Give to the Max Day! CATA: Anyi Literacy, Translation, & Training

The wall and outside the CATA Center

CATA:  Anyi Literacy, Translation, & Training is a Minnesota non-profit corporation dedicated to literacy, translation, and discipleship training.  The translation work has been done by a Minnesota Ivorian, Dr. Ettien Koffi, while the literacy and training take place at the CATA Ivory Coast Center, which is located in a small village in the Ivory Coast.  

Our nonprofit serves three major areas in the central eastern region of the Ivory Coast in West Africa. There are nearly One Million people who speak Anyi and our literacy classes are in nearly 100 villages.  In 2017, the New Testament was completed and dedicated to the Christian communities in the same areas where our literacy programs are active.

CATA:  ALTT raises funds to support the three major legs of our nonprofit:

1. Literacy programs teach people in the Anyi speaking areas of the Ivory Coast how to read and write in the Anyi language. 
2. Translators produce materials in the Anyi Language to use for teaching and training. 
3. We train lay preachers and local leaders in Christian living principles, public health, social, economic, and environmental developmental practices that will benefit the Anyi communities in rural areas.

Anyi language teachers, local village church pastors, and church lay people come to the CATA Center for teacher training and Christian Discipleship Training Seminars.  They stay for free and are provided with meals.  However, with only room for two women, we need more space.  People come from long distances and when they cannot stay at CATA, it is very difficult for them to attend trainings.  One of our major fundraising project is to provide that room for women leaders.

Two of the CATA Center buildings

In addition, it costs about $1,000 for a single classroom to operate for one year and less than $20 per year to support one person in the CATA:  ALTT program to learn to read and write.  We have more than 4,000 people enrolled in nearly 100 literacy classrooms in three counties in the Ivory Coast.

Please consider joining with us to make these opportunities a reality for the Anyi people of the Ivory Coast by giving through Give to the Max Day!  Our Matching Grant has gained momentum! 

To contribute to CATA:  ALTT's Matching Grant go to https://www.givemn.org/organization/Cata.

Ivory Coast Mission Trip Prayer Requets

Dr. Ettien Koffi is a professor of linguistics at St. Cloud State University.  Until Ettien began, the language for the Anyi people in Cote d’Ivoire was an oral language only and was unwritten.  Ettien created a written language, and he began the translation of the New Testament into Anyi in 1991.  Translation with final edits was complete in 2016!  Since 1997, Ettien’s brother, Yable, has been on the Cote d’Ivoire end of the Anyi Literacy Project running the literacy center and coordinating the learning and teaching of adults to read in Anyi.  Currently, there are 27 villages with classrooms, with over three thousand adults learning to read!  The more advanced adult students have been reading the Parables of Jesus and various health-related brochures that have been translated into Anyi.  (For more information on the Anyi Literacy Project, please go here.)

For this mission trip, we will be leaving Tuesday evening, June 13th, and flying from Minneapolis to Paris to Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), arriving Wednesday evening, June 14th.  We will be in Cote d’Ivoire until Monday night, June 26th, a total of 12 days in Cote d’Ivoire.  While we are there, we will have three main outreach and ministry opportunities:  New Testament dedication ceremonies, youth basketball camp, and painting the literacy center.

Prayer Requests:

First, the printed New Testaments have shipped from South Korea, and the Bibles are estimated to arrive in Cote d’Ivoire April 24th!  Please pray for the logistics around the shipping itself, as well as the import of goods at the port in Abidjan, meeting local codes, and successful applications to clear the goods. 

Second, Yable, Jules (friend of Ettien and father of one of our group going on the trip), and committees of the church leaders and teachers in each area are coordinating the dedication ceremonies.  There will be three ceremonies taking place in three counties where the largest numbers of villages with classrooms are located.  Please pray for the coordination of those events. 

In addition, another brother of Ettien’s is a pastor in Paris, and he will be coming to lead the dedication ceremonies.  It will be an evangelical outreach event, and they are planning to expect between 3,000 and 5,000 people to attend each ceremony, including government officials.  Please pray for Ettien’s brother, as well as those who will be attending, that the word of God will be clear and hearts will be changed. 

