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!