Church members help out in Costa Rica

KIMBERLY BELLAMY
Staff Writer

July 02, 2008 10:38 am

— A group of teenagers spent eight days in Limon, Costa Rica, not for leisure but to fulfill a mission.
Two members of Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro went on a mission trip to the country from June 14-22.
Members The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rocky Mount and Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tarboro went on the trip, also.
The group that went consisted of about 13 teenagers and four adults, three being from Tarboro.
Bill Thorne, 47, his son George Thorne, 16, and Kyle Alligood, 17, are residents of Tarboro that went to Costa Rica to help St. Marks Episcopal Church.
The Thrones attend Calvary Episcopal Church and Alligood attends Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tarboro.
Alligood said that even though his church went on a mission trip to New Orleans, he wanted to take the opportunity to go on a mission trip out of the country after hearing about it from Louise Anderson.
This was the first year that Bill Thorne went on a mission trip.
Bill took Anderson's spot who had to cancel because of a family emergency. Anderson is the deacon of the Church of the Good Shepherd who has led the mission trips for the last couple of years.
After getting the opportunity to go on the trip, Bill Throne said that he would return.
"It was a great experience. It's something I wouldn't have ever done if I hadn't of went for my friend Louise and now that I've went, I would go again," Bill Throne said.
"It was a mission in itself that he was able to go and chaperone the youth," Anderson said.
Each year the demographics of the people that go switch from adult trips to youth trips.
The adult trips consist of medical missions while youth trips focus on construction missions.
This year, with the majority of the people being teens, the mission trip was construction based.
The teens painted the kitchen of St. Marks Episcopal Church, which adults of Good Shepherd built last year.
The youth’s main purpose wasn’t to just paint a kitchen but to make a positive impact on the youth in Costa Rica.
Our purpose was to “become friends with the youth of St. Marks and guide them for their youth group,” George Thorne said.
“They hope to model their youth group after ours (Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro).”
One of the ways that the youth from Tarboro connected with the youth from Costa Rica is purchasing games for them.
They bought soccer balls, volleyballs, footballs, board games and other games to donate to them.
After purchasing the games, both youth groups got the opportunity to play the games together.
The group also got the chance to take part in other leisure activities while there.
To show their appreciation, members of St. Marks threw a party for them one night.
Alligood said that they also got the chance do a zip line course through nature. A zip line course consists of getting hanessed in the air and sliding from one inclined point down to another from a cable.
Some members of St. Marks showed them around Costa Rica. The sight seeing they did opened their eyes to how different the standard of living is in the country compared to America.
“It gives you a new appreciation for life in America. It’s very poor there,” George Thorne said.
Little things like the poor road systems indicated the difference between the countries.
Cultural exposure is why Alligood decided to accompany the youth group to Costa Rica.
"I wanted to see another country and I wanted to learn the Spanish language better because I have been taking it for three years," Alligood said.
Although more residents of Costa Rica spoke English than Alligood expected, he said it was still helpful to visit there.
"I definitely know a lot more than I thought I did but it did help," Alligood said.
While there, the group interacted with people from other Episcopal churches in North Carolina.
“We met up with a group from Winston-Salem that was doing a mission trip in another city," George Thorne said.
Members of Episcopal churches from Tarboro to Charlotte have been traveling to Costa Rica for these mission trips. St. Marks is the companion diocese to the Episcopal churches in North Carolina.
Churches from this area have been going on mission trips since around 2005, according to Anderson.
Anderson said that part of the reason she continues to stay involved with the mission trips is because of the relationships she builds. She is continuing to build relationships now despite her not going to Costa Rica this year.
"Last week and this coming week, we are posting a deacon from St. Marks for two weeks of training here," Anderson said.
The deacon arrived on June 22 and will leave on Saturday.
George is the son of Bill and Jane Thorne of Tarboro. Kyle is the son of Dr. Gilbert and Sherri Alligood of Tarboro.