Tico Tuesday, November 27th

Happy post-turkey Tuesday!
I don't know about you, but I'm still enjoying lots of succulent turkey! What a fun Thanksgiving I had! Well, the morning was pretty nostalgic and every little sweet thing during the Macy's parade and its ads kept making me cry and miss those happy childhood Thanksgivings with my whole family together. But after talking with my parents briefly, I headed over to the Jardin house at the Bible Home. Mr. Turkey hadn't thawed very much, so dinnertime got pushed way back, but we managed to keep the kids well distracted. And thankfully, they didn't have school the next day, so we took our time eating, sharing the history of Thanksgiving, reading Psalm 100, giving thanks for something from each letter of the alphabet, playing the Thanksgiving word scramble, and making our turkey of gratitude (behind us in the picture). What a joy and blessing it was to share with my friend Ivannia (the house mom) and the children! I'm so thankful that I had special people to share the special day with, and I'm thankful for the special people like you that help keep me here on the mission field.
Some of you have started to respond to my most recent letter mentioning my need for an increase in support. Thank you so much! I don't have any way of knowing immediately though if your gift is a special donation or a recurring commitment. Could you please drop me a note to let me know? That will help me know how close (or far) I am to my goal of 12 people at $50/month. Also, I'd love for you to join me in asking God for the 12 people to commit by the end of the year!
All I can say is thank you. I have done nothing special to be here, I have done nothing to "deserve" it. But I can't tell you how much I love to hang out with the children and house moms! I'm here to minister to them, but they sure minister to me too!
Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement and support!
With love and gratitude,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, November 20th

Happy Tuesday to you! And Happy Almost Thanksgiving! I am indeed grateful for each of you. You are each a great blessing to me. I can not tell you what a joy and blessing it is to serve God here at Roblealto. Recently, I've been granted the opportunity to do 1 on 1 pastoral care with a few of the children at the Bible Home. It is a great responsibility I am honored to assume. I wish I could do it with all of them! It breaks my heart to see their longings for love and special attention.
The other week one of my new favorites had her birthday. I swung by her house on my way home and read Psalm 139 with her and prayed for her. I was in her house again yesterday and she asked me when I was coming again to read her the Psalm again. I told her I'd just done it for her birthday and she said she wanted it to be her birthday again so I'd come again. I don't think I'll wait till next year! This opportunity is too good to pass up! This young lady and her family are dealing with some incredibly difficult conditions and situations. Please pray for M and her mother and siblings. And please pray for me as I seek to show Jesus to young people like M. Oh how I need your prayers! I'm also still in need of your support. It is only with your help that I will be able to keep reading Psalms to M and having 1 on 1 meetings with other children. I'm looking for about 12 more people to partner with my service through the LAM at $50/month. I encourage you to pray about this too. (Or maybe you can commit to $25 and recruit a friend to commit to giving another $25?)
I thank God for the work he is doing in the lives of the children at the Bible Home and I thank him for his faithfulness. I know that he will continue to provide for my every need. Thank you so much to those of you who already support me on a regular basis!
God is good!
This week, along with praying for all the things I mentioned about, I challenge you to share a Psalm (or even just a verse from one) with someone. I'll be reading Psalm 100 with 11 children and their house mom on Thursday!
With love and gratitude,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, November 13th

It's Tuesday again! I wish I could tell you a thousand things that have happened over the past week! There were some really sweet moments: hearing a house mom share from her heart about serving at the Bible Home and marvel at the miracles God performs in children's lives there, little E gaining confidence in me and keeping his arms wrapped tightly around me, getting asked to chaperone a slumber party for 9 pre-teen girls, M (one of the really hard cases I mentioned recently) behaving wonderfully at the slumber party, watching the smile grow across Y's face as I used her as an example of God's love-driven creation, having a good conversation with fellow AWANA leaders, praying for M.A. on her birthday, and the list goes on.
I'll just comment briefly on the slumber party: I'm not sure I've ever felt a heavier sense of responsibility before in my life! One of the girls said I should change since I'm a bore, but somebody had to be responsible! I still had a lot of fun though, and the girls did too. In the morning they totally spoiled me and wouldn't even let me in the kitchen to make breakfast! One of them even gave me a backrub while breakfast was cooking. Now that's the life!
I thank God so much for granting me more opportunities to share with the children. One thing I've learned at the Bible Home is that we can and should seize every moment we can to teach the children, encourage them to practice virtues, tell them how special they are and how much God loves them, etc.
I've received word that some of you have already received the mailing I told you about. If you haven't gotten it yet, please keep your eyes peeled! I encourage you to stop and take a minute to prayerfully consider partnering with me in my service to God at Roblealto through the LAM. I currently need several more people to join my team of partners who give on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. It is through your giving that I am here and able to tell these children that God knows them and loves them no matter what! Thank you so much for participating in this work of God's kingdom!
May God fill your week with some really sweet moments too!
Peace and joy be with you,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, November 6th

I made a mistake yesterday. I forgot to bring my camera to the personnel meeting with me! A camera in a personnel meeting, you say? Does anything photo-worthy every happen in one of those? At the Bible Home, the answer is definitely Yes! For one part, we broke into 6 teams and had to present a skit of some kind of manufacturing machine.

 There was a t-shirt machine, a guitar machine, a puppet machine, etc. It was hilarious to watch one of the very professional teachers from our school on her hands and knees acting as a sheep and pretending to eat a pulled up chunk of turf! She was promptly shorn so her wool could be used to make a cotton t-shirt. Hmm, I guess that was a pretty miraculous machine, wasn't it? The noises and motions of some other more mechanical machines split our sides, and I think the favorite was our administrator (who is a delightful goof) yelling "SI! SI! SI! SI! SI!" You see, he was part of the guitar machine, which spoke the notes a guitar would play. In Costa Rica, we don't use A, B, C, etc. to name notes, instead we use Do, Re, Mi, etc. with Si in the place of Ti. And as you probably know Sí means Yes in Spanish. So while everyone else just said a syllables, he got to say "Yes! Yes! Yes!" --and he did it with every fiber of enthusiasm in his body! That is what I would have loved to capture for you. But instead, I'm sending you the product of my team's machine: a smile!
What a joy it is to serve God alongside these creative, wonderful people! Thank you for playing the role you have in allowing me to be here; whether that be through your prayers, giving, care packages, or words of encouragement! If you'd like to do any or all of the above, please visit my secure donation page, note my mailing address at the bottom of my e-mail signature, and drop me a line to let me know what you're up to!
Enjoy your work this week!
Carrie