new slideshow on the left!!

Please note the new slideshow I've posted. These are the adorable Christmas pictures that my sweet Daddy sent me from "home" in Arizona. There are a lot of pics of gingerbread houses-my parents went to a nifty display. I think my favorite is the one with raisin bran on the walls. Gotta love Raisin Bran! (It is a family favorite). But all the cute Christmas decorations-legos, NOEL, Don Quijote and Sancho Panza, the advent wreath with nontraditional colored candles and Don Percival de San Antonio (the cute knight in shining armor by the Rudloph I think one of Daddy's patients made him a long time ago) are all at the house. Enjoy a taste of Christmas at the Smith house!

Mushy yet Moving... or Sappiness and Sloths

You've likely all seen, heard or read those cutesy little Christmas songs, poems and stories about people who arrive empty-handed to the manger scene to worship Jesus. Their endings are mushy, yet moving. Tonight I'm asking myself why.

“What can I give him poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb. If I were a Wiseman I would do my part. But what can I give Him? I'll give him my heart” -Christina Rossetti

This is one poem among many. There are even songs in Spanish about not having anything to give Jesus so I'll give him my heart.

My adorable Daddy wrote one last week for and inspired by my equally if not more adorable niece and nephews that said they wanted to be sloths in the church Christmas pageant. In part 2 the slow moving sloths meet the Magi and ride with them on the camels to go worship the Baby Jesus. They arrive and the Magi present their gifts and Stevie, the youngest sloth (who correlates to my nephew Isaiah-who I also identify with the most since I'm the baby of my family) wants to give Jesus something too, so he gives him his tree-branch snack that he brought along for the trip. So sweet I had tears in my eyes!

What makes stories like this so sweet? Yeah, the stories like this are mushy and almost lame. But they are so sweet and powerful that they can't just be brushed aside. There is real truth in them. This isn't to philosophize and make a puddle a trench -which I think Christians do far too often.

But really-what do we, mere humans, creatures have to offer our Creator and King? He made us and we belong to him! We have nothing to offer but ourselves! And that is what God wants! He wants us to turn away from our selfish rebellious lives and turn to him and give Him the worship and praise He deserves. This can be done through giving God gifts. The gifts the Magi gave Jesus were very fitting and actually prophetic (gold because He is the King, frankincense because he is the Great High Priest, and myrrh to prophesy about His death). And Stevie the Sloth's offering, like the widow's 2 nigh worthless coins that she offered to God (see Mark 12), was pleasing to God because the gift was all that there was that could be given.

How amazing is our God! How great is His love that He makes us and gives us life and loves us and redeems us, even though we are rebellious rotten jerks. And Christ the King and High Priest came to earth and was fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life and then gave it up that we might be saved, even though we are rotten, rebellious jerks. Giving ourselves to Him sure isn't much, especially since we're rotten jerks. But He still loves us and accepts us as we are. And when we give ourselves back to Him, he has a way of transforming us and making us not so rotten and rebellious anymore. What amazing love and grace! And that is all the more reason to worship Jesus!

Tico Tuesday, December 29th

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Thanks be to God my first Christmas out of the country was fantastic! I spent Christmas Eve and morning with a dear family from church that has a daughter close to my age (I am good friends with the mom as well since we work together at church). Then there was a big luncheon at my house for all the young people from church who have been participating in the study with Ana. We had a blast playing volleyball, taking pictures (that unfortunately didn't turn out very well) after getting wet in the random down pour, and playing Apples to Apples and Catchphrase. Head to the blog for my latest Christmas contemplations...

Much love to you all,

Carrie

2 pieces of Advice and a foto link

Piece of Advice #1
NEVER EVER go shopping on Christmas Eve!
It's really almost not worth it. I had never gone shopping on Dec 24th before and now I know why. Something that could have taken an hour and a half-or maybe less- took 4 hours! I don't ever plan on going again, but I was desperate. I was longing to make some Christmas cookies and the plan was to make them that afternoon and I hadn't had the chance to go shopping earlier. And of course the cookies I wanted to make required ingrediants that aren't supercommon here. Molasses-oh man I should have looked for that in AutoMercado (the expensive grocery store). I just ended up doubling the brown sugar. Thankfully chocolate chips do exist here, but not in Mas x Menos (a not so expensive grocery store). So, yes we went to 2 jam-packed full with ridiculous lines grovery stores. But, mint extract was nowhere to be found. And not ONE candy cane was able to be found in AutoMercado. Rich snobs. Who doesn't sell candy canes? Maybe they'd sold out. I don't know. I know they exist here though because I saw them in Palí (the really cheap grocery store). Whatever. I used round peppermint candies. They're pretty much the same anyway. And as for the mint extract, You won't believe this. I think it's hilarious. Peppermint Altoids! They are curiously strong... And let me tell you, those chocolate mint cookies were SOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS!!!! I made the cookies at my friend Ana Victoria's house and I am also friends with her kids (Diana, Felipe and Verónica), so I spent the night too. To testify to the amazing deliciousness of my cookies, Felipe got up at 3am to go work at the airport and found some cookies for breakfast and couldn't help but exclaim aloud ¡Qué buenas galletas! (What great cookies!) That made me laugh, and feel very happy. Pictures will be appearing soon.

Piece of Advice #2
This is especially for guys because we girls already know this. Girls never cry about just one thing. I feel like maybe I've talked about this before, but I don't know. Sometimes the littlest thing will set us off and make us cry, so we're not really crying about that one thing, but that is part of it.
I'm not big on talking about crying. I'm definitely a weep by myself kind of girl, unless my parents or a really really really really really really really close friend is around. But, I'll tell you a little bit to explain myself better.
This year was my first Christmas out of the country and away from biological relatives. Last year I wasn't with my parents, but I was with my aunt, uncle and cousins that are closest to me and then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Gates'. And I saw my parents a couple days later. (I'm not going to see my parents again until August. That's a long time, but I know it will come quickly!) Thanks be to God, Christmas this year went really well and I had a great day (more on that later). But yes, I did miss my folks.
So, there I was at the Christmas Eve service at church. it was really nice-with lots of special music. And a few times I got quite choked up. Was it because I missed my parents? Yes, but it was also because of some other things. As I believe I've mentioned in previous posts and definitely in e-mails to various people-sometimes throughout the month of the December I would totally forget it was even Advent and that Christmas was coming. It made me contemplate a lot about the way Christmas is/perhaps should be celebrated, but I wasn't able to really meditate on the season. Maybe that's my fault more than anything else, but I didn't have much around me encouraging me to do so. And that always helps. People around here celebrate Christmas really differently.
So on Christmas Eve it finally really started to feel like Christmas. And again realizing the amazing love of God, the holy mysterious miracle of the Incarnation of Christ, contemplating that night in Bethelehem and the shepherds and and angels-it was just one of those "wonder of Christmas" kind of moments I used to always read about the in Guidepost Christmas Treasury and that brought tears too. get it? good.

And here is the foto link. These are pictures of the trip to Isla Venado. Sorry I forgot to give you the link last time. Christmas pictures will come soon!

Tico Tuesday, December 22nd

Happy Tuesday before Christmas!

I wish you all much joy and time with loved ones as we celebrate together the Incarnation of our Savior Jesus Christ!

