Back in the US

Well, I gave up fighting with the signal in El Salvador and so I haven't posted any pictures, but I'm back in the US for now and I'm going to try again. I had a wonderful trip. I learned a lot and God blessed my trip in a lot of ways. I am very sad that I had to leave my children behind. I was tempted to pack them up in my suitcases and bring them with me! They all learned so much; I'm so proud of them. I think they enjoyed themselves as much as I did and most of them asked when I was coming back. We really got to know each other and they always made sure to greet me when they saw me in town.

We had a fun little closing ceremony for the parents. The children used their English, sang, and said their Bible verses. They wanted to sing every single song that they learned with us. Some of the children decided to be shy, but the parents seemed to enjoy it. I got quite a lot of hugs and kisses from the children and the parents. I am really missing "my children" right now and all the funny things they say and do.

The church in Meanguera was very supportive. They organized the last prayer service before I left so everyone could be together and come and say goodbye to me. So many people came! It was really cool to see their love and support in that way. It's been so fun to experience the family of God this way and to see how God's family reaches across countries and cultures. The church gave me permission to go back to the US and visit for a short time, but then I have to come back. I certainly am not arguing. : ) I feel like I have left my family and my country behind.

Please continue to pray for the children, their families, for Meanguera and the church, and for the future projects there. I cannot thank you all enough for your love and your support. It means so much to me and has been a huge encouragement. I could not do this without you all!

Brayan and Melvin found their snack very amusing.

We are missing a few children here. I am on the left holding Brayan, then comes Joselin, Juan, Sandra in the green shirt with Guillermo and Iseyda, next to her is Melvin, Alison, Fabian, Madelyn, Glenda is on the right with Kember and Madelin, and finally Abilio is seated in front of everyone.

We were practicing for our last day and I'm not even sure what they are doing and how they all wound up like this at once. :)

Singing for the parents.

Veronica modeling for her picture.

Giving out clothes at Kember's house.

Kember got so excited that he climbed into the bag!



Organizing clothes to hand out in Soledad. I had lots of help!



The children playing horses and "sleeping."

Singing with the children. Kember, Madelyn, and Fabian are really getting into it. :)

Life in El Salvador

We are coming to the end of week 3 and things have been going very well with the children. They are learning so much and really seem to be enjoying themselves. There are an occassional few days where they all decide not to cooperate and to fight about everything it seems like, but for the most part they do pretty well. When I start to feel frustrated with the children, I try to think of how God must feel when he is dealing with me, an adult, as His child and how patient and forgiving He is with me. It helps me to be more patient and understanding when I remember that I also have a stubborn and rebellious heart, just like the children sometimes do.

We don't always get a lot of participation out of Kember, but now he actually sings and does the hand motions too! He says his Bible verses and seems to enjoy the Bible story time. Every now and then he will say some English phrases, but he is still pretty shy about that. Fabian is still a little troublemaker, but we are learning how to handle him better and he definitely loves to come.  Veronica is a new one and she is very smart, but she also likes to be in the middle of everyhing. :) She picks up on things very quickly. We also had a new little one today, Abellio. He is Melvin's little brother. Everyone calls him the "chelito" (white one) because he's very fair and they say he looks like he could be my son. :) Jocelyn is doing much better. She still does not participate in singing, English, or saying the Bible verse, but she will play with us and sit with us and really enjoys coming. Each child is very special in their own way and I just love them all.

I've been keeping myself pretty busy here. Sunday morning, I went to Segundo Monte with Javier to help teach Sunday school. We worked with 2 groups of children who were all adorable, but a little shy with me. I spent Sunday afternoon making pupusas with some of the ladies in the church to help raise funds for the church. I didn't actually get to eat any of those pupusas, so I made some more at home and had some friends over to eat with me and we had quite a good time.

Monday, Matia took me up into the mountains through part of a canton called Soledad. We walked a good ways, but had to turn around before it got too late. It was very helpful to get to know the area a little better, know where the children are, and see what the needs are in the community. I have all kinds of ideas running through my head now for the future. It hurts to see how some people are really struggling to make ends meet. I hope that we can help ease the burden some. On a more positive note, I loved walking through the mountains - they are absolutely beautiful! There's a lot of walking here since most people don't have cars and there are quite a few places that don't have roads that are built for cars. I love it though!

