Tamale Pie

As we make a quick trip to Alabama to renew Johnny's driver's license, here is a recipe that has been popular this summer!

Tamale Pie

Base:

4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and diced or shredded

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

1 clove garlic minced

1 large can stewed tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 cup strong chicken broth (I use a boullion cube in warm water)

1/2 - 1 tsp chili powder (How picante do you want it?)

1 tsp dried oregano

1 can whole kernel corn (with peppers, if you can get it), drained

Cornmeal topping:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal, plain without flour

1 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs

3 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 Tbsp baking powder, omit if using self-rising flour

Grease bottom and sides of a 9X13 pan. In large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until everyone comes to the kitchen to see what's for supper...or until the onion is softened. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, chicken, chili powder, oregano, corn and mix well. About this time, taste it to see if you need salt or more picante (chili powder)! Taste it again, just to be sure! Put into 9X13 pan.

In another bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, eggs, sugar, butter and baking powder. Stir together well. If you live in the South, Jiffy Corn Muffin mix is a good substitute...if not, well, get to mixing! You will need to "dot" the top of the chicken mixture with the cornmeal mixture, so if it needs a little more liquid, add water a little at a time until it is a little thicker than pourable. "Dot" the top of the casserole and put in a preheated 350 oven. Because I make this in quantity, you may have a full casserole. If so, place the casserole on a cookie sheet before putting in the oven. When done, the cornbread topping should be browned and the chicken mixture hot.

Since this recipe was given to me as: "Oh, about a cup of this and a pinch of that...", play with it. Since I'm usually making 3 to 4 pans at a time, I just add until it looks right. I usually have too much chicken mixture, so I have found it freezes well and can be thawed at a later date and cooked with just the addition of the topping! Try it and let me know if I am really off on my measurements!

Jordan Dudley

Meet Jordan Dudley from Visalia, California.

Although Jordan is here to work with the water filtration systems his church (First Presbyterian of Visalia, California) has installed with us over the last 3 years, 6 in total, he has been also joining us as we work with workteams this summer.

Thankfully, Jordan can do a little of everything...and has these past 4 weeks. In the first three days he was here, he earned his keep by fixing our water system at the Camp and fixing some problems Nahuala was having with their system! He joins the teams in construction when they are here and works on water systems when we are traveling with the teams.

He works well with all the different teams, especially the ones with young ladies!

His mother raised a right nice young man! When he joins us and the teams for meals (he never misses one), he won't eat until I have served myself, and even washed dishes one morning to keep me from having to do them! (Yes, mom, he knows how to do dishes!) He also jealously watches the teams members as they serve themselves firsts and seconds because he knows he will receive the leftovers! After about 7 trips here over the years to work with us, he knows most of my menus, has his favorites and shows up early for those meals!

As our third team in a row left this morning, he will be helping us prepare for his home church to arrive in three weeks and put in a water system across the lake. In the meantime, he will also be helping another missionary with a team putting in a system in Patzun! Busy, busy, busy!

We are enjoying working with Jordan and Johnny loves having a man around to be "manly" with. They talk water systems and such...I am enjoying having a "son" around!

Summer 2010

Early June saw the arrival of Spring Creek Church from Pewaukee, Wisconsin. It was a large group of high school students and leaders that worked hard and played hard!

Not many of the days were this sunny. But they spent lots of time bending wire and making "cages" to go in the fence.

Then, fence was raised across the front of the property to help secure the area. Income for the Camp is made when people use it, so now they have to enter through the gate. This a project that will continue throughout the summer, with pictures from other teams, as we complete the circuit around all of Centennial Camp!

I am sorry there are not many pictures of such a great group, but I was only able to obtain a limited number of photos. Any additions would be greatly appreciated!!

Shepard's Pie

I was asked by the Wisconsin team to post some of my recipes...so, until I have time to load pictures of the Wisconsin team and the Orr team, here is one of the current recipes! Hope you like it!



Shepard's Pie

2 pounds of ground beef, browned
1 can whole kernel corn or Veg-All
2 packages (1 box) of mashed potatoes or equivalent "homemade"
1 package Brown Gravy mix

This is the amount that fits in a 9 X 13 inch pan...adjust for the size crew you are cooking for!

The ground beef, mixed with the prepared Brown Gravy, goes in the bottom of a well greased pan, followed by the corn or veggies and topped with the prepared mashed potatoes. Put all of this in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly. This is the way I remember it being made at Judson Collage in Marion, Alabama. Adjust as you wish, adding onion, cheese, or anything that strikes your fancy!

More pictures soon of the teams!

Random Pictures of the Soccer Team from Alabama and Beyond

Just a few more pictures before moving on to the next team...

Strange things happen on mission trips
Sisters

OK, when you use pictures taken by the team members, you get strange pictures of cows,

and pigs. It's intriguing, I guess.