This past weekend I got to go on a trip to share some Christmas joy with the children of Isla Venado, a little island in the Gulf of Nicoya (inside the thumb of the mitten of Costa Rica). I got to play in mud, swim in the ocean, hang out with the cool young people from the church there, play with the kids and had out gifts to them, eat delicious coconut apretados (simplified homemade ice creams) and enjoy hammocks made from fishing nets (I LOVE HAMMOCKS) and hula hooping. Head to the blog for more stories and pictures!

Much love to you all,

Carrie

Several years ago my friend Oscar started collecting presents to give to the children of Isla Venado. Isla Venado is very poor. The people there live almost completely off of fishing. The only trouble is, fish are often hard to find! :-( And there is great temptation to make a little extra dough helping out the narco-traffickers. Not cool. But, this little island of about 850 inhabitants, around half of which are Christians! In spite of Costa Rica being such a Catholic country, there is actually not a Catholic church to be found on the island!

To arrive, we had to go on land to Puntarenas, then on a ferry to Paquera, then on land another 30-40 minutes, and then in lancha (like a long speed boat that doesn't go very fast) 15-20 minutes to get to the island. Total time in arrival is 5-6 hours, but it's very enjoyable (if you have the right attitude and aren't afraid of the hot sun, mud or water).

Going on the ferry was fun. I have another ferry story to share with you, but I'll save that for another day. It reminds me a lot of going to Isleboro when I was little. I'll tell you more about Isleboro some day too. Good times and great family memories!!! Anyway, when we first left the dock there was some breeze or waves from something because we were pitching a little bit, enough to show us we definitely don't have sea legs! But, not enough to really make us nervous. I know Mommy wouldn't have liked it though.

The next interesting part was getting to the boat landing where we had to wait for the lancha. The tide was wicked low, so we had to walk 300-400 meters (about 3 football fields) through crazy thick, slippery mud to where there was enough water to meet the boat. We had been warned this might happen, so I had my super duper rubber boots along that I purchased in México de Upala in October. But I was told the mud was great for exfoliating the skin on your feet and I kind of wanted to walk in it, so I lent my boots to somebody that didn't really want to walk in the mud and had at it. We all had to make several trips back and forth carrying all the bags and boxes of gifts, plus our luggage. It was really hot, but I had fun. (Don't worry I was wearing lots of sunscreen.) And I'll tell you, boy are my feet smooth!!!

We got to the island, met Pastor Eladio and his wife (amazing people!), filled up the goody bags, cut material for the kids activity the next day while chilling on the nifty hammocks, and then went to the beach. I didn't have my suit, but I didn't care. Unfortunately the water was so warm it didn't even feel refreshing, but it felt good to be in water and it was fun.

That night was probably the highlight of the trip-we were going to have a bonfire, but it began to rain, so we hung out inside instead. A whole bunch of the youth from the church don Eladio pastors came and we got to do some icebreakers with them, have a little devotional and get to know them. It was great!

We got up really early on Sunday-the howler monkeys, roosters, cats, and Richi's snoring helped make sure. But with 24 of us plus I'm not sure how many of them and 1 bathroom makes life a bit difficult. I showered Saturday night and didn't worry about it Sunday morning.

We had yummy gallo pinto and eggs for breakfast. Every other meal we had was balck beans, rice and fried fish. YUM! A little repetitive, but yum. And it wasn't for long enough for us to get sick of it. At least. Not for me!

Then we had the kids activity on the plaza (right across the street from Pastor Eladio's house). It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I had to partner up with a girl in a skirt in the wheelbarrow race-so you know who go to the the wheelbarrow. I never realized what good exercise that is! Especially trying to do it as fast as you can! I was a little sore from that yesterday.

Then we handed out the presents. That was madness too. Well, we started pretty well organized, but by the end, that was a little harder to maintain as we quickly had to decide how to hand out gifts from kids who didn't show up to kids who weren't on the list but somehow showed up anyway. Then we had a brief time of prayer and sharing and away we went! We had to wait a long time for the boat that was going to take us and we thought we were going to miss the ferry and have to wait until 9pm (we were trying to take the 5pm one), but we made it on time, and the ferry actually left like a half hour late, so it was really fine. I had a nice talk with Alejandra processing things. She is a sweet lady. And then, unfortunately after the Puntarenas-Heredia soccer game ended they started blaring reggaton and we witnessed some really dirty dancing. That was disappointing. I just tried to look away and at the ocean or sky instead. The stars were really pretty. And, finally, we made it home. And I went to bed. The end.

Tico Tuesday, December 15th

Wow, it's Tuesday again!
Today I would like for you to rejoice with me because
-that little card in my hand in my CEDULA!! This little card means that I now have proof that I am an OFFICIAL resident of Costa Rica!! Praise the Lord!! All those hours waiting, expensive mailings, ridiculous automated phone menus, times we had to wait for the lawyer, driving all over San José, and that mound of paperwork that covered the dining room table have been rewarded! It also means that I can pay several times less what most other foreigners (tourists) have to pay upon entering a national park, zoo or any other place tourists really get ripped off. :-)
God is so good! Thank you so much for all your prayers and to those of you who helped me out in any way (superthanks to my parents and the Harps!!!) and listened to me rant and rave and stress through the crazy process.
God bless you all!
Love,
Carrie

PS As always you can find more interesting stories and thoughts on my blog!

Today I just want to clarify a little bit on what I talked about last time. I feel like I came across like I'm trying to make myself into this superholy person that is above and removed from normal life here on earth. That's not what I was going for. As any good Grover learns (and all good Christians should know) we aren't supposed to shun the things of the world and condemn them. We are to learn about them, think about them, try to understand them, and learn from them. In classic InterVarsity speak, we need to engage the world, not just scorn it or scuff it aside. Do I want my life to be centered n things of eternal value? Absolutely! But can I still play games and learn about things that aren't directly related to the Bible? Absolutely! Now if I start acting like any other Josefine Schmo and still claim to be a Christian I've got issues. Christians are supposed to be different, but we are also supposed to be known by our love. We can't just run around cutting people down and criticizing them. Unfortunately we suck at that whole loving thing a lot of the time.
So, I think it's a lot more an issue of mindset. I can watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and get angry at how it's all about Santa and toys and dumb flying reindeer and has nothing to do with the miracle of the incarnation of Christ. Or I can watch it and be reminded to look out for and love on the misfits around me, to not judge too quickly, and know that there is hope for everyone, even those who are as bad as the Abominable Snow Monster.

Oh, excuse me. Is this your snowbank? -Hermie the elf

Tico Tuesday, December 8th

Christmastime is here! Can I tell you how much I LOVE watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special? I am so thankful for cable!! What is Christmastime like here in Costa Rica? Well, it's definitely weird to have it be so hot, but I won't complain about that. People's yard decorations look kind of funny to me-like this portion of our next door neighbors' front walk

(yes those are pineapple plants). And Santa stuff just looks ridiculous. But it's helping me concrete-ize (concretar in Spanish) a bit more some of the things I've been thinking about in relation to Advent and Christmas over the last couple years. Head to the blog to read more! Http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/

God's joy and peace be with you!

