Where Our Treasure Is

Every two weeks, the three French classes combine for a field trip. This past Friday our field trip was a treasure hunt, or chasse au trésor, in downtown Sherbrooke. We were divided into teams of three (chosen by the professor), given our instructions, and sent off on our way. We were all to meet at a coffee shop when we finished. I was partnered with two missionary friends who live in my building, Grace and Amy. This was great because we already had a camaraderie and were used to eachother's French (or rather our "Frenglish"). The down side for us was that a number of our tasks involved finding strangers and asking them questions, and none of us felt especially comfortable talking to strangers, in any language. Most of my friends consider me to be friendly and outgoing, and for the most part I am, when I am in a familiar setting. I will talk until you drop if I know you well. But talking to strangers, especially if I have to take the initiative and talk first, is way, way, way out of my comfort zone. However, the old adage that there is strength in numbers is indeed true. My friends and I each took turns speaking with people, helped each other with our French, and encouraged each other. It IS easier to be brave when you know you have someone in your corner rooting for you. It IS easier to do a task when a friend comes along beside you and helps. It IS easier to persevere when you receive an occasional "well done!" My teammates and I shared the same objective and encouraged each other so that we could accomplish our tasks, even if it meant stepping outside of our comfort zones. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. For Christians, our treasure is Jesus. He should be the One I am most devoted to, most passionate about, and the central focus of my life. My objectives are to know, follow, and glorify Him. Am I willing to step out of my comfort zone for Jesus? Am I encouraging my brothers and sisters in Christ as they follow Him? Our team accomplished our tasks and, surprisingly, reached the coffee shop ahead of the other teams. We had time to take a few photos and visit with the other students as they arrived.

A Great St. Louis Recipe

Image via Wikipedia

I guess I am on a recipe roll. I expressed a desire on Facebook to bake a St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake and received some requests for the recipe. Yes, it did originate in St. Louis, in the 1930's. I have also heard this recipe called "butter chewies", but since it did originate in St. Louis, I prefer to call it by it's proper name. I grew up in St. Louis and while I am proud of my heritage, this recipe is a favorite of mine by its own delicious merit. Cut the pieces small - it is very rich.  It goes great with coffee!

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract (Vanilla extract can be subsituted but is not as tasty.)
1 box yellow cake mix
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, plus a little extra
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Melt butter. Empty Cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in butter and one of the eggs. Press mixture into pan. In separate bowl, mix cream cheese, almond extract, 4 cups powdered sugar and remaining two eggs. Beat for three minutes on medium speed. Spread in pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown on top. The cake will be gooey on top, so don't over bake! Allow cake to cool, then dust with more powdered sugar.

Cake! and conversation

Image via Wikipedia

The French Language School we attend is a ministry of Word of Life. In addition, Word of Life operates a number of Bible Schools, including one here at our campus. Most of the Bible School students are recent high school graduates, not much older than Josh. Last Fall when school began, each language school student was paired up with a volunteer Bible School student. We were assigned to meet for an hour a week and read outloud from the French Bible. Our students were assigned to correct our pronunciation and help us to understand what we were reading. This week was our last week of required meetings with our students because they are leaving this weekend on mission trips, then taking a two week break before beginning the summer camp season. I am blessed with a sweet and patient student who wants to continue meeting with me after she returns from her trip in order to practice conversation in French. I wanted to do something to show my gratitude and affection for her, so I made a chocolate cake for her. She loved it, and it was a great pleasure to be able to do something for her. I receive a lot of requests for my recipe, so I will post it below. I love chocolate, but I never used to enjoy chocolate cake. It just didn't taste chocolatey enough for me. I came across this cake recipe somewhere, I can't remember where, and it trumped every other recipe I had ever tried so this one is now the only chocolate cake recipe I use. The frosting recipe came from a dear friend. It's rich, so it is best eaten with coffee, but that's ok because I also love coffee.

Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp EACH baking powder and baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Heat oven to 350*. Grease and flour two round or one 13x9 inch pans. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Pour into pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting - makes 2 cups
1/2 cup real butter, softened
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter. Add remaining ingredients and beat to spreading consistency. If it is too thick, add a small amount of milk.

Beginning a New Class

We have gotten our first week of the conversation course finished. Honestly, I'm not sure what I expected. It is very challenging. Our classes are much smaller in number and David and I are no longer in the same class, so we are "on our own". We've been married nearly twenty years, so we draw a lot of strength and confidence just from being near each other. Since July 2008 we have worked together all day, every day, and being apart even for a few hours a day is strange. It takes a lot of mental work to hear something in French, translate it in your head to English, think of an English response, then translate to French and speak it. In some ways I am improving: I am getting braver about trying to speak and trying to use new things I have learned. The downside of that is that I make a lot of mistakes. I know this is the best way to learn, but it is also the best way to embarrass yourself. So I am making a ton of mistakes and embarrassing myself repeatedly, but it's a good thing! lol. We are not allowed to speak English even during the breaks, so sometimes our breaks are really quiet. Sometimes we start out talking but then we reach a point where we don't know how to say the next thought we have so we just sort of stop talking and stare at each other.
Today we visited a church in Sawyerville. It is an English church that has just begun having a service in French three weeks ago. We were there to encourage our friends Grace and Orest as they presented their ministry in French for the first time. After the French church service, we went to the French Sunday School class, followed by the English church service and a potluck lunch. Last week we went out for dinner and a walk downtown with Orest and Grace to celebrate the end of a week of exams. We also took the kids to a favorite park of ours called Johnville Bog and Forest Park. Here are some photos from last week.

I've got sunshine!

Marcia at One Little Pink Rose has honored and humbled me with a blog award. Thank you, Marcia! I'm the one who should be honoring you! Since I can't give Marcia an award she has already received, please check out her blog. It is well worth your time.


The Sunshine Award is traditionally passed on to blogger's who inspire others and show positivity and creativity, so, in that spirit, I chose my nominees from blogs that I visit regularly and are very informative and inspiring to me.
The rules for accepting the award are:

This is what I've done and the nominees should do the same if they choose to:

1) Put the logo within my blog or on my post

2) Pass the award onto 10 fellow bloggers

3) Link the nominees within my post

4) Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person whom you received this award from.
Unfortunately, I don't do a large amount of blog reading, so I don't have ten nominees. Here are my nominees, in no particular order. Please visit their blogs and feel free to encourage them with a comment.
1. Grace and Orest @ Desert Talk
2. Joy @ The Stay-At-Home Missionary
3. Michelle @ She Looketh Well
4. Jules @ On Eagles' Wings
5. Sharon @ I'm A Keeper...And A Teacher
6. Beloved Mama @ Beloved Mama
7. TJ @ TJ's Musing