Yesterday was very fun. Celso took me up to Matia's house and told me that I was cooking. : ) We spent the afternoon cooking over an open fire. There is no electricity up in the mountains. It was a first time experience for me, but very fun. I cried from the smoke and we all laughed at me. :) It's a very different experience from the US, but there is something very cozy, comforting, and fun about enjoying each other's company in a snug little house lit only by candles and the fire. We miss so many things in life sometimes by not stopping to enjoyt the very simple things and just being thankful for what we have. It's easier to enjoy the simple things in life here. I love every minute of it!

Please keep praying for the children, my friends, my helpers, and me. Pray for wisdom as the project develops. Thank you all for continued prayers and notes of encouragement! You all are very special to me.

Enoc. It took a few mintues, but I made friends with Enoc when we went up to Soledad. : )

We came to this house just in time for Sunday school when walking through Soledad.

Cooking over the fire at Matía's house.

My newest child, Abellio. He wasn't about to let go of that ball!

Beginning of Week 2

The children were very busy today and the morning went by so quickly! We had 2 more children today - Veronica and Juan. It looks like we've lost Nataly. Her mother is Catholic and really doesn't care for anyone else who isn't, so I'm thinking that's probably why we haven't any more of Nataly. That brings the count to 14 for now. :)

We are really having a good time with the children. There were only a few tears this morning. Some of the children had to readjust a little after the short break. They are learning quite a bit! They love to practice their English phrases. They really make me laugh with their eagerness sometimes. Everyone is really getting into it. Some of the children that weren't talking before are talking now. Jocelyn came by herself today, but she is too shy to say anything. Kember will talk to us, but when it comes to speaking English or saying the Bible verses, he will sometimes say them by himself to Glenda. He has decided she is his buddy. : ) The children are pretty good about saying their Bible verses. They absolutely love to sing! They are really getting into the hand motions and will break out in song in the middle of their crafts. Melvin is quite the student. He doesn't like to play because "a lot of water comes out here" and he points to his forehead. I guess he doesn't like the heat. He sure loves to practice his English and his Bible verses though.

We still have quite a bit of fun with the play doh. The children love to make play doh pupusas and it is my job to "eat" them all. They also like to sell their play doh pupusas and sweet breads. They are very good at selling! One of the children was selling them at "dos por un quarter" (2 for a quarter). I guess they are used to hearing the street vendors. :)

I have all kinds of ideas for future projects now. I am discovering that there is a lot of need for computer classes here. No one really knows how to use them and it would help them develop themselves and their jobs better. Their is a lot of interest for the moment, so it might be something that I can help them with in the future. Nilson came over today to use my computer to email his friends. I had to show him how the email worked and he keeps marveling at how fast I type. It takes him quite a while and he only uses 2 fingers. :) Just a few simple classes would be beneficial for a lot of them I think.

I am really getting excited about all the opportunities there are here and I don't think I'll be anywhere close to ready to come home in November. I am enjoying the children, the rest of the people, and this country very much! There is so much to be done here and these people are wonderful!

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I need them! Please continue praying for this project. Pray for my helpers and me to have patience with the children and to be able to love them in the way that Christ loves us. Pray that the children continure learning and enjoying themselves. I am so thankful for how well things are going so far. Please pray for wisdom for me in the development of this project - "I can do all things for Christ who strengthens me " Phil. 4:13.

Good night!

From left to right, Brayan, Melvin, and Fabian playing with legos and blocks.

Melvin showing me that he has almost finished his snack. :)

We had a bat visit us our classroom this morning for a little bit.

Tomorrow We Start Again

It's funny how there's so much to do even when I'm not with the children. Sandra and I went to the market yesterday to buy food for the week. The market is never a quick in and out experience, but we did have a good time. Trini was supposed to go across the country to Sonsonate yesterday, so I asked Sandra's brother to drive us and we took their father with us. His 90th birthday is tomorrow. :) After the market we went to church. In El Salvador it is customary to have church services all throughout the week - the only day they don't have a service is Monday.

Today we made pupusas. Pupusas are a treat in this part of the country because they don't always have the money to buy the food to make pupusas with. I am finding out that most of the women in this area don't know how to make pupusas well. Beans and tortillas are the staple here. I enjoy them especially with cream!

