A school project

Look at our new bulletin board in the second grade classroom!

It says, “I am God’s marvelous creation!”

This was our art and writing project this week. As I was thinking and praying about what to teach my students, I felt that I needed to start by focusing on our identity as God’s creation. I decided to start with Psam 139:14 “I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” We talked about how we are God’s creation, and he made us all different, but he gave each of us things that we are good at. Each student thought of 2 things they were good at doing with their hands and feet, and one with their heart and mind. They wrote those sentences down and glued them on their people. They also traced the Bible verse.

Here are some of the things my students say about the gifts and talents God has given them:

I am good at adding.

I can think.

I am joyful.

I can give hugs.

I am loving.

I’m good at basketball.

I can write.

I’m good at coloring.

I can move my hands.

I know how to ride a bicycle.

I’m good at running.

I can do sports. I’m a good soccer player.

I’m good at skateboarding.

The good, the bad, and the just plain unusual

Some things I love about living here-

• The mountains contrasting with the blue sky
• Being within walking distance of 3 grocery stores, the mall, a hardware store, 3 internet cafes, a library and a gazillion other places. (I KNOW there's a bakery nearby, I just haven't found it yet. . .)
• The price of fresh fruits and vegetables
• The variety of flowers
• The flavor mora (blackberry) is popular (yogurt, juice, jelly, ice cream) and I love it.
• Crepes and Waffles

Some things that just seem strange to me-

• All the motorcycle riders wear reflective vests with their license plate number on the back. Their helmets also have their license plate number.
• Liquids are sold in bags- milk, drinkable yogurt, juice

And the things I don't like-

• Really only one that I can think of right now- I keep getting sick. I usually have a pretty good immune system, but I think between new germs and the stress of being in a new place, I just haven't been able to fight off things like I usually do.

A day in the life of a Formando Vidas missionary. . .

5:30 am- I wake up. I spent the weekend at the farm, so I need to head down with everyone else when they leave at 6:00.

6:10 am- we get a little bit late of a start. On our way down the mountain, Evie gets a phone call. All the buses are on strike today, can we stop and pick up some friends on our way down so they can make it into the city. We stop for them and continue on our way. Bogota looks surprisingly empty without any bus traffic. Today is supposed to be individual meetings for each area of the ministry. We try to figure out how we’re getting to our meeting place without being able to take the bus. Peter and I decide we’ll bike to Luz y Vida.

6:40 am- we get back to the 127 house. We decide to leave between 7:30 and 7:45. I make myself scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. (I’m so happy I finally bought bread at the store and that my eggs haven’t gone bad yet. It’s taking me a really long time to eat a dozen eggs.) Peter can only find one bike. We decide to take the Transmilenio instead.

7:30 am- I’m ready to walk out the door, when they say the meeting has been canceled. The Transmilenio is super crowded since, besides taxis, it’s the only form of public transportation available. Pickpockets are everywhere and lines are long. I sit down with my computer to work on some school planning.

7:40 am- The meeting might only be delayed until 10. Stay flexible.

8:25 am- there is indeed a meeting, and it will be at 10, and we should leave at 8:30.

8:30 am- Peter and I leave for Luz y Vida. It’s a beautiful day and the sun is out, and pretty soon I take of the sweatshirt I’m wishing I hadn’t bothered to wear. We get to the Transmilenio and push out way on when our bus shows up. It’s really crowded, and I’m afraid we won’t fit through the doors. It empties out as we get closer to our destination, but we stand the whole way.

10:00 am- we make it to Luz y Vida at the same time as Carolina. Our meeting starts with chit-chat, pony malta (a kind of soda) and bread. We open in prayer and spend the next few hours discussing the schedule, planning, staffing needs, and discipline.

1:15 pm- we leave for home. There’s been a rumor that buses are running again, but they aren’t, so we take a taxi.

2:00 pm- I start back where I left off, finishing up some projects for school. While I’m working on that, I heat up some leftover soup for lunch. Evie brings me a home made chocolate chip cookie. Yummy.

3:00 pm- I ask directions to a place where I can print off the documents I’ve saved to my USB drive. I make it there without getting lost, and find the 3^rd grocery store within walking distance. I also find the internet café where I print my papers (unfortunately they’ve run out of colored ink) and buy a glue stick. I head into the grocery store next door because I’m feeling like some ice cream, and nearly have a heart attack when I see the price on the closet thing to a half gallon that I see- 20,000 pesos! (about $10, and this was smaller than a half gallon). I decide the little corner store just around the corner from us is a better option. I stop there on my way back and buy popsicles to share.

3:30 pm- I sit around and chat and eat a popsicle.

4:00 pm- The 5 year old follows me upstairs when I go to work on the game I’m making for my second graders. She wants to help, so I cut and let her paste. She makes a great helper!

