Lindsey's Updates

What have I been up to?

2012-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

Good question...Let me fill you in :)

So school ended here back in mid-December. The school year here goes with the calendar year: early February to middle of December. Between that time there's "summer" break (though don't be fooled, up here in the mountains, it's anything but summer during that time). Ben, Frances, and I all went back to the US for the holidays. So before we left we did team evaluations. Personally, I feel like things like team evaluations can either go really horribly or really well. Praise God, they went really well. We each evaluated ourselves and each other and answered some questions about the past year. Then we went down to the city to get out of the cold and talk about them. Most of the time we sat on the side of the road overlooking the valley and discussing the evaluations. We each had a chance to ask any questions about the evaluations others did on us. I have a tendency to get defensive and I'm very aware of that. So I decided instead of getting defensive to ask the same basic question for any of the areas that I was scored lower on: What are some ways I can improve in this area? It turned out to be a really encouraging time. I felt honestly cared about and appreciated. I was encouraged to be more open with my team and lean on them more for support. It hadn't been an easy year, but God used this time to draw us together as a team and love on each other through constructive criticism and affirmation.

We also took time to write down the many miracles God performed this year and the many ways He pulled through. You can check that out here. It's definitely important to have time to reflect. Having that time made coming back after a great time in the States easier.

Our Christmas tree

Christmas Eve with my favorite people :)

I then went back to the US for about 3 weeks around Christmas and New Year's. The very first weekend, I got to celebrate a winter wedding in Blacksburg with my MC friends. I then spent a week helping my clean the house and set up for Christmas. You should have seen us as we picked out a 10 ft Christmas tree and then somehow carried it up the stairs in our house just the two of us and laughing so hard. My dad called and was leaving a voicemail on the home phone when we were midway up the stairs. I'm surprised we didn't break anything! Kirsten then came home and we got to spend lots of time together. It was a great Christmas with family and also my friend Kathy spent it with us (taking Nicole's place, though don't tell Nicole that). Throughout the holidays I was able to spend a lot of time with so many of my great and faithful friends from home. I even was able to spend New Year's in DC with some of my best friends from Tech even though we're now all scattered.

New Year's Eve hike with my Hokies

On the 2nd of January, I came back here to Costa Rica to prepare for the group from my old high school (DCCS) to come do a Spanish immersion trip here. You can read all about that in the blog I wrote for our ADE blog.

Since then we've been preparing for the start of the new school year and settling back in here. As you may have hear, our house got broken into while we were all back in the US. After many hours of cleaning it looks better than before (minus the money and few other things unfortunately stolen). We found out through all the cleaning that the robbers left some of my stuff (from upstairs) in Frances and Ben's room (downstairs), like a cheap necklace and the little remote for my ipod player. But that's not the strangest part...they also left a pocket knife, a set of keys, and a shirt in Frances and Ben's room. So weird. We're trying to find the owners to the keys now.

Anyway, the school year is about to start. We've been busy with meetings and working on hiring new teachers. If you think of it, pray we get some great new teachers for this year and money to pay them. God is good and faithful. I'm excited to see the many ways He will display that this new year!

DC in the CR

2012-01-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

The beginning of this month we got to host a Spanish Immersion group from a high school in the States...but not just any high school: my old high school! It's sort of funny as I studied German throughout high school and was now hosting the Spanish group. God has a great sense of humor for sure.

Read this blog post I wrote about it for the ADE blog: Students Learning Together

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

Together we (the ADE staff) put together a list month by month of the amazing things God did this past year. If you want to be encouraged, check it out here: 2011. The year God did nothing...

Blessings of Friends Here

2011-12-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

My prayer for a long time here has been to have some friends. I always felt a little pathetic asking people to pray that I find a friend, but God has been answering that prayer especially in the last few months. Praise God!

I have had my students and my teammates, who are all my friends, but I was really praying for another lady around my age and maybe a similar place in life that I could relate to on a different level than my students and teammates. So I now actually have 3 that I would call my friends here :)

Joselyn when we were ziplining with the students

Joselyn has been one of the teachers at the school with us this year. She's a little younger than me (19), but she's my neighbor! We get along really well. She's learning English, so I help her with that and she helps me with my Spanish. Her family also reminds me a lot of my family. Their house is always open and it feel comfortable to just stop by. There's always people over and are so generous. They have the kitchen and living room open and connected and often have the TV on. They also have a fireplace which I like to sit close to on these cold wet days. I actually took my parents over to see them while they were here and we stayed there talking with their family for a few hours. I love going over to their house. My neighbors have been a huge huge blessing to me!

Yuliana and her son

Yuliana has also been a good friend. I first met her a long time ago when I was teaching English classes to kids in San Rafael and she brought her 3 year old son and would hang out during class. Just over the last year I've gotten to know her better. She lives in a temporary housing shelter that her sister-in-law lived in before. She's 25 and is "married" with 2 kids now (a 5 year old and a baby). We're definitely in very different places in life, but we really enjoy spending time together. I don't see her all the time, but when we do I really enjoy it. A few weeks ago she sent (through her niece) a bag of clothes for me. It was so sweet and generous and humbling and really made me feel loved and thought of by her.

Kathya's beauty salon where I got my hair cut

Kathya is my friend that I've gotten to know the most recently. She's been one of my English students over the past few months in night classes. She's been so sweet to invite me to things and reach out to me. She's 30ish, lives in the town over, is a hair dresser, and as she's no longer married, she likes to go out and do things (which is not always the case here). We've made plans to do a lot of different things and though all of them haven't panned out, just her excitement and energy about it makes me really happy. Also a few weeks ago she cut my hair and she said because I'm her friend, it was free.

I really do praise God for these friendships that are building and am so grateful for them.
Psalm 147:1

ADE's Zero Down: Biblical Development Conference

2011-11-14T10:16:00.001-08:00

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)

2011-11-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

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

A Few Life Updates

2011-10-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I've got just a few life updates to share with you all. Things here have been overall uneventful as our main focus has really been on the school and our students. They have national exams that they have to take in order to pass their grade in that subject. So English and Spanish were last weekend and now the rest of the subjects (math, science, social studies, civics) are this weekend. Potentially all of our students passed the English exam, which was really exciting! If you think of our students tomorrow or Sunday, keep them in your prayers. Because of these exams, I've been doing lots and lots of tutoring mostly for math. I've enjoyed working with them, though I'm a little worried for most of this year's new students in math as so many came to us so far behind in math and have learned a lot but I don't know if they've really caught up. We'll see though.

Students: At least pretending like they're studying hard

What else is new with me? Some of you may know (and some of you may not yet know) that I'm working on applying to grad school for next fall. I'm looking at schools all on the east coast between VA and NYC for either an MA or MPA in International Development (or something similar as they all have slightly different names). So on my own time, I've been researching and contacting schools, working on my application material, and praying a lot for guidance throughout this whole process. So (si Dios quiere) I'll be back in the US for grad school in August 2012. (Don't worry...my dog will be coming with me). I'll be back for a few weeks in December due to some great gifts from some great friends and family, which is when I'll hopefully get to visit the places I'm applying to. Please keep me in your prayers in all of this and if you have any connections or suggestions definitely let me know!