Here the church services are very different and different people are assigned a different piece of each service. They usually have a time for anyone to read a verse, sing, or say something they are thankful for. Today they wanted me to sing. Nilson plays the guitar and he absolutely loves music, so he came over this morning and practiced with me and we sang "Open the Eyes of my Heart" in Spanish. Nilson's already got a list of songs that he wants to sing with me. :) Unfortunatly, they have trouble getting good quality strings for their guitars, so they can't always have the guitars in higher tones because it makes the strings break. I am certainly an alto, but we did have to make some adjustments becuase it is just not normal for me to sing that low!

Some of the girls that come to the VBS during the week were in church and they came and sat with me and told everyone that I was their "profe" (short for teacher). A lot of the children wanted to come to "class" on Saturday and didn't understand why they had to wait for Monday. :) Hopefully they will be excited tomorrow. Kember was in church today. I think his family comes every so often. He is still very shy around me and about coming every day, but he does seem to enjoy himself in the end. Please pray that he will adjust and understand that we love him.

Tomorrow I will have a quick meeting with my helpers just to see how they are doing and to make sure that we are focusing on reflecting Christ's love to these children. Please pray that we will be able to do this successfully. I am really going to be sad to leave this cihldren behind when I head back the US.

I am really enjoying El Salvador as usual. It is very different than the US and very poor, but very beautiful in so many ways and I love these people. Please continue to pray for this country.

End of Week 1

I think we've had a good first week! The children had another good day today. They are really adjusting and enjoying themselves. We've had less and less tears throughout the week and more children running in eagerly to play. I am really enjoying the children! Fabian and Kember are doing much better. Fabian still has his stubborn moments, but he's improved quite a bit. Kember is buddies with Glenda (one of my helpers) now and is talking and interacting with us a lot more. Jocelyn actually came back yesterday on the condition that her big brother stay with her. Her brother was with her today and yesterday and that seemed to give her some security. Hopefully she will stay without him after a few days. She has been starting to come up and talk to me and play with me some, which is a huge improvement for her. Brayan was also back yesterday and today. He is so enthusiastic about everything he does; it keeps us laughing all day!

Kember, Tania, and Cesia playing blocks and legos.

The children are learning their Bible verse and their English phrases very well. They will say their texts for a lollipop. :) They really seem to have fun with English and they are a riot when they practice. They absolutely love singing now and we catch them singing the songs we've taught them while they are working on their crafts. I haven't been able to get the videos to upload, but I will show them to you all when I get back. They are so much fun!

I went to the church meeting at Omar's grandfather's house today. He has an old dirt house and we all squeezed into it. Nilson sat with me for a little while afterwards playing the guitar and singing and asking me lots of questions about dogs and about the US. :)

We are off to the market in the morning to buy the food for the week.  :) We might get some pork so we can make some pupusas. I'm a little surprised how many people don't know how to make pupusas here!

Please continue to pray for the children and that we would be reflecting Christ's love to them. Pray for wisdom for me and  prasie for a good week! Thank you all for your support!

Glenda supervising soccer between Madelyn and Allison. Cesia is playing with Madelyn Jasmine's doll.

Singing about God's power over the rain, the plants, and the sun!

Today was a good day with the children! They are starting to adjust and be much less shy. There were only  a few tears today. : ) They really got into singing today - it was so much fun to see! They also were all over English today. Only one child didn't say any English phrases today, and she is really too little to understand. I also had quite a few children that could say the Bible verse today. Apparently, they've been repeating everything they're learning when they are at home. I was very encouraged today because there are times when I can't tell if they are learning anything and it looks like they aren't paying any attention. I was excited to hear that so many children are repeating the things they picked up with us when they get home with their parents. I had a chorus of "Hi, how are you?" today when I mentioned practicing English. The children will now say, "Thank you, Sandra" when she brings the food, even without me prompting them. We did some finger painting today and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. :) Please pray that the children will continue to learn and have good days like this one!

I got a kick out the children making me "pupusas" from their play doh. They were thrilled that I would "eat" them and kept making me more. :) It was pretty cute.

Kember was much better today too. He was pretty talkative and even spoke up when we were practicing English. He seems to be getting better with the children and seems to have more confidence with Glenda, Sandra, and me. I had Trini take Kember, his aunt, and me to the doctor today. It looks like he has an infection, so they gave him some antibiotics and we'll see if that helps. I don't think Kember has ridden in a car much. He seems a little amazed by the whole experience. Please pray that the medication will be effective and that Kember will continue to improve with us and trust us.