Carrie

My family always had an Advent wreath growing up. For those of you who may not know, a lot of people and churches make a distinction between Advent (the celebration of the coming of Christ) and actual Christmas (Jesus' birth). There is a Christmas season, it just happens to begin on December 25^th. Advent starts 4 Sundays before Christmas. So, an Advent wreath has 4 candles, one for each Sunday preceding the big day. And, of course each candle means something. If you ask me, they mean Prophecy, Bethlehem, Shepherds and Angels, but a lot of people will tell you Faith, Hope, Joy and Love or a something else. And that's ok. I think the important thing is that they mean something that serves to point us toward Christ and focus on Him as we anticipate His coming.

We all know Christmas is way too freaking commercialized and that all the reindeer, snowmen, stockings and trees don't really have anything to do with God becoming flesh. But, I still grew up with tree, a homemade stocking, a pretty little musical thing that plays “Silent Night” (whoever said it was a silent night? I don't think I'm gonna be silent when I give birth!!!!), a cute pink nutcracker, etc. Is there anything inherently wrong and evil in these things? No. And all those objects are of HUGE sentimental value to me. Will I make them a part of my household when I grow up and have a family? I don't know. I think my husband should be able to have some say in the matter. I know a family that makes a manger and puts it in the corner of the living room instead of a Christmas tree. I think that's cool. I like the idea of having decorations that focus us more on the Incarnation than... shininess or senselessness. Because really, if I'm going to say that I'm a follower of Christ and let Him be Lord of my life, I need to truly let Him rule my life. I believe that He is all that matters and that I need to focus on things of eternal value and not get caught up in things of the world. Does that mean I'm going to be a Santa-hater? No. I think we could all learn something from St. Nick (the original one). But, I want my life to be pleasing to God, not full of trains and tinsel. I want to be purposeful, intentional.

The family I'm living with here doesn't do much for Christmas-no decorations whatsoever. We have a Christmasy tablecloth, but I think that's about it. It's weird to me-I'm not used to it at all. It makes it feel like it's not Christmas/Advent-time. Hence, I've become more pensive. Sometimes I feel like I am on the brink of getting really homesick. I didn't spend Christmas with my parents last year, but I was with my closest cousins and I saw my parents and one of my brothers a few days later. I've never been outside the country and not with blood relatives for Christmas before. I've been a little hesitant to listen to Christmas music. It brings back so many memories. And a lot of it is full of meaningless warm fuzzies too, but there is still a lot we can even learn from Rudolph and his fellow misfits (even though it might not directly have anything to do with Jesus).

I feel like I'm not making a clear point. I'm not trying to prove my holiness because I'll be the first to tell you what a jerk I can be. I guess what I'm trying to say is-- I think it's important to focus on what is really most important: celebrating the coming of the Christ-Child and anticipating His coming again (and of course, remembering and praising Him for what He came here to do. Being born was just the first step). Everything else is just a chasing after the wind. And yes, I'll admit it. I'm reading Ecclesiastes. ;-)

Adv... Randomness

It's 10pm on a Saturday night. It's been a long week. I've had something at church every night this week and this weekend I have to be in all 3 celebrations to announce stuff. Uf. Ugh. 2 weeks from today I'll be on Isla Venado, getting ready to go to sleep on the floor (on a mattress pad) in Pastor Eladio's house. That will be an adventure! I'm coming to realize that anytime leading up to any big thing at church I'm going to get overwhelmed, tired, stressed, and something will probably go wrong and frustrate me. Maybe I'm making assumptions, but thus far I'm 2 for 2. Maybe that's just because it's my first time doing everything here. That might have something more to do with it, but I'm pretty sure crunch time will always be crunch time, no matter how many times I've been through it before. It's just the nature of the beast. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because I don't mean to be.
I was going to contemplate Advent and Christmas. I feel like I'm on the verge of getting homesick and I need to sort my thoughts. I think that will be better done in my journal though and not a space quite so public as this. I'll let you know what conclusions I come to though.
I will share this. I adore Richi, one of the pastors here at CCI (the church I attend and serve in). He is one of those people that exudes love. It is so obvious that he cares about people-he really loves them. And he is great at making people feel welcome. I wish he and his family didn't live so far away (they live on the other side of San Jose-2 hours and 3 bus rides away). I told him that he and his wife should have had a son a couple years before their 1st daughter. They would be wonderful in-laws. Jajaja!!! Anyway, I really appreciate Richi (You can see a picture of him in my Thanksgiving album on facebook). I'm looking forward to getting to know him and his family more.
That's all. I'm going to bed. More another time.

My Birthday!

I just posted pictures with tags and comments on Facebook (my first fb album ever!!!) of my birthday party. I'd love for you to take a look! I wish I could make them appear in a slideshow on the left, but I don't know how to make that possible, if it is indeed even possible. I, like my beloved mother, am technologically challenged.
Birthday month has come to an end, but I got another card in the mail today, so I don't think birthday season is over just yet. Somebody else told me they sent me something. Hey, I milk it for all I can!!

Tico Tuesday, December 1st

Hello!

It's been another full Tuesday here in Costa Rica! Today I want to share with you the bulletin board that we put up. This time it didn't fall down after 2 weeks!

It says “Bringing the light to the nations” and has information from Centro Cristiano Internacional's Global Missions Network, a sweet Thank You note from La Carpio for the donations and Dia del Nino activity we did there, and some pictures and info from Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where a coworker of mine is serving on weekends. I'm getting ready to put another bulletin board up for the month of December. It looks so easy, but it really does take a lot of time and assistance from others!

Have a blessed rest of the week!

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, November 24th

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY Tuesday!!

I feel so loved, and I know that is because I am loved. Today is my birthday!! I was awakened this morning with a little “Happy Birthday” serenade from the Vieras and their friend Leslie that spent the night with us last night. It was really sweet. Then a little later I got to talk to my parents and open the package they sent me. Here is a picture of what they sent me.

The nativity set is actually on lend to me while I'm here. My Daddy made it for my Mommy for their first Christmas together (or maybe it was their second, but I think it was their first). Isn't he talented? And the little clown candle is of incredible sentimental value to me as well. My Grammy gave me one every year until they stopped selling them. Isn't that adorable?

May you have a blessed rest of the week!

Carrie

PS I'm hoping to post some pictures of me when I was little on my blog http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/ soon. Be sure to keep an eye out for the clown candles!!

Whoops! I didn't post this last week! Life is so crazy! Hopefully more soon!!!

Tico Tuesday, November 17th

Hello hello it's Tuesday once more!!

Remember the last time I had papers spread out all over the dining room table? Well, this time it all those papers just appeared and I didn't have to track them all over the US and Costa Rica! These are 17 letters and a card from my friend who is a teacher at Grove City Christian Academy (in Grove City, PA) and her 17 students!!! What an enormous blessing! It is so great to have a physical reminder that I am loved and that people are praying for me! If you would like to send me mail and bring me such joy, please see the address at the bottom of my signature. :-D To learn more about these adorable letters and see a really good drawing, please visit my blog http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/

God's joy and peace be with you all,

Carrie

I went to visit my friend Megan's 6^th grade in February before I left for Costa Rica (while I was still raising support). She was doing a unit on Central America and asked me to share some about the culture there. I went with joy and showed pictures and talked about life and the culture here. It was really fun. At some point this summer I got a whole bunch of handmade postcards from her students with adorable pictures, lots of good questions, and them telling me that they pray for me every week. Now Megan has 17 5^th and 6^th grade students (instead of 6!) and she did the Central America unit in October, so last week I got a fat envelope with lots of love from PA!! It's fun to recognize last names of professors at the College. There are at least 5 names of professors I had or have heard of. But, I don't want to just identify the children by their parents.