My sis and I when I was back visiting her at VT.
I love this picture and it reminds me of moving back!

Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

I think it's important to get away sometimes and just be with the Lord reflecting on who He is and what He has done. I'm getting a chance to get away for a few days at the end of this month. It'll be sort of a solo vacation (which I've never done) but really just me and God and a time to reflect and praise. I'm excited and will report on how it goes :D

Día de la Independencia

2011-09-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

The 15th of September we celebrated Independence Day here in Costa Rica! It was sort of like the 4th of July, but then again not at all the same. It involved a parade, kids carrying homemade lanterns (most with real lit candles), a torch running across the country and some music and drama by our students. For me these type of activities are not fun because of the hour long walk to nowhere and back, but because it's a community activity that I get to be a part of. All of the kids are out and most of the moms and a few dads. You get to see people out sharing together for a celebrated day. It was really fun (and not just for the 2 days off of school)! :)

The parade

My friend Julianna's two kids and me

Some of my students after their drama

Two more of my students

On a side note: I've been having some of my girl students over to my house recently, just to enjoy time together. It's been fun watching girly movies, doing hair, eating junk food. I really enjoy getting to be like a caring big sister to so many of these girls!

Gaby and Sandra showing off their pretty hair

In the Spanglish Middle

2011-09-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

*I recommend playing this song as your read the rest...

It's a weird thing to live somewhere between two languages. I feel like it's something you can't really understand until you've been forced to do it yourself and even then people's experiences differ greatly. I've been here in Costa Rica for almost 2 years now and after coming with absolutely no Spanish a lot has changed.

I literally came here never having learned any Spanish. I had studied German in high school and again in college and even studied abroad in Germany and Austria. My German had gotten good (though please don't ask about it now). When I moved here, pretty much all I could say was "hola" and "gracias". To give you a better idea of how that affected everything here's something one of my first students said about a year after I came (in Spanish of course): "Lindsey, I didn't like you when I first met you. You didn't say anything to us. I mean...I guess you couldn't. But now I love you!"

It was incredibly challenging. It took many headaches and many confusions and blank stares. I like to tell people that language learning is both humbling and humiliating. Now I've come a long way (still have a long way to go of course as well). I'm still living in a community that speaks a language that is not the one I am most comfortable with. It's not the language that I've known all my life, lived in, and studied in for years. It's not the one I've sung in or read in or prayed in.

But now that my life is in this other language, I've come to see that I want and maybe even need many of those more "optional" areas to be in Spanish also. I'm trying (slowly) to read a book in Spanish. I've come to pray some in Spanish. And I've come to love worshipping the Lord through song in Spanish (at times).

Yet there's always a balance I need and an in between can often be better for me and my soul. That's one of the reasons that songs (like the one above), movies, and even conversations that are in both Spanish and English in some form or another have been the most positive for me and even something I've found myself craving for. I can tell you, it's a weird thing as I never had any desire to learn Spanish but God has brought me so far not only in my ability but also in my desire and even joy in speaking it. He's good!

(Hope you enjoyed my little ramble about something I've been thinking about a lot recently.)

Thanks for reading, friends!

ADE Happenings

2011-09-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months (with the help of one of our summer interns and the new focus of one of our staff members, we have been a lot better at keeping the general public up to date on ADE Happenings. There's been a lot going on over the summer. I wanted to share with you all some of these blog posts to give you an ever growing and developing understanding of ADE and what I'm doing here.

Check out the ones that seem interesting to you!

ADE's Zero Down Development and Economic Sustainability Projects
If you ever ask the questions: What is ADE? or What on earth is Lindsey doing in Costa Rica? This should help answer those questions a little. It should at least give you a good little overview of what we as ADE are working on and how. It should also give you a good idea about some of our most current projects.

The Role of the Church During a Disaster
As a seminary class did research up here in this area, one woman wanted to share her findings with our local church. This same woman is now one of our very active Costa Rican board members!

Organic Garden and Fruit Co-op
Something we as ADE are working on as week look to use our hands and the land to serve the Lord and others better here in this community.

Vara Blanca's First Strawberry Fair
Our town (along with some partners) put on a strawberry festival. As this area is full of just that - strawberries - it was a great way for people to really come together over a mutual fruit! We, as the high school, put on a few fun activities that surprising went off very well.

ADE Girls Soccer Team First Game 4-1
Our students are now playing indoor soccer (both a girls team and guys team with a few other community members). I'll be writing more about this, but hear about the first game and how awesome my girls are!

New Talent Search - Congrats to our students!
The students in our school participated in an art day at a local business. Though we as a staff aren't the most artistic group, our students LOVE any type of art they can get their hands on.

Tropical Agriculture and Mission Class
Here you can hear about the class that we hosted here in May called "Tropical Agriculture and Missions" put on by Au Sable and taught by a professor from Eastern University.

Ruth, Boaz & God's Providence

2011-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

On my way down to Virginia last week, I listened to a series of sermons from my home church on Ruth. As I listened to them I got so pumped and excited about the goodness and sovereignty of God! You can ask just about anyone I saw in the following days that I recommended listening to them, because I was so personally encouraged. Someone once told me that the best sermons are not those you walk away saying, "Wow, what a great preacher" but instead saying "Wow, what a great God." That's the only thing I could think during the 6 hour drive to Blacksburg with my parents sleeping while I drove.

Here's a few specific thoughts of mine:

God's providence really is over everything and people historically didn't have as hard a time believing that as many of us do.
If I really believe that God is both completely sovereign and completely good, my perspective on life will be drastically different.
Naomi tried to get Ruth to go home, but she committed to stay - Often I too don't see the deep need for people to know my God because I think it'd be easier for them where they came from. But by Ruth committing to Naomi and Naomi's God, she got to be a part of history!
Boaz was a "worthy" man...I want one of those :)

Listen to these sermons! Click here and you won't regret it.

I hope you're as encouraged as I am.

Here's one of my favorite songs right now, which fits in well with this theme:

Two Weddings and the GRE

2011-08-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

This month I got the awesome gift of getting to go back to the States to be in the wedding of one of my best friends. Melissa and Caleb were getting married and I HAD to be there! So due to some wonderful friends and family I was able to come back to be a part of their special day (and do a lot more while there).

In the first half of my trip...I celebrated birthdays: Uncle Ken's, mom's, Brittni's and my grandfather's. I spent a lot of time with Melissa preparing for the wedding and all that goes into that. I spent good time with my parents and my grandparents and ate out way too much (gaining like 5 lbs in 2 weeks). I enjoyed the beautiful and Christ-centered wedding of Melissa and Caleb. We also danced a lot at the reception and had a great time with all our families from when we were kids.

