Special Things & More Studying

I just wanted to fill you all in on my past week. Mostly it's been the same, filled with studying, going to class, studying more, and working. There have been a few special things and lots of things I've been learning that I'll share with you here.

Last Wednesday after classes and today, some of us from the intensive course have decided to get together to do a Bible study. It's been really good just to get to know some of the other people during this time on a different and deeper level. We've shared a lot personally and we all come from so many different places but the Lord has brought us all together in this place at this time. It's really cool to see and be encouraged by the other students.

This past Friday evening (after giving an 11 minute presentation telling the story of Zacchaeus in Spanish for my conversation class), I took a couple buses to meet up with my team in Alajuela, a city by the airport, and then go up the mountain with them. I got to spend Friday night in my own room in my own bed, which was really great. Then Saturday we had a great meeting for potential board members for our ADE Costa Rica board. It's something we've been working on for a long time (getting Costa Rican nonprofit status with that comes a board) and it was really exciting to see this big step forward. It was a really diverse group of people and amazing to see how God brought all of us together with an interest in caring for the people and educational needs of the area. **Click here to read more about the meeting on the ADE blog**  After the meeting, I traveled back to San Jose with a few of the people who were up just for the meeting. We stopped on the way down the mountain for coffee and chorreadas (sort of like pancakes but not at all). So good!

Sunday I went to church and then spent the afternoon with Kim Chavarria! Kim and I used to work together and live together in Vara Blanca, but then she needed to spend more time focusing on her studies down here in the city. It was so good to catch up with her and talk to her and just be with her. We spoke both English and Spanish, which was good. It was crazy, because Kim knew me here when I didn't speak a word of Spanish and I've definitely come a long way. So, it was a little weird for us to be speaking Spanish together, but great! We definitely laughed a lot.

This week I've been back to study and class and work, however, there's a special treat this week at the Institute. This week is what they call "Spiritual Emphasis Week", which really just means that there's a special team here to minister and encourage us. The Institute is mostly made up of people heading out to the mission field and it's a great encouragement to be surrounded by people who are also seeking to serve the Lord. It's be really good this week to get to know them better through the extra activities led by the visiting team. Every morning there's a time of singing and hearing from the Bible and then every afternoon there's another time of singing and more of a discussion time. Monday in the afternoon we split up into guys and girls. It was really good for me to get to meet each of the other women here and hear a little of their stories as well as their struggles. What an encouragement to me! It's easy to sometimes feel alone here, but I've been greatly encouraged this week by the team and the other students.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement to me! I hope you each know what a blessing you and your friendship with me are in my life!

Blessings, Lindsey
**John 15:9**

P.S. Check out the pictures of our new kittens up at my house in the mountains!

How cute are they?! (And I don't even like cats.)

Meet Elefante

Meet Pirata

Study, study, work

Study spot at the Institute

I hope you've enjoyed the last updates. I'm going to attempt to keep them coming. Believe it or not, I'm not too exciting, even though I finally have some time in the big city. My typical day has stayed mostly the same with lots of studying and ADE work.

For class we started close to the middle of both the grammar book and the corresponding workbook. However, since I've never studied Spanish, there are a lot of basics that I want to learn properly. I've decided not only to go back and read all the first parts of the grammar book, but also to do most of the exercises in the workbook that go with the grammar points. I've done a lot of verb conjugations, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, questions and a lot more practice. I really want to take advantage of this time and, though I'm cramming a lot in, I'll have time here to ask for guidance while I'm here and to practice over the next year and a half. So, most days I spend in my room or one of my other study spots studying!

Around the Institute - admin building on the right

I tried to have a little fun this weekend, also. On Friday after class I took the bus with some classmates to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 4," at the movie theater. It was fun and made me think of Kirsten the whole time, who was leaving for Zambia that night. (If you didn't know, my sister Kirsten will be in Zambia for a month working with a ministry there. Definitely keep her in your prayers!)

Saturday night I went to church with a missionary couple, Bob and B, who live here but have helped us up in Vara Blanca a number of times. It was really great to get to worship the Lord in Spanish but with the words on a screen to sing along. Also the pastor spoke on Luke 15:11-32 about "Influencia positiva a nuestros hijos" (how to be a positive influence to our children). It was Father's Day here in Costa Rica also, and, looking at the example God gives us to be good fathers, it made me so so grateful for both my awesome fathers: My earthly father, whom I love, and points me so well to my heavenly father. I'm so thankful for both, and the encouragement, compassion, and unconditional love that they offer to me. ¡Feliz Día Papá!

Since then I've mostly been studying and working. Keep praying for me in this time as I seek to focus on my studies and the gift it is that I can be here.

Let the extracurriculars begin!

This week, was a whirlwind of reading stories, studying together, and creating poems. Here is the ADE high school schedule for extracurricular classes:

Monday: Creative Writing (led by intern Leigh Anne Coble)
Wednesday: Tutoring
Thursday: Spoken-word poetry (led by intern Angeley Crawford)
Friday: Soccer

**Click here to read and see more about the classes**

Language School in the City!

I'm writing to you from my bedroom in a host family's house down in the city of San José (more specifically San Francisco de Dos Ríos) and a big change from the rural mountains. I moved down here on Sunday and then had my first day of language school Monday and will be here for 4 weeks.

