Tico Tuesday, May 19th

Tuesday greetings to you all from Portland, ME!

The last week was full of fun with family and friends in North and South Carolina. And the highlight? GRADUATING from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with my Master's of Arts in Religion with a concentration in Christian Care and Counseling! (similar to an MDiv without the Hebrew and Greek) It was a full weekend for the seminary, since Friday afternoon was not only Baccalaureate, but also the dedication ceremony for the new Rogers Hall of Mission. I was able to represent my missions organization there (as it made a donation for the Latin America room to honor the legacy of the Latin America Mission) not only with my presence, but as we closed with people praying in a whole bunch of different languages, I was asked at the last minute to pray in Spanish! What an honor it was!
Graduation was a wonderful ceremony and time of celebration. My mom flew down, and an aunt, uncle, cousin, and my grandma joined us too. Afterwards we all went out to lunch with a couple friends I bonded with in seminary who showed extra kindness to me in my times of residency there.
I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to get my Master's at Gordon-Conwell. It was a great experience, and though it required a lot of hard work, I know it was worth it. I truly did learn and mature through it all. I feel more confident and better equipped for ministry now. And I will say, it feels SO GOOD to be done!!
Thank you for your continued prayers for me as I step forward into what God has for me!
Love,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, May 12th

Happy Tuesday from South Carolina!

Thanks be to God, I had smooth travels up to the States from Costa Rica. I spent the weekend in Charleston, SC, and was able to spend some time with a couple cousins. Sunday, I spoke at a church just outside Charleston and was very grateful for the opportunity to be able to share what God has been teaching me. To keep it interesting, I used a Disney illustration: Aladdin asking Jasmine if she trusts him. Over the last few months, I've felt like Jasmine. God has been asking me, "Do you trust me?" He is standing there on the edge of the magic carpet inviting me to go on a new journey with him. I find it scary to get off my comfortable balcony, but God has reminded me that trusting him is what truly brings me joy and freedom. And thankfully, God truly is the King of all, not just Aladdin imposing as a prince. I can trust him fully and know that he knows best and is taking care of me. He is the real deal! God has been so faithful and good to me and I am very curious and excited to see how the next chapter in life will play out!
Thank you for continuing to pray for me throughout my journeys: both spiritual and physical (as I fly around)!
May each of us take God's outstretched hand and trust him with our whole hearts.
Love,
Carrie

Carrie's Chronicles, May 2015/Tico Tuesday, May 6th

Greetings, dear family and friends!!

What a month April was! So much happened I will do my best to be concise.

-April started with a visit from a friend from college. She graciously read to me for hours in the car and patiently napped next to me at the beach so I could finish my readings for seminary and the Spiritual Direction training I was about to receive. We managed to see a few sights and have some fun together too. I keep making friends with people who are better than me at Boggle! ;-)

-The Spiritual Direction training was excellent. We received a lot of information in a few days, but it was very valuable. God met us in a special way, both as a group and to many of us individually. I know I raved about this last week in Tico Tuesday, but I can't express how excited I am about the way UWM is choosing to invest in the spiritual well-being of its missionaries. UWM wants to be an organization its missionaries love, and that is definitely the case for me! It is so wonderful and exciting to partner with this organization as I join God in his work in the world! And to receive training in a castle with a prayer room in a tower was just wicked awesome!

-And now...what you've all been waiting for: What was that invitation I had you all praying about and am I going to be accepting it or not??? While I was in Austria, 2 people who serve in Mexico (one an incredibly amazing woman who was my roommate there) realized I am in transition between ministries, and each invited me to Mexico (in the Distrito Federal—the capital city commonly known as the DF) to get to know their ministry and help them out for a few months...possibly as an interim kind of visit. But, the ministries--a short term missions program and a new center to help mobilize Latins into missions (especially the second one)--sound so great and I received so many confirmations from the Lord, I will go not for an interim visit, but what the missions world calls a “vision trip:” visiting and getting to know a place and ministries in order to discern if that is where God wants one to be. (While I’m there I’ll get to learn about some other ministries too.) I've shared with you only part of my experience with wrestling over staying in Costa Rica, and I will say that God has been doing a huge, wonderful work in my heart. My heart had been so gripped with fear, not wanting to release my comfort zone, this place and these people I have grown to love over the last 6 years. But God wants me in the challenge zone, not the comfort zone, because that is where I can grow more. He is stretching me, and reminding me once more that though trusting him and letting go of everything else sounds frightening, trusting him is what actually brings true freedom, joy, and peace. (It really does!!) He wants me to rely on him for everything, and he is more than enough. Besides, when I try to do things on my own, I tend to just make a royal mess. I want to follow him and be obedient to him. It is worth it to follow Jesus!

The plan to go to Mexico has come together quite quickly and so this has been a whirlwind for me the past few weeks. It wasn't until church on Sunday that it started to really hit me. My hopeful/tentative timeline is as follows:

May 7 (TOMORROW!): Fly to Charlotte, NC

 (little did I know in 2011 when we chose Mexico for Missions Sunday!!)

May 16: Graduate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary!

May 18: fly to Maine

May 25: Go on a special 2 week trip with my mom to Europe as a graduation present

June 25 at the latest: Fly to Mexico!

Mid-October: Fly back to the States and visit a whole bunch of YOU! It is my prayer that by the time I leave Mexico, God will have made my next step clear. Please pray with me!

Late December: Fly to Costa Rica for my current roommate's wedding and do whatever I need to do to move into the next step God has for me.

Please keep praying for me in this time. These last few months have been incredibly challenging, but like I said, God is calling me to trust him, to keep stepping forward into all that he has for me. I especially ask for your immediate prayers for safe and smooth travels tomorrow (Thursday). The Turrialba volcano has been spouting ash off and on for the last couple months and they've had to close the airport periodically because of it. It is currently open. Also, I have a 3 hour drive from Charlotte, NC to Charleston, SC tomorrow, so it will be a long day.

The last couple weeks have been filled with “See you laters” with a lot of people. Last night, the young adult group from church got together to share with me and bless me. I felt deeply honored, appreciated, and loved. I am blessed and grateful, and there really aren't words to express all I am feeling. I'm pretty sure there are going to be a lot of tears on the plane in the morning. Please pray!

Thank you so much for your faithful support and partnership. You are all an amazing blessing to me too!

Love,

Carrie