Tico Tuesday, November 30th

Happy Tuesday!

Last week was very full! More to come in the soon-to-arrive Chronicle, but for now I'll highlight my birthday. It was a great day at the Bible Home and we had the debriefing of the group of volunteers from Canada. I made my pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and then headed to Albeiro's for a fantastic birthday dinner of shrimp, broccoli, salad, rice and of course, birthday cake! I think this was the first year in my life I haven't had a homemade cake. I didn't have time to make myself one. I was given 2 storebought ones though, so I guess that makes up for something.... sort of. I definitely felt the love on my day and birthday month/season has been great. My birthday package from my parents didn't come until yesterday!

May God bless all of you each day. Each one is a gift from Him and reason enough to celebrate and give Him thanks and praise!

With love,

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, November 23rd

It's Tuesday again!

This week I would like to feature my supervisor at work, Pam. She is such a wonderful leader! she is well-organized, knows what she's doing, relates well with the members of her team, sets a good example, loves what she does and is just an amazing woman of God! I am so blessed to work with her! Last week we were working on writing the printed bulletin together. the last page is SO GREAT!!! It was a total team effort and I lvoe the way we included the gospel in it! God's love is so awesome and powerful! Head to the blog for more!

May we live out the gospel this week and be THANKFUL for EVERYTHING God sends our way!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Carrie Jo

So Pam and I put the last page of the bulletin together. It was really great to bounce ideas off one another and just rejoice in the gift of the life of Jesus Christ. We serve Him, we live because of Him, and Roblealto only exists because of Him. God is so great I jsut love Him so much!!!

Pam put together the page before the last one and it was beyond adorable and heart-melting. It sends chills down my spine every time I re-count or hear what the kids said. It would be worth making a donation to Roblealto just to see this page. Seriously! Pam interviewd 6 kids and asked them what they would give Jesus for Christmas. And oh the blessed innocence and the sweetness of youth! It doesn't occur to them that they might not have to give what they want to give. They just think of how to best express their love and devotion to Him.

Getting to spend time ehre at the Bible Home is so great! I love having volunteers here. I get to have more interaction with the kids and hear and witness some really greta stuff. Ok, sorry, it's Wednesday now and I have to go. More soon, I hope! Thus far it's been a great birthday!!!

Tico Tuesday, November 16th

Happy happy Tuesday!

We are currentling hosting a team of volunteers from Canada here at Roblealto's Bible Home. Can you imagine traveling some 36 hours to go somewhere? And when you arrive they give you a lawn mower and tell you to get to work? Ok, we're a little nicer about it (and we let them sleep some too), but, really... What disposition! What a beautiful willingness to serve! But, of course we don't just make volunteers slave away all day. That would be cruel. THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE TO PLAY WITH!!!! And these kids need a lot of love!! And language barrier shmanguage larrier. Smiles, hugs and gestures go a loooooooong way. Really, they are all you need. But anyway, I am really loving having volunteers here! And I am continuing to learn so much-about Roblealto, about working with people, about lawnmowers and weedwhackers... and of course about God and His transforming love. Friday we took the volunteers to Los Guido and to El Manantial, one of our childcare center. More about that on the blog!

May God bless the work of your hands this week and may it be an act of love for Him!

Carrie

Los Guido is the site of Roblealto's future and 4th childcare center. It is essentially a slum on the southern side of San José- illegal immigrants, not good access to water and electricity, extreme poverty, drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, child labor and abuse, serious exploitation. This is the reality of life there. Not pretty. At Roblealto's new childcare center, 250 children will be cared for each day. The kids' parents will be able to get better jobs and Lord willing, break out of poverty and start a new life. We have the land. We have the architectural plans. All we need is $673.500 to get going on Stage 1. We are writing grants, praying hard, and trying to make friends with rich people. Anybody know anyone that might be interested in helping transform a community in Costa Rica? We are sure excited to see how God is going to provide! We KNOW HE WILL!!!

Next, El Manantial. Our 3rd and "newest" childcare center. It was built a year after I was born (and I'll be 24 a week from tomorrow!!!! :-) ) It serves 235 children from areas like Los Guido (some of them are even from Los Guido. And unfortunately, areas like Los Guido are all too easily found here in Costa Rica). When we went to visit on Friday, we arrived while the children were having lunch. It was SO great!!! The kids were beyond adorable. We walked in and all the kids turned around and stuck their hands out for handshakes and high fives and started shouting "¡Visita! ¡Visita!" (Visitor! Visitor!) Too cute for words! And then you'd approach one and they'd start talking to you with their mouth full of food-like 3 kids at once trying to tell you their names and ask you 3 different questions and tell you 3 different things. Yes, overwhelming, but too fun and wonderful to think anything else. They just starve for love! Oh it was a blast! Can you see now why I'm so enamored with this organization??