The first day was really interesting. The first half was orientation and was sooo much English, which was weird to me but informative. Within that I took 2 placement exams: a written grammar one and a verbal one. I was taking the written one and thinking how awful it was and how I might be put in the total beginner class. It was my first time doing some verb charts and things in Spanish and I had to keep trying to say them in my head to maybe get a correct answer. The conversation on the other hand went smoothly and though all my grammar wasn't perfect I felt like I expressed myself fine. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was placed in level 3 (out of 4) for both grammar and conversation. On that same day we had our first day of classes which were really great. (I'll talk more about classes down below).

My host family is really great also. It's a couple and they have 3 sons. The mom, Maribel, is so sweet. She cooks for me and I try and help out with dishes and things as I can. We talk a lot and she's always happy to help me with my homework or whatever I need. I think she likes having another woman around the house. The dad seems nice, but I don't see him or interact with him much. The three boys are Andres (7), Pablo (9) and Manuel (11). They're so funny. Manuel and Paulo are cute and I ask them about their day and what they learned in school, but they like to give me short answers. Andres is my little bud though as he likes to hang around me and help me with homework and talk to me a lot. He's a little cutie and not at all shy. (He's my favorite, but don't tell the others).

The boys Adrés, Paulo and Manuel

My host mom in the middle
(unfortunately not the most flattering picture)

You can see why Andrés is my favorite!

So now on to my typical day...I wake up around 8 and have breakfast, get ready and head over to the Institute, which the entrance is literally less than a block away from where I'm staying. I then spend the morning studying for 2 to 3 hours. One of the nice things about the workbook is there are lots of extra activities that I can do, plus since I never studied even the basics I'm going back and doing a lot of those too. I then take the long walk (2 minutes) home and eat a quick lunch before heading back to the Institute for class that starts at 12:35. My first class is a grammar class with Lissette. She's a great teacher and explains things really well. She's happy to go back and quickly review things that we might not understand. We're moving really fast (we did Pretérito Perfecto on Monday, Pretérito Imperfecto on Tuesday, and along with a few minor points Futuro today), but I love it because it's pushing me and gives me lots to study outside of class. I'm definitely trying to take advantage of this time here. In that class it is me, Mary (she's Korean, in her mid-thirties and is currently working at a bilingual school in Nicaragua), and A.J. (he's from the D.C. area, mid-twenties and is planning to move with his wife and 4 month old to Belize in the fall). It's a small class which is awesome, though I seem to be the one always with lots of questions. My other class is the conversation class that is supposed to build on the things we're learning in our grammar class but to really be comfortable using it. My teacher, Dixiana, is very lively and very blunt. It forces me a lot to try and speak well which is good though not easy and we're always put on the spot as this class is also only 3 people. In this one it's me, Mary and James (he's in his sixties and him and his wife have worked short term in different areas though live in Florida...they both say they don't yet know what they want to be when they grow up - he's funny and definitely keeps things interesting). Today in class we were practicing narrating stories and as you probably know I'm not a good story teller in English and so it was really hard for me in Spanish, but great practice with the past tenses. After class I spend most of the rest of the night mixed between a few more hours of studying and homework, getting work done for ADE, and talking with my host family (OK...I'll admit and some time watching House online). Today right after classes I took a nice little walk around there area as I was feeling a little bit of cabin fever stuck between the Institute and the house a block away. It was good to get out and I found a nice park I might have to try out for a few of my study hours in the next few days.

One of my many study areas

Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what I'm up to, mostly just studying. I'm so happy to be here and have this opportunity, which I'm definitely trying to get  the most out of. Before I left, my students were telling me I had to come back with perfect Spanish (impossible, but I'm gonna get as close as I can). I'm excited to see how God uses this time and the work I'm putting into this. I was encouraged today by Galations 6:9 (go ahead and look it up!).

Tropical Agriculture & Missions

For three weeks, the TAM (Tropical Agriculture and Missions) class by the Au Sable Institute was led by Dr. Unander into the strawberry fields of local farmers, up to the top of volcanoes, and into the ADE classroom to share their presentations. Not only did these U.S. students learn first-hand about local agriculture, but they also had the opportunity to travel for three days to the beach, the selva, and all around. After living together at the ADE center and riding in the green van for hours on end, they experienced Costa Rica together and became close friends.

**Click here to read and see more about the trip**

Job Ebenezer and "Technology for the Poor"

“The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” -Matthew 25:40 

** 

Dr. Job Ebenezer came to Vara Blanca for two days with a suitcase, a grin, and a plan to share his area of expertise with the ADE high school students. Originally from India, this gentle elderly man received his masters in engineering and has used his knowledge to “develop, innovate, and disseminate appropriate technologies for the poor.” As a boy, Dr. Ebenezer was fascinated by the inventions of American agriculturist George Washington Carver, who made 350 products solely from the peanut. Like Carver, Dr. Ebenezer is a huge proponent of simplicity. He used a quote from the man that inspired him which describes the reason behind “technology for the poor” and Carver’s own philosophy: “Let all the methods of nature study be brought down to the everyday life and language of the masses.”

Along with simplicity, Dr. Ebenezer also believes in going to talk with the people he wants to help, and he has done this in many corners of the earth. He has traveled to India, Tanzania, Zambia, Belize, and now to Costa Rica (for the second time,) teaching sustainability and technology. Why does he take his ideas and inventions and teach them around the world? He has a simple explanation, a verse from Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.” Dr. Ebenezer serves others, particularly those who are in need, in order to serve Jesus.

**Click here to read more about Job's awesome visit**