Tico Tuesday, June 28th

Behold! The old has gone! And the new has come!
Costa Rica is joining the "in" countries who now have cool paper/plastic currency that is friendly to the "personas no videntes" (blind). And yes, plastic. The 1000 colon bill (worth approximately $2) is actually made out of plastic. I think the new bills (2000, 5000, 10.000, and there are 20.000 and 50.000 but they aren't so common) all have some degree of plastic in them, but not as much the the 1000. This was demonstrated by a friend of mine the other day who heard that you couldn't rip the new bills, and proceeded to tear someone else's 2000 bill. OOPS!! The new bills are textured, different lengths according to value and supposedly even harder to con... confetti... ah! counterfeit! Yes, that.
So, when are you catching up, USA? (jijiji. Sorry, I couldn't resist! ;-) )
More on the blog!
Blessings on the rest of your week!
Love,
Carrie

I'll admit, it's a little ironic that Costa Rica would come out with new, hip "blind person friendly" money before the USA, considering the US always tries to be in top of everything that is new and trendy. I suck at knowing things about Europe, but didn't they do this with the Euro when it first came out when I was in high school, más o menos? I think I heard talk of this in the US, but who knows. The US has a lot more things to be concerned about regarding money these days....
I continue to be fascinated by Costa Rica though-just how advanced it is here in so many ways, yet so behind in so many others. I remember in my Latin American civ class (which was unfortunately lousy, one of the few disappointing classes at GCC) we used a book/curriculum about Latin American's identities being like buried mirrors. Many Latin Americans are sure of who they are or who they should be. There is indigenous culture/history/background, there is Spanish influence from the conquistadores, and now there are malls, MTV, cell phones and wi-fi.
And stop. I'm talking about Latin America as a whole. That is a VERY DANGEROUS thing to do. Why? Because it's not like you can think of Latin America kind of like the USA where each state is separate but still essentially the same in many ways. Yes, there are a number of things that unite Latin America, but I would argue that the differences between México and Costa Rica are greater than those between Maine and Illinois. Not to downplay the differences between states. I know there is enormous diversity within the US. What I'm trying to get you to understand is that there is enormous diversity within Latin America as well-even here within Costa Rica, which is smaller than West Virginia! The people from the Caribbean coast have a different culture and dialect from the one we have in the Greater Metropolitan area, which is different from the indigenous people that live in the mountains, which is different from the people who live in the northwestern province that was once part of Nicaragua.
I'm currently reading a fascinating book called "From Rio to the Rio Grande" which talks about a number of issues and differences within and regarding Latin America. It was written to help the clueless gringo learn a little more about his/her southern neighbors, who aren't all Spanish nor Mexican (so please don't call them that). I highly recommend it. I've learned a lot myself!

Tico Tuesday, June 21st

Happy Tuesday once more to you all!
This Saturday I went to the market in downtown Heredia with my friend Ulli. We chose the market because it was raining and we didn't have umbrellas with us, so instead of light streaming in you need to picture things much darker and rain dripping in from various sections of the roof. We had quite an adventure though. I took advantage of the fruit and vegetable stands to go over some vocab with her (I'm helping her learn Spanish). Trying to learn and distinguish guava, guayaba and guanábana is a challenge, but I think we both finally have them down. We walked quickly through the parts of the market that have nasty meat set out-the kind that could never pass FDA standards and makes you want to be a vegetarian. We did stop to share a HUGE, yummy handmade cheesy tortilla though. We met a really nice family there too. What a great way to spend a rainy Saturday in Costa Rica- delicious food, great company and language/culture learning!
Blessings on you this week!
Love,
Carrie

A Shield Around Me

Last Sunday there was AWANA about the Bible Home. I'll post more about that soon. But right now I just want to share about the worship time we had before going into full AWANA mode. Here's the deal. The Bible Home is a temporary shelter for 80 at risk children. There are 8 houses (10 children in each plus a substitute family). Every other weekend, the children go home to be with their families. This is very good and important since one of the main purposes of our ministries existence is to help restore families. On the other every other weekends, the children stay at the Bible Home and their parents can come and visit on Sunday afternoon. On those Sunday mornings, there is a small worship service for the children. During certain parts of the year, the post-singing time of the service becomes AWANA time. (AWANA is a really awesome evangelistic/Bible memorization program). So, last Sunday the worship time was really great. It is a powerful thing, to be there with 80 children who all come from HORRIBLE backgrounds, and sing with them about God's love, faithfulness and promises.

