CISA had the privilege of having the Eisses family from Washington State, USA studying at CISA for 17 weeks. This special family left a big impact in the community. Outside classroom hours, they helped with the VQC Mission Sunday school, children’s activities during the Women’s meetings, and Chirripo trip. What a testimony to see their whole family being together and experiencing living and serving in another culture!
“CISA has been a truly great experience for our family. We are a family of five from Seattle Washington with kids aged 16, 13 and 10. We were looking for a semester-long experience for our family that would take us out of our comfort zone and broaden our world view before the kids are all grown up. We searched the Web and came across CISA. Immersion language school seemed like just the thing. Mike also encounters many Spanish speaking families in his work at Seattle Children’s Hospital so language learning seemed to fit with our plan.
We were truly impressed with the teaching skills and curriculum at the school. They took a family with no Spanish experience and brought us to the point where we can hold a reasonable conversation and find our way around a big city using taxis and buses. We were also able to experience so much of life here through the fitness classes, cooking classes, Bible classes and more. We were welcomed into the community in a way that made us feel like family. We love our home in Seattle but now we feel we have a “home” here in Costa Rica as well, complete with mom, dad, sisters, brothers and friends.
The welcome extended beyond the community of Tuis. When we went on a trip to work with the indigenous of Chirripo we felt a similar openness and friendship extended to our group. Mike worked with another physician to hold a medical clinic in Sinoli and others in the group brought solar panels for the new high school. Some worked on the water system, visited neighbors and did some building repair. Even though the trip to the village was challenging and we went to bring help, we came away with the feeling of having visited friends. The relationship that Voz Que Clama has built with the Cabecar is a special thing to experience.
As I write this our family is spending the last 2 weeks of our semester experience visiting the rest of the country in a more tourist way and we are eager to reconnect at home in the US but we are feeling the loss of leaving behind such a great community. ” Eisses Family
Christian Immersion Spanish Academy 