Here are some highlights from these entertaining letters

-Have you ever got yellow feaver?

-Do you have enny pets?

-I'm Ethan and if you're wondering my name first appears in the Bible in (I can't remember where). I think a good passage to go along with missions is Psalms 105:1-7. If you don't have a Bible with you I'll write it out for you “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.....”

-(Miss Maley gives us tons of homework!)

-Miss Maley doesn't give us too much homework.

-Where do you sleep?

-What is the wierdest animal you have seen where you live?

-I have (I can't remember how many) cats, a beared dragon, and (I can't remember how many) dogs.

-Do you like to swim let me resay it what is your favorite sport?

-Do you get sick of beans and rice and tortilas?

-Have you eaten any food that is better than American food?

-Thank you for your good work down in Costa Rica

-We pray for you all the time

-Your new friend (hopefully)

And here is a sweet picture that a girl named Hannah drew! (The words coming out of its head say "I am very slow")

And the caption reads "I am a sloth hanging on a tree". Isn't that impressive! Everyone here I show that picture to can immediately identify that it's a sloth! I wrote a letter back to the class and a brief note for each student individually. That was really fun! I'm looking forward to visiting Megan's class and meeting all those kids when I'm in Grove City in February!

Tico Tuesday, November 10th

Hello all!
The other week we had a worship and intercession night that was really cool. SEVEN churches from our area came together to worship and pray. It was really neat. We had 3 or 4 different worship teams play and one church do a really neat drama. There is such power in the unity of the body of Christ! I think activities like that are going to happen on a somewhat regular basis, and I'm excited for that! This picture is of the worship team from CCI (my church). We combined our youth worship team with the Sunday morning worship team. Wicked cool!Have a blessed rest of the week!
Carrie

I like Ruth

Actually I love Ruth (the abuelita of the family I live with). And I love Ana Ruth too (my Honduran "sister" here). And I'm pretty sure I have a cousin once removed that is also named Ruth. I love her as well.
But I'm acually referring to the Ruth of the Bible here. I read Ruth this morning (it's only 4 brief chapters) and was again amazed at the richness of this little book. It is cross cultural, prophetic, romantic, and all about redemption. Really, it's a good story even if you don't know squat about the Bible.
If we read the Old Testament with New Testament lenses (which is how I believe we should, in accordance with Dr. T. David Gordon professor of my dear GCC and New Englander extraordinaire-a brilliant short bow-tie wearing cancer surviving theologian of our day) we see prohphecies and connections all over the place. Verse one mentions Bethlehem of Judah. Hmm, where was Jesus born? Bethlehem of Judah. So, this clearly has to do with His earthly "ancestors." And it really does-the end of the book connects the family line of Ruth and her new husband Boaz to David, one of the more obvious predecessors of Jesus.
Before going on, here's the story in brief if you're not familiar with it. Naomi and her family went to live in Moab because there was a famine in Judah. While in Moab, Naomi's 2 sons got married, and then her husband and sons both died. Once the famine ended, Naomi headed back to Judah and told her daughters in law to stay in Moab and find new husbands. One did so, but Ruth vowed to not leave Naomi. So, when Ruth and Naomi got back to Judah, Ruth went to glean in the fields (that's what poor people in Bible times did) and ended up doing so in Boaz's fields. Boaz was a relative of Naomi's and treated Ruth really really well. He ended up "redeeming" Naomi's husband's land so it would stay in the family and got Ruth as part of the deal. Then God opened Ruth's womb and she had a son. And they all lived happily ever after.
If Ruth had had a son beforehand, there would be no book of Ruth because there wouldn't have been anything to tell. But instead, God used her-a foreigner-as a picture of redemption. She was redeemed, and saved from a life of shame and difficulty (foreigners have never had it easy anywhere, period. But she was also a widow. And widows had it tough too) and placed into the most important family in the Bible-the family of Jesus. There she was given a life, and progeny. She went from being a total failure to being a total success. God's good at doing that. :-) It's what He did for us on the cross and it's what He does as He extends His grace to us each day.
It's good to be a foreigner.

Tico Tuesday, November 3rd

Happy Tuesday to you all!

Can you tell what this is?

It's a monkey!! We saw monkeys twice on our trip to México de Upala. We also saw marzipan trees, people drying out rice, trees that grow palm hearts and pejibayes, lots and lots of banana plants, a little green snake, a tarantula (I didn't actually see it and I'm ok with that, but I have the pictures someone gave me), floating ant colonies, and some little minnowy-tadpolish things swimming in what was once the soccer field. At night, I got to fall asleep to the sound of cows mooing. I have never heard such mooing before it my life!! At first I thought it might be frogs since our hotel was right next to a river, but our room was on the far said and eventually I figured out what it was. Oh life in the campo!

Head to the blog to read about my cultural experience yesterday-going to the dentist! Http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/

Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in waaaaaaaaaay too long. Shame on me. Not only was it my first time going to the dentist in a Spanish speaking country, it was also my first time going to the dentist without my mom. I know I have to grow up someday, but it was weird not having Mommy there to make all the decisions for me. Thankfully the dentist I went to is a lady from church (who did all those extractions in México de Upala), so she knew me and that made me feel more comfortable.

It was really nice to not have to fill out any paperwork. I kept expecting the clipboard with pages and pages of medical and insurance questions and junk, but it never came! Karla is responsible though, before giving me the needle she did ask me if I had diabetes or anything like that.

Even though I had a lot of cavities :-(, Karla could tell I floss and brush regularly :-). I talked with a friend last night and we agreed that brushing and flossing just aren't enough to keep you from getting cavities, at least once you hit your 20s. I'm gonna have to look into fluoride or mouthwash or something... Karla mentioned fluoride after fixing all my cavities. But, I checked with my parents, and the price is definitely right for getting dental work done here!! So thanks be to God for that!

Anyway, toothbrushing is pretty much a national habit. Pretty much everyone carries around a tube of toothpaste (not even necessarily travel size) and a toothbrush. I like that. I have a thing with toothbrushing, if you didn't know....It all began with Sb (left), my roomie from college. Keegan (middle), our suitemate often joined in too!

Here I am brushing with some of my cousins!

You almost can't tell, but I'm brushing in this picture too. They wouldn't let me spit before they took it! Jajaja!!

Keep brushing and if you haven't been to the dentist in 6 months or more--GO!

Happy All Saints Day!

I read a chunk of Hebrews 11 the other day, and I reread the whole chapter today in honor of All Saints Day, and both times the same thing stuck out to me-verses 13-16

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11 is the well-known "Faith Hall of Fame." It starts going through all the heroes of faith of the Bible, but after Genesis and Exodus (the first 2 books of 66), the author stops and makes a summary, or else he'd practically have to rewrite the Bible.
If you've been following my blog for a while now, you know I contemplate about the concept of "home" a lot and kind of feel like a stranger everywhere I go. It's as if I either have 5 places to be "from" or none at all. But, I have come to the conclusion that my real home is with God. I am a stranger on this earth-this place is temporary and I will get to be with God for eternity. And that's good-because if I'm "seeking a homeland" here, I'm settling for something less-than-stellar and I'm distracting myself from focusing on what God has in store for me.
Hence, even though I feel homeless sometimes and like I don't really and truly belong anywhere, that's ok. 1) Because it's true. 2) That's how it's supposed to be. And, I learned long ago that I tend to grow a lot closer to God when I'm in difficult, uncomfortable places. And when I'm comfortable, it's all to easy to get complacent.
So, thanks be to God for His Word and for those who have gone before us in the faith and all the things we can learn from them!

