Huele!

Sam and I are absolutely obsessed with learning Spanish.  My last lesson had some words in it I thought I would never be able to remember.  Then after being at Casa Betania for only an hour or so, one of the kiddos said, "Huele rico".  AHHHHH!  I know that word, that's one of my new words!  "Huele, huele, huele, huele!", I said.  "Este es mi nueva palabra!"  See how that works!  Learn it, use it, so what if you sound like a 3 year old.  I'm absolutely surprised how much the word smell is used, especially when you are cooking for 40 people. 

Oh and just in case you're not sure what to do with those nopales you picked up at the market today here's a recipe and how to prepare them.

Boil in water until they are olive colored, and then I boil a little more because they are toxic if not cooked and I am paranoid...about that anyway, not about most things.  Then you stain and rinse.  If you're really hard core you can buy them whole and remove the thorns and cut them up yourself.  You'll have to find those instructions elsewhere.

Now for Prickly Pork (Hahaha!)....get it!  You will later.

4 K pork
4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
10 cloves garlic minced
20 tsp mexican oregano
6 cups nopales (cactus)
2-3 yellow onions
2 cups salsa verde

Accompaniments (all are optional)
fresh flour tortillas
taco shells
tostades
shredded lettuce
sour cream
salsa

Place pork and herbs in crock pot, cover with prepared nopales (see instructions above) and sliced onions and top with salsa.
Cover and cook 6 hours until pork is tender.  Strain (or not) and serve with accompaniments.  This is one of my favorite meals at Casa Betania.  Again, you'll have to divide it yourself if you want to feed less than 40.

In other news the boys have caught the futbal bug that is so prevalent here in Mexico, especially during World Cup tournament.  They are telling me how the teams are doing and who has won the Cup in past years and who all the other boys think will win this year.  The US and Mexico have both done well so far, which make it extra fun.  Yesterday they got to watch Mexico stomp France with their friends here at Casa Betania, very exciting. 

And finally more Superman of course, on the trampoline with his buddy Brayan.

Aren't those last two the best!

A Child's View of Mission Work

The kid's wrote this to their King's Kids class in the States.  I typed it for them, for the sake of time.  (Any of you moms with kids in the class....don't spoil the fun....Mrs. Gina plans to read it to the class tomorrow.  I mean it, I was using my stern mommy voice!)

Lena scrubbing stains out of a shirt.

Dear Kings Kids,

It you were down here you would really love it, and make lots of friends. We are learning Spanish really fast, maybe next time we see you we will be able to speak Spanish. We get to play war and it's lots of fun at the childrens home, because there are lots of kids to play. We live in town and are able to walk to the store and tortillaria by ourselves. We are thankful we have such a nice house and it is much bigger than our trailer. It is getting hot here and we are starting a garden. We are doing school again. Heidi is getting really big. We said our first verse in Spanish at church on Sunday - Proverbs 18:24. When we ride on the bus route with daddy there are 39 topes (speed bumps). There is a lot of laundry at the childrens home. We hang if all on the line, if you came, you would be surprised how many loads there are everyday. Hannah and Lena do a lot of it to earn money for missions. Pray we learn Spanish very fast so we can tell others about Christ, and just pray for us please. Some of the children at the home have gotten sick, so pray everyone will be healthy now. We have missed you.
The Mean Little Missionaries!

Ministry Newflash!

The church has a memory verse time every service.  If you know the verse you can get up and say it.  Our children are allowed to say the verse in English, but tonight everyone except Adelina said their verse in Spanish, including Mom and Dad!  We are making progress.
Also tonight we learned that door knocking for Vacation Bible School will start in the next week or so.  Sam will head that up and is very excited.  Please be in prayer for the door knocking and VBS at the end of July.  A group from the States is coming to help, but the church members and children at Casa will be helping in many ways.  Please pray for everyone involved, this is a great opportunity for the church and children to serve the community and for Christ to be lifted up.

We sure do have beautiful sunsets at Casa Betania Fuente de Vida.  You can follow the home on their Facebook page, search for Casa Betania Fuente de Vida.

Language Training

The Means Family has been blessed with the unique opportunity to minister as we learn the Spanish language.  We are able to participate in both the Benedict Family's Church and Children's Home ministry.  With God's guidance we believe this is how our language training should be conducted.  Also, the newest version of Rosetta Stone was provided for us shortly before leaving for Mexico, which was a huge answer to prayer.  Sam and I make it a habit of going through as many lessons as our brains can contain at a time and then our didactic learning is reinforced as we interact with the kiddos at the home.  They have been gracious, only slight giggles sometimes and very polite corrections.  They don't mind repeating things, speaking slower, using words they know are in our Spanish vocabulary, and playing charades if necessary.  They understand we are working hard to learn.  I am so excited for the day we speak better and can get to know them better.  They are really great kids.
My ninth grade Spanish teacher said it you can learn 500 words in a language, you can really start to communicate and understand, so that is my/our first goal.  If is good to have goals, right?  Or in my case thrive on them, I love list and goals. :P  I tend to enjoy the destination more than the journey, so struggling constantly to communicate is something I have to remind myself to be thankful for.  As of about two weeks ago we were officially over the 100 word mark, putting us at 1/5 of our goal in the first month of being here.  I know we know quite a few more words, the 100 words only includes what we have learned on Rosetta Stone, not out at the Casa Betania.  So, I think we are coming along well.  The only way I can describe it, is that I feel like I am in a fog, making out a little here and a little there, some days are better than others and I think I have started to not translate as much, but just hear the Spanish. 
The kids are still struggling, but I think it will come for them, much easier than Sam and I actually.  Haden has begun to realize we use a different vocabulary when we are at Casa Betania.  Extremely amazing to see a three year old incorporating a new language into his vocabulary.  There is absolutely no struggle or stress for him.  He translates nothing, he just adds it in.....absolutely amazing. 

We play a lot of futbol, or should I say Sam and the kids play a lot of futbol.  I usually go for a run with the kids that want to go.

Potential

POTEN'TIAL, n. Any thing that may be possible.

Just in case you needed a vocab. lesson. The definition was taken from Webster's 1828 dictionary, where many of his definitions are based on the Bible. Webster is quoted saying,
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.. .No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
- Preface

Amen Brother!

The following is Potential in picture form.
 

You know your man loves you when he goes and gets you a truck load of poop!  Looks like we are starting to settle in.