My Tortilla maker, a video

Tortilla Tutorial from Rhonda Arias on Vimeo.

Vanessa at the pool table

I don't know what this world is coming to! So little, and already playing pool.

Chilean Food, Porotos con Riendas

Here is a typical dish, eaten at least once a week. Porotos con Riendas, which translates to Beans with Reins. It beans, with pumpkin-like squash, a sausage-onion-bell pepper saute, and spaghetti, thus the "reins". I love these beans! Also, I add a bit of tomato sauce as requested by DH.

Sometimes these are made with no meat at all, and they are still good! I make mine with ground beef instead of sausage.

Chilean Food, Empanadas

These are another very typical dish, but not one eaten every week like the cazuela or carbonada.
Above are the fried ones. Yum! They are both filled with groud beef, onion, one small slice of boiled egg, one olive (with the pit) and maybe a raisin or two (I leave these out)

They also make baked ones with the same filling. Most latin cultures have their empanadas. Even within Chile, there is a variety to the empanadas. They also make them with shellfish. (gross) My sister-in-law makes them with chicken. Very good.

They also make appetizer-sized ones with cheese or the beef mixture. Here in the south, they make mostly the little ones and they add chile, which is not common in the north.

All Chileans love empanadas. What's not to love?

Chilean Food, Carbonada

This, to me, is the boring part of Chilean food. Here, you see carbonada. Does is look familiar? It should. It is basically the same as cazuela, just all chopped up.
This is a tasty vegetable beef soup.

Chilean Food, Marraqueta

The basis of the chilean diet is not tortillas, as many assume, but bread. The one shown above the the marraqueta. This is the most delicious of them all, IMHO. They are fairly large, each half about the size of a bagle, but lighter. Don't buy them while they are still hot because you end up eating the whole bag!

The most common bread is the one above, the hallulla, pronounced eye-you-yah.

These are good, but I am now sick to death of them! Chileans, however, never tire of them. They are life and breath to them! Give me a marraqueta any day.

Chilean Food, Cazuela de Vacuno

This is, by far, the most typical Chilean dish. Cazuela de Vacuno. Basically its beef and vegetable soup. But, as you can see, all the veggies are in big pieces rather than all chopped up. It has beef, potato, squash, corn, green beans and rice. Often it is garnished with fresh, chopped cilantro.

The interesting thing about this soup is how it is eaten. Americans want to eat a little bit of everything. This is not possible with cazuela. You must, must, must eat the broth first. If you don't, you will splash broth all over everything as you try to eat potato or meat first. Please don't ask me how I figured this out!

Chilean families will eat this at least once a week. It can be eaten as an appetizer or a main course, depending on how much meat you have to put in it. You can also make it with chicken.

It is very tasty and healthy.

A fabulous birthday gift

Most Americans do not realize that South America is not Mexico. They assume that you can get delicious Mexican food all over the place. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. So, we must make all our Mexican, or Tex Mex, from scratch. Being Californian, we cannot live without our Mexican food!

I celebrated my 37th birthday last week. My Mom gave me this wonderful tortilla press/cooker.

It presses and cooks at the same time. And the best part is, its 220 v, so I don't have to use a huge transformer like when I use my waffle maker!

I've already made tortilllas, and they turned out great! Happy Birthday to Me!

Putting it all together

I truly believe that the chapter and verse separations in the Bible are very helpful. Only, sometimes we separate things that were meant to go together.
We were studying John 14 recently and it just dawned on me that the famous words "Let not your heart be troubled..." does not stand alone, but as part of the conversation between Jesus and his disciples at the last supper. Peter has just been told that he will deny Christ three times. Even so, Jesus tells him not to let his heart be troubled.
Now, some will take this as an excuse to be mediocre and sinful, after all, God is going to love us anyway. But I think that even though Jesus knows just how bad we can be, I am encouraged not to be as bad as I can be.
Just a thought.

From Inspiration to Application

The Vinegar Solution

My dishwasher is OK. They don't sell the really good ones here, so mine is top of the line.....for Chile. It doesn't rinse very well, so I always must use the special rinse liquid, which is expensive.

