Carrie Smith is delighted to be serving Jesus in Costa Rica with the Roblealto Child Care Association. Roblealto is a Christian organization that provides comprehensive care to 700 at risk children and adolescents. As Correspondent/Project Coordinator in the International Development Department, some of her responsibilities include writing entrance and progress reports about the children in the three child care centers and temporary residential shelter, brainstorming and executing strategies to raise funds for special projects, translating various documents and writing articles and thank you letters. For more information about Roblealto's ministry (and to read some articles Carrie wrote), please visit Roblealto's website.
February 21, 2012
This weekend I learned to quit, to stop and to hate. We had a wonderful retreat of LAM missionaries that serve here in Costa Rica! And actually, I'm being serious. Steve, our current president of the LAM, encouraged us to QUIT lying and start being totally truthful with God, others and ourselves. He talked about exposing our lives to God's light and walking in his truth (1 John 1:5-9). I loved how he said, "God loves you just the way you are, but He doesn't want you to stay that way." Amen! Steve also encouraged us to STOP and take a Sabbath one day a week, to spend some good time with God and enjoy the creation and loved ones He has given us. Then, John Stam taught us to HATE the things that God hates. He also encouraged us to turn back to our first love and remember why we do what we do. (Yup, he talked on Rev 2, the letter to the Ephesian church.) It was a great weekend of teaching and sharing.
Like last year, one of the highlights was the soccer game. My team lost because we couldn't get a goal in thanks to a stellar 75 year old goalie!
Do you need to start quitting, stopping and/or hating this week? I know I do!
Blessings on you as we enter the Lenten season tomorrow!
Love,
Carrie
Happy End of January to you all, dearly loved ones!
This year is 1/12 over and every day is flying by faster than the one before. I've been doing much better at making my daily to do lists and making good use of time. The only distraction lately has been the Australian Open, which came to a very sad end on Sunday. Anyway, here's the news.
COOL HAPPENINGS
-After about a month of vacation, Roblealto's kids are back! This means I've gotten to see all my special loves who are still at the Bible Home and today I got to see a couple of my favorites when I went to take pictures of the NEWLY remodeled 15 de Setiembre Child Care Center. (A new ramp that makes the building fully handicap accessible, freshly painted everything, ceiling fans in every room, gated in parking spaces and NO MORE noise from the highway entering the building! Look for pics on Roblealto'sfacebook page, or my own soon!)
-This year, Roblealto is celebrating it's 80th anniversary. At our spiritual retreat the 2nd day of work we kicked off our year long celebration of our rich history and all the wonders that God has done. I can't wait for us to celebrate our 100th!
-In 1932, the Bible Home opened with 8 children. 80 years later, in 2012, the Bible Home opened a new extension: a house for 8 adolescent boys who have been at the Bible Home, but need more age appropriate treatment as we continue to work with them and their families so they can break the bonds of dysfunction and poverty. I'm excited to go and hang out at this house from time to time-the house/foster family in it are great and the guys are growing so much!
-The Bible Home starts the year with a welcome bonfire. We had a lovely time of worship mixed with each house making a special song and/or dance presentation. My favorites were the Jardín House's original song with 10 year old Stephanie on lead solo, the dance presentation by 5 of the girls from the Eden House (choerographed by the eldest) and the hilarious song by the Palomar (where my friends Fausía and Andrés live). Oh and I really like the Bethesda House's presentation too-in which each child stated something they are learning (and the new ones saying what they want to learn while they are there). “When I first came here I fought a lot, but here I'm learning to make peace.” It was so touching!
COOL LESSONS
-I currently have 2 theme words. Engage (IVers feel free to laugh) and Embrace. They are both great action verbs that imply participating in, wholeheartedly doing, fully accepting whatever you're doing. None of this passive, flow stuff. I've been learning a lot about engaging in and embracing a number of different situations, actions, behaviors, thought patterns, etc. I've spent a lot of my life just trying to do whatever is easiest, taking the route that avoids the most conflict, letting a lot of other people call the shots and being ignorant about a number of other things. Example: engaging more in my relationship with God. For me, spending quality time with God each day is really important. But, sometimes I just kind of go through the motions. Or when I pray before meals I'm not really praying, I'm just repeating the same thing I always say. I want to engage more in my prayers before meals and actually enter into God's presence, thank Him and ask for Him to actually bless the food. I want to engage more with what the Bible says, engage more in the news and try to have a better understanding of the world around me. I'm learning to embrace the fact that I'm single, 25 and with no prospects in sight. Embracing and making the most of each day God gives me. Embracing some of the hard realities of life that I can't control. It's not easy, but I know that God is in me and with me (He's still Emmanuel in January!).
Thank you for continuing to pray for my residency renewal to be resolved quickly (I had to to go Migration and am waiting to hear what the next steps are) and other not-so-fun things that are more difficult to embrace.
Thank you for your support of my ministry. It's a great joy to serve and grow here!
With love,
Carrie