Throughout that time, I was also studying to take the GRE for the Monday following the wedding. I studied a ton, but still had moments of freaking out (in particular the night before). God is so good though! Thanks for your prayers, because between others praying for me and my own prayers, God was faithful as always. I woke up Monday morning, spent some time stretching, reading the Bible, praying, singing, and eating a healthy breakfast. I had a great lunch with a friend who worked by the testing center and she paid for me. (Side note: God's given me some great friends and I'm reminded of that every time I go back to the States - oh and not just because they pay for me). So I went into the test a little nervous of course but really trusting in the Lord's sovereignty and knowing that His hand is over everything that I do even a "randomized" computerized test. I took the exam with that peace (and all the studying I had done) and came out on the other end alive and well. Praise God! [On another note for future blogs I'm sure - If you're asking why I took the GRE, well I'm looking into grad schools for International Development or something similar for the future and that was the first step.]

The second half of my trip...I spent in the great state of Virginia. I got to spend some amazing time with my little sister at my alma mater, Virginia Tech. It was of course interesting staying with her in her dorm room and pretending to be a college student. I was always able to use her ID and people knew I was her sister even without seeing us together. I also got to spend time with lots of people who are still in Blacksburg who are really important to me. That's still a home for me!

Friday afternoon I left Hokie Land and spent the evening at Smith Mountain Lake with Josh and Todd and Todd's parents. It was probably the first time in the whole trip that I actually got to relax. I was also (as usual when I hang out with my Young Life friends) so encouraged. I do miss having such awesome brothers in Christ who love me so well surrounding me and encouraging me regularly. Thanks, guys :)

Then Saturday, through the hurricane, we drove to Richmond for Kerry and Stafford's wedding. Our plan was to stop somewhere to eat and change into our "cocktail dress". Unfortunately the road we were on didn't have anything for so long and by the time we finally found somewhere (a Subway) Irene was in full force and the Subway was out of power with the two employees sitting outside on the sidewalk. Instead we went into the Food Lion next door running on generators. As we walked in with my dress and the boys' fancy shirts, the lady asked us if she could help us with an odd expression in her voice. We said we wanted food and to change for a wedding. She questioned whether the wedding was cancelled, a thought which hadn't even crossed our minds. Gladly the wedding was not canceled and though the power was out in both the church and the reception, nothing could have brought down the joy of that day and what it signifies for Kerry and Stafford. It was so great to get to be there and to share such sweet time with so many of my good friends from college who are still such good friends despite the long distances between us. I'm so thankful for all of you!

Our hotel that night did not have power and neither did my parents' house when I finally arrived home Sunday night. (Thanks for the rides Laura and Alex!) I packed up all my stuff and the hundreds of gifts to bring to the Dozier family all in the dark but with lots of candles (see the picture below). I slept for a few hours and then headed back here to Costa Rica to continue the adventure that God has thrown me into.

Thanks again for such a sweet and encouraging time in the States :)

Poor Puppy

2011-08-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

While I was down at language school, my puppy was staying with a neighbor. When I got back, I found out that her leg got cut up pretty badly. She had a really deep cut - so deep that I could see her muscle and tendons. I decided to take her to the vet. When I took her there she was so obedient and friendly, all the people at the office loved her. I had to leave her at the vet that day so they could take care of her. I was unexpectedly emotional about leaving my hurt puppy in a place she didn't know. (Don't worry...no tears and I got over it quickly). They cleaned her up and bandaged her leg (as you can see in this picture above). I got medicine I had to give her every day and a spray to keep it healing after we took off the bandage. It was sad (and a little funny) seeing my poor puppy drugged up and not eating and sleeping all the time. It was also sad as she still tries to hide away from me when I have the spray in my hand, but I feel a little like a parent knowing that it's for her good though it hurts now and she doesn't like it. Aw...I so love my puppy!

Ashes is doing a lot better now. She's so tough! My jungle dog :)

My US church & CR church

2011-08-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

From the 16th to the 24th of July, I had the awesome chance to see God connect and work together through my home church in the US (Church of the Saviour - COS) and my church in Costa Rica (Iglesia Vara Blanca). The high school group from COS - that I was a part of way back when - came to spend time with our high school students here and be a blessing to this small rural church.

It was an odd convergence of two of my worlds where many things are different, but Christ unites.

COS is a church of like 2000 people - my church here is about 30 people
COS is all in English - my church here is in Spanish (obvious difference)
COS brought a group of all high school students - the church here doesn't really have any youth involved
COS is in the Philly suburbs in a pretty wealthy area - here we're located in rural Costa Rica

The differences are many, but I really believe that the church here was incredibly blessed and the youth and leaders who came from COS also left blessed. It's an amazing picture of the diversity of the Church. These are often things that divide and separate, but in Christ they can be things of incredible beauty and peace and fellowship. Praise God for how He unites! Galatians 3:26-28

The whole COS group

Helping us with our house :)

Sharing with our students

Sharing testimonies with the church

Back in the Mountains & Busy

2011-07-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

As I warned you, I haven't been as good about writing now that I'm back up in the mountains. I may be a little busier, but I think it's more that when I'm living and working in community (like I am up here) I'm so dependent on other people. It's not always fun and I feel busier as all the work happens not on my scheduled time and often last minute and I have to remain flexible. But I do believe that God calls us to seek community and seek to live that way. There definitely can be some great joys within it also and great opportunities to ask forgiveness and offer grace - living the Gospel every day with each other. With all that said, I do want to continue to update you all on my my last two weeks:

I had my last week of language school July 4th to the 8th. It was a really great week and I got more connected with the other students that week, which made leaving sadder. I definitely got to know better those in my classes (AJ, Mary and Jim). We had a lot of fun together, and became a great encouragement to each other. Jim and his wife Pat are maybe going to come visit me here in Vara Blanca before they leave CR. I'm hoping to go visit Mary in Nicaragua the next time I need to leave the country to renew my visa. And I'm definitely planning on continue praying for and staying in touch with AJ and his wife Brittany as they get ready to move to Belize as missionaries. I really believe that God brought us all together even for this short time for greater purposes. Both my teachers were also really awesome and I wish I could be there learning from them for at least a few more weeks. I left in the middle of learning all the subjunctive rules and so have to try to learn the rest on my own. The work they're doing at ILE is definitely a huge ministry to all of Latin America. I was definitely encouraged and uplifted in my short time there.

The last week was really busy apart from school stuff with some really exciting things. Monday was 4th of July and the people at the institute decided for the first time ever (so I heard) to have a big party. Apparently the Canadians had one for Canada Day and so those from the USA had to do something. It was so fun. We ate stuff off the grill, had some great baked beans, burgers, apple pie and homemade chocolate chip cookies. We sat around and talked for a while (mostly while I held Titus - AJ and Brittany's baby). Then we watched as some of the guys set off some awesome fireworks. It felt very unusual, but oddly comforting.

