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!