Big Sorry, but Bigger News

Hi Friends!

So I'm really sorry it's been forever since I've written. I kept planning on it, but felt like I was in a waiting place (still really am) and wanted to wait until something was certain before I wrote. So many of you have heard different thoughts and updates, but I'm finally writing to let everyone know.

Most of you have heard that I applied to grad school for this coming fall. I was really excited about the possibility. I got accepted to some great programs. Unfortunately grad school is expensive and the programs I love are even more expensive. So through lots of prayer and feeling like God turned me around about 180 degrees, I've decided to start applying for jobs instead. Crazy...I know. I still feel very confident that now is the time to move back to the US. My experience here has been incredible and I've learned so much. I've learned a lot about myself as well...including that I am much more of a home-body than anyone thought. I'm excited to move back and get to be a more everyday part of life of my close friends and family there. I feel really at peace about this decision and God has really given me all the confirmation I need to know that this is the right decision.

I'll be moving back to the United States of America mid/late July...just under 2 months away.

I've started applying to some jobs (all located east coast) and working in international development nonprofits. If anyone has a job for me, let me know! Though I have nothing set (other than moving back), I feel confident that the Lord is working and has great plans for me each step of the way. Thanks for always being such great encouragements to me.


Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
Psalm 16:5

Main reasons I'm moving back  :)

ADE's Zero Down: Biblical Development Conference

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

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

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

ADE Happenings

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.

Back in the Mountains & Busy

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

Special Things & More Studying

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings, Lindsey
**John 15:9**

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

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

Meet Elefante

Meet Pirata

Study, study, work

Study spot at the Institute

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

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

Around the Institute - admin building on the right

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

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

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

Language School in the City!

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

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

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

The boys Adrés, Paulo and Manuel

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

You can see why Andrés is my favorite!

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

One of my many study areas

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

School 2011 Starts!

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

Spring Break 2010!

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 :)

ADE Website

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

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 :)

Happy Christmas Eve!

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

I'm HERE!

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 :)