The fourth work day, the team dug a line to get us water again. Some Christian brothers from Nahuala were there to help. These are two of the men in their traditional dress.

The last day, after a day of shopping, we had one last group picture.

It's always interesting to see what pictures there are!

Lots of looks as several of the team members walked the streets of Pana carrying a pinata.

Next blog...Wisconsin!

Cables Xtremos!

Today seemed like a good day to die...

so here we are fixing to zip line!

You can see the closed eyes and the scream that echoed through the forest as I jumped off of the first platform.

There were a total of 8 lines to ride and, as you can see, we were very high above the trees!

Toward the last few lines, we finally got the hang of it...

and graduated!

Soccer Clinic, Part 2

Random pictures of the soccer clinic held at the Camp in June.

Soccer balls were donated and each child received one with a soccer shirt and a cloth backpack, which included a Spanish Gideon New Testament.

There were young ones and early teenagers in the various groups.

The kids learned the importance of exercising and warming up before games.

World Cup Wannabes!

As we begin working with the second team of the summer, I will be posting on the soccer clinic team that was here in June. There are some problems loading pictures, so there will be a little each day!

OK, they were only World Cup wannabes, but they learned and practiced skills for soccer for two days.

The girls were asked to come in their "P E" outfits, but there were those that played in traditional traje!

Each day had two sessions for two different groups. We reached about 150 kids each day. A devotional ended each session, led by group leaders.

An extra was the haircuts available by two young women of Birmingham, Alabama! Took a little coaxing, but once the others saw a couple get their hair cut...the line was out the door!

England visits America in Guatemala!

Last night we had visiting friends from England for supper. We met some of the group a couple of weeks ago when they came to the Camp to help with some cleanup. They are working at one of our churches two miles away and offered to help us out. The group has been here since the middle of March, sleeping on the floors of churches and eating Guatemalan food and what they cooked themselves. When we offered hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans and brownies, they were all over it! We had a great visit last night and learned about the lives of ten 19 and 20 year olds, despite the differences in accents! They really enjoyed speaking English to someone other than each other and none spoke more than basic Spanish. And they all wanted to know more about Janel (far right) and growing up in the U.S.!

2 Days later...

Poor Janel! She spent two days with us shopping for the three teams...traveling out to the Camp...then cooking all of the meat! By the time we were through, we had cooked 52 pounds of ground beef, 32 pounds of chicken...

and made 66 hamburgers! She doesn't want to see hamburger for awhile!

Tonight, we will have 10 students from England over for...HAMBURGERS, what else! We have made baked beans and brownies also for the evening. I will post tomorrow on the cookout!

Janel Ealy

Meet Janel Ealy from Aston, Pennsylvania! We picked her up yesterday and she helped us shop for three teams at once. After we get back to the Camp this afternoon, we get to cook for three teams at once! She will also be working with the Guatemalan pastors tomorrow as they practice on their English. She has a Pennsylvania accent, but after living in Memphis, Tennessee, for two years, she has a tendency to develop a "Southern" accent when she is around folks from the South. So, Mom, she will be a "Southern belle" when she returns home!

Mail Call

We received mail here at the Camp yesterday! Usually our mail comes through Dallas or Las Buenas Nuevas in Panajachel. Except for the power bill, which we can literally find anywhere at the Camp (usually not in the mailbox), we never receive mail here! But yesterday, a mailman rode up on a bicycle with one piece of mail, made me sign for it (it was not registered) and give my passport number to be able to receive it. It was Brad and Lindsey Bridges prayer letter - Brad and Lindsey are some of CAM's newest missionaries in Uruguay. Glad it wasn't junk mail! And it only took 3 years for us to start getting mail here...now that we are leaving...

Two days of sun!

We're excited...we had two days in a row of sun without rain! That has given us a chance to do some clean-up without being knee deep in mud.

Yesterday morning, one of our area churches showed up with 7 guys to help us clean up. They started with the backyard landslide that took out our fence. Until we get that fixed, Snow has to be on a chain all of the time...which she is not fond of. She is our escape artist who loves to get free and roll in cow...you get the idea.

The well diggers became well cleaners! There was mud 1 meter deep (about 3 feet, for those metrically challenged) in the well that came in through the ground water. They went down into the well, sent up buckets and buckets of mud, cleaned down the well walls and cleaned out our cistern tank. We now have water and can take a shower in water that is cleaner than we are!

On a side note that tells a little of the culture in our area, the family of well diggers are just that...well diggers. None of the kids go to school (not even that little one) because they will grow up to be well diggers and they don't need school for that, so says the father. Unfortunately we see that all too often, whether they are well diggers, farmers or whatever. Even though all children are required by law to go to school through the 3rd grade (???), the law is not enforced. So grows another generation without education.

