Day 45-What on earth is in the ceiling!?!?

Well, we made it to day 45, the symbolic equator of our time here at the Equator. Ann Marie Cruz said that the first couple weeks would go by really slowly and after that time would fly. She nailed it. That is exactly what is happening.

Sundays never feel like Sunday. Nor do they feel like any other day of the week. That actually happens a lot down here. The days are identified by which town we will be preaching in or if we have a meeting. When you are so used to a certain schedule for so long it is really hard to make the adjustment. You didn’t think I was serious, did you? The schedule is awesome! We had a really enjoyable time in the ministry today. Marisol was not there for her study because she had to travel to another town for a couple of days for a Teacher’s Conference. We visited her aunt, Sandra, who attends meetings regularly with her 2 children, Johan and Maria. It’s so cool running into a Johan. I told him that was my middle name and he looked at me as if to wonder “how did you get a Spanish middle name?” What most of you don’t realize is that my parents were going to name me Johan Erik but my cousin Johan was born a few months before me. Another Sillen family fact: Kurt’s middle name is Eric, Paul’s middle name is Eric (both with a “C”). Wrap your brain around that one. Anyway, back to the ministry. We studied with a young girl named Evelyn this morning. She is on page 39 of the “Bible Teach” book. While we were studying with her a drunk guy came up and mumbled something that we couldn’t understand. Perhaps he was saying “it’s 12 o’clock somewhere” ‘cuz it was only 9:00 a.m. and he was already pickled. Speaking of pickles…

We went to the market in Zamora today to get produce. We spent $19.25 and got:

·         Bunch of Radishes

·         Bunch of Cilantro

·         ½ lb Garlic

·         4 lbs Sweet Potatoes

·         6 lbs Potatos

·         3 lbs Tomatos

·         2 Large Leaks

·         1 lb Mellocos

·         4 lbs Beets

·         5 lbs Carrots

·         2 Papayas

·         3 Mangos

·         3 Avacados

·         4 Zapotes (Tastes like a cross between pumpkin and melon with texture of a stringy mango.  Leah and Lynnie are rubbing off on me-too many details!)

·         20 Oranges

·         12 Apples

·         25 Limes

·         1 Head Red Cabbage (Mom used to make the most delicious red cabbage with bacon and onions. That’s what I had in mind when I bought it)

·         1 lb Green Beans

·         1 lb Strawberries

.....we got totally ripped off!

Our neighbor-eats like a cow!

On the way home we went up to a Hosteria nearby. It is situated pretty high above the valley and has really nice views and an infinity pool. I hope you aren’t getting sick of seeing the mountains. It was really hot today so we sat outside and had a cold “Club verde” and did some reading and caught some rays-that’s how really old guys say “sat out in the sun”. We ended up walking into town to get coffee and Leah managed to spot a place that sells fresh bread and pastry right around the corner from the house. There was no sign and you had to squint to see anything but a normal house. But, she is Jim Fedele’s daughter and if anyone has trained his children to be able to find good food wherever it might be hidden, it’s Jim. We bought 6 Pan dulce and 6 Pan de manjar for a whopping grand total of $1.80. Who knew that 7 people could go into a carb coma for under $2.00. When we got home we had fresh Tamales that get delivered to our house every Sunday. We ordered 21. I had mine with 2 fried eggs and covered with fresh “aji” (Ecuadorean hot sauce).  We had some bread and Shawn made a bread pudding for tomorrow.

As I am writing this blog, Leah is next to me reading a book that I started yesterday. I woke up this morning at 6:00 to read some more, not because I couldn’t wait to pick up the book but because the tenant upstairs was making so much racket. What’s that you say-you thought this was a single level home? It is. Without exaggerating-there is an animal living in the attack that has to weigh-I am not kidding-30 lbs. It could be bigger. We think he is living off bats because there really aren’t many bats around anymore. It seems he climbs the wall outside-I say that because we just heard him climb the wall outside-and then he went nuts up there! The attics here are wide open to let the house breathe. Nobody has any idea what it is (“rodents of unusual size”) but we are quite sure he is on the brute squad…or maybe “he is the brute squad”. We will look into this further and update you in the future. Well, we have enjoyed sharing our life with you all over the past 45 days and hope you have enjoyed it as well. I hope you enjpy the pix of the bread pudding. We'll send you pix of the empty dish tomorrow!     XXXOOO