IDEM Dinner

Friday night we had a "farewell" dinner for our IDEM group leaders, Ryan and Keeley Blackstock.  While they're not leaving the country, they are changing churches.  Ryan accepted an assistant pastor position with Iglesia Bautista Nueva Esperanza (New Hope Baptist Church.)  

Stephen's had a really bad cold so he didn't go.  Of course, I went so I could take the dessert!  It was at Salvador and Roxana's house in Santa Techla, not far from where we used to live, so I knew the way.  Dinner was great--grilled steak, rice, beans, salad, fruit and cheesecake for dessert.  

We all agreed that we will work hard to maintain our friendship with the Blackstock family so I expect we'll be having more dinners together in the future.  To end the evening each of us shared how we felt about them and then had a group prayer.  We know that they are following God's will for their lives, but will miss seeing them on a weekly basis.

Last IDEM Thanksgiving

Our IDEM (discipleship group) has been meeting together for three years, and as I wrote about earlier, we finished our final series of lessons earlier this month.   But, that didn't stop us from celebrating Thanksgiving together one last time.  

We shared turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and several traditional Salvadoran dishes on Thanksgiving eve, if there's such a thing!

3rd Anniversary Lunch

Saturday was a busy day.  As soon as I returned home from the women's event in Apopa, I got to work making my contribution to our IDEM group's potluck lunch.  We got together to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of meeting together, studying together, maturing together and sharing life.

We had a great lunch with roasted chicken (Costco), mashed potatoes, rice, green salad, fruit salad, tortillas and a "birthday" cake.  Our group is famous for celebrating, usually with food.  For that reason Stephen thinks we should change the name of the group from IDEM, which in English is pronounced like Eden only with an M on the end, to FIDEM (rhymes with Feed'Em.)  

Here's some pictures of the celebration!

Working on my listI

With Daniel and the grandkids here March 1 to 7 and a campaign March 7 to 14, my "to do" list was set aside.  On Sunday, I revised and updated it and yesterday I started at the top.

The first thing on the list (on the list since the first of February) was:  TAXES.  

Our taxes are much more complicated than they used to be when we were both working.  Now, we have pension income, social security income, ministry income and a ton of ministry expenses.  I keep a detailed monthly record of all of our ministry expenses so at the end of the year I just have to total them and be sure everything balances.  I finalized the ministry expense spreadsheet in February, but didn't find time to do the rest of the paperwork until yesterday.  Now our tax "stuff" is in the capable hands of our accountant, Paul Cumberland.  As always, hoping the numbers add up in our favor.  

Second task for yesterday was to make a trip to PriceSmart.  My list wasn't that long, but, as usual, once I get there, I realize there are other things I need.  We do have to be careful not to buy too much as the quantities and large sizes don't fit in our limited storage space.  Nevertheless, on checkout the bill was almost $200--my goodness, when did toothpaste, soap, detergent, canned vegetables, coffee and chicken get so expensive?  Just kidding--there were several other things in the cart, too.

One thing about lists is that completing something on the list usually results in adding other things to the list.  Case in point, buying chicken breasts and other meat in bulk means repackaging it into smaller quantities and freezing it.  If you're confused, check out my past post:  Baggies are a Girls Best Friend.  

That's all the time I have for today . . . . got to bake cookies for our IDEM group tonight and have one more thing to check off the list.

What a Saturday!

There were five things on our Saturday calendar and we managed to work four of them in.  

My day started early with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast/baby shower for Annie Sofia, the baby girl that Erick and Lila are waiting to meet.  Keeley and I went together, but due to the next thing on the calendar, we couldn't stay the whole time.  We enjoyed the breakfast and the first game.  

The afternoon was filled with lunch with our IDEM group (yes, we just had breakfast with them last Saturday.)  Today's lunch featured "sopa de frijoles," Salvadoran style.  Not only did Delmy and William host the lunch, but she also prepared the soup.  Last Saturday when we asked what kind of soup she was making she said, "bean soup with everything" and she was telling the truth!  There was every vegetable imaginable (some we couldn't identify), boiled pork (with bones included), corn flour dumplings and, of course, lots of beans.   The soup was served over rice, with hot homemade tortillas.  A picture is worth a thousand words:

At 4:30 we were back at the apartment waiting for our landlord, Miriam, her son and his girlfriend.  We invited them to see the presentation of Soñador at our church in Miravalle.  They really enjoyed it and it was so fun to watch them laugh and clap.  What was even better was that Miriam made a profession of faith at the end of the evening.  

It was an amazing day from start to finish and evidence of God's hand at work!

Day of Friendship and Love

For some reason February 14 is not called Valentine's Day here. So, instead, we celebrated "Day of Friendship and Love" three different ways over two days. 

FIRST CELEBRATION:  On Saturday morning the 14th we had a potluck breakfast with our discipleship group.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity to share "gringo" food, I signed up to bring biscuits and gravy.  This became a possibility when I saw that SuperSelectos, my grocery store, began carrying various kinds of Johnsonville sausages, including traditional breakfast links.  Of course, the down side of biscuits and gravy is that there are no canned biscuits here--they have to be made from scratch.  So bright and early Saturday morning I was making a triple batch of my mom's biscuits and a huge pot of gravy.  It's hard to believe that not everyone at the breakfast wanted to try them!  Ryan, Keeley, Stephen and I managed to eat our fair share.  Several weeks ago Stephen and I ate breakfast at State's Diner and I posted a picture on Facebook with the caption, "best biscuits and gravy in El Salvador."  However, after Saturday, the four of us decided to amend that statement to "second best."

The company and the rest of the food was also great, as we hadn't had the whole IDEM group together since November.  

