Can you hammar and kick a soccer ball at the same time?  Costa Rica Team 1 members lead by Frank and Nancy Hawkins came close.

In January 2009, Simsbury UMC sponsored a trip to Siquirres, Costa Rica with 14 team members from SUMC, Memorial UMC in Avon, and two local congregational churches.  While part of the team helped the St. Mary's staff with the Vacation Bible School, the other part of the team worked on the local elementary school.

Seventy children came to VBS on the first day, 90 children on the second, 120 on the third, and who knows how many children on subsequent days!  What a wonderful way to share God's love! 

Other team members were involved with construction tasks at the school which included stuccoing and painting walls, painting rebar windows, installing electricity and the beginning of floor tile installation.  Each afternoon ended with a soccer game with excitement at World Cup level.

Team members found that what they were able to give the people of Siquirres was minimal compared to the joy that they received from the beautiful people of Costa Rica!

Tyler Burr, grandson of team leaders, Frank and Nancy Hawkings, sums it up for the team. " I have told all of my friends at school about the trip to the point where they are almost sick of hearing about it...I learned so much from the people living in Costa Rica(both culturally and verbally in Spanish). My appreciation for what I have up here and at home has nearly doubled. I can thank you guys for giving me a truly meaningful break. I feel like I have done something good for the world rather than be just another typical, lazy, unmotivated college kid. Love,Ty"

Simsbury United Methodist Church (SUMC) continues to be alive with an excitement for both domestic and international VIM work!  On January 17, 2009 as the Costa Rica team was flying home, an SUMC-sponsored Disaster Recovery Team to Biloxi, MS was departing.  Seventeen VIMers, as they are called at SUMC, worked in Biloxi on two homes damaged during by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. 

Unlike years past, these two families each had a young child, and team members loved meeting them and seeing their little faces as their homes became transformed throughout the week.  In one home, team members diligently sanded and textured sheetrock while others painted the exterior and interior of the house.  Meanwhile, three other team members removed old flooring and installed ceramic tile in a second home's kitchen and bath - these three guys earned the title "The Tile Team". 
Thirteen out of seventeen of the team members were veterans to Biloxi, with this being the third or fourth trip for many.  When asked why she kept coming back, one team member said, "I keep coming back because there's still 'unfinished business' here".  When someone asks us, "So, when are you going to be all done there?"  Our response is simply, "When God stops calling us and sends us elsewhere!"