Third, Jeremy Koffi, a junior at St. Cloud State University, is planning and organizing the basketball camp.  We are expecting 100 kids to participate in the camp, around the age of 14.  In addition, the local high school has two basketball teams that will also be getting some “tips” on improving their game.  Some of the more sports-gifted individuals will be doing the “teaching” or leading of the camp, and the rest of us will be taking photos, organizing equipment, and providing and organizing food and beverages.  Pleas pray for the kids that come to the camp and the high school basketball teams, that they would improve their game, have fun, but also clearly hear and see the love of God.

Fourth, one of Ettien’s distant cousins will be our lead on our service project to paint the Literacy Center.  Please pray that the paint and tools will be ready and available and that the job we do will help to continue to maintain the Literacy building.

Finally, Ettien, Yable, and Jules are working through the rest of the details for our transportation and stay.  Please pray for their efforts, as well as for our safety while we are in Cote d’Ivoire.

Thanks so much!

Merry Christmas

"The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God."

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Merry Christmas, Love Jen

 

I John 4:9, NIRV "How did God show his love for us? He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him."

John 17:3, NRSV "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

Romans 5:17-19, NLT "For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous."

Updates, My Sister’s Wedding, and My Australia Blogs



The Ricketts Family and Mr. and Mrs. Logan and Elizabeth Strong

It’s been a while…  I had a pretty good summer.  The highlight was going to Santa Barbara for my sister’s wedding!  I had gone to the maintaining phase of Atkins to make sure that my bridesmaid’s dress fit for the wedding, but I didn’t do too great of a job, because it was a little big.  Not a bad thing to happen to me in the grand scheme of things since it means I did lose weight, but hiking that dress up every once-in-a-while was kind of a pain in the butt!

 



 

Okay, I have to mention these things, but only because it is too incredible to not share.  Just about anything that could go wrong with my sister’s wedding did.  The only majors that didn’t go wrong were the cloths and photos! 

 

My boquet

(1) FLOWERS.  My sister had family friends who were going to take the flowers that they bought from a wholesaler and put together the bouquets, boutonnieres, flowers for the church, and rehearsal table centerpieces.  Elizabeth had been in CA in March to visit and do some wedding planning and went to the L.A. Flower Market.  A vendor from the Santa Barbara area told them that all the flowers that Elizabeth wanted for her wedding would not be a problem for him, he grew them all.  All they would need to do was call two weeks before they needed the flowers to order them.  They called three weeks ahead of time and left a message (with no call back); again at two weeks (with no call back); and again at the week before (with no call back).  Thursday night before the Saturday wedding, the guy finally called back and said that he hadn’t called back because he didn’t have the flowers…  Really????  The Saturday morning of the wedding, the family friends hit the farmer’s market and got flowers together…they were BEAUTIFUL and you would never have known that they were not what my sister had originally wanted!


Tabel centerpieces



(2) FOOD.  A family friend was going to be doing the dinner at the reception, but couple of weeks before the wedding, he had some serious heart problems and had to bow out.  In under a week my family had another family friend (who was a professional caterer) lined up and willing to do nearly the same meal!  The food was awesome and, again, you would never have known that there was a mini-panic about that!



Chicken penne pasta, mixed green salad, and garlic cheese bread



Dad's wedding cake:  yellow cake layer; chocolate cake layer, and funfetti layer



(3) CAKE.  Another family friend was going to make the wedding cake for Elizabeth and Logan, and she had made several wedding cakes for other friends from church before.  The Wednesday night before the wedding, her husband came over to let us know that Joanne had been to the doctor and she had pneumonia!  Her doctor had told her she couldn’t even leave the house, let alone bake a three-tier wedding cake!  We were in luck, however, as my dad bakes and decorates cakes as a hobby.  He had originally wanted to do her wedding cake, but thought it would be too stressful.  It probably would have been, but since he didn’t have that much time to be stressed out, it went well!  The cake was beautiful and yummy…go funfetti!




The teasing up...

(4) MUSIC, HAIR, and MAKE-UP.  Although these issues were not as major as the others, they did cause a little bit of stress!  On Friday at the rehearsal, we found out that the woman who was going to be playing piano and doing Elizabeth’s hair and one of the other bridesmaid’s hair had injured her back!  She made it to the wedding, but was in a lot of pain.  A friend of Elizabeth (who is a make-up artist) had flown in from Canada to L.A. for the wedding and was doing Elizabeth’s and another bridesmaid’s make-up…she got stuck in L.A. traffic coming up on Saturday, and she didn’t get to the church until about 1 hour before the ceremony!