I had read on several blogs that you can substitute vinegar for the pricey liquid, but I am often skeptical of amazing claims. But, I figured, what could be lost if I tried it? Nothing! So I squirted the vinegar in. You may not believe this, but it works better than the pricey stuff!

Not very "wow!", but the long-term savings means that I can actually use my dishwasher more often. Now I can hear a hearty "Amen!" from chief dishwasher, Eileen.

Do Hard Things

This past week, I noticed a book brought by one of the team. Do Hard Things. I had read about this book, but never had access to it. I quickly borrowed it and read it before they left. What a treasure!
I talks about the extremely low expectations everyone has for teenagers these days, and how that its crippling us. It challenges the reader to do hard things that make us strong and helps us to excel for the glory of God.
I know that I am way past being a teenager, but this was an exciting challenge to me! If you can, read it! Share it with your child.

Our Guests

We had a team of 13 come down from California. They came to work on the church building, the camp, and do a VBS, couple's event, ladies meeting and leadership training. In 7 days. We all worked from sun-up to way past nightfall. The VBS went great, we averaged 130 for the three days. We had 6 children saved. This team brough all sorts of stuff to set up a a carnival with games and activities. It was amazing!

They had wanted to do some drama, but due to the obvious language barrier, it was decided that they would do mime skits. Excellent! Mimes go over great here.

We also had a great couple's meeting. The team included a chef. She made stuffed steak and stuffed tomatoes, rice pilaf, and sinfully delicious tarts. We had several visitors for this event, and one lady was saved.

On the last day, we had a big ladies' meeting. We brough over the ladies from Mafil and along with the ladies on the team, we had 46. Wonderful! One of the ladies form the US shared her testimony. She had been through so much during her life. Most of our ladies was able to relate to the story of abuse and sin that had made this woman's life one of great misery. They were also able to relate to the great Savior that has freed her from sin, guilt and shame, and given her the ability to forgive. Our ladies were just blown away.

God moved greatly in our midst and I thank Him for that.

I'm back again!

And so much to share! But I'd like to start with a small tribute to my husband, the Preacher. A week before all our guests arrived, my dryer died. I was alarmed because getting my washer or drier fixed can take over a month. First you have to take the appliance into the city an hour away, let it sit at the repair shop until they get good and ready to take a look at it. Then order the parts from the US. (The don't sell full sized dryers here) Then, as time allows, they fix it. ARRGGHHHH!!!
Enter Preacher Knight in Shining Armour. He opens the dryer, noting that its just a broken belt, removes said belt. He knowingly scavenges repair shops in Temuco and finds a belt that had been salvaged from someone else's dead drier. He then takes an entire morning and FIXES THE DRYER! My Hero!

Now I can prepare for all my guests. Praise the Lord!

A break

We will be receiving a group of 14 from California next week, for 8 days. I will be hosting the pastor, his son, and an old family friend. In fact, this man's daughter was my first "best friend" when I was about 3. Mom will have the 6 ladies and the other 5 men will sleep at the Church.

We are going to be insanely busy, so I thought I'd just log off for a while. I will post pictures of all the special activities that we will be having. Please pray that souls will be saved this week!

We still have so much to do before they come! Please pray that I will not lose my: sanity, temper, children, or head!

Missionary Joys....Dealing with paperwork

I told you that we had to go to the US embassy. Thats in Santiago, 500 miles from here. We got Ronnie and Eileen's passports renewed easily. Then we had to file a consular report of birth abroad. Sounds easy,right? Wrong! My children aren't automatically US citizens unless I can prove I resided in the US for 5 years, 2 of which were after the age of 14. That was 20 years ago. Can you remember events from 20 years ago? I gave them all the evidence I could come up with at the time and it wasn't enough. By the way, passports stamps are not considered valid as evidence. Sounds crazy? YES! So, since we've been home, I have been going through junk I would have tossed years ago. I've found a few pay stubbs from 1994. Church bulletins with our names in them. A few medical tests from when I had a seizure in 2001.
I am uncertain as to what more to do. Everytime I talk to the guy in charge, he says, "Unfortunately..........." I feel like bopping him in the nose.