4:30 pm- Manny calls me on skype. The internet café he normally calls from is full, and the one he is at doesn’t have webcams. For some reason the sound isn’t working. We make do with the chat function of skype.

5:30 pm- the 8^th and 9^th grade students that I’m tutoring show up. We go over an English grammar test. We spend the next hour and a half talking about English verb tenses and reviewing 50 test questions until my brain is fried and I’m sure they no longer understand a word I’m saying. We finish up with some much more people-friendly listening comprehension- I show them some pictures of my trip to Europe and talk about my travels.

7:30 pm- I can finally start making dinner. I talk to Rebecca on skype and chat with 2 friends on g-mail chat while I chop tomatoes and onions and burn garlic once again. I think once again that I really need to freeze some meals so on nights like this, I don't need to start cooking so late.

8:54- I finish up my dinner and this blog post. Dishes, then finishing the game I started making, then devotions, then bed await. Peter came in a bit ago to let me know to be ready to head to Luz y Vida tomorrow for a regular day of school, but if the taxis and Transmilenio join the strike (which there’s talk of) there’s a possibility we’ll cancel.

Life is not always nearly as unpredictable as it was today here, but it’s definitely good to be flexible, and I’m getting more and more used to that each day. And, today was a wonderful day, despite the unpredictability of it, or maybe because of it. I enjoyed the sun shine on my walk to the Transmilenio and seeing more of Bogotá. I read all about the Transmilenio before I got here, but hadn't yet been on it, so I feel like I finally arrived. Our meeting, despite the late start, was really productive, and I loved being part of a school staff for the first time where we opened in prayer and God was looked to for help, instead of nothing but experience and "experts". I got to know another corner of my neighborhood better on my walk to the internet cafe, and thoroughly enjoyed my popsicle after the hot sun. Seeing the 5 year old's concentration, pride in her work, and playfulness as she helped me more than made up for the no longer perfectly uncrinkled pages I ended up with. Hearing (ok, seeing it in writing) that Manny FINALLY got his passport was super exciting. An unexpected chat with my sister and friends brought me several smiles. And after a weekend at the farm and my day with extra sunshine, I'm feeling ready to meet my little guys armed with phonics games, play-doh to use to write words, a math manipulative activity, smiles, love, and patience.

First weeks in Colombia

Some days, I’ve felt like it is taking me forever to adjust to life here in Colombia. Then I realize I’ve only been here for 2 weeks, and in those 2 weeks I’ve helped out at the Other Way (the ministry drop-in center), Club de Amigos (a Bible club started by one of Formando Vidas team), and another unrelated drop-in center called La Buena Semilla. I’ve also had a general orientation, gotten lost, visited “the farm” (24 hour care), gone bowling downtown, attended two staff meetings, and spent a day sick. In addition to all that, I’ve met almost all the staff, a DTS team of 8 from Kona, Hawaii, and a team from Venezuela. Oh, and I had a tour and brief orientation of Luz y Vida, and am now in my second week of teaching there.

Luz y Vida means light and life. It is designed for kids who come from at-risk backgrounds and are currently unable to attend a regular school for academic and or behavioral reasons. Because of that, it has really small classroom sizes. While one of the goals of Luz y Vida is for kids to be ready to transition to a normal classroom, the even greater goal is to teach kids to walk in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Right now, I’m mainly with a group of four second graders ranging in age from 9-11. I partner with the first grade teacher who has four 1^st graders, so sometimes our classes combine to do things together. As of right now, our schedule is still very hectic. The kids have had 6 days of school, and I’ve only been there for 4 1/2 of them (I stayed home sick the second day and spent half a day this week applying for my id card). We’ve been doing evaluations to find out where the students are academically, going over rules and expectations, and doing some fun activities with the kids. I still feel rather lost since I wasn’t around when they did their planning prior to the start of the school year. There are ups (when all the students in my room are actively engaged and following directions) and downs (when I’m breaking up fist fights and trying to find students who left the room without permission), but overall, I think things are off to a pretty good start.

Keep me and my kiddos in prayer! I need patience and wisdom in dealing with discipline problems, and creatively coming up with educational activities with fewer resources than I’m used to.

Just One Child

Sunday night, I drowsed on and off all night, as I rode a bus down out of the Andes mountains of Quito to the Pacific coast town where Damaris, the child I sponsor through Compassion, lives. At 7:30 am, the bus finally pulled to a stop at the Panamerican bus station. The lady next to me asked where I was staying, and, fortunately for me, she knew where it was and, even better, it was just down the street. After finding the price for the cheapest room available ($8) I walked up 3 flights of stairs to room 310, and decided I’d pretty much gotten my money’s worth. The fan worked, the room was small, and the shared bathrooms and showers down the hall were on the sketchy side. After a whole night on the bus, I decided I needed a shower, however sketchy they might be, so I showered and changed. It was only 8:45, and I was supposed to meet my sponsored child at 9:30. I decided something with caffeine would probably be a helpful way to get me through the day, so I headed downstairs to see if there was somewhere I could get some black tea.