Santa Rita

On Sunday, I mentioned that Johnny and Esteban went to a nearby village to help with relief efforts. They took the 4WD truck, but still had to walk part of the way in.

You can see the line of cars at the top of the picture. They were stopped by the line of boulders and trees that came down the mountain and crossed the road. When they first got out of the truck and Johnny took a couple of pictures, the guys working all stopped and started saying he was a reporter. Then he began helping with moving the boulders and someone recognized him as "the Camp missionary".

They drove over one area of debris, but got stopped at another and had to walk into the village. You can see where the wall of mud, water, boulders and trees came through the town. Esteban had an uncle who was a pastor at the evangelical church in the village. His house had 4 feet of mud inside, which they helped clean. The clothes were left with him to use and disperse.

They also helped move mud, boulders and trees from across the main road in town.

The torrent of debris and mud took out road and houses on it's way to the lower side of the village. Thankfully, no one was killed.

Day 3 of Agatha

We have electricity, we have internet...we are doing OK. What we don't have, nor does anyone else around us, is clean water! Our water comes from a well in our back yard. With the fast rise of the water table underground, the well is filling with not only water but also mud. What filters we have can't take care of it. We have some drinkable water, enough if we are careful, but all of the water in the house - the shower, the toilet, the faucets and the washing machine - looks like the water above. Kind of hard to wash clothes in water that is dirtier than the clothes you are washing!

Day 2 of Agatha

It is 12:30PM, local time, and the rain has stopped for the time being...we even had a little weak sun this morning! So I got out and took photos of the damage from last night:

These first two photos were taken minutes apart. It had been raining all day when we heard what sounded like a truck on the little road between our house and the "hill" next to us. It wasn't a truck, it was the hill coming down.

Minutes later, I snapped this picture
of the hill sliding down even more, taking out a small tree and bending the fence over. Snow is now on a chain because she could get out so easily.

This was the side of the hill overlooking the small soccer field on the lower level. Besides the hill crumbling, this was covered in water last evening and, even now, has inches deep mud that you sink into when you walk on it.

Unfortunately, all of the work that the Wisconsin youth team put in two summers ago got washed down the river. When they return in a few weeks, they may very well get to do it all over again!

A view in the other direction...all of that mud you see is several inches deep and you sink into it when you walk on it.

From atop the hillside next to us, you can see how the land slid. This was a small road that people used to get to a village on the mountain on the other side of the river.

Looking across the river to the municipal soccer field, you see bare places on the mountainside. These were where landslides occurred last night. Most occurred as dusk arrived, along with a heavy rain, and we could only hear them, not see them. It was scary hearing all of that but not being able to tell where it was coming from.

Yes, we had damage...but we are OK. Our house is dry (except for the leaks) and we have food and electricity. The road to Solola and Panajachel is out. And the surrounding villages are calling for help. Many are cut off, mudslides taking out roads, houses and people. Johnny and Esteban (our guard) have gone to help in a village above us where several lost houses. Don't know if there were any deaths or not. Johnny took clothes that were left from teams (see, they came in handy!) to hand out to those who need them. As we find out needs, we will try to help. And, unfortunately, it's not over. The tropical storm continues to pour rain over lower Mexico and Guatemala. The temperature is dropping and the rain will begin again within the next couple of hours. Yes, pray for us, but also pray with us that the Guatemalan churches will look beyond themselves to see the needs around them and be a light in this scary time.

Stay tuned for more news later, as we get it. I hope to have pictures from Johnny from the relief efforts he and Esteban are doing. To see some of the pictures taken and put into the national newspapers, go to the following websites. They are in Spanish, but you can see some of the devestation this seemingly small tropical storm has caused.

www.prensalibre.com

www.nuestrodiario.com

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, it has been raining here...lots!

We had our quarterly consejo meetings here and stayed wet most of the time. Thankfully, everyone left yesterday about 2:00 PM, before the REAL RAIN started. It has rained solid since about 4 PM yesterday and we have towels all over the house to handle the leaks in the roof!

From the living room window, we could see that the river had risen. It wasn't until Johnny put on his rainsuit and boots, went down into the playground area and took pictures that we saw just how bad it is. And we are expecting rain all weekend from a typhoon off the Pacific coast.

Usually the river is 2 feet below and 3 feet on the outside of the fence. The playground equipment is just to the left of this picture.

Guatemala is expecting flooding and mudslides from all of this rain. And all of this is on top of the volcano, Pacaya, erupting. Keep us in your prayers as we travel, beginning Monday, to pick up work groups (in the capital where the volcano eruption is) through the flooded and mudslide areas between here and there.

Four hours later...

As you can see, the water is encroaching. On the right side of the picture, the fence is giving under the weight of the water. Usually it stands 6-7 feet high...