Tico Tuesday, April 26th

ALLELUIA! HE IS RISEN!! Resurrection stories and photos will come in the Chronicle that will appear later this week.

Today, I want to share about our trip to Monteverde. Samuel, Ceci and I adventured to one of the most famous places for eco-tourism in the hemisphere. Monteverde is aptly named, for it is indeed green and mountainous. And oh, how beautiful! The views driving up were gorgeous. The horizon was a bit hazy, but we could still see the ocean. We went to a cloud forest preserve and hiked around. Costa Rica is famous for having 6% of the world's biodiversity (and it all fits in a land mass that is smaller than West Virginia). It is impressive I tell you! Unfortunately we didn't get to see much in the way of wild life, but we did get to see gorgeous flora and a surprise amazing view of the Arenal volcano! (I'll try to get some pictures on fb soon.) I marveled at God's phenomenal creativity and was once more left in awe when I remembered that it is the very same Creator God who made, knows and loves you and me! WOW! This God who Himself became a part of creation, joined humanity and walked among us, then gave His life for us and rose again from the dead! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

Don't forget to check out the blog!

Love,

Carrie

Going to Monteverde was quite an adventure. It is still eco-touristy and not totally exploited because you have to drive 20km on a dirt road to get there. I found this out the night before we left, and didn't want to cancel the trip because my excursion for the previous had been canceled. Well, we made it fine, but I certainly would not want to drive that again. Now I really understand why my parents didn't want me to make friends with people who lived on dirt roads when I was little.

One highlight of the trip was the way there. Ceci, Samu and I had a great conversation about love. We have some differing ideas, but it was delightful to have a pleasant, meaty conversation! I haven't had too many of those here. People tend to hide in the shallows and not have deep conversations. Building trust is hard and takes a long time. This has been hard for me because a) our culture trains us that we should get everything as fast as we want it b) it takes a lot of effort and patience c) people tend to open up only in one on one conversations d) I was spoiled by Grove City where having deep conversations is just what you do, in the car, at lunch, walking to class, whenever e) I don't want to pry into peoples' lives and sometimes it's hard to (know how to) relate and I'm not sure how much others will be able to relate to me. So, it's a learning process. And though I am very extroverted, I know I don't have to and actually shouldn't be best friends with everyone. Better to have a solid few than an overwhelming smattering of friends. God has been incredibly good to me though and I am so thankful for all the people He has placed into my life here and everything He has taught me through them!

More to come soon!