Tico Tuesday, January 11th

Happy Tuesday to you all!

This past week I had the opportunity to make another trip to Isla Venado. When I was there in September delivering medicines that we had promised them when I was there with a team in June, I had two ladies ask me if I could get them Bibles. I talked to Pastor Eladio about the need for Bibles and he said there was a lot of need. Many people in the church don’t have one and I saw many Bibles at church that were literally falling apart. So, I took it upon myself to obtain new Bibles for Pastor Eladio’s church. Thankful a bookstore in San José not far from where I work sells Bibles at a really good price if you buy them in bulk, so I got the minimal 20 Bibles in order to get the really good price. Don’t worry. Every one of those Bibles will be put to use!! I was only able to bring 10 with me this time because I ended up having to go by myself and 20 Bibles do kind of weigh a lot (10 weigh enough on their own). But I plan to go back in another 2-3 months to deliver the rest and visit dear doña Epi and Pastor Eladio and all those other people on the island I’m loving so much. More about my trip on the blog!!

Blessings on you this week!

God bless you all,

Carrie

Though I ended up going by myself I think it maybe worked out better that way this time. There are some difficult things happening in Pastor Eladio and doña Epi’s family. Please pray especially for one of their daughters and her little daughter. I know God had me there for a reason though. I’m not sure doña Epi would have told me what had happened over the phone (she usually calls me every couple/few weeks. Isn’t that so sweet!!!). And, God worked in both her and me while I was there.

I had fun hanging out with 2 of doña Epi’s other granddaughters, Priscilla and Alexandra. My first encounter with Alexandra was an impromptu hula hooping competition my first trip to the island Dec 2009. I ended up letting her win because we had been going for quite a while. And she can keep the hoop going around her knees and I can’t. (oh and I just got me a hula hoop this weekend when I was hanging out with Fabián’s family in the mall after seeing the new adorable well-done Rapunzel movie with them. I’m so excited to use it!!!) Anyway, I can blog more about hula hooping another day. Alexandra is 8. Priscilla and I also met on my first trip to the island. She is a great 12 (or is she 13?) year old girl. Like most other girls her age, she is excited to turn 15 (like Sweet 16 in the States but 15th birthdays in Latin culture tend to be really BIG deals. It depends on how much money you have, but some of them are as expensive as weddings). Anyway, Priscilla already invited me to her 15th birthday party. Oh and she's the girl in the pink shirt in the pic above.

So, Priscilla , Alexandra and I walked around the island together the first afternoon I was there. We saw monkeys!!! One of them was a momma and she had her little one on her back. SO CUTE!!! The next day we went to the beach together with Priscilla’s best friend Fabiola. We had fun swinging on a rope swing (see pics on my Facebook page) and swimming in the water. I sliced my finger open on a shell while I was doing a handstand in the water, got a little rope burn from the swing and got a sting by a jellyfish kind of thing (it stopped hurting after like 10 min though. Weird!! I’m glad it stopped though and didn’t get all swelled or anything), so I felt a little beat up. It was fun though.

I also had some nice down time on the island to journal and read and that was really good. I also got to visit my friend Marlen, a lady I bonded with when I went in June. She is hilarious and just wonderful. She is so in love with God! I’m going to meet up with her again next time I go back to the island. I’d love to share more but I’m falling asleep here at the compu. More soon!