ADE's Zero Down: Biblical Development Conference

I hope you enjoyed the videos I made for our first ever conference. I'm getting really excited as we'll be hosting this bilingual conference really looking at the difficult questions of mission and development and how to do them in the most biblical way possible. We'll have different speakers, but the biggest part (I think) will be all the different people, with their views and experiences, coming together and seeking the answers together.

We're partnering with Esepa Seminary, Fedemec, and Ted and Graciela Quiocho from CHE to bring together a pretty sweet conference. Together we're compiling a great group of speakers and participants, including Juan Stam (pending on some health issues). It's going to be pretty awesome for sure! I'll be doing a lot of prep for this over the next couple of months which will definitely keep me busy.

So if you're at all interested in any of these things: check out the website (www.glocalADE.org/conf) or send me an email!

Baking (and cooking but only because I have to)

As most people know, I don't like to cook. Now...I didn't say I CAN'T cook, I said I don't LIKE to cook. And despite some of my guy friends telling me I'd never find a husband because of it, I'm quite okay with it. On the other hand, I do like to bake (at least way more than I like to cook).

Living up at about 6,000 feet makes baking a bit of a challenge. I used to never pay attention to the special "high altitude" directions on cake and brownie mixes, but now I wish I had those mixes more! Recipes to bake from scratch don't offer the special "high altitude" directions and we've had our fair share of baking "issues". So thanks to my Pinterest addiction (which I highly recommend), I've found some great recipes:

Banana bread

The best things about this banana bread recipe is that it is specifically for high altitude baking. It's also the most moist and really banana tasting bread I've ever had! (And remember bananas are only like 7 cents a piece here).

Recipe:

• 5 large, ripe bananas or 6 small bananas
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup Chocolate chip, raisins and/or walnuts may be added 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mash the bananas in the mixing bowl. Add the butter, sugar and eggs to the bananas. Cream the bananas and egg mixture thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Grease a standard size bread pan. (I use our skillet...it's perfect). Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 55-65 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

No Bake Cookies!

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies...These are really good and because I don't have to really bake them, they turn out great. (Well except the time it had been raining for 2 weeks straight making them too moist to ever really solidify, but they still tasted good).

Recipe:

• 1/2 C Butter
• 2 C Sugar
• 1/2 C Milk
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter
• 3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
• 2 tsp. Vanilla

Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute. Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set.

In our house we take turns cooking dinner. So I have to cook every Monday and Thursday nights. As previously mentioned, I don't like to cook. On top of that, it's definitely different cooking here versus in the US. Being the daughter of a Pampered Chef, I'm often lost without all of my cooking gadgets and pre-made ingredients (especially crescent rolls). So again, I've relied greatly on Pinterest and have made some things very successfully and others not so successfully, but at least my housemates aren't too picky :)

Feel free to pass any recipes my way that you think might work here!

A Little R & R

Everyone needs a little vacation every now and then. Our staff is no different. So as the students had two weeks off after exams, we as a staff took one week for lots and lots of meetings and then one week of vacation.

To kick off our vacation, we took the bus together down to San Jose and went to a soccer game in the national stadium. La Liga (my team) was playing against Santos. It was really fun to get to go to a game in the huge stadium built by China for Costa Rica. Then we walked through the central park, had lunch at Taco Bell (though I snuck away to Wendy's) and ate granizados before heading back up the mountain. It was a fun time with the team and a great way to start off the week of vacation.

Sunday night, when we got back from the game, Nadia and I walked in to Gabi's house for a sleepover. Gabi, Nadia, Sandra, and I had Gabi's (sort of) brother-in-law's house for the night. We ate snacks, watched movies (including The Princess Diaries) and talked about boys (like any good high school girl sleepover). Then I tried to go to bed. Unfortunately, it was all four of us in a double bed and the girls stayed up talking until 4am... meaning I also stayed up until 4am. All in all it was a good time. I love each of these girls so much. They are my little sisters here :)

I then went down to San Jose on Wednesday to get away for a few days. Most people go to the country to get away and recharge; however, as I live out in the country, the city is much more relaxing and renewing for me. I had found a bunch of hotels online and asked them all for prices. This one guy wrote me back and through a few emails back and forth gave me a huge discount on this awesome hotel. I could have just stayed at friends' houses the whole time, but I really wanted to recharge and spend some good quality solitary time with the Lord. I got to do that at the Adventure Inn Hotel. It was awesome. I also got to enjoy the hottub, great breakfasts, TV, and a shower with both hot water and good pressure.

During this week and specifically the couple of days alone, I was meditating a lot on PEACE. As I sought peace from and with the Lord, He continued to show me that He is working in me even when I don't feel it. The verse I mainly focused on is Isaiah 26:3 -

"You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind

[both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he 

commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You."

I then spent the final days of my vacation with my good friends Bob and B. They are missionaries working in the San Jose area. Bob works at a seminary and B works in the prison and a few slum areas leading women's Bible studies. They've become really good friends and encouragements to me since I've gotten to know them. During the few days I was with them, we played Scrabble (once in English and Spanish and once in just Spanish...not too easy), we talked a lot and had some really good discussions, we watched a movie, and we took a little trip out to Orosi Valley.

This time of vacation was really good for me to be refreshed personally just as a person (if that makes any sense). I praise God for this time and the things He's doing in me and in this community  :D