SECOND CELEBRATION:   After being up early to cook, we decided to go out for dinner.  We really didn't know what to expect in terms of whether the restaurants would be busy, but decided to risk it.  We walked to our favorite Chinese place which is called 168, and found it less than busy.  The food is always good and, in fact, when we were in Kansas City over the holidays we thought our former favorite Chinese place was just okay.  Guess we've come to appreciate the restaurant here.  It was a great night to walk, and we're loving the fact that we're in a safe neighborhood and the 4-5 block walk is something we can even do after dark, as long as it's not too late.

THIRD CELEBRATION:  Sunday afternoon I was privileged to share with the single mom's ministry at our church.  This month's theme was "friendship" so we learned what some famous people had to say about friendship, including Helen Keller who said:

and Charles Dickens who said:

and, of course, we passed out Hershey's kisses after reading this quote.  Got to keep your audience involved!

However, we spent most of our time talking about what the Bible has to say about friends and friendship. Not surprisingly, it's quite a lot, including telling us about the friendships between Job and his friends, David and Jonathan and Paul and Barnabus, to name a few.  It was so much fun to share with them and Ena did a great job translating for me!   

IDEM Cycle 7

Tuesday night we started the seventh cycle with our IDEM (discipleship) group.  It was a night for catching up after a 6-week break, planning our Thanksgiving celebration and beginning our study of the Sermon on the Mount.

Day Trip

Our small group decided that the best way to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of IDEM was to "get-away" together for a couple of days.  Unfortunately, since Stephen had to play the piano at the hotel this morning, we could only make it a day trip.

The day started early as we met for breakfast at Pollo Campero before caravaning to Apaneca.

The little town of Apaneca and the hotel, Villa Bonita, were both very cute.  Like most small towns here in El Salvador, there was a very large Catholic church.  

We traveled a bit farther north to Ataco to have lunch.  We found a charming little pizza place--table for 20.  After lunch we walked through the park and market.

It was a great day and we were sorry we had to leave early.  It was a great day with good friends.  We made it safely back using Waze--a great GPS map program that's remarkably accurate here! 

Cycle 6 IDEM

Last night we wrapped up the sixth cycle of IDEM--hard to believe that it has been two years since we started.  The third and final year begins mid-October.

Having shared so much over the past two years, our group of 8 couples is like family.  So, what does a family do to celebrate an anniversary?  Have a party, of course, but not just a regular party, an overnight party.  As of last night, we have a couple who is looking for a "hotel" or other "retreat" center in the mountains where all of us can stay the last weekend in September.  

I'll keep you posted on the progress . . . . it could be very interesting! 

Resting and then Staying Busy

It was nice to have a couple of days to rest when we got back from Nicaragua.  We were so tired from the trip that instead of going to the 9:00 a.m. service on Sunday, we slept in and went to the 11:30 service.  It makes for a late lunch, though, because we didn't get home until after 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday we were back in IDEM, after missing a week.  I spent Wednesday afternoon helping the 6th graders with their spelling words again.  Thursday was another day for spelling bee practice and then we had church in the evening.  

Yesterday morning was the ladies Bible study--it was the first day for the Abundant, Faithful and True study by Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore.  I rushed away from the study early to go pick up pizza for the 6th graders before our last day of spelling bee practice.  We went to the service in Lourdes last night because Stephen played the piano.  

This morning there were twelve ladies at Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.  We are making potholders and basket liners to share with the mom's of preschoolers at a small school close to the church.  

Sunday through Wednesday will continue to be a busy time.  Sunday we have church, Stephen is playing the piano for the Single Mother's ministry and then we are going out to dinner with friends.  Monday we are having a dress rehearsal for the spelling bee; Tuesday is Day 1 of the spelling bee, Tuesday night at IDEM we're celebrating birthday's so we're making homemade ice cream and then Wednesday is the spelling bee finals.  

Sharing at IDEM

Last night was IDEM (small group discipleship) night; we missed the session last week because we were coming back from Guatemala.  The IDEM curriculum has 9 sessions (3 per year.)  We are currently in the middle of the 5th session and have been meeting with this small group for 18 months (and have another 18 months to go.)  The friendship/love/support within this group is amazing as we've shared our lives, our testimony and the things that are most important to us.

The focus of this session is on the development of the Christian as a servant; the excellent material was written by Pastor Julio Contreras.  Studying the material is an interesting process--we receive it electronically in Spanish.  I copy it into Google translate which does average job turning it in to English.  (I'm not bashing Google Translate--without using it as a starting point, I'd never get all the way through the material.) Then, I spend several hours reading the Spanish and making adjustments to the English translation.  Once finished Stephen and I read the English version to be sure we understand the Spanish material.  Yesterday we studied Chapter 4, entitled "Hands to the Work."

Our IDEM groups meets for 2 hours on Tuesday evening.  Since most of the group is coming directly from work, we take turns bringing food.  Last night's main dish was Bean Soup with ham and dessert was "torreja" with sauce made from prunes.  It was more or less french bread with a fruit sauce.  Here's a picture:

Evidently it is a traditional dish from Spain which is usually served during lent.  Unfortunately, my "healthy diet" which doesn't allow bread or sugar, kept me from trying it.  The rest of the group, however, raved about it so I will assume it was quite tasty.

Last night's discussion of Chapter 4 was a little different than our normal routine.  Everyone was given 4 minutes (Ryan Blackstock, a gringo, is our group leader--hence the strict time limit) to share what was most impactful about the chapter.  Of course, hearing this puts fear in the heart of both me and Stephen.  Sharing is Spanish is still difficult!  But, we did it!  I was well under the time limit and Stephen even exceeded it by a bit.  Progress, progress!