It looks like we have some bed bugs in the house. :( We are going to have to fumigate. It is amusing to me how these kinds of things don't seem to phase the Salvadorans one bit. I'm certainly not having a good streak with the bugs in El Salvador!

The stop to public transportation is supposed to end today and I've seen some buses running, so hopefully there won't be any more complications. Please continue to pray for this country and for everyone's safety.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I've posted some fun pictures! Good night!

Lunch Time!

Allison and Fabian making me "pupusas!"

Guillermo finger painting!

Day 3

Today was an interesting day. The gang members have put a stop to public transportation throughout El Salvador and they are making most stores close at 4pm. It has really complicated things for everyone. The girls that help me with the children had a little trouble getting here today, but were able to make it in the end. I am going to send Trini for them in the morning. The stop is supposed to end tomorrow. It's frustrating to see that the gang members can so easily control the country. I don't know why they let them get away with it; they don't even seem to be trying to do anything to stop it. Javier and Sandra said the gang member are often very young, between 13 and 16 years old. That is why it is so important to work with the children in this country. They need to be taken out of the culture of crime before it becomes too hard for them to get out of it.

We had 11 children today. Jocelyn's mom tried to bring her today, but Jocelyn wouldn't have it. Brayan didn't come today. He is usually my most enthusiastic child and makes us all laugh. I hope he comes tomorrow. Fabian is still a little rebel. He will look directly at you and do the opposite of what you just asked him to do, but he also has his good moments and he's very cute. I am learning a lot already about how to do this better in the future, so that is good. Please pray that I will be a blessing to these children and their families in these 2 months. 

Kember was a much better today, but every now and then he gets a little violent for no reason. He still doesn't actually engage with us very much. I hope that we can gain his trust and let him see that we love him soon. It's a hard case to handle because we constantly have to take him off to play something else. He just doesn't know how to play with the other children. The pastor and I are going to try to talk to his aunt tomorrow to see if she will let me take him to the doctor to check out his health. I am finding out more and more about little Kember. His mother has practically abandoned him and left him with his grandmother and aunt and they really don't pay much attention to him. There is a man that lives with his grandmother, but it is not his grandfather. They have a very complicated story, but they are very poor and don't really seem to know any better. Please pray for little Kember and that we can be of help to him. It breaks my heart the more I find out about him.

I've been trying to post some cute videos of the children, but for some reason it isn't working. :( I have the most hilarious videos of the children cracking themselves up over nothing and some very cute ones of them practicing English. :)

I was surprised by a gigantic tarantella tonight! I was sitting on the back porch and was startled by a big black creature running across the wall. I was going to take a picture, but I decided it was better to let Sandra try to kill it before it got away. :)

Oh the fun stories of El Salvador! Please pray for my children: Fabian, Allison, Brayan, Guillermo, Madelyn, Madelyn Jasmine, Iseyda, Nathaly, Cecia, Kember, Tania, Melvin, and Jocelyn. Pray that the gang activity in this country will disappear.

Good night everyone!

Day 2 With the Children

The schedule today was much better! The children left a lot happier and did a lot better during the day. They actually sang today! Glenda taught them a few fun songs and they remembered some of the ones we taught them yesterday. Some of them really got into the fun of it today. They got very excited when I asked them if they wanted to learn English. As soon as I said English, a bunch of them looked at me and said, "Hi, how are you?" It definitely made me laugh. Today they learned "What's your name?" and "My name is..." That was a little tricky. It took them a minute to figure out that they were actually naming themselves and not just throwing their name in for the sake of it. :)

We certainly had some tears today, but everyone did much better. The mothers were much better about dropping their children off and not lingering today. We did have one girl go home after the first hour. Her name is Jocelyn and she was very worried about the children crying. She is painfully shy and didn't want to do anything, and then her mother came to check on her and Jocelyn was very upset that her mother was going to leave her.

We had 12 children today after Jocelyn went home and 2 of them were new. They absolutely love playing ball, playing with the parachute, and playing play-doh!