I paused at the bottom of the stairs. There were a lot of people in the lobby, and I wondered if my sponsored child had showed up early. I scanned the faces. There was a girl, sitting on the couch. She looked familiar, and my mind went back to the most recent picture I’d gotten of Damaris, holding a pair of shoes she’d bought with the birthday money I sent. Was it her? She looked at me, and the same question was obviously reflected on her face. We both decided the answer was yes, and headed towards each other with big smiles. She came right to me and gave me the biggest hug. She didn’t want to let go. I was so happy in that moment I had come, because I knew that I didn’t just want to see her, she wanted to see me too.

Her mother was there with her, and the 3 of us headed to a local park. We talked as we walked around the park, taking pictures and playing on the playground equipment. She asked about my siblings and my favorite colors. I learned her favorite color (pink) and that she likes almost any food but vegetables. While we were waiting for a taxi to take us from the park to the harbor, her Mom shared how Damaris had been praying that I would be able to come to visit. It was so special for me to hear that.

After our trip to the harbor, I went with them to their house. I met Damaris’s sisters, her father, a cousin, a nephew and a niece. While I was there Damaris showed me her photo album. It was in a box, and in the box were most of the letters I’ve sent her over the past 4 years. She read some of them out loud to me then showed me her photo album. Mixed in with photos of parties and trips were photos I had sent of myself and of our family. I was amazed the way my simple letters and photos had become such a big part of her life.

The other day a friend posted a link to a really powerful post about the plight of children around the world. In it, she shared that there are 169 million children in need around the world. That number seems a bit overwhelming, until you look at the number of Christians in the world. There are 2.1 billion Christians in the world, according to her post. God’s people can care for each of these children. If only 8% of us would look out for one child, meet the needs that no one else in their life can or is meeting, pray for them faithfully, and love them with the love God has given us, there would be no more children in need in the world.

Will you be one of the 8% who will make a difference? Sponsor a child through Compassion. Send a child orphaned by Aids in Zimbabwe or Zambia to school through Forgotten Voices. Pay for a life changing surgery through Cure. Mentor an at-risk kid in your neighborhood. Adopt. Foster a child.

If you’re already doing that, thank you for being Christ’s hands in a hurting world. Pray with me that God will move more of his people to take up their responsibility, and be encouraged that each of us is only part of Christ’s body, no individual has the responsibility to care for all the needs and brokenness in the world. But, if you’re thinking that maybe you’ll let someone else take the responsibility; after all, it only takes 8 in 100, and money and time are tight, let me share something with you. The day I left Damaris’ hometown and headed back to Quito, two of her sisters were on the same bus as I was. Her oldest sister sat down to talk with me. She told me, how when she was young, her family lived in a house of cane. To pay her school fees, in the afternoons she would go out with a 2 liter bottle of soda and sell individual cups of soda to people on the street. Now, her family has moved ahead. Damaris doesn’t need to sell things on the street. They have a house made of cement block, and even have electricity to run their refrigerator. Even so, her mother is only making $75 a month, her father about the same. Imagine trying to raise a family on $150 a month. When she told me that, it suddenly put my own affluence in perspective. I could afford a plane ticket to come and visit them. If Damaris’s sister saved every penny she made for an entire year on the $25 a week that she earns, she would earn just about $100 more than my 3 destination plane ticket cost me.

America is an affluent nation, and without even realizing it, we have come to see as needs what are really luxuries. I expect internet access and hot water. I don’t want to eat the same thing at every meal. A 40 hour work week and a 2 day weekend seems like a given to me. Ezekiel 16:49 says, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” I’m afraid that those words are true for far too many in the United States as well. For most of us living in the United States, giving is a lifestyle choice we can make. Maybe we won’t buy as many new clothes, or go out to eat as often, or rent as many movies, or choose the unlimited texting option for our cell phones. But, while there are still children who don’t go to school because no one can afford to buy them a uniform, children dying of preventable diseases because they have no access to medicine, children dying of starvation because their parents have no food to feed them, I think it is our responsibility, as Christ followers, to make those lifestyle choices. The next verse in Ezekiel says, “They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Let’s not become a nation like Sodom. Lets “learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).

Nicaragua and Ecuador!

I decided to take advantage of the fact that adding a country to your itinerary is a whole lot cheaper than a round trip ticket from the States, and did some traveling before heading to Colombia.

