Tico Tuesday, February 20th

These are intense times.

Small group facilitator training, the start of a new series (The Miracle of Mercy--it's going to be great!), a family fun weekend (which I'm supposed to mobilize small groups to attend), a one day Small Groups with Purpose seminar with people from churches all over the Central Valley (and potentially beyond and the speaker is the Pastor of Small Groups at Saddleback), and then leaving a few days later for a whirlwind 18 day journey to California (with a side trip to Arizona) and Chicagoland (with a side trip to Grove City) for a conference and some church/supporter visitations. I return Wednesday of Holy Week and fully intend to lay low and rest until Resurrectiontide. Needless to say, I need all the prayers you can muster for me and the area of Small Groups these days. Oh, and there's this translation project we've been working on and need to finish stat. Please be praying for that too.
So, with all the madness and stress again rising to the not-being-able-to-sleep-at-night level, it was time for a beach day! I only took this one picture and put my phone on airplane mode for the day. I stared at the sky and sea and listened to the waves. I scrubbed my hands and feet with sand to make them soft. I saw several scarlet macaws, an iguana, a little crab, minnows, small shrimpish creatures, a sand dollar that was still alive, and a ton of gorgeous rocks and shells. I swam with beautiful silver fish with black stripes and red tails with yellow lining. I love how at the beach the more I slow down and am still, the more I start to see and notice things. (Hmm, I think there's a life lesson there!) The beach is brimming with beauty and life and phenomenal signs of God and his amazing creativity. My fun friend Kayla came with me and she drove, which was great because she loves driving and I don't. So, it ended up being a wonderfully relaxing day: just what I needed!
Thank you for your prayers. I can often feel them--they really do make a difference! Thank you for all your other means of support as well. We are in this together! May we all slow down more so we can see more!
Love,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 13th

Happy Tuesday!

The participants of the Huddle on Saturday

These are busy times with small groups: we are starting our first big series of the year in a couple weeks, we have a training for facilitators before the series starts, and we have the Small Groups with Purpose seminar the Monday after the weekend the series starts (which is also a family fun weekend). Whew! Thank God for the volunteers and coworkers I have helping me, though even still, there is a lot of work to be done. I am grateful though. And I am trusting God for things to all come together and be grrrrreat! (That was in honor of Tony the Tiger.) I always appreciate your prayers. It's tempting/all too easy to get stressed and overwhelmed, and as we've learned at my church, the buildup to a series often brings about a lot of challenges and spiritual attack. So, please continue to keep me/my church covered!
This past Saturday, we had our 2nd ever Huddle of Small Group point people in Costa Rica. This time, we had 6 Vida Abundante churches represented! Our host church took advantage and brought several of its facilitators and I ended up doing a training for everybody when I'd meant for us to sit around a table and discuss, but, next time! It went really well though, and I think we all still left having learned something. I still made the training as interactive as possible and really enjoyed turning questions back on people and offering different people opportunities to answer questions. People are such treasure troves!
Lest you worry I not be having fun or resting, I am watching as much of the Olympics as I can. Time to go catch some now!
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Carrie