Please pray that all will go well. I'll have to make a quick trip to Santiago in a few weeks.

In praise of yo-yo dieting and Starting Over

I know that the "experts" say that yo-yo dieting is bad for you. But I ask, where would I be now if I didnt' diet occasionaly? I would weigh 300 pounds! So much for the "experts"

So, after not losing the baby and furlough fat, I had decided to start Weigh Down again. I have the home video series, and it helped me lose 50 pounds several years ago. I always feel good doing weigh down, and its always a spiritual time for me. The only awful thing about it is that I am reluctant to share it with anybody in view of the cultish turn Gwen Shamblin has taken. I looked her up on the internet after years of not doing so, and I was appalled at what I saw. She looks anorexic, and she took "big hair" to new and scary heights. But what is worse is her anti-trinitarian views. To me Jesus Christ is everything, and as it says in Colossians, "In Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily" Jesus is the physical incarnation of the living God, and to call Him anything less is blasphemous.

That reminds me of something Bro. Jim Preston says. He told us that if Satan cannot get you to deny a truth, he'll get you to go overboard on another. Its really dangerous to take one doctrine so far that it contradicts other biblical doctrines. Or, some people go over the edge on one issue, and it clouds the other issues that they proclaim. For example, Kent Hovind's views on taxes caused him to lose his ability to speak freely about Creation. I like the Pearls, but I feel that his somewhat-odd statements about salvation and the gap theory take away from their sound, practical advice about child training. Please, Lord, give me balance!


Anyway, Eileen and I will be weighing down regardless of skinny Gwen and her "Church"
After all, another sound piece of advice is "eat the meat, spit out the bones"!

Our experiment, a recap

We experimented with Extreme Frugality for 6 days. We called it our Great Depression Week. We timed our showers and baked our own bread in the cookstove oven. I did all my cooking on the cookstove. We seriously monitored lights. We unplugged everything. We watched no TV. We seriously limited computer time. I dried my clothes on the line, something that I really don't like to do because I don't like to iron and I don't like the feel of line dried clothes. Neil went into the city twice on the bus.

Our motives were these:
Saving money
Appreciating what we have
Recognizing just where the money was going


What I learned.
cooking on a wood cookstove is a lot of work. Maintaining the fire is of chief concern.
Not using my drier is a lot of work.
Making your own bread is a lot of work.
Eileen and I thought that we would have a lot of time to do Spring cleaning, but it took all day just to get the regular housework done. We were exhausted!

Every night became Family Night. We read together, we played Rook together. We went to bed early!

We will continue to do this experiment one week out of every month, fine tuning the details as we live them out.

Do I want to live that way the rest of my life? No. Could I if I had to? Yes. I am thankful for all my blessings? You Betcha!

Praise the Lord!

Carlita survived the first of two surgeries! We were on pins and needles there for a while, but she is fine for now. They still have a long way to go, but this is wonderful. Thanks for your prayers.

Urgent Prayer request

Our trip to Santiago was not only to get the kid's passports, but to accompany Carlos and Josselin and their baby Carlita at the children's hospital there. Carlita's heart has only one chamber and she was taken to Santiago for surgery. We waited with them as long as we could, but we had to come home. They waited, as the surgeries are not scheduled. Today, Carlos called and said that they are taking Carlita in today. But before the operation, the Drs are going to have a serious talk with the parents, as this operation has a greater chance of failing than succeeding. If she doesn't have the operation, she'll die anyway.

Please pray for Carlita, who is 4 months old. Please pray for Carlos and Josselin, and their son, Michael.


Thanks!

a Break

We are headed to Santiago to get the kid's passports.
I have been so busy today, I didn't get to post like I wanted.
Please pray that we will be able to get the paperwork done!

Wonderful blessings to you all!