Tico Tuesday, October 27

Happy Tuesday!
This is the church that 27 people from CCI (my church here) and 7 people from Summerville Presbyterian Church (of SC, USA) served at this past weekend. As you can see, we had a very wet experience! It was really good though-we gave out clothing to hundreds of people, had a dentist and two doctors see over a hundred people and extract 31 teeth, cut 32 peoples' hair, ran an activity for close to 200 kids, had 7 couples get married, and had several people come to know Christ. We also purchased a lot of boots-can you imagine buying rubber boots in the US for under $8-and they didn't leak all day!
More stories to come! Many will likely be posted on the blog http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/
Have a great rest of the week!
Carrie

I wish I had picture of my boot buying story, but here are a couple from beforehand. Everything was flooded, so I planned on just going barefoot. I was told that I might get hongos (fungus), but I figured it would go away and that it wasn't that big a deal. But then I stepped into the water and had ants crawling all over me and biting me. So I thought I might get away with this alternative:
This is my friend Vivi and me before we gave in to buying boots. I think we were both really glad we did! We had to go through this puddle to buy boots, so somebody lent us a bike so we wouldn't soak out feet walking through it.
I wish the picture could show just how deep the water was. Everyone in México de Upala gets around on foot, bike or motorcycle. Cars wouldn't be able to make it and 4x4s are too expensive. So, I got to ride on the frame of the bike across the puddle while my friend Jorge pedaled. It was hilarious and I'm really sad there are no pictures to show it. So, he, Fernanda, Daniel and I went and bought our cheap boots from the pulpería (corner store). Jorge and I shared a new, dry pair of socks too. They only had one pair left, and I only had one wet foot, so I gave him the other one. All the rain and everyone buying boots was a definite bonding experience. Jorge relayed us all back from the pulpería on the bike so we'd get back to work faster. It was unforgettable!

Tico Tuesday, October 20

Hello! It's another late night edition of Tico Tuesday! We leave for México de Upala (which is a teeny town in Costa Rica close to the Nicaraguan border) Thursday morning and a LOT still needs to happen before we go. But this isn't about that.
Last Wednesday the Wednesday morning women's prayer group "Mujeres que claman" (women who cry out) completed it's first year! We had a special time of praise and adoration and then shared a delicious breakfast together. Don't be weirded out about the guy in the picture. Normally it is just women who come, but we invited the men who work at church to breakfast and this one happened to come early, so he joined us in our time of praise as well.
Have a joyous rest of the week!
Love,
Carrie
Here we are enjoying breakfast-fruit, some drinkable yogurt, scrambled eggs, cheese, gallo pinto, homemade/handmade tortillas, bread, and natilla (kind of like sour cream). What a feast!

Powerful Prayer

In the past week I have greatly been blessed by the prayers of others-and them letting me know about it! There is are at least a group of Grovers that I know prays for me regularly (and again reminded me this week that they do so). Another friend wrote a special prayer to pray for me in the style of the Book of Common Prayer. And the leader of my parent's Bible study has a rosary bead dedicated to me!

That just means so much to me to know that there are people praying for me-I know there are a lot more people praying for me than the ones I've mentioned here-but all these people happened to tell me in the same week that they are praying for me! That's such a beautiful encouragement. Thank you!!

Also this week I got to re-read one of my favorite quotes from Oswald Chambers (that one that I wrote hundreds of times on the backs of my prayer cards). The the “modern English” version it says “Prayer does not equip us for the greater work, it is the greater work!” And that is SO true! Prayer is such a powerful thing! I wish I spent more time in it... but, that's not something I'm going to beat myself up about. Rolando (the senior pastor of my church here) made a good point about “spiritual disciplines” last week. They shouldn't be disciplines-performed out of any kind of obligation. We do those kinds of things because we love God and want to grow deeper into him, not because it makes us more holy or better Christians. He didn't say all that. But, I think he would be in agreement with my elaboration.

So, I encourage you to keep praying and drawing closer to God. And I dare you to see if you can pray for 5 minutes and not make one request to God. (Praying doesn't just mean making petitions.) I dare me too!!!

Tico Tuesday, October 13th

Jiji, well it is still Tuesday in my part of the world as I write this but I know Tuesday is over for you East coasters. Oh well.
Anyway, this week's picture is of the "altar"/platform of my church and the Sunday night worship team having at it.
If the picture was a little wider you'd be able to see the nice decorations my friend Alejandra makes, but they got cut out. Nevertheless, I thought you might want to know what my church looks like and this is the sanctuary part of it. Someday I'll make a virtual tour of my church. I think it's good that I've held off though because we keep modifying things and making the building nicer. It takes a lot of work to convert a hardware store into a nice looking reception area, bookstore, cafeteria and office space!
May the rest of your week be filled with joy and peace,
Carrie

Hi readers. Not much to say right now, just a comment about the church building situation. We started renting the whole building a year ago August and supposedly were going to have the option to buy, except our landlord is asking WAY more than what the building is worth and we will never be able to afford it. Not to mention that we are increasing the building's value by putting so much work into it. Nice catch-22, huh?
Good night!

A BUSY Week

Boy am I glad it's Saturday! Well, actually I only have a little more than an hour of freedom until this day gets crazy too (I have choir rehearsal and then a concert tonight). All week I have been really busy. Thankfully I haven't had to go all over the place like I did when I was working on my temporary residency stuff. But, things are finally starting to gear up/come together for the missions trip my church here is taking to México de Upala (a teeny town by the border of Nicaragua). So, I have been chatting via Skype, making phone calls, e-mailing, calling back, texting, etc like mad since Wednesday. We leave the 22nd of this month and will come back the 25th. A group from South Carolina will be joining us. Please pray for the trip, and especially for the provision of finances. We need a lot of the youth to come because we are doing a big activity for over 200 kids, but the young people don't have the money, so we need sponsors, etc. I believe God is going to do some amazing stuff bringing everyone and everything together for this trip!!
What all has made this week so busy? Well, Tuesday nights I always have Huellas (Bible study/class) at church, this Wednesday I had a missions team meeting (which actualy went really well, thanks and praise be to God!!!), Thursday afternoon I had to take an extended lunch to take Abuelita to a doctor's appointment (that was a cultural experience), Thursday night was a prayer service at church that included a whole bunch of info about the trip to México de Upala, and last night there was something for the young adult group at church. But I didn't go!!! I stayed at home, did a little Perspectives homework, enjoyed Shabat (special Friday night family time) with Jorge, Esther and Samu, and sadly watched the Yuckees win and my dear Red Sox lose.
You're probably asking...what made Abuelita's doctor appointment such a cultural experience? Let me start by saying, DO NOT EVER VOTE FOR NATIONAL HEALTH CARE!!! BAD BAD BAD NO NO NO!!!!!! Dingy cement building that doesn't look very clean, computers, but still with piles of charts all over the place, very limited space and technology for the doctors and nurses and of course, bureaucracy up the wazoo. Yes, Abuelita received a diagnosis of hongos (fungus) on her tongue (EWW!) and was given a prescription. The place does function. And yes, Costa Rica is still a developing country. But, considering the technology available today, there could be significant improvement. And I am in agreement with our Founding Fathers that the government should have LIMITED power.

