Tico Tuesday, February 14th

¡Feliz día del amor y la amistad! Here Valentine's day becomes "Love and Friendship Day" in order to be more inclusive. My favorite part was when my beloved Ismael ran up to me to hug me. Then he told me, "I love you" in Spanish and English! Sometimes I really wish I could just take him home with me. I mean it! I was so happy to say, "I love you too" from the bottom of my heart! Another favorite part of the day was when a volunteer asked me how he could pray for me. What a beautiful expression of kindness and love from someone I'd just met! God's love is so amazing!

The picture is of the super-fun birthday party I went to on Sunday night at Roblealto's new house for adolescents. More about that and a video of a dance they made up on the blog!

May your heart be filled with God's love!

Love,

Carrie

I felt really special and honored that I was even invited to this birthday party, especially since I'm not very close with the birthday girl. (Yorley is the older daughter of the house parents at Roblealto's new Adolescent House.) I'm looking forward to getting to know her more though. Anyway, Mami Yorleny sent me a text and told me not to miss it, so I didn't! We had a blast. I had a lot of fun talking with Mami Yorleny and hearing her share stories about her experiences at the Bible Home. It was also pretty hilarious to watch a whole bunch of hyperactive boys watch a classic Liga vs Saprissa game (Think Red Sox vs Yankees kind of rivalry but in soccer). It was so great to eat together and then have a spontaneous dance party. It was really funny, because the boys are in that stage where they're all embarrassed about everything. I got to help break the ice with them a little bit. It was so funny - once there were a couple people dancing in the middle of the circle, others weren't afraid to join. And oh man, some of these boys still don't know how/bother to dance in a less sensual way. Watching them was kind of funny, but it was pretty sad and eye-opening to see the influence the world has had on them. After that, all the boys were trying to do head stands. I'd show you a video of that, but I'll spare you from seeing a whole lot of boxers. Anyway, a couple of them actually succeeded, but Papi Nayland and I definitely showed them up. Oh, the birthday girl and the 8 boys at the house made a dance that they performed for us. I'll show you a clip of that. It was a great night!