Tico Tuesday, February 26th

Happy Tuesday!
Wow, lately I've felt like I could write a whole Chronicle every week! Life is indeed full, and though I've been burning the candle at both ends, I've really been enjoying it. For the most part. This past week included another fun party with volunteers, a special Family Fun Day at the Bible Home, the LAM hymn sing, a trip to the Poás volcano (3rd time wasn't a charm. I have yet to see the crater!), and getting to see Les Miserables again.

 The not so enjoyable part of this week was realizing that my fate is sealed: my driver's license expires March 10th and there is no way under the sun I can renew it without a valid residency card. (Trust me, I've tried.) Migration asked for more papers last week, so after another 4 hours of waiting to hand in the papers, I was told to wait another 90 days. I'm terribly fed up with this. In May it will have been a year and a half since I started this whole renewal process. My first residency card was only good for two years! It's outrageous. And, Migration employees treat people like cows and the whole system is ridiculously inefficient. Anyway, after I got my bad news, I visited with one of the house moms from the Bible Home. We prayed together and God gave me a lot more peace about all this. It is horrible and I hate it, but he is in control and this is a good reminder of my need for God and to trust him in every area of my life. (I'm more upset about the principle and injustice than I am about not being able to drive for a few months.) Please pray for Migration to not ask for anything else and for everything to come together in May so I can get my new card as soon as possible and be able to renew my license without any hassle!
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 19th

A Valentine's Day Treat!

Last week we had another pizza party with last week's group of volunteers that was serving at the Bible Home. It was really special because it fell right on Valentine's Day! Unlike “Single's Awareness Day” in the States, Valentine's Day here is celebrated as “Love and Friendship Day.” 

So during the pizza party, every house had the opportunity to give a brief presentation and a little creative something to the members of another house: a homemade card, a balloon, a piece of candy, etc. We also had our own Cupid who gave us paper so we could write special messages to one another. We then read them in front of everyone. It was really fun and sweet to have siblings send sweet greetings to one another, a boy write to his former house mom, the married couples write notes to each other, a little boy tell an older boy he's his best friend, friends send love to one another, find out who the 6th grade heart throb is, and for Pam (my friend and former supervisor) send a note to bless me! One of the sweetest messages came from one of the house dads. He composed a song for the 11 boys that live in his house, and it almost had me in tears. He sang how he loves them (even though they make him angry sometimes) and it was truly beautiful. You can pray for him and his wife since he had an accident not long ago and it's pretty hard for him to get around with a bum knee.

May God fill our hearts, lives and relationships with love each day!

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 12th

I hate it when my ugly side comes out. That part of me that nobody seems to like, including me. And I'm embarrassed to have it happen. Isn't Jesus supposed to have fixed that by now? Why does it always come back to my pride, my selfishness, my desire to always be the center of attention, my thoughtlessness, my insensitivity to tico culture and its delicate, sensitive people, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Haven't I strategized enough on ways to avoid this? Come on, Carrie Jo. Some missionary you are.
Sometimes I feel like there are seasons when my imperfection is totally rampant and I'm just a disaster. But when I really think about it, those are actually the times when my pride is in check and I'm being more honest with myself. I'm a horribly broken person. This is why I need a Savior. It is truly through the grace of God alone that He does anything through me.
Call me crazy, but I actually like these times of ugliness and discomfort, because they allow me to open up the door again and let God work more in this mess of a young lady. And they enable me to see my heavenly Father's raw, scandalous love and grace for a wretch like me. I think this is why I love Lent so much. (It officially starts tomorrow, but I feel like mine started last week.)
May we all open ourselves to God again/more and let him continue to conform us to his Image.
Love,
Carrie

PS I took this picture in my sunset spot, in front of a horse pasture about a 100 feet from my apartment. I'm trying to start the habit of going out to watch sunset and praising and thanking God for the day. I really like it!

You Never Know What God Will Do...

On Tuesday, I mentioned what a blessing the volunteers are to the children of Roblealto. One guy and his wife bonded with one of the houses last year (it just happens to be the house my friend Ivannia mothers). His wife couldn't come back this year because she is taking care of their adorable baby, but this guy spent every moment he possibly could with the kids of the Jardin house. At lunch he went up to play soccer with them and he got permission from Ivannia to come before the scheduled supper time so he could hang out with them more. It was so amazing, beautiful, heart-warming, inspiring, etc. to see the love and commitment this man has to those kids! I had never seen a volunteer do that before.
But I'd also like to take a moment and share how the volunteers blessed me. A couple of them were asking me about my role here, how I got here, etc. As I recite the very abbreviated version of how I came to be a missionary in Costa Rica, I often tell people I never thought of being a missionary and could not have dreamed of doing all I do here. But, I tell them, when I look back, I can see how God directed it all and brought me to this place. He carefully crafted my upbringing, which Spanish teachers I would have, which college I would go to, where I would study abroad, etc. God had every little detail all worked out and intentionally, lovingly brought me to the place I am today. That is good reason for praising Him!
I was thinking over this, and Friday night as I was praying for Horace (what my mom and I call my future husband-- not sure why she had to choose that name, but that's beside the point), the Holy Spirit reminded me of something very special: If God has been faithful and directed everything in the past, surely he will continue to do so! What a marvelous promise! It can be hard waiting for Horace sometimes. Is he supposed to be a tico? Some other kind of Latino? Or is some gringo supposed to fall out of the sky somehow? Will it be someone I currently know, or will we really have to start from scratch? What will our relationship be like?
Recently I was journaling about some of these questions, and I felt God reminding me not to be like Abraham. God promised Abraham a son. Abraham believed him, but tried to take matters into his own hands. He went to his slave Hagar since his wife Sarah was barren. Hagar had a baby, and sadly things didn't work out so well with all that. Abraham didn't do things God's way, and it brought consequences (see Genesis 15-18 and 21). In my impatience, I've occasionally gone looking for Horace, and I'll confess it hasn't gone too well. But, just as God gave Abraham his promised son through his wife Sarah, I believe God will bring Horace and me together according to his good and perfect plan. If God has been faithful and directed everything in the past, surely he will continue to do so! Praise his name!

You never know what God will do with a simple conversation you have with someone...

Tico Tuesday, February 5th

Happy Tuesday to you once more!

What a week it has been! The volunteer season has started up at the Bible Home, School starts tomorrow for all the children, last night we had our first meeting for camp leaders to reveal the theme and start preparing ourselves, today I translated in one of the houses and again in the evening for my landlord's family (since they used to be house parents and one of the volunteers who knew them came over to say hi)....whew! The pace of life at the Bible Home is really picking up again! This is good though, in many ways. The kids have been starting to get kind of stir crazy without having school, and everybody LOVES having volunteers around! They painted the entire school in two days! And had a dentist and hygienist seeing children all day yesterday and today. Then to have them in the houses playing and sharing with the kids and house families in the afternoons and evenings is just amazing! Place yourself in the children's shoes for a second: You're family is a mess, you don't know who your dad is, you've been abused in multiple ways, you're teased at school, you don't get good grades, and you don't get along with others easily. Then, someone comes to visit you from another country and without even being able to speak your language, this person loves on you, plays with you, gives you loads of attention and tells you about the love of Jesus. Wow! Can it get any better than that??? Praise God for our volunteers!
On a side note, I'd like to request prayer for a friend of mine who just lost her grandmother. I went through that 11 years ago and it was incredibly hard (and sometimes still is!). Please pray for God to give her peace and strength in this tough time, and for me to be a good, supportive friend to her.
Thanks!
Love,
Carrie