Then my friend and one of my roommates from college visited me, Laura Welch! We became masters at the buses around the city and did lots of walking around and just spending good time together. My favorite bus ride was one evening when we got on only to be serenaded by a aspiring musician who wasn't really very good but was very entertaining. Our stop came up at the perfect time that we didn't have to give him money but got to see most of his "conciertito". Then we came up the mountain and I got to share with her some of my life here. For me it was so nice to have one of my closest friends in the world here and my favorite times with her was just hanging out amidst the craziness of my last week of classes.

Laura and I eating together downtown SJO

I'm trying to continue my Spanish learning and improving even though I'm no longer in classes. I'm trying to read an easy romance novel in Spanish (pretty cheesy), I'm reading some of my Bible in both English and Spanish, and I'm attempting to continue working through the grammar book and workbook that I was using at the institute. I'll also be practicing a lot, obviously :)

Now I'm back up here in the mountains and though our students are on vacation until Monday, I've been working away preparing for a group visiting from my home church and the normal work I have to do. I'm glad to be back in my room and bed and with my puppy! Though to be honest, it's bitter sweet to be back here, but I know God has me here and is working. I'll try and keep blogging, but no promises at how often. Thanks for checking in, friends! I love your comments and messages and emails!

Remember Luke 1:37

Lo Mejor / The Best

2011-07-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday I had to lead my conversation class in a Bible study in Spanish. As I was trying to think of what to share and discuss, I was brought back to the verses that helped to bring me here to Costa Rica in the first place. I'll share a little bit of it with you here:

We read- Marcos 10, 17-31 (Mark 10: 17-31)
The story of the rich young ruler who Jesus tells him he needs to give up everything in order to have eternal life. He goes away sad.

Specifically verses 29-30:

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
—Les aseguro —respondió Jesús— que todo el que por mi causa y la del evangelio haya dejado casa, hermanos, hermanas, madre, padre, hijos o terrenos, recibirá cien veces más ahora en este tiempo (casas, hermanos, hermanas, madres, hijos y terrenos, aunque con persecuciones); y en la edad venidera, la vida eterna.

How awesome is this?! Yes, God does tell us to give up everything we know and are comfortable with, but only so He can give us stuff that's the best and so much more. I was a math minor in college...so I know that "100 x (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields) in this life and eternity" is way better than what He asks us to give up.

Here's a few more examples of this for our lives:

Mateo 16, 24-26 (Matthew 16:24-26)

Abandonar: tu vida, este mundo (Give up: your life, this world)
Recibir: vida mejor, vida real, vida eterna (Receive: better life, real life, eternal life)

2 Corintios 5,17 (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Abandonar: lo viejo (Give up: the old)
Recibir: lo nuevo, una nueva creación (Receive: the new, a new creation)

Efesios 4,22-24 (Ephesians 4:22-24)

Abandonar: el ropaje de la vieja naturaleza (Give up: the old self)
Recibir: el ropaje de la nueva naturaleza (Receive: the new self)

I don't know about you, but I want the things we can receive. They definitely look better than the things we have to give up! The rich young ruler went away sad because he didn't understand or believe this truth: that God wants us to give these things away so that He can provide us with THE BEST (lo mejor).

¡Haga un intercambio!

Trade it in!

I was reminded again and again about this over the weekend. On Friday I spend a little time talking with one of the people from the team that was visiting. She was a great encouragement and blessing to me. As she was praying for me, one of the things she said was that I would believe that God is not holding back from me the best. That's so true, though I often don't believe it. He isn't holding back the best from me. He wants to give me the best!

Then at church on Sunday the pastor talked about John 21. This is after Jesus' resurrection where his disciples were out to fish and they hadn't caught anything all night. Then from the shore, Jesus tells them to put their net in the other side. The part that stuck out to me the most is where it says that when they came ashore their net was full of LARGE fish, 153. God didn't just give them any old fish in the water that night. He gave them the best. He set that aside for them, just like He does for us. He wants to give me the best!

He's good! Here's a couple pictures from the group here last week:

The kids leading us in a song with motions.

Singing a song with parts in English, Spanish and Korean!

Newest Favorite Song

2011-07-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

The other night I heard this song again (it's been a while) and it quickly got stuck in my head in the best way possible. Then this morning at church it was sung during offering. Amazing. So I thought I'd share it with you all!

Dame tus ojos quiero ver

Dame tus palabras, quiero hablar

Dame tu parecer

Dame tus pies, yo quiero ir

Dame tus deseos para sentir

Dame tu parecer

Dame lo que necesito

Para ser como tu

// Dame tu voz, dame tu aliento

Toma mi tiempo es para ti

Dame el camino que debo seguir

Dame tus sueños, tus anhelos

Tus pensamientos, tu sentir

Dame tu vida para vivir //

Déjame ver lo que tu vez

Dame de tu gracia, tu poder

Dame tu corazón

Déjame ver en tu interior

Para ser cambiado por tu amor

Dame tu corazón

(Basic translation)

Give me your eyes, I want to see

Give me your words, I want to speak

Give me your likeness

Give me your feet, I want to go

Give me your heart, so I can feel

Give your opinion

Give me what I need

To be like you

/ / Give me your voice, give me your breath

Take my time, it is for you

Give me the way I should go

Give me your dreams, your desires

Your thoughts, your feeling

Give your life to live / /

Let me see what you see

Give me your grace, your power

Give me your heart

Let me see inside you

To be changed by your love

Give me your heart

Special Things & More Studying

2011-06-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-06-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

“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**

Hope to Hope

2011-05-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

In the short time (1 ½ years) that ADE has opened the high school in response to the 2009 earthquake, there has been a string of not only temblors that periodically occur in the region but also natural disasters around the world that increased the feelings of overwhelment and powerlessness. Students who do not have much contact outside of the jungle rainforest have gone from examining not only their own earthquake disaster (human made and natural) to examining that of Haiti, China, and now Japan.

**Click here to read more about ADE students' response to the earthquake in Japan**

Eastern IDEV Students here again...

2011-04-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

ADE and Eastern University in Pennsylvania have established an excellent partnership that links students in Eastern’s master’s program in international development (IDEV for short) with the communities of San Rafael and Vara Blanca in Costa Rica. Much of the reason for this partnership is that Tomás, Frances and Ben (our two newest staff members who came in January) were all students in the program. A group of students from Eastern’s program has come to visit each year for the past three years since the Cinchona earthquake in 2009.

From March 4-12 a group of twenty students and one professor from Eastern’s IDEV program joined ADE in Costa Rica. The group stayed in the ADE Center in San Rafael and each of the visitors also took turns staying for three nights in the homes of families in our community.

**Click here to read more and see pictures**

Rebuilding the Broken Down Places

2011-03-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Many people’s homes were either damaged or destroyed during the Cinchona earthquake in 2009. Some of these people lived in temporary shelters built by the government for months afterward. Some received assistance from the government in the form of materials to repair their houses. Others whose homes were completely destroyed received nothing from the government.

