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.

 

 

 

estamos aquí

As the saying goes, "the Lord works in mysterious ways." And even though we don't always understand his ways (For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. Isa. 55:8), the Lord is definitely always working.

Dayton airport, 5am on 7/5/2012

As the plans for our trip to Costa Rica developed, we found out that if we were going to take an excursion as part of our trip, it would have to be right at the beginning. I wasn't crazy about this idea... I believe in "work first, play later" (ask my kids). But the best logistics called for a pickup at the airport and then going straight out to the coast for two days of relaxing and enjoying the nature of Costa Rica.  As I mentioned to the ladies, "This is not the way I usually like to do things, but apparently God knows that one of us needs a vacation before we get to 8-5 library work." We're still not sure which one of that it is, but we're all reaping the benefits.

We arrived at the Dayton airport at 5am, and about 8-1/2 hours later, we arrived in Costa Rica after two flights and one layover and not a single glitch. Praise the Lord (and thank you USAirways). Right there waiting for us, the business dean of the seminary, Bob Nesbitt, picked us up, and we headed off for a "almuerzo tipico" (typical lunch). We had gone a long time without a full meal (neither flight offered a meal), and this banquet of pork, chicken, steak, refried beans, corn tortillas and more was a very satisfying way to start our visit.

crocodiles in Río Taracoles 

The other sweet beginning to this trip included meeting Alex, an accompanying college intern, and our transportista (driver), Juan.  


So we traveled out to a house at Playa Esterillos where we have been enjoying fellowship with Bob and his wife Barb and another Costa Rican missionary Stephanie. We took time to start our work plan  with a briefing from Bob and discussion of library start-up strategy and housing logistics and etiquette. Our group will be split up and living with three Costa Rican families, to whom we are very grateful, and to whom we want to be a blessing.


I have already seen how this time at the beginning benefits our well-being as a team. If I dare simplify it into a list, this is it:

1. We have had an excellent time to get to know each other better (living with another person certainly brings bonding up to another level).
2. We have had opportunities to see and get to know the culture a little better, which helps put the work that starts Monday into a more human perspective.
3. Throughout the daytime, we have enjoyed the beauties of such an intense and detailed creation. Thank you the Lord for all we enjoy. 

Last night, we shared around a bonfire on the beach a time of worship and praise, with Alex and Stephanie leading us. With the simplicity of guitar chords and with the backup of crashing waves, how much clearer and precise the words of these songs can touch my heart. And then again, here in the morning, our devotions and fellowship have that same background music,  punctuated with all sorts of bird song and chirps and squawks. (Those little green parrots make a ruckus!)

Bob and Alex 

One of the many creatures
with whom we share home. 

Psalm 93:4


Mightier 
than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the LORD on high is mighty!