Ok, sorry to cut it short, but it's bedtime. Sorry for the lack of pics, but I need to make sure the pics I post are of kids who have permission to have their fotos plastered in public. More to come! The rest of this month is going to be an exciting whirlwind!

Tico Tuesday, November 9th

This past Friday night we had a prayer "vigil" at the BIble Home. We ended around 10pm, so it wasn't that much of a vigil, but I know I wouldn't have made it through the night and it was quite cold up there in San José de la Montaña. Really, my tank top, long sleeved t-shirt, other t-shirt, sweatshirt and scarf were not enough!!!! Anyway, this was the 5th vigil they have done at the Bible Home. The previous 4 were all in newly built or remodeled houses (there are 8 total, originally constructed in the early 1930s. With 10 kids plus a foster family you can imagine the wear and tear these houses get!!!) This year, the school, which was also several decades old, got quite the facelift! So, we had our vigil there. It was very well planned. A lot like a concert of prayer, if you know what that is. If not, it suffices to say it was kind of like an extended worship service with songs, some teaching, prayer, and worship dance by a few ladies. Oh yeah, and tamales and some yummy cakes and breads. It was a beautiful evening or worship and thanksgiving together! I'm looking forward to knowing the staff and kids at the Bible Home better!
Have I mentioned yet how much I love my job and how fascinated I am by the ministry of Roblealto?
Blessings on the rest of your week!
Carrie

A little more about my new job

Ok, so it's Thursday morning and not Wednesday night.... Last night I got home and Josue and a friend of mine were watching Fiddler on the Roof. So, yeah. Not much got done.

So, what am I doing in my new job? I am part of the Int'l Development/Promotions Dept. We are the connection between people outside of Costa Rica and Roblealto. In our office, we get entrance, progress and exit reports on each of the kids and transform them into nice letters for the kids' sponsors to read. The report from the social worker says, “Juan is affectionate, squirmy, and disobedient.” We say, “Juan is affectionate and very active. We are working with him on respecting rules and authority.” Doesn't that sound better? All the kids in Roblealto programs come from really difficult backgrounds and family situations. So, they aren't all little angels. They need a lot of prayer and the support they receive when sponsored really helps transform their lives and the lives of the rest of their family. Progress reports come out once a year around the time of the kid's birthday. So, there are always ones that need to be done. Now that Fabian and I are here though, we have caught up and are now on top of them. We were a couple months behind when he started. We also translate all the correspondence between the sponsors and the kids. That's mostly Nelly's job, but I think they are going to have me help with that some closer to Christmas. Sounds great!!

Next week we are having a group of volunteers come!! I'm excited!!! Tomorrow we'll get our orientation, Monday we are supposed to visit all the childcare centers and meet the staff there and Tuesday night, they arrive to the Bible Home! While they are here we help keep tabs on them as they work and get them anything they need while they work on their various projects. One night we have a “Night of Translation” and they get one of us to be with them at dinner in a house at the Bible Home and translate for them. I think that sounds great! I'm really excited for that!

So, there's a little more of a taste of what happens at work. We also have lots of miscellaneous translations to do, like the grant proposal I'm working on. I think I'm going to finish it today!! Gotta go get ready for work!

Tico Tuesday, November 2nd

Happy Tuesday from Costa Rica!!!

Today I went to work in the Bible Home. The idea is for me to be there about 2 days a week, but leaving things flexible to be where my supervisor needs me to be. I spent most of the day working on a translation of a grant application from English into Spanish. It's great practice for me, and it is definitely cementing a lot about Roblealto into my head! What is the grant proposal for? A new childcare center!! More on that another day. I'm currently on page 12 of 23. We'll see when I actually get to finish. At the central office in San José there are Entrance Reports that need (what I would consider desperate) attention and next week a group of volunteers is coming! Whew!

If you still don't really get what I do in my new job, I'll post more on my blog tomorrow. Right now I need to go to bed!!

May God bless the work of your hands this week!

Carrie