The final product!



All-in-all, everything went beautifully and you would have never known anything went wrong, but I cannot believe how crazy those two weeks were!



I jumped off the “maintaining” phase, and back into the weight-loss phase…I’ve only lost about 10 more pounds since the wedding, so I think I may have caused a stall.  We’ll see how it goes, and hopefully I’ll be back to losing soon!



Since then, it has been pretty much the same-old, same-old.  I did, finally, get a smart phone, so yeah me! 

 

And last, but not least, I’ve been working (very sporadically) on my blogs about my Australia trip in 2010.  I wrote in a journal while my friend, Caytie, and I were there, and I am using that to write a blog for each day we were there.  So far, I’ve written about Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Canberra, the Snowy Mountains, a scary drive out of the Snowy Mountains, Bunurong Coast and Phillip Island, Melbourne, and the Great Ocean Road (to Portl Campbell, to Portland, and on to Adelaide).  I have recently begun writing about our stay in Adelaide.  We were in Australia for 21 days, and Adelaide was our 12^th day there!

Maintaining…and I’m NOT at my Goal Weight!



Family Picture at The King and I -- Patrick's Good-Bye Dinner

Well, I hit the point last week where I need to now maintain…at least until June 30^th!  My sister gets married on the 30^th, and I’ve had my dress fitted.  This means I absolutely cannot gain or lose weight for the next couple of weeks – gotta fit the dress!

Since I’ve been doing low carb, this is a tricky endeavor.  I decided to add in higher carb veggies like carrots and corn, as well as adding in fruit.  I also decided that I could be a little more lenient with my special occasion carb intake; I would just have to “make up” for it if I over do a little!

That being said, in the past week, I’ve been to the Star of India (with two friends I only get to hang out with every few months) and The King and I (with the family)…Indian and Thai food.  Both of them were awesome! 

At the Star of India, I had lamb, shrimp, and mushroom Balti (a curry dish), which was absolutely fabulous!  I did eat it with rice and had some Naan bread…yum!  It was so good I’m going again for lunch today! 

My plate of food at The King and I, with Won Ton Soup!

I had been to The King and I one time before with one of my college roommates, Kim, but it had been several years.  I only remember that I loved it.  I was there this time with my family as a last good-bye dinner for my brother, Patrick, before he moved to Spokane, Washington.  We ate family style, and I tried a little bit of everything.  It was all really good!  I had a lot less rice this time around, but I did have some.  It was great, and I can’t wait to go again!

Made to Crave...God

So, I recently began a second Bible study.  I have one study that I have been going to for the last four (or so) years on Thursday nights.  That study has gone through some changes (people-wise) over the past year, but we’ve pretty much stayed in the same format.  We study THE BIBLE, not Bible study books (except when we have been asked to do otherwise); we do an in-depth exegesis (fancy word for saying we do critical interpretation) of an entire book of the Bible.  Right now, we are studying Exodus, which is super interesting!  I’ve gone through John and Genesis with this group as well.  Now, however, I have started a second Bible study on Wednesday nights with a few other women.  We are doing a book study called Made to Crave. 

So far, I’m enjoying this study.  We are in week 2 (as of last night).  I began (again) on Atkins on January 17, 2012, to lose weight for my sister’s wedding.  That’s been going great (I’ve lost 27 pounds, but I still have another 75 to go).  However, one of the things that was discussed last week and this week in the study is the motivation behind weight loss.  When you have a goal, it is easy(ier) to lose; when you’ve met your goal,The Cycle – lose weight and gain it back (and then some) – starts.  You think that you can go back to the old habits and you lose focus, at least I do (did).  This study looks at the fact that we ARE made to crave…God.  For me, food often is my comfort.  Happy, sad, excited, etc., I go to food, not God.  So no matter how great my goals are, once met, I revert to my default mode.  That’s what has to change. 

