GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL MY COMPANY COMES!!!!!

(Mom, Aunt Beth Gordon, Katia Gordon, Laura Hoots)

You know your bedroom is hot

when you have to eat your chocolate bar with a spoon.

This one's for you, Mr. Blueberry!

Clarification:

The post is for you.

The juice is for me.

:-)

Meat packing plant

Ground beef (15 kg) and ground pork (4 kg) for preps / Special Meeting cooking

Time for a treat

While shopping for preps

Guayaquil

With this on the wall right next to our bedroom, I really have no excuse for not learning my way around the city!  Perhaps I just need a couple of free hours to study it.  :-) 

Alternative dryer

What do you do when you open your "medicine bag" and find that  your Halls cough drops have melted all over everything?  Wash it out in the sink and hang it up to dry.

That's called motivation

I think I made it for about six minutes the other day. 

 I didn't bother weighing myself afterward.  :-)

This is what getting ready to go on Special Meeting rounds looks like.

Wish me luck!

Rule of life

"In order to be bathed with glory, you must first bathe yourself in sweat." 

I'm headed for major glory! 

Made by Marsha

Batido de chocolate

It was delicious!

Special Meeting rounds

Special Meeting time is here again!  Preps begin on Monday at El Cristal.  This will be my first time to prep there, so it could prove to be a bit of an adventure!  I hope everyone survives.  :-)  

I'll post the Special Meeting schedule below so you can follow along from where you are, if you're so inclined.  I'll mark the ones where I will be in purple.  

Montalvo - 29 de mayo

Ipiales, Colombia - 4, 5 de junio

Las Mercedes - 10, 11, 12 de junio

El Cristal - 17, 18, 19 de junio

Quevedo - 26 de junio

Quito - 24, 25, 26 de junio

Aguas Negras - 29 de junio

Lago Agrio - 2, 3 de julio

Ambato - 2, 3 de julio

Cuenca - 3 de julio

Quite the crew

We took this picture last night after supper to send to one of the sisters on our staff who is on her home visit in Canada at present.  So, I might as well take the opportunity to use it for my blog as well.  These folks are part of our family here in Guayaquil.  

From left to right: Ronny, Luísa, Marsha, Ruth, Jorge, Moisés, María

Feeling fruity

It's zapote! 

And Ruth is enjoying hers very much!

Echeandía

Looking out the window of our bedroom at Olmedo and Norma's on Monday morning

I was trying to get the mountain top peeking out above the clouds just to the right of the church bell tower, but it's a little hard to see.

Sunday afternoon in Camarón

Looking left down the street as we wait to catch the ranchera after Sunday afternoon fellowship meeting at Gilberto & Marlene's in Camarón

Looking right

Gilberto & Marlene's house

The woodworking shop is downstairs (on the left side where the door is open).  They live upstairs.

Marsha & Marlene

I thought this little boy was cute carrying his burden on his back.

Kléber & Dora's

If not for all the flowers surrounding this house, I would have a hard time knowing when to get out of the taxi.  I didn't get any really good pictures but managed to snap a few while we were waiting for transportation on Sunday morning.

A balanced diet

The best of both "worlds"

Coloring fiends

This past Wednesday morning, D helped me satisfy the coloring cravings of my inner child.  We had a great time!

It's nice for shade

but it makes using the sidewalk a little difficult

Spoiled kitty

I missed the sprawled out nap photo op but managed to snap a picture before she got off completely.

Mom

Looks like I've always thought she was the best!  

Happy Mother's Day

YYYNY

Easily entertained

I wish I had kept track of how long Little J and I played with these colored "coins" yesterday morning.  We traced them on paper, sorted them by color, filled the cup with them and dumped them out again.  It was all great fun!  So much fun, in fact, that we just kept doing these things over and over and over again!  Who needs fancy toys and electronics when little plastic circles will do the trick?!

Wait, what???

So, our latest version of the Spanish hymnbook got a bit out of order in the "putting-together" process.  Thankfully, we won't have to use these very long.  :-)  

Sleep tight!

😟😳😣😝😳😒😫😦😕😯😖

When the massive cockroach that you just discovered under your mattress escapes, and you don't know where it went, and you just hope it's not under the mosquito net with you.

Sweet dreams!

Gourmet supper

Prepared by Luísa

Yum!  Yum!  Yum!

Old friends

Last Tuesday we had a little meeting don Martín and Sra. Barbarita in the home of their son, Carlos.  They aren't at all well and can't get to regular meetings anymore, so we try to visit them every other week.  This time Sra. Olivia, along with her daughter and son-in-law accompanied us to the meeting. Sra. O has been friends with don M and Sra. B for years and years, so they enjoyed talking a little about old times after the meeting.  It was sweet to see them enjoying their time together. 

Don Martín can't see or hear anymore, so he misses out on a lot.  He does know who we are, however, and is always delighted when we come.  He perks up when we sing his favorite hymn, "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken," at high volume.

Sra. Barbarita, Sra. Olivia, don Martín

Inside looking out

I don't recommend burgling this house!

If you play this over and over and over and over and over and over and over at high volume, you'll hear how we spent a relaxing night and day and night last week.  

Encebollado

I tried encebollado, a typical coastal Ecuadorian dish, for the first time a week ago Saturday.  Encebollado is a fish soup with onion, yucca and cilantro.  It's not bad, but I wouldn't need to order it off a menu again.  

You can add lemon if you desire, and our meal came with chiles as well.

Jaime shows off his jumbo bowl of soup.  (I ordered a junior portion, and did just fine!)

Mr. Sticker

Yes, he's well decorated.

And pretty proud of it.