Kember was much better today, but he still does everything the opposite as he is supposed to. I think he really just needs to be loved, so that's what I'm determined to do. I think he must have a health issue because he drinks constantly and always wets himself. He smells very strongly of urine even after he's changed. His family is very poor and probably can't afford to take him to the doctor. I am going to talk to the pastor and see if he can talk to the family and I can help cover the costs of the doctor bill. I don't know if we will be able to, but I think it's worth a shot. Please pray that we will be able to love him as he needs to be loved and that we will be able to help if something is wrong with him.

Fabian is one of my other troublemakers. He likes to go around taking toys from other children just for the sake of it. He is very stubborn and doesn't like to do what he's asked unless he feels like doing it. :) He is not a constant troublemaker like Kember and he does know how to make friends. :) He has an adorable little face and great big dimples! He made me laugh today because I couldn't get him to say anything during our English lesson, but when we practiced more later on, it just came out of his mouth before he knew what he was saying. He surprised even himself!

                                      Spaghetti for lunch! These 2 girls are both named Madelyn

First Day of Children!

I didn't get to post yesterday because so many things happened. Trini took Sandra and me to Gotera to the market. The market in El Salvador is much like a flea market in the US except bigger and a lot busier. Everyone is bumping into one another, pushing people and going over top of everyone. Meanwhile, different people walk up and down the streets in front of the stands yelling about poisons for rats and coakroaches, selling undewear (2 for a dollar on Sundays :), pills that help with back pain, etc. The scrawny, mangy dogs run back and forth being shooed on everywhere they go, trying to find a scrap of food. Oh, and don't forget about the cars driving up and down the main roads that run through the middle of the market. If you do, you will definitely be runned over! You have to watch where you put your money and don't go out with a purse, they may cut it off at the straps. :) You will find some of the most normal things and some of the most out-of-the-ordinary things there. Starting at one end, you have to buy until you can't hold anymore and then go back to where you actually found a parking spot and leave the things in the truck, and go back out again until you have everything you need.

I think it took Sandra and I nearly 2 and 1/2 hrs to finish buying food and tables and chairs for the children. I think we made the plastic wares man's day. He was very sweet and very thankful that we purchased from him.

Yesterday was also pupusa day. I took Sandra and Trini out for pupusas at Christina and Esperanza's pupuserias. I think they are the best in all of El Salvador. Trini didn't believe me that I could eat 6 pupusas - I showed him! ;) Pupusas are 40 cents a piece there in the country. They are easily $1.25 a piece in the states. It was the first time Sandra had been to the pupuseria. I doubt she gets out much. Her husband, Javier, makes $9 a day and he gets up at 4am to head to work. Sometimes he gets home early, a litle after noon, but other times he is out until well after 5pm. He gets paid the same regardless. He was telling me that they have to work like ants here, plant there corn to keep them through the winter and work as much as they can. It's an understatement to say that life is very different here.

I keep getting bananas as gifts. :) I'm discovering that there are many different kinds of bananas! Sandra's mom sent me some (guineos - sp?) and Omar sent me some (bananas) and I bought some (plantains) at the store. I do have to say that Omar's bananas are pretty good stuff!

Today was the first day with the children. Omar came running down from his house all the way back in the mountains this morning just to help me haul some materials to the institute. You won't find a sweeter person anywhere. There were more than a few tears from the children when their parents left them, but they adjusted pretty quickly. It was a little troublesome at first because the parents were all very curious and wanted to hang around and watch some and that didn't help the children any. We decided mid-day today that it would be better for the children to have them picked up a little earlier. We changed the schedule from 3pm to 1pm because the children get tired and need to nap. They won't nap all together in the same room and there really isn't a place for them to sleep there. We can accomplish all we need to with the children easily by 1pm. They have to go from one activity to the next very quickly as it is.

We had 11 children today, 4 out of the 15 didn't make it today. 2 of them called to let me know, and one of the children was whisked away by his father because he had a little fit about not wanting to come in. I think he would have been fine after his father left though.

The children absolutely loved the blocks and legos, and they were fascinated by the felt board that I used for the Bible story. I couldn't get them to sing much today, only a couple of them actually sang. Hopefully they will get more into it as they start adjusting to the program and to me. The parachute and play doh were a huge hit! The children were pretty quick about picking up English, but they obviously didn't have a very long attention span and they got a little shy as we got into it. However, several of them left saying, "Hi, how are you?" That was certainly a highlight of the day and very cute!