This week the main idea was that desperation leads to despair.  I never really thought about it, but that is kind of a “duh” statement, but a “wow” one at the same time.  It makes sense.  When I’m “dieting,” I don’t allow myself to eat something; when that happens I sometimes get to the “I have to have that or I’ll die” stage, and then I give in and eat it, and then I’m disappointed with myself for losing control!  Desperation for a certain food leads to “falling off the wagon” (i.e., despair).  Anyway, although the idea isn’t really a new concept, it was kind of a revelation for me to think about.  I have to have more than a short-term (or even a long-term) goal in mind in order to really and truly change my eating habits.  I need to change my spiritual perspective on eating.  I think that in the church, overeating (gluttony) is a habitual sin that “seems” to be acceptable.  It isn’t acceptable, but there is very little being done to change that view or help the people who deal with it. 

 
One other thing that Lysa Terkeurst, author of Made to Crave, said last night in the video was that our foundations need to be fixed.  She used a bucket illustration (couple of holes in the bucket, which do you fix first – fix the one at the base, or you’ll never carry any water); however, I thought in food (ha!), so here’s my version of it.  If you make a layered cake and the bottom tier is off balance and sloped, the next tier will be as well, and the next and the next.  Fixing the top tier may make it look even, but the reality is that it isn’t even at all.  I have to fix the foundation of my food problems (going to food, not God when I’m happy, sad, excited, etc.) or the temporary fix will, in the long run, do me no good, especially since I’ve already gone through The Cycle.

Chicken Pizza

Alight, so I tried another recipe from Linda’s Low Carb website, Chicken Pizza.  I really liked the idea of the recipe, which is why I made it, but some of the topping on her version were not my favorite, so I changed it up a little for my tastes.  Here we go!

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4-5)
Pizza Sauce
Toppings Desired (I used peperoni and black olives)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Salt



Place the chicken breast on a piece of plastic wrap and fold it over the top of the chicken.

Using a meat tenderizer, pound the chicken as thin as possible without tearing (which is super easy to do.) I was able to make it about ¼ inch think.

Place the chicken on a baking sheet (I used the stone bar pan). If you are using a cookie sheet, you may want to line it in foil. I was able to fit five flattened chicken breasts, but it will depend on their size.

Season both sides of the chicken with Italian seasoning and garlic salt.



Top with pizza sauce, pizza toppings, and mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 400˚ F for 10-12 minutes.

I really liked these, and it’s pretty nice because you can vary it up with a ton of different toppings!  Next time I might try BBQ sauce, chopped bacon, with mozzarella cheese for a BBQ Chicken Pizza.  One of the things Linda's Low Carb commented on was that if you use veggies like onions or peppers, then you need to chop them pretty fine in order for them to become somewhat tender due to the short baking time.

Depending on the sauce amounts, this recipe is very Atkins friendly.  The pizza sauce I purchased was 6 carbs per ¼ cup of sauce.  Not too terribly bad, especially if you use far less.  Happy eating!

Yummy Recipes for Low Carb-ing It!

Recently I have been trying different recipes trying to find some variety instead of just eating a hamburger or a chicken breast.  When you are living the low carb lifestyle, sometimes it gets a little boring trying to find great meals.  For those who do not know, eating “low carb” means almost no carbohydrates…i.e., no bread, pasta, rice, chips, or anything related to the sugar family (cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, etc.)!  It has been tough seeing as I’m such a sugar addict, but overall, it has been fairly easy.

To date, I have lost 20 pounds, and I started on January 17, 2012!  Anyway, onto the reason for the post.  I had some super yummy dinners in the last few nights!  I made parmesan crusted pork chops and roasted veggies and cheesy hamburger broccoli bake.  Very different from each other, but both were good. 

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops and Roasted Veggies

Need:  boneless pork chops, mayo, parmesan cheese (powdered in a can), veggies (whole mushrooms, onion, zucchini, pepper), olive oil, garlic, and garlic salt.

Chops:  coat the pork chops in mayo and then coat in the parmesan.  Bake at 350 for 40 min.

Veggies:  chop veggies into bite sizes (leave mushrooms whole and onions in chunks), toss in olive oil and garlic with garlic salt to taste.  Place on/in a stone dish/bar pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

Next time I might add a little garlic salt to the parmesan just to see, but it tasted yummy without it!