Over the recent weeks, members of ADE, along with members of two local churches, were able to participate in the restoration of two of these homes.

Teresa

Teresa’s home was not destroyed by the earthquake, however, the road nearby was completely obliterated. A wealthy dairy farmer up the road from Teresa’s home began to lose thousands of dollars a day after the earthquake because he could not get his milk out to market due to the destruction of the road. Teresa’s house stood in the way of where the government wanted to rebuild the road. Rather than wait for the lengthy process of the government negotiating the relocation of Teresa’s home and family, the dairy farmer came with trucks and pulled Teresa’s house down. Teresa and her family were then forced to move into a temporary emergency "house."

Andrés

Andrés is the grandfather of one of our high school students. The side wall of Andrés’s house was damaged by the earthquake and he had to move out and rent the house next door. The government agreed to provide supplies for Andrés to repair his home, but the problem is that he is elderly and blind and was not able to do the work by himself. The government then threatened to take the materials back since he was not able to use them. The news about this spread through the community and a decision was made to take action.

**Click here to read more hear the rest of their stories and how we got to be involved**

School 2011 Starts!

2011-02-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

We just started our second year of our school here. Check out this ADE blog post to see what we've been up to and the main things we've been doing recently and even some awesome pictures :)

ADE Blog

Little Updates

2010-11-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

So this stretch of not updating my blog has been longer than ever before. SORRY! The summer was crazy busy and then I was back in the States for most of the fall with my family. Well to be a little better I decided to try something a little new and hopefully more interesting than a somewhat monthly update. I'm going to try to regularly update an album on facebook with a lot of the daily type things that occur in my life here. I just started, but hope to keep up with it better. It should give you a greater glimpse into my daily life here.

Check it out here: Life in the CR is always interesting

First Summer Update (and much too late)

2010-07-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell from my lack of blogging, we've been kept very very busy this summer. It's hard to know even where to begin, but I'll try. (Warning: I'm way behind, so this is going to be long!)

Eastern: The Masters students from Eastern University's International Development program spent a week with us at the end of April. We outfitted the ADE center with a new kitchen and bunk beds enough for 27 people - and just in time. It was a great experience for everyone involved. The Eastern students got to see some of Costa Rica, study natural disasters (specifically volcanos), work with the ADE colegio students, and help both ADE and our local community. There were also lots of really good discussions between individuals and the whole group and development, sustainability, ecology, and community resilience to name just a few. For our ADE colegio students, it was great for them to get to build some relationships with new people, learn about development and disaster preparedness with the masters students, get a view of higher educational possibilities and take part in serving their own community alongside others. It was great for our staff (myself totally included) to really get to have meaningful conversations with others in the same mind and gain the experience of hosting a group of that size. I was really exhausted after that week, but it was definitely good.

Nicaragua: Shortly after the huge group left, I headed on the Tica Bus to Nicaragua to renew my visa, visit my friend Leah and relax. It was so great to see Leah and Hemby who are in Nicaragua for the year with Manna Project International. I just hung out in their house (and pool) for a few days and read. I also got to see some of their projects and have lots of good convos about community development, learning from the good and bad of their program. It was a sweet time thanks to Leah - You're awesome :)

Interns: We've got interns (and volunteers) here for the summer! Amanda Rinker, previous YL leader at East Mont, came down in May. She's taking her summer break from getting her masters and seminary degrees to get her hands dirty in this community. Her specific role is working with our agriculture project (which Morgan, who was here over spring break and then came back for a couple weeks in May, helped to start). Lauren Ko, also a Hokie alum, came down in May also to be here for the summer. She just graduated from Tech and is working hard here. She's specifically working with some of the environment issues going on here with the reconstruction. Lauren and Amanda have been each so helpful with all of the different projects and needs we've got here. They've done everything from moving rocks and painting signs, to creating handbooks and inventories. For one week in the end of June we had Karen here doing a week of intensive English learning with our students. With years of experience in teaching English and in the process of getting her masters degree in it, she worked hard for a week and brought down tons of awesome resources. Hopefully from the training and resources she gave me, I can be a better English teacher! Now Maria is here for the month of July all the way from Austria (we met while I was in Vienna). She's up for doing anything and everything we need and filling a great need for us this month. And of course, we can't forget Mikki who was here from April to the end of June. She definitely was here right when I personally needed her - and I miss her lots now that she's gone. Look at all the amazing people God brought to join us during this summer. Blows my mind!

Georgia Group: We had a group of high school students from Georgia here for 2 weeks. They spent the first week down in our ADE Center seeing the area, working with our students, and learning and serving in this area. For the second week, they went to a small town on the Caribbean coast to do some service/learning there and our group went with them. Our students worked hard to fundraise for the trip. They hosted a Bingo night in town and made enough money for everyone to go. (Bingo is maybe the most and only successful fundraiser in this community - no lie). It was a great time with our students and serving another small community like ours.

Restaurant: Here's the big one that has totally changed my time here in many ways. On June 11th, 2010 along with the opening of the World Cup, we opened a restaurant with women from our community! It's been an exciting but very challenging venture. I myself have never really worked at all in the food service industry (much less starting a new one). So I've been learning a ton. The women are incredible! For me that's been the greatest part, getting to know each one of the "associates" (as they're definitely not employees as we're all partners in this business). The women range in ages and family status, but what is greater is bringing together and seeking relationships across borders that are usually not crossed - specifically between Evangelicals and Catholics in this community. It's been so great for me getting to know each one and feeling more and more like a part of the community and have friends (close to my age or older - unlike before when my only friends were my students)! It has also been very challenging and definitely needs your prayers in terms of money and response from other local businesses. You can check out our new website (still with lots under construction) at: www.RestauranteArcoiris.org

To come in July and August... visitors, camps, and my family!

Spring Time Pictures

2010-05-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just put up lots of pictures on my facebook! You can check them out here whether or not you have facebook. I hope you enjoy.

I'll soon write more about the Eastern University group that was here at the end of April and my short relaxing trip to Nicaragua I took last week. Things have been busy. Please keep me and our team in your prayers!

ADE Blog!

2010-04-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! I've got another blog for you to follow: blog.glocalADE.org! I'll be doing a lot of updating on that regularly. Some of the info may overlap, but I guarantee it will be worth your while. Make sure to share it with others too!

Also be sure to be praying for us as we're having a group of 26 people coming this Friday! It's a graduate class from Eastern University studying international development. We'll be focusing on natural disasters and sustainable development. It's going to be an exciting week, but please keep us in mind :)

Viví. Vivo. Viviré.

2010-04-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

So I lived in the cabin, then moved into the Dozier house for a week and now I'm down living at the center! Let's just say it's been an exciting few weeks. The owner of the cabin that I was living in (that had been free rent for the past few months), just sold it. Then we had a visitor and all lived at the Dozier house. Now Kim, Mikki, and I are all living down at the center.

