I´ve been down in Shiroles since Monday.  I was able to make contact with Jorgeli, but wasn´t able to meet with him until Tuesday.  As I was looking for Benjamin, he was nowhere to be found, and Jorgeli didn´t know where he was.  Then I spoke with Commander Comacho at the US embassy, and found out that Benjamin was informed of the US Government’s intention to delay the transportation of the materials at the end of last week, and he left early Monday morning for Alto Cuen.

I can only imagine what is going through his mind right now.  He was told back in December that the U.S. Government would be able to transport the construction materials to the bridge sites during the dry season so that the bridges could be built.  And, yes, that was intentionally plural.  Right now there are 4 bridges that they have materials for and are trying to build.  We are here just for one this time, because the others can be reached by foot during the whole year.  Alto Cuen is only reachable during the dry season.  There is another way down from Alto Cuen, but I spoke with David Jones, a local missionary to the Bribri, and Cabeca indigenous groups and he said he had to walk that way after getting stuck once, and it took an extra two days to travel.  This kind of time addition is perilous when talking about EMS response times.  So at this point we are trying to build the one bridge, and protect the rest of the building materials from the weather until the other bridges can be built later during the rainy months.  The problem we´re currently facing is that since the U.S. committed to delivering the materials, the local government shifted their attention away from trying to find a way to transport the materials and on to trying to find other materials and people to build the bridges. 

If the US had said “no,” then Benjamin and others could have been working to provide for another transportation method.  They could have been coordinating with the helicopter that carries doctors to and from these villages to piggyback a few building materials at the same time.  They could have been searching for money to pay the helicopter themselves.  They could have been transporting the materials little by little with the police helicopter.  Unfortunately, the transportation has been delayed for the fourth time…and it was delayed until May 12th-16th.  And who knows if they will fulfill this promise. 

At this time we are hoping and praying for a miracle or for some better direction from the Lord.  If the concrete isn´t finished soon, then all the concrete, and the work to get it ready, and the work at the bridge site, and everything that has been sacrificed by our supporters and my family will be lost.  Perhaps now is the time that I need to start brainstorming ideas to help protect the concrete and the work that has been done from the rainy season so that we can build these bridges next February during the dry season.  I´ll be heading up to the bridge site tomorrow to speak with Margarito and the other residents up there, and to see what we can do to protect the work site so that we can finish this project and get these people the bridge that they so desperately need.  Please continue to pray for the success of the project, and to hold off the rains until the concrete is finished so I can get down from the mountains,  and also please send emails, phone calls, AND letters to all your senators and representatives so that the Secretary of Defense can understand what is at stake, and so he can understand that without the immediate completion of this bridge, it may take 10 years before they can try again, and many more people will be killed or injured by the river while trying to get down the mountain in the midst of a medical emergency. 

I´ll have more information and photos for you next week.  Adios!

- John Barry

Well, we made it all the way to Puerto Viejo on Sunday.  I landed around noon and we were able to catch the 2:00 bus.  We got here fine, but then of course being a Sunday, every room in town was completely booked, so we had to stay at Rocking J’s (the hammock hotel).  Evidently the rainy season got here a couple weeks ago, so I’m not sure what this is going to mean for the construction project, but we’ll be heading up to the river in about an hour and we’ll know more then.  The material transportation is supposed to begin today.  I don’t have any photos now, nor do I have much to tell, but I’ll know more when we get to Suretka, and I will get back to you all as soon as I can.  Perhaps tonight, perhaps tomorrow, but no later than Friday.  Adios!

-John Barry

Facing an ever-increasing number of service projects and with trips planned to several new partner communities, Experience Mission has hired two new employees and moved into a larger office space to ensure it can offer total support to all teams in the field this summer.

Autumn Merritt of Jackson, Michigan and Josh Gray of Indianapolis, Indiana – both of whom worked for several summers facilitating mission trips in EM partner communities prior to graduating from Indiana Wesleyan University – started with the organization this month.

Merritt will work in Michigan, EM Executive Director Chris Clum said, conducting screening interviews with dozens of potential Summer Staff intern candidates.

“We need another person badly, because this year we had more than 300 online applicants and we have to do a 90-minute interview with the majority of those people,” Clum said.

Merritt, who spent last summer in Pearlington, Miss., and ran recent Spring Break trips with Gray, said she is thrilled to come on board.

“I love it. I feel like if I had tried to create a job for myself I couldn’t have done a better job,” Merritt, 22, said. “There are lots of adventure and lots and lots to learn–there are always new challenges that keep me on my toes, so I know I won’t get bored. And you meet a lot of sweet people.”

Merritt majored in Business Administration and took a minor in Intercultural studies.

Gray also majored in Business Administration. His minor is in Religious Philosophy and Gray, 23, had been applying what he learned toward starting a church with friends in Indianapolis. Eventually, however, the church closed. Then, a house he had been renting a room in burned down.

“It just seemed like doors kept closing. The church closed, my house burned down,” Gray said.

He said Clum’s call with the employment offer was “very timely.”

“I’m very excited to be a part of EM – to continue some of the relationships I’ve made in our partner communities, and just to be a part of all the other things that EM is doing,” Gray said.

Clum said he’s excited about having the new team members on board.

“They not only understand our philosophy, approach and vision – the things that make Experience Mission what it is – they’re passionate about it,” Clum said. “They have tons of energy and they both have a great, great work ethic.”

The staff members come as EM moves into a new office facility in Port Townsend, Wash.

Clum said the move was necessary to accommodate the increased activity that will come as Gray and two temporary logistics coordinators start working in the office.

The logistics coordinators will arrive May 11. They’ll be able to stay in the building during their four-month tenure, Clum said.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s coming together well,” Clum said. “We needed a bigger office space, and this accomplishes that. We needed a place to house our logistic coordinators for almost five months, and this provides a place for them.”