Tico Tuesday, April 5th

Can you believe it's APRIL already!?!?!?!
Anyway, this is what my church here in Costa Rica is like. This past Sunday was a special day because a group from the US came to worship with us. They are helping us build a new church building that will also double as a child care center for children of teen mothers. (I just can't get away from at risk children! Not that I have a problem with that.... jijiji). Though no one in the group of gringos knew any Spanish, it wasn't too hard for them to follow the service because all Anglican churches use the same prayer book and liturgy! It's so beautiful! But, at a couple points in the service, the rector wanted some of his comments to be understood by everyone, so I got to interpret! IT WAS GREAT!
It's a good thing the work is coming along on the new church building, because have outgrown this little space that we are currently meeting in! If you'd like to keep reading, you can find more on the blog!
God bless you and your times of worship this week!
Carrie


Yeah, so we hope to be able to have our Resurrection Sunday celebration at the new church and are very excited because that day will also have baptism, confirmation and it is our church's namesday (Cristo Resucitado means Risen Christ). So it's going to be a BIG party! I was talking with Nelly my coworker today and she confirmed one of the sadder cultural differences I have observed: typically here in Costa Rica, Resurrection Sunday is not such a big deal. In the States it is a BIG DEAL and I have come to passionately LOVE Resurrection Sunday as I have grown in my relationship with Christ. And to my disappointment, the 4 Resurrection Sundays I have spent here have indeed not had the same hype, thrill, emotion, power and beauty and the typical one in the States. I'm not sure why this is. Easter pageants here are pretty much nonexistent. Well, I think Christmas ones pretty much are too. Life is different. But I will still have my personal sunrise service on Resurrection Sunday morning and sing through the whole Resurrection section of my hymnal! And that will be lovely. So, in essence, Resurrection Sunday will be/is a big deal at my church here, but still not in my ideal way, and I'll deal with it.
Hmm, I had been planning to write about something else. I don't remember what it was now though. Was I going to tell you about the wonderful people there? They truly are wonderful! Was I going to tell you about the colors of liturgy and explain that purple is for Lent? Oh I Remember! It's a funny anecdote:
During announcements, our rector Jorge had everyone introduce themselves, starting with the gringos and then everyone from our church (I can't call us all ticos because we have Venezuelans, Salvadorians, Guatemalans, etc). So, the gringos all introduced themselves. They didn't consider me a gringa because I wasn't part of their group. They'd heard me speak enough English that they figured I was from the States (apparently I accidentally let a y'all slip out! Yikes! I don't know what happened! They were all excited I might be a Southerner too though.) But of course they associated me more with Costa Rica and knew I was a regular attender of the church. However, when almost all the people from Cristo Resucitado had introduced themselves (the only 2 who hadn't gone were the Austrian exchange student and yours truly), Jorge started to move on and I had to clear my throat pretty obviously to catch his attention. Essentially, the gringos thought of me as a tica and the ticos thought of me as a gringa! Such are the joys and complications of my life!
I love being identified with people and life here! But, there are definitely those moments of Wait, where do I belong? or Where do I say I'm from? I definitely can't ever deny I'm from the States, but right now I'm a happy resident of Costa Rica. That ties in with something else I was reminded of recently: Jesus identifies with us in pretty much EVERYTHING!! Since He came to earth as a man, He experienced life here and can thus identify with us. So, He knows what it's like to be from one place and sort of be from another. Not that the US is heaven, but I think you can get my general idea. This came from a sermon I listened to-I finally downloaded all the sermons from my church in the States onto my ipod and have been listening to sermons on the way to work. FANTASTIC!!!!!! I encourage you to check them out too!