You can watch this video that Tim, past intern and awesome writer, just put together the other week. He was living there, but now he's gone and us girls are there. Enjoy :)

Video of Spring Break!

2010-03-28T20:57:00.001-07:00

Hope you enjoy and it gives you a good understanding of the week with our college student visitors.

Cultural Analysis of San Rafael

2010-03-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

(from my perspective of course)

Though I’ve traveled to over 20 countries, each new country and specifically each community has its own unique culture in terms of identity, family structures, gender issues, and power structures. Now having lived in San Rafael de Vara Blanca in Costa Rica for almost 4 months, I am at a place where I can analyze that which I have seen and experienced from the perspective of an outsider to this community. (*Note: Throughout this I will be speaking specifically of my personal observations and experiences in San Rafael de Vara Blanca, but much of this may also relate to the whole of Costa Rica. Also understand that there are many generalizations and remember that they are just that: generalizations. I am not trying to say that every individual is this way, but simply give a general understanding from my personal time here.)

Always wanting to be polite, putting people over work, and being suspicious of outsiders are all cultural identities which I have seen through many different experiences living in San Rafael as a newcomer. People in San Rafael try to be polite and avoid confrontation as much as possible. This can be seen simply through the Costa Rican tagline “Pura Vida” which directly translated means “Pure Life”, but more generally is used as “It’s all good”. “Pura Vida” is often a simple greeting, but is used in many different contexts and even that of responding to problems. For example, a teenager in the community asked me one day “¿Como esta?” (How are you?) and I responded “Mas o menos” (More or less) as I was not having the best day. His response to my not so great day was “Pura Vida” or “It’s all good”. This experience is not uncommon. Further, I have seen people be very nice and friendly to other individuals that they have then told me they don’t like or can’t stand. Maybe this is simply their way of being polite or maybe it is fake and non-confrontational. I am not here to judge but simply to state the cultural issues and commonalities that I have observed. Many times I have experienced an individuals desire to be polite by inviting me over to their house for coffee or a meal and yet never following up on it, possibly because it is the “polite” thing to do. Similarly (and one of my favorite examples of this), when asked directions no one will tell you that they don’t know. Instead, they will politely tell you directions so who knows where so that they are not rude by not helping you. However, they often do much greater damage by getting the person farther lost than they may have been. This is country that abolished its army in 1949 and is very proud of it. They choose peace over conflict as a nation and individually.

Those in San Rafael also choose people over work, whether it is stopping on the street to say “Hi” to a friend (even if there are cars waiting behind you) or asking about the persons mother, aunt and cousin instead of a simple “How are you”. People here don’t seem to view the many interruptions throughout the workday by others as interruptions. Each person welcomes the breaks throughout the day, the walk, or the drive as they seem warm and friendly every time. A great example of this are the many coffee breaks that people take to simply sit and talk and drink lots of coffee; all of which keep them going for more work until the next break a few hours later. Simply the greeting of the kiss on the cheek when you say “Hello” or “Goodbye” exemplifies the closer nature of the individuals to each other within this community.

Within this small, somewhat isolated, community there is a sense of suspicion of outsiders. It can be seen through interactions, such as people not responding when you say “Hello” or not greeting you as they normally greet others. There tends to be a shyness and uncertainty about outsiders that I have personally felt throughout my time here. Language and word usage are clear ways that I see this along with the awkward interactions. White outsiders are always called “Gringos” which is not meant in a derogatory way, but always separates the Ticos (Costa Ricans) from the foreigners. All Asians are considered “Chinos” (Chinese), whether or not they are actually from China. Though this may seem like something insignificant, I have seen it differently due to the judgments that I have seen towards other outsiders. Costa Ricans do not like Nicaraguans, classify them all in the same category, and are constantly suspicious of them. They neatly classify all outsiders whether Gringos, Chinos, Nicaraguans, or Columbians. They keep their distance with specifically boxed peoples and a sense of “us vs. them” as much as possible. Though it is possible to get beyond this, the titles rarely go away and if they do tend to take years to do so. These cultural identities can all be either positive or negative depending on the extremes taken and the attitude out of which they come.

In analyzing the culture also comes the unique issue of family structure, which at first appears simple in San Rafael but instead is rather complicated and broken. At first glance, it seems just like a small town with everyone related to each other. It has a sort of idyllic sense of an old isolated town; however, the close relations in the town come out of more complex and broken families than first noticed. Women are generally married young and to men that are significantly older than them. Yet they are not often “officially” married, but simply living together and under the term giving both a way out if or when desired. The woman usually stays home and the man works long hours. Along with the young marriages, women often have children starting around the age of approximately 20 years old. Most families have 2 – 4 kids and the parents seem to genuinely care for and pursue the best for their children. Unfortunately such issues of alcoholism and adultery (most commonly by the father) tend to contribute greatly to the broken families seen throughout the community. Despite the often complicated and broken families, relatives often live close together and stay connected. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all live close by and take care of each other as needed. Though families are often broken, there tends to be someone that steps in to make sure everyone is taken care of. In understanding the family issues also brings up the role of gender in relationships and society.

Seen already through family relationships, this society is a male dominated society with only a few strong willed women making any changes. Men dominate the village through controlling relationships, especially exemplified in romantic and familiar relationships. The men tend to rule over the house as they do whatever they desire, while the women have to cook, clean and take care of the children. The word of the men in the community seems to stand over that of women as they hold most of the council positions. There are a few strong willed and tough women that break into this role, but they have to be pushy and unforgiving in order to do so. Overall men are forward and often objectify women in ways that women could never get away with but is culturally accepted. This can be seen through comments of strangers working on the street or even neighbors. In response to this culturally accepted mentality, women often seem to encourage it through dressing in tight fitting and provocative clothing. Young girls in their mid-teens are often forced to grow up quickly as the opportunities and men present themselves in a forward manner to the girls. At the age of 16 girls can be “married” to a man twice their age, forcing her to become the culturally normal housewife, cooking and cleaning and pleasing her husband. On the other hand, as men often marry much younger women they can live as an immature boy until they desire otherwise. As much of this is culturally accepted, men and women living differently are often the exception. Even with a woman president recently elected, the male dominated country and this community are maybe masking the deeper cultural issues that still stand.

Within the house and community men dominate the power structures and beyond men is wealth. The main influence in and decisions about this community seem to all be based around the rich male landowners. They are the ones that employ most of the community and therefore hold influence in their individual lives. The landowners seem to have influence one way or another in every council in the village along with the bigger decisions that come from higher up in the government. Most of the councils are dominated by men in the community with either wealth or historical influence, whether through family ties or ties to wealth. There are certainly exceptions with women and those with seemingly less money and ties, but these exceptions seem to be the outspoken bold individuals in the community. Throughout these power structures, corruption and conflict appears common both locally and nationally. Most are never directly addressed though they are common knowledge possibly due to the non-confrontational attitude of most Costa Ricans. Whether in the house, the business or the local government there always seems to be a clear individual or group dominating, if it’s talked about or not.

