The earth is the Lord's.....

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof. 
1 Corinthians 10:25-26

My Grandpa and I were just talking about this before I left... I figured these verses would come in handy while I was here!

After we fed the baby's today we decided to head to our very first open air fruit and veggie market.. It was huge!! 

some crazy looking fruit!

Some insanely huge grapes!

Everything looked so amazing!

I love how they just like chop off a branch of banana's!

O yes, and did I forget to mention that there is meat?? live meat? We seen someone carrying a freshly killed chicken around.....but I couldn't get a picture!

Something smells a little fishy.....

Step right up and buy a side of beef! The smell was horrendous! Probably a good thing we went through the meat sections last, because we were quite ready to head for home after that!

The Equator...

In the afternoon we went to the center of the earth! It was so beautiful  We had an amazing tour guide and they have an amazing museum set up! It was very informative, and fun!

This was an actual hut that the Ingenus people would live in!

This was a tomb sort of thing.....

The sundial & calendar on the equator..we learned how everything worked! It was really amazing!

Here is the larger sundial

Yah us!! :)

Ya, she was like a pro at this! It wasn't that easy!

I worked at it for awhile and finally got it to stay for maybe 5 seconds!

It was so hard to walk the line, with the pressure from the two hemispheres! It was such a strange feeling, the pressure was pushing and pulling you!

Testing our great strength...

But when standing in the middle, our great strength was gone!

The guinea pigs..

A weaver....pretty amazing actually they weave the picture upside down, from memory!

Random instruments sticking out of the bathroom wall...

The amphitheater 

Jehovah my Rock

a cloudy day..

The monument for the equator

Natasha!!!

I've got it girls!!

Ok, time to chow! Eating Guinea pig!!

It was amazing! I took one bite and said, this is delicious!! They all looked at me like, ya right! But it was amazing really! I would definitely eat it again, no problem!

a couple on the rotisserie.... 

 This was a beautiful park!

With a beautiful view!

For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

The Basilisca

The marvel and wonder of God's creation is so intriguing, He has made everything perfectly and in order! He does all things well!

All the city lights...

It was a long but very fun day! Then I got to come home and talk to my family! :)

Picture day for the Tias!!

So today I was given the assignment of taking all the tias pictures! I thought it would be quite simple, but no one wanted their picture taken! They made me come back later, they hid, they put it off...it was crazy! I had never seen anything like it! But after much encouragement and arguing, Natasha convinced them all to let me take their pictures....

All of these ladies are on my list for most amazing women I know!

They work extremely hard, they laugh, they love, they are the mother figures to countless children, they pray for them, cry for them, laugh with them......

These are For His Children tias.........

They are beautiful, remarkable, and amazing! Please join with me in praying for the women who are caring and loving God's precious children.

We have been able to start getting to know these ladies! I ask the questions and Natasha translates! When she gets to embarrassed she tells me how to ask the question..... I am naturally more outgoing than she is, but the tias think I am the quiet one, because Natasha does the talking, and I do the listening! So I am still working on my Spanish, learning a few phrases and question now! The tias ask me how to say some things in English, which makes me feel better seeing them struggle to speak my language! It's a slow process but its coming! I have become very observant!

Cooking adventures from yesterday.....

So we wanted to have a wonderful meal for Kaleigh! So we deicded to make Spanish rice and Brownies....well really being a good cook doesn't mean you don't make mistakes, it just means that no one can tell when the food is on the table! Well we learned just how true those words were......not that we wanted to!

So we started out with high hopes! but it only went downhill from there.....

Honestly I had never made spanish rice before and I messed up! We boiled the rice then tried to fry it in chicken broth but soon realized that would not work! So we made a quick decision to put a gallon of rice in the bottom of the fridge where no one would find it then start over! This time we fried the uncooked rice, then added the chicken broth, and salsa, and simmered to perfection! Put in crock pot and waiting for the guests........ :) We were quite happy! No one ever found out...unless they read this blog post!

In the mean time we were working on our prize winning brownies......haha

Not only were we working with the metric system and high altitude but the ingredients just are not the same as we are use to! I guess all the variables were just to much! It started out looking great!

Mixing.....

Measuring.....

Pouring...

Well the brownies bubbled over the pan insanely! Half the batter was on the bottom of the oven! so its burning away...we have all the doors open, ok we are suppose to have dinner in here tonight!! Then the lady from the office come's over to check because they thought they smelled something burning, O really? don't worry, we are ok! So we have another quick decision to make....brownies are still baking, do we plan something else? I have no idea how these things are going to turn out! So Natasha goes and buys ice cream....just in case our brownies turn out! and the items to make tres leches cake..... again! So while she is gone, I finish the brownies, which tasted great! :) (surprisingly! But were in no shape to serve) scrape the bottom of the oven and continue to spray the house with air freshener.....

So Natasha arrives back home with Kaleigh who gets to eat a brownie...because she won't get any tonight! and we start the tres leches cake.....which turned out amazing!

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

So I promised Natasha, cooking usually doesn't turn out this way! I can't remember the last time it turned out so bad! But looking on the positive side we have a gallon of chicken broth rice and 2 liters of ice cream to eat!

It was quite funny to receive all the complements about the food......it felt quite undeserved!

Pretty sure I will have to do a lot of convincing before Natasha will cook with me again! Not that we will need to for awhile! It was quite a humbling experience...

The first Sunday I was here these words just jumped out at me as we were singing...

When there is pain in the offering.....Blessed be Your Name

How often do we think that our petty offerings are enough...... but what do they mean to God? What is our motive? He wants a people that serve, that surrender, that praise Him! Do we praise Him, even when we are experiencing the pain of service? Do we lift up His name even when it isn't easy? Are we willing to suffer just for the opportunity to serve Him? Instead of asking ourselves God isn't expecting me to do that....why don't we ask God, what do you expect from me? How much am I willing to give, to be who God wants me to be? How much am I willing to give up, to live the life God intends for me? O God, though the road is hard, the pathway rough, exhausting  lonely, heartbreaking, Blessed be Your Name!