Cheesy Hamburger Broccoli Bake

This was a recipe from Linda’s Low carb (http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/cheesy_hamburg_broccoli_cass.html) that I changed up a very little bit.  I used fresh mushrooms and I doubled the recipe so that I could have leftovers.  It was really good!  I had a friend over and made rice for her to go with it and if I did that again, I’d make a little more sauce for her to have that be a little more creamy for her.  It was plenty creamy for me (as I didn’t eat rice).  Next time, I’ll salt and pepper the meat a little more, it needed just a little dash of something more.  I did, however, add garlic salt to it just prior to baking, and I liked that.

Although I liked this recipe, it didn’t reheat all that well.  If I made it again, I’d only make enough for one sitting.

Next up…Chicken Pizza (literally!)…

Atkins...Again!

Well, it has now been just over two weeks since I re-started Atkins and my Induction time should be "over."  I have decided that I have to continue on Induction for a while yet because I just have too much to lose to move to the next phase.  For those who don't know, I was on Atkins several years ago and I lost about 60 lbs!  (Yeah me!)  However, thinking that it was not a big deal, I went back to carbs a little bit at a time, here and there, and here I am back to my pre-Atkins weight (and, if I'm honest, probably even more).  I've decided that I need to change my lifestyle, make eating this way the way I live, not just a diet.  What spurred me on?  My sister is getting married in about 5 months and I'm the maid of honor!  :D

On the Atkins Induction phase, I'm supposed to keep my carb count to about 20-25 net carbs per day, with the majority of those carbs coming from veggies (mostly green because they are lower in carbs).  So, here's a breakdown of my low-carb day:

My morning snacks have been a stick of cheese and my afternoon snack has been peanuts (1oz) which I know isn't exactly part of Induction, but is an easy snack to bring to work and eat at my desk. I don't always eat both snacks (I know, bad me), but sometimes I'm just not hungry!  I never eat breakfast (again, bad me), but I just HATE getting up any earlier than I have to.  I'm a night owl, not a morning person. So, my first thing I put in my mouth for the day is coffee, followed by my morning snack. 

Lunch lately has consisted of hamburger patties seasoned with garlic salt and some sort of green veggie.  Lately I've been on a zucchini kick.  I slice the zucchini into rounds that are about 1/2 inch think or so and saute them in butter and garlic flipping them over so they are very slightly brown.  Once the butter starts browning and the garlic blackens, it gets super sweet...YUM!

Dinner is whatever I figure out I'm going to make!  Last night I tried a new recipe...Alice Springs Chicken! Super good. You're supposed to grill chicken, but I'm in Minnesota...no grilling in February! I baked chicken breasts seasoned with a little bit of garlic salt. Using fresh bacon, I cut into pieces and fried it up; I sauted sliced mushrooms in butter and garlic; and I shredded lots of Vermont Sharp Cheddar and regular Sharp Cheddar cheese. Once the chicken was done, I added the bacon, mushrooms, and cheese to the top and broiled until cheese was melted. I cannot even explain how yummy that was, for sure I'll do that again!

First Few Days in Santa Barbara, CA

Sunset at the Breakwater in Santa Barbara, California

I flew into Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon, and dad, Carol, and I walked State Street for the afternoon / evening (after dinner of curried meat and rice). We went to Yogertland where I proceeded to fill my own cup with double-chocolate Oreo yougert (one of about 12 favors) and added my own toppings...brownie bites, caramel, and fidge sauce- yum!

My brother Jonothan drove up from Westminster, CA on Sunday evening. Dad had to work on Monday, and Carol, Jonathan, and I sat all day and watched movies and played Mario Party and Super Mario Bros. it was nice and relaxing! Tuesday Jonathan and I went Christmas shopping.


The new Santa Barbara airport!

Today Elizabeth and her boyfriend Logan flew in from New Hampshire. Santa Barbara has a new airport since I last flew in in 2009, and it is beautiful! This afternoon the family and a few of Elizabeth and Jonathan's friends went down to the Breakwater to walk along the beach it was beautiful out. As we walked back to the car about an hour later, the sun was setting.

Jonathan on the rocks at the Breakwater

Walking along the Breakwater

 

I only walked along the wood beam partially because I have this issue with short heights...then I had to hop down the rocks back to the beach to walk the rest of the way...rock hopping, no problem! :)



The family with the shoreline in the



Dad and I a the end of the Breakwater




The siblings at the Breakwater with the wharf in the background

 

 We returned home and had tacos for dinner and are now watching Source Code.



The walk back to the car at sunset (Logan and Elizabeth and Dad and Carol)