Understanding a culture takes time, observation and experience. Though I have some of that I recognize that I have plenty more to learn about the customs and individuals in this community in which I live. Some cultural issues seem positive and some seem negative, but within all of them there is a history and an attitude that goes far beyond my own experiences. It is also so much easier to analyze a culture other than the one in which you were brought up. I see that and only hope that this is a way for both me and you to understand another context and then turn it around to analyze our own.

Spring Break 2010!

2010-03-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

So this week we've got 4 spring break students from different schools in the US here learning Spanish, contributing to the community projects and getting to see Costa Rica. We've done so much already and it's only Tuesday:

Worked on Spanish with local community students
Gone to church (awesome cultural experience)
Seen waterfalls, butterflies, and jungle cats
Eaten typical foods
Held toucans
Made empanadas
Seen the volcano
Hiked in the jungle
Tracked a tapir
Milked cows
Laughed a lot

There's a lot more to come and I'm really excited. I'll write more and put up pictures after the week. Definitely be thinking of and praying for us :)

Pictures

2010-02-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words...so I basically wrote 80,000 words through Facebook. I just posted tons of pictures. Check them out here. If you didn't see my pictures from the first month I was here you can find those aquí. Well enjoy :)

Lots going on...Sorry

2010-02-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yet again, I'm sorry for not having written in like forever. Things have just been so busy here, but they're moving forward, which is awesome and exciting! I don't even know where to begin.

Well Jason (a good friend of mine from college) came down January 20th to spend a couple of months volunteering/interning with us. He's been working hard and helping out a ton where we need it. It's also nice to have someone that I've known for more than a few months around. Jason is living down at the ADE Center - meaning he is the first official ADE Center resident. We're still doing a lot of work on it but it's definitely come a long long way!

Jason and his roommate.

Shortly after Jason arrived and started working I actually headed back to the States for a week. My grandfather was turning 90 and we were making a big deal about it (as it definitely is a big deal). I took advantage of being home and spoke to all the Spanish classes at DCCS, which was sort of funny considering the whole time that I was a student there I took German. I also met with a biology professor at Eastern and spoke to a grad class there as well. Overall it was a good week, but very very busy and I was excited to get back here.

Once I got back, it was full force ahead getting the center and everything ready for school to start a week later. The night before we were up late as a team building desks and benches and talking about schedule.

And our school started February 10th, 2010! It was so exciting to actually see some of our hard work begin to be played out through the lives in this community. We only had 8 students this week (we'll have a few more soon), but they are awesome! Kim (my roommate and the "School Director") just kept talking about how our students are such angels. They're all between 13 and 16 with most of them just starting 7th grade. It's so exciting because most of them would not be going to school at all if this hadn't opened. This week was mostly orientation and going to get books. On Monday we'll be having biology professors from the University of Costa Rica come and see what we're doing, meet our students and families, and discuss how they can partner with us. And then Tuesday will begin more normal classes. So it's definitely an exciting time!

The bridge on the way to the ADE Center.

Now you should be at least sort of up to date on what's going on here. I did want to share with you a few random stories that have happened here that at least I find interesting:

*Walking back to the cabin at night, we often turn off our flashlights and things when it's clear outside and you can see so many stars it is ridiculous. You can often even see the Milky Way. I've also seen bats fly right in front of us and then learned that this is one of the few places in the world where there are real vampire bats...a comforting thought :)

*This is a large dairy area. So though you don't usually smell it (which I'm very grateful for), you pretty much always know as there are often cows or cute little calfs right on the side of the road. One little funny story that just happened the other day: I was walking up from the center and there's a little wire gate that was open because a truck had just gone through and so I left it open. A little while later as I'm hiking up the huge hill I look back and see 3 cows following me in a line on the gravel road! They had gotten out of their fence and weren't stopped by the wire gate and just kept following me. I didn't know what to do. So I turned around and started shooing the first one back and it starts to go...Until it gets to the second one that decides he's just going to walk passed me. So two cows are walking up the hill towards the main road in front of me and one behind me. I try and get in front of the two but they start running faster. I'm about to break down, thinking that it's going to be my fault that a family loses 3 of their cows. Then the son of the family sees and runs down the hill to put them away. I was so sorry and so grateful for him!

*Oh and I just wanted to share that my puppy is doing well and growing so so fast. She's great and I still love her a lot (even though she beats up on the other puppies and the now only one kitten).

Well thanks for reading and Happy Valentine's Day! I'm so grateful for such incredible support and encouragement from the people back in the States. You guys are awesome :)

ADE Website

2010-01-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

So the ADE website is up and running! There are still a couple of pages under construction, but overall it's good. You should definitely check it out:

www.glocalADE.org

On it you can see me on the ADE staff page and get my new email. You can see our internship opportunities as well as our short term opportunities for this spring and summer. We're even planning on doing a family camp this summer for a week, which should be awesome! You can start following us on Twitter and even become a fan of ADE on Facebook. Also go through our participate pages as you can see how you can be involved with us here in Costa Rica. (For those of you who had asked me to send you a support letter, though I'm still not raising support, we are asking for people to invest in our high school students and projects that we're doing. So check out the "Invest" page.)

There's a lot of exciting things going on and as usual: plenty of work to do. I'm getting really excited about our spring break opportunities and really building our network more and more to benefit this community.

ADE & Me Update

2010-01-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends! Sorry I've been so bad at updating this. Over the past couple of weeks I have been working a lot to get the ADE website up and going (I'll pass on the link ASAP). I wanted to update this blog every day this week, but that got off to a very bad start. So here's a couple interesting things from my time here and I'll try and update again soon.

- I eat tamales almost everyday (and often for breakfast)
- I woke up in the middle of the night the other night to an earthquake
- I watched my puppy get mauled by a rooster
- I made a papaya juice myself
- I can now officially make a fire in my fire place at the cabin

Check back again soon :)

I got a PUPPY!

2010-01-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

I would like to introduce you to my puppy: Ash Esperanza (or I call her Ashes)!

My First Month

2009-12-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

I'll try to write more again soon and put up more pictures. I've been here for almost a month. I'm learning a ton and growing so much. It's definitely not easy and I'm very grateful for your support, encouragement and prayers.

Thank you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T10:08:00.000-08:00

Though it's the day before Christmas, it doesn't quite feel like it to me now. I'm currently sitting at a little internet café about fifty feet from the Caribbean. Up until last Friday or so I've been working a ton, doing everything from painting the house to working on getting organized and advertising for the spring break trips (which if you`re interested in learning more or maybe coming check out the facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=370727355220&index=1 ). Now I`ve had some time for the holidays, which is definitely needed as the past few weeks have been nonstop.