Tico Tuesday, October 6th

It's Tuesday once more!
This week's foto features some of my friends here. We had a sleepover (on a Wednesday night!) for my friend Melissa's birthday. She is the one in the shirt with buttons. From left to right Ana, Elizabeth, Meli(ssa), Fefi, Diana, Vivi(ana) and Catherine. I don't know these girls really well yet, but relationships take time and bit by bit we are growing closer to each other. Not pictured are Karla and Liz, a couple girls that I actually feel a little closer to (they couldn't make it to Meli's party). You'll have to head to the blog to see them. Http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/ Liz and I sit by each other in church pretty much every week. And as you may know, I HATE sitting by myself in church, so to have her by me is a huge blessing!
May God bless you!
Love,
Carrie

So, here's a little bit about each of these girls mentioned above. Ana, you've probably heard most about. She's my Honduran sister and she is amazing!! She is basically the youth director at church, and even though she didn't really want to take the position, she is doing a FANTASTIC job and I admire her SO much!! She is a great friend and encouragement to us all.
Elizabeth, her family, and her boyfriend just started coming to CCI a couple months ago. I'm so glad they did! Eli is very eager to learn and grow in her relationship with God and I just enjoy being around her.
Meli is beautiful-she looks like a model in so many pictures I've taken/seen. But don't worry, her inside is beautiful too. She one of those girls I've spent a lot of time around but I still don't quite feel like we've clicked. But, I've seen Meli in action on the futbol field and at youth group and she is a go-getter! She is great at welcoming new people and making them feel part of things.
I don't know Fefi very well at all. She seems pretty quiet, but there's nothing wrong with that! She came with us to La Carpio to help out with the activity we did their for el dia del nino and that was wonderful! We needed all the help we could get!
Diana is an amazing girl with a great passion for evangelism. She and I went out for coffee once (though I don't drink it) and while she was sharing with me she kept saying “I just have to do something!” to share God's love and truth with those who have not yet heard it or accepted it. She has a great family-both her parents work at church and I admire them a lot too. And her younger siblings are funny and sweet.
Vivi is one of the Colombians that goes to CCI and in the last couple weeks we have been growing much closer because we've been practicing English together. We've conversed about everything from heaven, to boys to shopping. Oh, and she used to work as a massage therapist. I'm making sure that she doesn't get out of practice! :-D
Catherine (I have no idea if I'm spelling her name right or not) is Elizabeth's boyfriend's sister. So, I've really only seen and talked to her very few times. She can testify to the change God has made in her brother's life though and that is really cool. And the night of Meli's party she and Elizabeth and I had a neat conversation about ticos and forgiveness. Apparently ticos aren't very forgiving. I think I've seen evidence of that before but didn't think of it/see is as a cultural thing, so it was good to learn that.
I think Karla and I have a lot on common. She is loud and enthusiastic and good at getting peoples' attention. She is really sweet and not afraid to tell you she loves you. She is also really artsy and creative (I said we have a lot in common-not everything!!) and is great with kids! She goes to the Saturday night service at church and not many other extra activities, so I don't get to see her as often as a lot of other people. I'll just have to make a point to hang out with her more! Jaja, this picture isn't very flattering of Liz, but Karla looks so nice I decided to use it anyway.
Liz is really sweet. It's really funny having friends so much younger than me-she just turned 16 (her birthday was a few days before Meli's). A lot of my friends are between 16 and 20. That's funny when I graduated college I thought people in high school were so young and that I just didn't have anything in common with them anymore. JAJAJA was I wrong! Liz isn't afraid to tell me that she loves me either and she gives great hugs. And like I mentioned earlier, she sits with me in church. I love her!!
Here is a better (though still not great) picture of us from the Noche de disfraces we had back in April.

And to finish out this rather lengthy post of bragging on people and saying how great they are-I have to include a tibit I left out of my previous post.
Tidbit 3-I love my Honduran brothers! I love my real biological US brothers too, and my relationship with them allows me to appreciate Josue and Samuel even more! But I am about to brag on something Josue and Samuel did that I don't think my real brothers would ever do (and that's ok). I got my hair cut a week ago yesterday. I think both Josue and Samuel knew I was going to get it cut, but that doesn't really matter. What did matter is that when I came home both of them went “wow, you got your hair cut! It looks so nice! etc” It was so sweet! I think I'm speaking for most western women when I say that we LOVE for people to notice and compliment our haircuts!! And you can insert a whole bunch of other things in the place of “haircut” -outfit, weight loss, smile, piece of jewelry, etc. They are little things that don't have any vital importance (except weight loss-I think we all know being overweight is unhealthy). Yet, often it's the little things that can end up making or breaking your day. I told both boys later that they got major points for being good brothers. Hmm, maybe it's more “great guys” instead of brothers. Because honestly, a few years ago I probably would have been weirded out if my real brothers gushed over me getting a haircut. They're just not like that. But they are still wonderful!!! And whatever we call Josue and Samu, they are great too!

