Dear Grandma,
I think in a prayer letter a while back, I mentioned that we were praying for an apartment with hammock hooks. Well when we found this apartment, the landlord told us we could put in hammock hooks, and we finally got them installed back in December! We've enjoyed the hammock ever since, especially because we can fit two people in it (they call it "matrimonial" size here). It's been a fun answer to prayer. God bless, Eben

Dear Grandma,
The little corn-meal patties I'm cooking up in this picture are a typical Venezuelan food called arepas. I learned how to make them last year, and I have been called upon several times by my teammates to make them this year in Valencia. I enjoy making them; it is fun to knead the dough and get the right consistency based on touch. They are kind of pita like in that you put meat or other sorts of sandwich fillings in them. God bless, Eben

Dear Grandma,
Over the break, my friend Darwin from Merida invited me to his house to learn how to make pan de jamon, a traditional Christmas food. It literally translates to 'ham bread" but it has ham, bacon, green olives and raisins in it. We got to be part of the whole process, from the first step in activating the yeast for the dough, to kneading it, to putting the ingredients inside and rolling it, to glazing it, and finally to baking it. It was a lot of fun, and in the end delicious. God bless, Eben