Beach Trip

The King Family took us to the beach for a few days. After being in such a lovely country for five months it was wonderful to visit the imfamous Placencia. The weather was terrific! We pretty much had the small hotel to ourselves.. we rented three cabanas which were perfect for housing all sixteen of us. The pool was a hit with the children. They spent many many hours in it. It was pretty hot the day we went down to the beach in Placencia and a few of us got sunburned! :O It was worth it though as it was the first time I had ever seen such blue water. The children and Grady had already experienced such lovliness while we were in Playa in Mexico but I was unable to go to the beach that time. We all marveled at the beauty and majesty of the Lord's creation there. Ryan made friends with a local boy from the fishing village where we were staying. He spent the whole three days hanging out with us. We had many opportunities to speak with him about the Lord. He was baffled by the fact that Ryan didn't know who Michael Jackson was and couldn't figure out why Ryan wasn't a 'party guy' like he was. Ryan had many great opportunities to explain what we believe and about our Jesus. He knew practically nothing about the Lord Jesus. Jeremy and Stephanie had a thin children's Bible Story book that we left with him which explained in the back of the book what Jesus did on the cross and how to develop a relationship with the Lord. Although he admitted he is not a very good reader, we pray that he is interested enough to read it in it's entirety, be convicted and give his heart to the Lord Jesus! We plan on keeping in close touch with him.


One of the highlights of the trip! While fishing, Ryan pulled in this unlikely catch! A pelican! He was very patient with the children while they pet him and held him a while until being released again.

Who me?

kayaking on the sea

Jonathan picking a coconut

Jeremy ordered some red snapper, barracuda and shark. All were caught that morning and brought to us before we left.

Yum, those red snapper were very delicious!

Some of the children from the fishing village we stayed in

Jervin's dog, wolf

Ryan with Jervin

The whole crew~

We grab some ice cream from the Country Barn which is located along the Hummingbird Highway and is run by a very nice Mennonite family. Time to head home!

Making tortillas, a birthday party and more ruins!

The Succotz sisters had made plans with Stephanie and I to come over to our house and teach us how to make tortillas. When the day came, we were surprised to see not only the sisters but rather 13 of the family members! We were thinking that we would have a short lesson on how to make tortillas. They thought they would take advantage of the time together; making a a whole day of it; showing us how to make stew chicken as well as both corn and flour tortillas! An example of our American mindset.

We had planned:
1)9 a.m Succotz ladies come over to teach us how to make tortillas
2)1:00 The ladies leave and we take the Kings to the Mayan ruins
3)3:00 Head home from the ruins and make dinner

Meanwhile the Succotz sisters had planned:
1) Get to Spanish Lookout sometime Thursday
2) Spend the whole day together enjoying the fellowship and showing the American ladies how to make an authentic meal.. until dinner.. or later...

We eventually met in the middle by offering them a ride home at 2:30 sharp in order to spend lots of time together but also making it to the Mayan ruins before closing. That turned out nicely as some of the ladies and children actually ended up coming with us to the ruins. Maria had Ashley take a photo of baby Hosea on the throne there at the ruins as her ancestors had lived there centuries earlier.

Brianna

Playing Around



Nellie shows us how to make the flour tortillas. Stephanie and I kept trying to get her to give us specifics.. how many cups of flour etc but she just kept saying 'until the dough looks right' :)


Instead of kneading the dough, she used a sort of push-pull sort of motion




Letting the dough balls rest

Meanwhile, Roberta teaches us how to form and cook corn tortillas

And Albalose showed the ladies how to cook stew chicken! Yum

Stephanie had made some yummy banana bread for lunch. When we heard that Rudy's birthday was just around the corner, Ashley and Stephanie decided we had better put a cream cheese frosting on it to create an impromptu birthday cake! (you know.. necessity being the mother of all invention) however, we were out of powdered sugar for the frosting. In this photo, the ladies are crowded around the pantry door, watching in amazement as Ashley makes powdered sugar in the vita-mix using granulated sugar and corn starch. They were fascinated by the process..

Voila! A banana bread with cream cheese frosting birthday cake! It was delicious by the way

Mandy wasn't feeling all-too-well this day but did come out a few times to check out all of the yummy smelling food

After a long fun day of tortilla making and a birthday party, we finished out the day taking the Kings and some of our new friends to some local ruins

Brother Jeremy and Jonathon

Grant with the birthday boy

This little guy perched on the same site which once housed his ancestors. May he grow to seek and serve the one true God.

The King Family

Headed back down and headed home...