking at the 1000plus books that we had gone through--cleaning, putting on protectant, repairing, organizing, reshelving--Camille asked Tattiana (ESEPA librarian), "¿y ahora que?" ("And now what?"). Tattiana, admiring all the books in order, replied simply, "Contemplar."


This past week we have sorted through an estimated 3500 (maybe more...), pulling out those that need to be put into special collections (unique copies or those printed before 1935), those that have been processed but just never put back on shelves correctly, and those that have never been processed at all or just don't belong in the collection at all.
Of those, around 1004 have been cleaned, repaired, protected, reorganized and reshelved into "La Urna" --the special collection of antique and unique books.

Some pictures here below... and I could have taken so many more photos, but I did have to get work done, too. :)

Getting down to work

We're settled into our tico homes: two of us in one spot, two of us in another, and me in yet a third--all of us having our own adventures in the evening, but those will have to be other blogs for each to create on their own. :)

Here I want to show you the work.  The library has 18,000 books in the general collection. However, there are 3,000+ more books that have just been stashed in boxes and in rooms for the last few years. (The main challenge in this project is that until this past May, there has not been a librarian active for several years). So Tattiana, after she gave us an excellent orientation to the library and its corners, has us starting with this one room of mixed books. In particular, we are pulling out those that should go into Special Collections--books of artistic or unique value and all those in age up to 1935.  (I'll share some photos of those at the bottom here.)

Here are some photos of the before situation:

 
  

And here are some photos of us working:

And a few pictures of how it's turning out and some of the unique books we have found.