Here's what happening . . .

The picture above is of me with San Francisco de Dos Ríos behind me. This is the area of San José in which I live. Below, there is a picture of downtown San José. Please pray for this city that the gospel may spread through it and souls should be saved for the glory of God.

Here's a quick update:
• My Spanish is coming along. I find myself able to understand more day by day.

• The ministry at the House of Restoration is going well. I bought a Bible for a man there. There is, however, a lot of turn over. Some of the men end up back on drugs and alcohol. Please pray that we may win them with the gospel.

• I have added an item to this site. To the right, you can see a box for an "Unreached People Group of the Day," provided by the Joshua Project. Every day, it gives information on an unreached people group (population, religion, language, etc.). I plan to go to the lowland Quechua of Bolivia, but let us never forget to pray for the thousands of other people groups who have never heard the gospel of Christ.

• Last week at the language institute, we had a culture day. This is a time that the language institute has each trimester in which the students can learn more about Latin culture. This trimester, they had a festival with booths with various typical games that one would find in Costa Rica at such festivals. They also had some typical festival foods. It was a lot of fun


Continue to remember these prayer concerns:
• language/culture acquisition
• ministry at the House of Restoration
• that God would open doors for me to share the gospel
• that God would open the hearts and minds of those to whom I have the opportunity to witness
• that I would grow in Christlikeness
• that I would be grounded in Scripture and dependent upon God in prayer
• that the Lord of the harvest would thrust out laborers into the harvest
• that the Name of Christ be great among the nations

Should I not have compassion on that great city? — Jonah 4:11
Seeing the crowds of people, Jesus felt compassion for them,
for they are distressed and thrown down
like sheep without a shepherd. — Matthew 9:36

Both picture courtesy of Joshua Murphree, © 2009

Sopa Negra

Do you want another taste of Costa Rica? Here is a recipe for a typical Costa Rican soup. Like the gallo pinto recipe I posted last month, this one also is a beans and rice dish. Enjoy.

Sopa Negra (Black Soup) six servings

Ingredients:

1/2 lb black beans (usually more beans will be cooked and then removed and saved for later for something else like gallo pinto, refried beans, or simply used as a side for another meal).

About 1 lb white rice, cooked.

8 cups chicken broth and/or water. (Water will do fine, but there is so much flavor that chicken stock can add to any savory recipe like this).

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp oregano

6 eggs

10-12 sprigs cilantro, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small red sweet pepper, chopped

Directions:

After soaking the beans overnight, drain and put them in a large stew pot with the water and/or chicken broth, salt, and black pepper, and bring it to a boil.

Turn down the heat, cover the pan, and let it simmer for about 2½ hours or until the beans are soft.

[The water/broth will now be black and is called agua negra or black water.]

Sauté the onioin, garlic, and red sweet pepper in the olive oil, then add them to the pot.

Add the cilantro, oregano, and cook an additional 30 minutes or so.

Add the six eggs to the pot to be hard boiled for the final 8 minutes. If you wantt to boil the eggs in a separated pot, that's fine too. It is even possible to poach the eggs in the soup, if you like.

Remove the eggs, and peal them. Then, put the shelled eggs back into the pot whole.

Salt and pepper to taste.

The soup is served in a bowl over some rice with one egg per bowl.

¡Buen provecho!