Last Wednesday, Tomas's sister (from Scotland) and mother (from Maine) came to join us. On Thursday, the Dozier family had to move out of their house as it was being rented and moved into my house with me. So my little house has had 8 people in it with mattresses on the floor everywhere. That has definitely been an interesting experience but good and a bonding experience. Over the weekend we did a lot: went to a couple's house for dinner, went to my first Costa Rican wedding, went to the local school's graduation (from Kindergarten and 6th grade only), went to church and had company over. Oh and we've played a lot of games like Boggle, Taboo and Apples to Apples).

Then Monday morning I left early to meet up with my roommate Kim (who had gone home to be with her family in San José for the holidays) and her family as they invited me to go on a little vacation with them. We drove a long time on some crazy roads. We stopped at a number of different stores along the way so that Kim's dad, Rolando, could sell the cutting boards that he makes, sells and distributes. Then we were on our way again. Somehow, he didn't get directions ahead of time and so we would just ask on the side of the road which way to go when we came to crossroads. Overall this tactic worked, except for a pretty important missed turn. We ended up going a couple hours on this crazy rocky/dirt road out in the middle of nowhere that led us to a river, which we found out was just about on the Nicaraguan border (on the Caribbean side), like far northeast in Costa Rica. It's actually a place where a lot of Nicaraguans cross the border illegally and is supposedly a not very safe place, though praise God we didn't have any problems at all. Once we figured all this out, we got back on track and found a place to spend the night).

The next morning we drove another long crazy road and ended up at the right location this time. We took a boat through channels with unbelievable nature and animals on all sides to Tortuguero. This place was beautiful and incredible and very chill. The people are all really friendly and relaxed. There are hammocks all over the place (which I slept in one for like an hour and woke up to a dog sleeping next to me as my guardian and friend). We took a canoe tour with a local guide where we got to see everything from toucans to lizards, turtles to crocodiles. God's creation so amazes me and I took tons of pictures that I`ll have to share with you later).

Yesterday we spent the day in Cahuita, an adorable beach town farther south on the Caribbean coast. The beach is definitely my kind of beach as there`s jungle right next to the sand and sea. I walked along the beach for hours. Right along the path I saw lizards, a sloth, and monkeys. (On a little side note- seeing and hearing all the monkeys really makes me want a pet monkey, but unfortunately it's illegal and I'm told they make very bad pets). This little town is also really cool as it's pretty small and chill right on the water. People here are nocturnal and it's almost like a different culture as they speak a different language and everything. I like it a lot and can definitely see why it's a more touristy area.).

Later today Kim and I are being picked up by the Dozier clan and heading to Panama to spend Christmas day there. Where we're going I hear is even more beautiful and amazing then where I've already been. I'm pretty excited, though it will be a very different Christmas than I have ever had. I'll definitely miss spending the day with my family, but it will be a new experience.).

Thanks for reading this long update. I figured I owe you one as I've been bad at updating this. I'll try and put up more pictures and things soon. I put a few on the facebook event mentioned above, so definitely check it out. I love you all and thanks for your thoughts and prayers!).

1 John 3:16-18

Rainbows

2009-12-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

I have seen so many rainbows over the past two weeks, it really can only be God. (Here's a picture of one/two that was right outside my house the other day). I see the rainbows and am just totally reminded that God is here with us and His promises never fail. I would write more but have a lot of work to do! We're having a couple spring break trips that I'll put up more info about later. And once I get internet in my house (which will hopefully be soon), then I'll write a lot more!

I'm HERE!

2009-12-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

I'm finally here! I don't yet have internet where I'm living, so right now I'm sitting at a cute little internet cafe not too far from my house. This is really the first time I've been able to just sit and yet I'm still having to get a lot of work done. There is so much to do. It makes sense though: starting a nonprofit is a ton of work! But it's so exciting and God is definitely working.

Here's what I've been up to over the past week (the first week of December):

1. Arrived in Costa Rica

2. Painted/helped build a chicken coup

Drank coffee black with a bunch of Ticas (Costa Rican women)

Began learning Spanish with the help of the Dozier kids

3. Painted the center (a beautiful house that was donated to us to host groups, but needs a lot of work)

Learned how to catch chickens...and let me tell you it's not easy

4. Painted the house some more and sang Christmas carols in San Jose both in English and Spanish

5. Painted the house some more (do you see a trend) and sat through a 3 hour conversation all in Spanish

6. Went to the local community's church in Spanish

Celebrated Jordan's 13th birthday

Saw a monkey in my backyard, talked to it and named in George

7. Woke up to a tarantula in my bathroom, which I caught at 6 in the morning

Working a lot on organizing our spring break Spanish immersion trips (let me know if you may be interested!)

Now probably off to paint the house some more...

Thanks so much for your awesome support and encouragement for me! You all are great :)

The Packing Process

2009-11-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

This whole process of packing for 3 years is really not easy. I should be eliminating things, but somehow instead I seem to be buying a bunch of things. I'm so random. So the things I bought for moving to Costa Rica: Chacos, a headlamp, a new CamelBak, "Redeeming Love", the new TOMS shoes Botas, and a case for my iPod. Yet of course there seems to be more I need (or I guess want) like a good fleece and a quality but compact iPod dock. Oh and movies and music too. But through looking for all of this, buying some, and searching for the big Black Friday deals really makes me glad that I won't really have anywhere to shop or much need to for the next few years. I see things or great deals and then I somehow start to think I need them. This whole materialistic US culture (and time of year) easily distract me.

Anyway...back to packing: I'm trying to split up all my stuff into 3 groups.

1) Stuff I'm bringing with me
2) Things to get rid of

3) The few things I should save

Going through all my stuff thinking this way, definitely makes me think what really matters and honestly how frivolous most of the stuff we have (or at least I have) is. Definitely makes me think a lot...

Well I fly out December 1st, so there's a lot to do and more importantly a lot of people to see :)

Things are Moving Along

2009-11-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

So I got my business card last night! Though if I didn't already know what it says I wouldn't understand it all, I'm pretty excited. Not only do I have a business card, but I have an official ADE email address and title. Also more good news is that the website is making huge progress and almost up and running. Things are really coming along and I'll be heading down there to join the rest of the team in exactly 2 weeks. Though there's a lot to do this week and next, I'm starting to get stuff done and am getting ready to go.

My Exciting News

2009-11-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

So here's the first update on me and the plans for why I made this blog:

I'm going to Costa Rica! I'll be headed down at the beginning of December to work helping to start a Christian nonprofit in the mountain village of Vara Blanca and will be there for at least 3 years. The nonprofit is called ADE (Association for Development and Education) and that is exactly what we will be doing, development through education. It's an exciting thing to get to be a part of, but with that there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of having to trust God. I'm excited to see the ways that God is going to stretch and challenge me and ultimately draw me closer to Himself during these next few years (as I've already seen simply through the decision making process).

Thank you, friends, for sticking with me through the process of getting here and I'll definitely need your prayers and encouragement as I don't expect the next few years to be easy; however, I am excited for the adventure that I'm embarking on knowing that I could never last by myself.

Blessings,

Lindsey

**Read Mark 10:13-31 (and take special note of verses 29+30)