My first stop was Granada, Nicaragua to visit my boyfriend Manny. We had an awesome time together hiking Mombacho volcano, swimming in lake Cocibolca, touring downtown Granada, and making friends with the neighbor kids.

Some favorite photos of Nicaragua, in no particular order:

The flag in front of the part

One of many beautiful churches

The view of lake Cocibolca from Mombacho volcano

An orchid

More flowers

Manny and I

Drying coffee

Climbing trees at the beach

Kevin and Linoska (family/neighbors of Manny's family)

Horse and carriage in downtown Granada

Virgilio and Lupe, more neighbor kids.

Manny, Rolando and I at Lake Cocibolca

I'm now in Quito, Ecuador visiting my host family from when I was here in 2003. It's so good to see them again, and to be back in the city that inspired this whole adventure in the first place.

And, some favorites from Quito:

El Panecillo

A lily- I probably didn't need to label this one. :)

Hmmm, I guess my camera's video quality isn't too great. But this gives you an idea of the size of the city.

Tomorrow night, I take an overnight bus to the coast, where I'll meet Damaris, the little girl I sponsor through Compassion! I'm so excited to meet her in person!

On the 4th, I leave Ecuador and fly into Bogota!

Gallo Pinto

Gallo Pinto is THE typical breakfast food in Costa Rica. It's so standard it has made it onto the breakfast menu at Subway and McDonalds. The homeless man who lived in our neighborhood would always complain that we didn't give him gallo pinto when he stopped by at breakfast time. He really didn't seem to believe me when I told him we ate cereal for breakfast except on the weekends. We served gallo pinto every time we went to the Salvation Army. It was our Saturday standard on the base, and was made for us on outreach by Rebeca's parents, and Doña Esther, the Pastor's wife in Volio. We made it and served it to taxi drivers in Monteverde. It is the one Costa Rican dish that I made often enough that I could make it at home without looking for directions. Here, roughly, is the "recipe" I followed. Thanks to Rossela, Kathia, Rebeca, Doña Esther, Luis, Manny and anyone else I might have forgotten who gave me tips and helped me learn to make pinto. :)

Gallo Pinto: serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups rice

1/2 pound black beans

1 red pepper

1 onion

cilantro

celery

2 cloves garlic

Salsa Lizano

vegetable oil

The night before prepare your rice and beans.

For the rice: Dice about 1/3 of a red pepper and half an onion into tiny pieces. Saute them in a little bit of vegetable oil. Add the sauteed peppers and onions to the bottom of a rice cooker. Rinse your rice, then add it to the rice cooker, season with salt, and cook as normal. (If you don't have a rice cooker, just cook your rice the same way you usually do, leaving the sauteed onion, pepper, and oil in the bottom of the pot) (If you've never rinsed rice before, you probably don't need to. BUT, if you have a Costa Rican looking over your shoulder, I recommend it. Here's my strategy- fill the pot or bowl with some water, swish it around with my fingers, find 3 little nearly invisible rocks, dump the water, repeat. Call the rice rinsed. Are there ever little rocks in the rice in the US? maybe that's why we never rinsed it here. . .)

For the beans:

Cover the beans with 3-4 cups of hot water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, turn off heat and let soak for an hour. Soak and drain beans. Refill the pot with water. Add 2 sticks of celery and 2 cloves of garlic. (I cut mine into pieces, but I didn't mince it. You can also just throw the cloves in whole, but I don't think that adds much flavor). Add salt to taste. Boil beans over low heat until they are soft. (Keep checking, you may need to add water at some point if your pot wasn't really large enough. I'm not sure how long it takes- I cooked and we ate dinner and cleaned up, and then the kids watched a movie all while the beans were cooking, so I'm guessing 2+ hours. If you have a pressure cooker, use that, that's what we always did in Costa Rica. Or, you could cook them over a wood stove. That seems to be a bit faster.

Once your rice and beans are cooked, cover them and leave them on the counter overnight.

The next morning:

Dice the rest of the onion and the red pepper super fine. Saute them in a large frying pan or wok.

Add the beans to the mixture. As you add them, break them with the spoon. (The goal is to have the beans slightly broken, but still mostly retaining their shape. This allows them to add color to the rice. At least, I think that's why you do it. I don't really know)

Once your beans are slightly fried and smelling delicious, slowly add in the rice. There shouldn't be so many beans that they overwhelm the rice, but there should be enough beans that the rice loses its white coloring. When you're happy with the combination, add salt and lizano sauce to taste. (Good luck with the lizano sauce. You might be able to find it in an international grocery, if not, order it here.) Chop some cilantro and sprinkle on top.

Serve with scrambled eggs. Fried sweet plantains, home made tortillas, and queso fresco also make good accompaniments.

¡Buen Provecho!