Tidbits and Ponderings

Tidbit 1-please note the new slideshow to the left! It features La Carpio, which I've written about before. I HIGHLY recommend (okay, beg) that you click on one of the pictures. That will take you to my picasa web albums and that way you can read all my comments. And this is hilarious-I commented in English on the slideshow itself and in Spanish on the other comment space (where you could also leave comment if you so choose). And Google/Picasa think they are so smart they automatically put an English translation of what I said in Spanish underneath it. Except the reverse translations aren't that great. Please, don't ever use online translators!! My favorite made me laugh right out loud. They translated the phrase I used for "Tug of war" into "string fight!" This means that the image in my head is of a whole bunch of people running around with 6-8 inch long harmless little pieces of brightly colored yarn trying to whip each other. JAJAJAJAJAJA!!
Tidbit 2-My last blog post was my 100th. I think that's cool. A hundred thanks to all of you for reading my random thoughts, memories and stories! I hope you're able to glean something from them-minimally a smile, maximally something that makes you contemplate and grow in the thing that REALLY matters in life- a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ponderings
When I was little I used to be SO naive. I think I still am naive in a lot of ways, but that's not the point right now. At offering time in church the pastor would always say we were going to give our tithes and offerings to God. I took this quite literally. Somehow I thought all the money was going to be taken to heaven and presented to God. Jajajajajaja!! Hmm, maybe churches would be more well administered if that really was the case (not that all churches are poor administrators of finances, but unfortunately we know there are plenty who are)! But, that is not the case. Tithes and offerings go to pay for the church building, the salaries of pastors, secretaries, janitors and administrators, maintenance, oh yes, and ministries and missions. Though not necessarily in that order. But, I listed them that way to show that the money collected in the plate goes to God's work directly and indirectly. We know the Church is the people and not the building, but boy is it nice to have place with walls and a roof! And if a church is going to consist of more than 50 people, the pastor needs to be working full time (though I think pastors wouldn't have near as much counseling to do if everyone in the congregation had a couple really solid, believing friends).
That's one thing I've learned while working at a church-there is SO much that goes on behind the scenes that you are never going to see on a Sunday morning or any night of the week at a church related activity. And there is way too much that gets put upon the pastor. He is NOT the head of the church! JESUS is!! And we (along with the pastor) are the body and we need to function and do our part. Because it is mighty hard for the pastor-call him a mouth, a hand, a finger, a gastrocnemius, whatever. He can't function as the knees, heart, ribs, thyroid too. And you probably know what it's like for a part of your body not to work. It stinks. It hurts, sometimes it makes you rely more on other body parts to make up for the wounded one. It's not right. It's not healthy. It's not natural, o sea (that means "or rather", but o sea sounds so much cooler and I say it a lot more often) it's not how we were created to be. SO let me encourage you to do a few things. TITHE!! That is just a step of obedience, it already belongs to God. But I even dare you to go beyond that and give an offering because you trust God and know that He is good (and because you love Him!). Along with those things, graciously do what you can to encourage the people at your church in charge of finances and gently but firmly do what you can to make sure they are being responsible and stewarding God's money well. Related to this is, DO YOUR PART for the body of Christ! What does that look like? I don't know-that depends on how God has wired you. You don't have to pray up front or teach Sunday School to 4 year olds that aren't quite potty trained. But if you call yourself a believer, you are part of the body and you need to use what God has given you for His glory. And lastly, but not leastly, I urge you to pray for and encourage your pastor, worship leader, elders, etc. They do a lot of pouring out and a prayer, a kind word or a kind deed will bless that person a lot more than you might think.
I've been thinking more about loving others lately. My friend Megan shared something powerful on her blog the other day about "doing unto the least of these was also done unto me" (see the "Thirsty" entry). It tied in well with what I'd read in Mark 9 about loving and welcoming a child is like doing so to Jesus, and receiving and loving Jesus is like doing that to His Father. People aren't just people-they are fellow image bearers of God and if loving others reflects how we love God then boy oh boy do I have a long way to go!!! Perhaps more on this later. But I encourage you to ponder that too. Time for church!

Tico Tuesday, September 29th

Happy Tuesday!

This week I am featuring a picture of my OFFICE!!

I should have taken a before shot to show you the contrast. Imagine this with no paint on the walls, no lighting and no flooring, just uneven cement. Now take another look. Isn’t it lovely? I have yet to decorate-though decorating is not my forte and I would be perfectly content leaving it just the way it is. But anyway, I just wanted you to see where I spend lots and lots of time working hard every week.

May the rest of your week be productive and glorifying to God!

Love,

Carrie

Yikes, I’m a failing blogger! Sorry! I try to post 2x a week, but Tuesday just comes so fast it almost seems like there’s more than one per week! Jaja, just kidding. I had one of those moments on the bus to San José on Saturday. When I went to Guatemala, Bolivia, and when I have been here in the past I have always had that “ oooooh! I’m in a foreign country and this is so cool and they speak Spanish here, etc, etc, etc.” but my “moment” was realizing that the shimmer of being in another country is definitely gone. I think the honeymoon period of my culture shock is definitely over (I’d say it’s been over for a while). This is where I live. I’m not sure I see myself living here for the rest of my life, but right now, this is where I’m supposed to be. I know if and when the moment comes to leave here, it will be really hard and I will have a lot of sad goodbyes and adjusting to wherever I go from here will be a fine dish of lemons itself. But that's life. Lots of changes and transitions.

Change of topic:

English-how much do I speak it? Lately, I've been speaking a lot more. I feel like my Spanish has never been better, though I continue to make mistakes. My friends and “family” here lovingly correct me though and I am so grateful for that! Anyway, students here learn English in school so most everyone knows at least a little English (though there are many adults who don't know diddley-squat). But a lot of my friends have taken or are taking further English classes and guess who is the ideal practice partner? Oh yeah! But actually it's been really neat because it gives me a chance to know them better. I've realized I'm really bad at explaining English grammar. I don't know all the rules. I don't know how to describe the difference between “other” and “another.” But, I'm great with just conversing and correcting the person's mistakes. And if I can explain something, that's great!

I think I'm going to ask the people who are coming next month to bring me Catchphrase. I think it would be GREAT to have an English only game night and invite people over to play and speak English. (Hmm, maybe we could make it an outreach and do it at church and invite other gringos...) I know a lot of gringos that study another language and then get really embarrassed and don't want to speak if they don't know how to say what they want to perfectly. So, I have been impressed here with the number of people that jump in with both feet trying to express themselves. It's good that I know Spanish because I can see them translating in their heads and saying “I have hungry” instead of “I am hungry” because in Spanish it's “tengo hambre” (and tengo means I have).

So yeah, I speak a fair bit of English. And I should probably keep it up because a lot of words don't come to me as easily as they did before! Last night I was explaining something to Samuel in English and I had to throw in a Spanish word because I couldn't think of it in English! JAJAJA!!!

This is Daniel and me (during the Noche de disfraces we had back in April). He his younger brother Andres are some of my more frequent "tutorees" of English

Tico Tuesday, September 22nd

Happy Tuesday!

I hope each of your weeks is off to a good start. Today I would like to feature Jovensus, (the youth group of CCI) and the children of La Carpio. For those who don't know about La Carpio or can't remember, it is basically a ghetto. It is a small space on the side of a landfill next to the dump where all the trash from San Jose goes. Most of the people who live there are indocumented Nicaraguans. Christ for the City has been working there for the last 13 years and God has proved Himself faithful there, but there is still much work to be done. September 9^th was “El dia del niño” - so the other Saturday we did an evangelistic/recreactional activity with the kids from La Carpio. We had about 90 kids and it was a fun, hot, crazy, get down and dirty wonderful experience! More pictures and stories will be appearing on the blog! Http://smithcj1.blogspot.com/

Hello faithful blog readers. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not yet able to embellish the brief of Tico Tuesday. :-( I plan on making another Picasa slide show (like the one of my house on the left side bar) with comments on the pictures. But I don't have the time to dedicate to that right now. :-( I am going to do my best to get it up as soon as possible. You know I don't (and won't) do this to you often. My life is a little crazy right now and I just can't quite handle it all. Thanks!