This past Sunday, a "new" song was introduced. It's called "You, Lord are a Shield around me." It's based on Psalm 3:3 "But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head." The lyrics say

You, Lord are a Shield around me. You lift up my head, you are my glory and strength. You, Lord are a shield around me. You prosper my ways and control my destiny, only you are a shield, Lord." I don't know what it was, but I just LOVED singing this song. It's easy, it's catchy, and of course, we learned adorable motions to it too. But what a rich, beautiful true promise we can cling to! No matter what we go through, God is there with us. The assistant director of the Bible Home and his wife led the song and explained how the Lord is a shield AROUND us. Not just in front of us, or on one side, but all around us on every side. That is so good to know! Yes, hard times come and we have to pass through some excruciatingly painful and difficult trials, but God is with us. God is in control and we can hide and rest in Him, knowing that He will lift up our heads once more. And the kids at the BH have been through that and they are finding their solace in God and it is just so beautiful!

You know in "Shout to the Lord" in English the last line says "nothing compares to the promise I have in you?" Well, in Spanish it says, "You give me incomparable promises, Lord." I like how the focus is more on the promises in Spanish than the lack of comparison available to them. Well, the recording/video we sing along with at the BH is really neat. It gives me the chills every time. Towards the end there is a break in the singing and children's voices start listing a whole bunch of God's promises, "God loves me," "God will take care of me," etc, etc, etc. God's Word is beautiful and powerful and TRUE and we can cling to it. The hard times will come. But God is still there, a shield around us. And that's something to sing about!

Tico Tuesday, June 14th

Do you remember when that mall used to be a field? When that housing development used to just be plain, open space? I've always had a hard time visualizing stuff like that- like I can't even remember what places were like before they got all built up. But, it is very easy for me to look at Los Guido and see what very recently was just vacant, green mountainous Costa Rican landscape. I got to make my first real trip into Los Guido last week. I'd technically been there once before, but it was pretty much a quick drive in drive out kind of deal. This time I got to take lots of pictures to send to some one who is helping us develop promotional materials for Roblealto's new child care center, which we are going to build in Los Guido. The poverty there is impressive. The houses are built out of wood, corrugated metal and anything else the people could find. There is a ton of trash everywhere. I think maybe next week or the following I will get to go back again and actually get to talk to some people that live there. I'm looking forward to that!
Love,
Carrie

More to come later this week!

Tico Tuesday, June 7th

This is my friend Carmen. She is the Coordinator of Christian Education at Roblealto. Sometimes she rides with me back from work. Carmencita is a very busy lady. She planned the camp for moms we had last weekend and she was in charge of Roblealto's Annual Worship Service that we had this past Friday night. The service wasn't a typical worship service. It was more like an evening of fellowship, prayer and worship. It was really neat. We split up into groups to pray for all of Roblealto's different programs (Child care centers, the Bible Home, etc), talked about what it means to serve in Roblealto, and had a lovely time singing to the Lord. There was also a speaker that reminded us of the importance and blessing of giving. We should ask ourselves what can we give or offer and not what can we get out of things. It's very counterintuitive and countercultural, but that is what Jesus calls us to do and He will always give us the grace to complete whatever He wants us to do. When it was over Carmen, the Christian Ed director of the Bible Home and I were especially exhausted because I think we were the only ones who were at both the camp for moms and the service. Thank God for a relaxing rest of the weekend! More on the blog!
May God fill each of us with His presence this week!
Carrie

I slept more this weekend than I have in... I don't even know how long. It was desperately needed though. I had been on the go pretty much constantly since before my trip to the States. And oh how nice it was to not have any plans but watching the French Open and going to church! I even got to be home by myself most of Saturday afternoon! It was so nice to journal, catch up on some e-mails and just relax and not have to be anywhere!! I'll confess it was hard to pull myself away from the Nadal/Federer final in order to go to church, but I was really excited to go back since I hadn't been since before my trip. And now with AWANA at the Bible Home every other weekend, I'll only be able to make it to church every other week. That's ok though. I'm so excited to share more with the kids at the Bible Home and get to bond with them more and have more meaningful relationships with them!
Oh, today I was in one of the houses because I needed the kids to make thank yous for the camps who are going to partner in mission with Roblealto this summer. So the kids were all drawing at the dining room table and it was just precious! I had little Hillary (one of my personal favorites) on my lap. She did was Ezra likes to do too- copy another picture. She did a great job! All the other kids were drawing and coloring too, showing off their creativity.... and ability to write "love" in English. :-) It was so adorable. And how wonderful for those kids to be able to be kids and color and create and set aside the cares of their lives! Thank God for places like the Bible Home that get children out of at risk situations that force them to grow up too quickly. Now they don't have to worry about Daddy coming home drunk, or how long Mommy will be out, or if a strange man will come to the house again or if someone will mistreat them, etc. And at the Bible Home (and our child care centers) the children are not only protected, but they are also taught about God and His love. And we work with their parents too in order to restore and strengthen the family. It's just so wonderful! Can you see once more why I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of this ministry?