Kember was out little troublemaker, always have to have one, right? He doesn't have a father and his grandmother cares for him while his mother works. I don't think he is used to playing with other children at all. He did everything the opposite he should have and was not good about listening at all. From what I hear, he doesn't get very much loving attention at home. I think he will get better as he adjusts to us. I hope that we can be of some help to him.

Well, I could be here all night, but I need to sleep. The children certainly wore me out today! There is the rain drumming on the tin roof again, lots of creatures singing outside - it's definitely nighttime in Meanguera. : )

The connection is slow, so it's hard to upload pictures, but there are some of the children. :)

Guillermo, Fabian, Jasmín, Cecia, Tania, and Iseyda from left to right.

The hair in the front is Allison's!

The Adventure Continues!

I had a meeting with Pastor Roman and the mayor yesterday. We decided that the best place to work with the children would be the Bible institute that we built with Friends of El Salvador. It's actually pretty exciting to be able to use something that we've built in this way! I walked down to the institute this morning with Pastor Roman to meet Pastor Emilio who is the director of the institute. He certainly has his opinions about everything, but he was happy to let me use the institute and told me to have the children decorate the walls how they want. We'll have fun with that on Monday when we get started! This was the first time I've seen the  institute completely finished and it's very nice! It also has a beautiful view, pictures to follow.

I met with the parents of the children today. We have reached our limit with 15 children signed up! The parents were very sweet, but they had a lot of questions. This is a little bit of a new concept for them, a ginga coming in to set up  Bible school with the children for 2 months. : ) Please pray that there are no accidents and that no one gets hurt while they are under my care.

I am going into Gotera (closest town) with Trini and Sandra first thing tomorrow to purchase some supplies. We need some tables and chairs for the children and we will probably purchase some of the food for the week while we are there. Pastor Roman is going to clean out the classroom in the institute to get it ready for us.

I am starting to get a little nervous and am feeling underqualified. I'm not sure what I think I'm doing here! Who says I can do this anyway? I know that God put me here for a reason though and I am looking forward to what He will do here. I have a new favorite Bible passage right now: "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. " 2 Cor. 12: 9-10 I know that whatever comes out of this will be God's doing because I certainly don't know what I'm doing! Pray for wisdom for me and that the children and their families will be blessed by this program.

This is some of the view from the institute. The picture doesn't come close to doing it justice. It's just absolutely beautiful!

New Adventures!

The connection is a little slow here and it is getting late, so I am about to go to bed. It has been a full 2 days here, but I've been pretty relaxed since no one is ever in a rush here. :) Javier and Sandra are friends who are staying with me. Sandra helped me clean the kitchen thoroughly on Thursday. No one has been in the house for quite a while and the bugs and spiders decided to move in and make their homes in the dishes and cabinets. I was surprised that we didn't find any live scorpions while we were cleaning, but I guess that's a good thing too! The ants tried to take over the house, but I think Sandra and I were successful at stopping them. The ants here sting. I have red welts all over my feet right now! While cleaning, I tried to explain to Sandra what a vacuum cleaner is. She seemed amazed at the concept, but I guess when you have dirt floors, what do you need a vacuum for?

I went to prayer meeting at Omar's house today. His house is way in the mountains; it's absolutely beautiful! I love the walk to his house, but I had to have Sandra walk with me so I wouldn't get lost! We stopped at her house on the way up and I met her mother and on the way back I met her father. He is going to be 90 years old on the 13th of this month! He was sitting in his chair on his dirt floor in his dirt half dirt/half brick house, whittling away at a piece of wood, very sweet man.

Sandra showed me how to make rice and beans salvadoran style and today her mother killed a pig, so she brought me over some pork. :) Sandra will be cooking for the children when we get started on Monday. I had a couple of suprised Salvadorans in my house on Thursday morning. They were shocked that I could make tortillas. Sandra has been very sweet though and she will bring me some from her house after she makes them in the morning. She makes them on the wood stove and they taste better that way. :)

I discovered today that you have to rinse the bugs out of the rice before you cook it. :) I was a little suprised to see little red bugs crawling around in the rice when I opened the bag! Protein, right? ;)

I don't have any good pictures right now. I'll post some later. For now, I'm going to go sleep to sound of the rain on the tin roof. :)

Sunday School in the Mountains in Meanguera