Vishnu and Romeo & Juliet

Saturday night was a much needed break from church and the rest of life. Saturday was a rough day (sorry, but I don't feel like going into it this publicly), but after a cry and a short, much needed nap, I was able to move on. My good friend Ana Luisa (who sings in the same choir as me and helped me join) and I went to see Romeo & Juliet at the Teatro Nacional. The ads at the bus stops said it was the musical version, but the actors only sang during scene changes. Whatever. I was expecting a musical, like West Side Story or Les Miserables, where chunks of the script are actually sung. Overall it was well done. I'm not sure why, but everyone these days feels the need to throw some kind of interpretation to Shakespeare's work. For the most part, I liked the way it was interpreted. The set was absolutely minimal, but that allowed it to be really versatile. It's amazing what 6 wooden crate/boxy things can be used for! And this is the REALLY impressive part-only 6 actors made up the whole cast and chorus!!! For real. They pulled it off. There must have been some ridiculously fast costume changes. I did recognize a few characters to be played by the same actor, but that does make some sense, especially since the first character that actor played was dead. But, I was convinced that there were more than 6 people until the curtain call. I can't imagine how hard that would be to be in and out of character playing so many roles at once. I was a total theater geek in high school and did every show I could. I don't think I was actually that great an actress though. I would get too caught up in watching everything going on around me. I've always loved the limelight though. So anyway, it was fun to see a play.
Oh, one more note. It was a British acting troupe, so the performance was in English. (There were a surprising number of gringos there. I've started to feel kind of weird when I'm around a lot of gringos.) Anyway, being British English, I didn't understand all of it, even though I'm rather familiar with the show. Ana Luisa and I were in the topmost, farthest back row. And though the theater is pretty small, it still takes good effort for voices to be heard throughout the whole place. And, the naughty actors a) didn't project enough and b) dropped their lines (the first part of the sentence is audible but the end of it drains off...). So I understood between 70 and 80% of what was said. Ana Luisa got between 20 and 30%. We decided that between the 2 of us we made 100% and could understand it all. Jaja!!
Oops, I skipped the Vishnu part and went straight to R&J. Vishnu is Mommy's and my FAVORITE restaurant in all of Costa Rica. When Mommy came to visit me when I was a student here were ate many meals there. It is vegetarian, but has a lot of yummy food. Mommy's and my favorites are the pitas with a fruit drink/shake of mora (kind of like a black raspberry) in milk. SOOOOOOO DELICIOUS!!!! And the service is fast and the food is cheap. It is a winner all around! On Saturday Ana Luisa and I enjoyed pitas and yummy fruit drinks and some really nice conversation. I really like one on one time with people getting to know them better. Ana Luisa is one of the people I met when I was a student here almost 3 years ago. We clicked and I knew we could be good friends if we were able to spend more time together. We haven't been able to spend as much time together as I might like or would have hoped, but we're working on it and I think God is really blessing it. I'm so grateful for her!!
(This isn't the greatest picture of us, but it's what I could find easily)

Oh, and I also have to throw in a brief tribute to Ana (the Ana I live with). She came to pick up Ana Luisa and me Saturday after the show because it got out after there were no more buses!! I'm so grateful for her too!!!!

Tico Tuesday, September 15th

Happy Independence Day!!!

There were fireworks last night and today there were parades by the plazas of many the town.

But, today I would like to share with you the miracle God did for me last week. I have been working on getting together a list of 17 documents (many of them which needed to be consularized, authenticated by a lawyer, taken to the National Register, translated, and/or taken to Relaciones Exteriores.) Needless to say, it has been a frustrating, hairy process, especially since some documents are no longer valid after x days or months. But, thanks and praise be to God!! I was able to hand everything in yesterday!!

The big miracle was going to Relaciones Exteriores on Friday and getting in 27 minutes something that I was originally told would take 3 days!!! Head to the blog for the story!

Last week I came very close to having a cow. There was no being tranquila. I thought my criminal record was going to expire on Sunday the 13^th, which meant I had to get everything handed in last Tuesday because the lady at the Alianza Evangelica needs time to look stuff over before she has her weekly appointment in Migracion on Thursdays. Well, that didn't happen on Tuesday. We were still waiting for documents to come back from the lawyer. Her gopher in San Jose wasn't able to accomplish what needed to be done. So, Wednesday we tried to get everything together, but we were waiting on a letter or something. And the lady in Relaciones Exteriores wasn't in and she was the only person who could do what we needed. For you see, not only were we chasing down my 17 documents, we also had to get several documents together in order to get CCI accredited as a legal entity in the eyes of Relaciones Exteriores. But, then I found out that my criminal record wasn't going to expire the 13^th. We had until the 23^rd because that is when it was stamped by the FBI (I thought I only had until the 13^th because that was when they took my fingerprints). So, praise the Lord for his grace! I had more time to get everything in. (But the next pressing issue became my tourist visa expiring this coming Saturday the 19^th.)

Anyway, Friday Minor (the handyman from church) was my companion and we went into San Jose to Relaciones Exteriores. We were greeted by a lady we named “The Filter.” She looked over everything and told us several documents weren't acceptable and why and where we had to go to fix it and gave us a sheet of paper that told us what we needed and that it would take 3 days to get the accreditation that we needed. My hopes fell to the floor once more. But, Minor suggested we wait for Dona Nazaret (the lady that wasn't there on Weds) and see what she had to say. So, we did (and got my other documents authenticated there in the meantime). And she wasn't near as picky as The Filter! All we had to do was go to the National Register and get dates stamped on a couple documents. Somehow they hadn't gotten stamped when the lawyer's gopher was there... :-( And, before we left Dona Nazaret's office, she told us that once we got everything to her, she would see if she couldn't do it for us in one day. What a relief! So, off to the National Register we went! We were nervous because Minor hadn't been in years, and the way he remembered it, the place was huge, sprawled out, and really difficult to navigate and figure out what you had to do where. Well, thanks be to God the place has been redone so everything is centralized and there are people out front that tell you what to do. Once we got inside we only had to wait in line 15-20 minutes! (that's impressive) And the lady who attended to us was a Christian and saved us from having to buy more stamps and authenticating paraphernalia. Instead of possibly taking a long time, she just stamped what we needed and let us go! Praise the Lord! Apparently things at the National Register can often take days to be processed!

Since we were close to that neck of the woods, we swung by the Alianza Evangelica. We wanted to show what we had and make sure that we had everything except the accreditation we were waiting on from Relaciones Exteriores. The girl hardly even looked at my papers as I went down this list saying yup, yup, I have this right here. (And the list she was using wasn't near as complete as the list I got off the internet that told me what needed to be authenticated, consularized, etc.) So, that was a bit discouraging, but oh well. We hurried up and got back to Relaciones Exteriores, hoping and praying that Dona Nazaret was still there.

It had started to rain, so Minor dropped me off and went to park. They let me in to see Dona Nazaret right away. She looked over everything and said it was good. Then she told me I could come and get the certification on Monday. I pressed her for specific times and she gave them to me, but then she paused and said, “Well, actually I can do it right now if you don't mind waiting.” My heart figuratively leapt from my chest onto her desk. She said she'd be out in a half hour. I thanked her profusely and entered the lobby with a huge grin on my face as Minor entered from parking the car. We waited gladly, but somewhat impatiently. It was 2:30pm. I had eaten breakfast before 8am and was ravenous! We had been too busy running around trying to get everything done before places closed for the weekend. She emerged in less than half an hour with the accreditation certificate in her hand. Glory and praise be to God!!

I treated Minor to lunch (at 4pm) and we were thrilled to have Emilia (who has been another HUGE blessing to me in this process) rejoice with us once we got back to church. Ana (my Honduran sister) blessed me hugely on Saturday by getting 2 photocopies of every single piece of paper I had to hand in. That way, when Migracion or the Alianza lose things, we'll have backups. Yesterday (Monday) I went back to the Alianza Evangelica and turned in all 17 items and this time the girl carefully looked over each document and apparently everything was ok. So, Thursday, Dona Patricia has her appointment in Migracion and Lord willing will hand in my papers, I'll be “In process” and at peace and able to focus on my real work once more! Praise the Lord for His goodness, faithfulness, provision, and for caring for us!