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!