Pics of Amazon at its highest in 10+ years....

Leticia, they are coming or going, I don´t know...

To Leticia, to market.....

2 kids enjoying the rain together, with bucket fights!!

Santa Rosa, HIGH water!

Santa Rosa school, where they usually have the SS, it was closed for 1 month.

Jaidro and Fransesca´s house in Santa Rosa.

Heading to Santa Rosa with some Leticia SS kids.

Santa Rosa: Ruth balancing on the boards- HIGH water!

Santa Rosa, water going down

Leticia wharf

Leticia wharf

Leticia wharf

Leticia, water going down.

HIGH water

Same house, water going down.

Fantasia Island: house on stilts

Fantasia Island: HIGH water!!

Fantasia Island: The water is going down.

Fantasia Island: More land

Matt´s friend, Willer, broke his arm falling out of a tree! He loves to come over and play.

Matt´s good friend, Hazor, who recently moved to Bogota.

Our July 4th flag!

Matt´s two friends, Willer and Yeiner, with their Mom, Milena.

Martha coming home from grocery shopping....

The jeep´s new look!!!

I am going to try a diary/journal for a while to see if it works better for me. It seems like every day turns out different than what I thought, so maybe more frequent updates will work.

On July 4th, Matt hung from our balcony the old US flag from great-Grampa Robert, so it only had 48 stars on it. No matter, the neighbor boy’s dad took a picture of his kids under it!!! I guess how often would you have a huge US flag hanging in your neighborhood in Colombia??!! We couldn’t find any fireworks to go with it, but I guess they sell them around July 20 for the Colombian independence day.

Tues. July 7/2009 “Thy words were found and I did eat them: and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Jer. 15:16
Last week, we had two boys, brothers, over to play with Matt, the one has a cast on his arm from falling out of a tree, and so we couldn’t go swimming with them. They will probably come again this week. It is just harder to find things for them to do if they can’t go swimming. This week is their last week of 3 weeks off for their winter break.

Wed July 8/09 “The king (Jehoiakim) sat…and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him…when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words…(3 men) made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would no hear them.” Jer. 36:22-5 When I was reading this, it just amazed me, thinking, what audacity!! But do I maybe sometimes not really want to listen to this or that verse, and in my mind, sort of cross it out??
This week the electricity went out a lot, almost every evening for several hours and often during the day. I ran out of candles it was off so long. This also means the water goes out except the one bathroom, which is supplied by the tank outside, which refills when the water is on. So we do have some water, just have to fill buckets from the bathroom….


Thurs July 9/09 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jer.17:7-8 I love these types of encouraging verses, sort of like poetry, but better!
It seems like “you never know what a day may bring forth” (a frequent quote of my mom’s) down here.
Woke up at 5 or so, listening to the rat crawling up and down in the wall beside me. Hmmm, one more rat has found my kitchen, and new evidence in the morning of eating my bananas and also some rat poison, but not enough to kill him yet. That will have to wait for 3-5 days. So… do I go to the vet store and buy the really strong stuff, where they die almost immediately, or do I put up with the rascal, having to clean up after his garbage mess for 5 days? Well today, I decide to buy the strong stuff. So when I go downtown, I will have on my list, vet store, and the bank - to stand in line for 1 hour to pay for the box coming into the post office from the US - they charge to get it from Bogota to here, as it is an extra charge-grrrr….but this time it is only $5.00 US, so not bad.
(PS- later, the next night I heard something in the wall (like a rat?!), having difficulty getting up the wall and then went “thunk” to the bottom, but I haven’t smelled anything yet, so maybe it took off and died elsewhere, hope so!)

Saturday - Went to Fantasia Island, and had 80 kids come and color pictures. These are for the most part, very poor kids, but the kids go to school, so can read. Later in the day, Paul, some SS kids with Bethany, went to Santa Rosa, and we haven’t been getting too many kids lately. Paul took a Dr to visit an old lady down the road and came back to find that there were 40+ kids coloring and Bethany seemed to be surviving quite calmly!! There was something going on at the school at the same time so they just gravitated to our room there.

Sun July 12/09 Day started at 6:00, chopping vegetables, preparing the food to take in on the motos. Matt will carry a pot between him and Paul, and I will prop another one up in front of me on my moto. I avoid any liquidy stuff in the pots for obvious reasons, I add it later. (The jeep is in the shop getting fixed) Bethany gets on the back of mine, after realizing that all that work on her hair was a waste of time, as she had to take it all down to put on her helmet. Grrr. And straddling a moto in a skirt, double grrrr…. Maybe about 10 kids to the am SS and morning mtg. I think there were maybe 16 for lunch then go to get kids at the river for SS. The mormons were at one girl’s house that comes, but her dad said she could come to SS. If the kids can recite any of the previous verses from other weeks, they get a special treat and when they have done 10, they earn a bible. Many kids have earned bibles so far. After gospel, Dany came over for supper. We are getting quite excited to have Durley coming soon. We are going to have to have some sort of Welcome Home party on Tuesday!! Hope she is not too tired for it!
Time for bed and when Matt was putting his clean clothes in his drawer, he almost touched a bat that was clinging to the drawer. Uggg!! So one less than yesterday!! Yay for that part of the dirty work, who, if you must know, I had to take care of....yuck!!

Still here!!

July 11/09
Hi everyone,
Sorry I haven’t written in a llooonng while!! Lots has happened so this should be long, ha!!
Franklin Jr and Ruth his sister have been with us for several months. They originally stayed when their parents left to help me when Paul went to Oregon to visit his mom who was sick. Then Paul came back and we moved out to the country in a quiet, gated neighborhood. We can leave out things like bikes and balls and they will still be there in the morning. Matt has a lot of boys to play with and his Spanish is much better, he understands more than me probably. There is another house in town we rent also that is used for the English school, the meeting room and Dany and Durley live in part of it.

Well, Paul had to go back to the States and then the rest of us went back for his mom’s funeral in March. We had nice visits with many friends and family. The kids got in on the SS treat in Gresham, which was fun for them. Matt had his 12th birthday with friends and family at a McDonalds playland while there. We got caught up on haircuts, chiro appts…

Sooo, we love our new house, except that the walls and ceilings are also occupied with rats, mice, termites, bats, ants and now, this week, bees. We can control the rats and mice with poison, but don’t quite know what to do about the bats, as there are many holes, too many to plug, (any suggestions anyone?). The house is mostly made of wood, which is rare here, due to the above problems, but mainly the termites. But it is quiet out here, except for a few times a day an airplane comes or goes from the airport which backs up to the neighborhood property.

Lately the military has been doing practice exercises with helicopters and dropping guys down from them, so we often have them coming over the area with several guys hanging onto a rope from the helicopter. There is a new colonel in town and I think he is trying to show a strong military presence here. The other day we waited in line to see some airplanes- bombers, etc.

We were invited to the ceremony of the exchange of the military colonels a few weeks ago because we know the ones that were leaving. We got to watch a lot of marching, saluting, etc, speeches about all the good things he did for the community, etc. Actually, he was a very good and honest colonel. (note-the local governor is in jail for pilfering money from what was supposed to be used for the new electricity plant and road repairs, etc, so honesty is significant) Paul taught him English and I taught his daughter for a while this year also, as they are to be going to the US for one year so he can train to be a general, or something like that. Anyway, it is sad to see them go. We also got to eat some fancy or’dourves (sp?), delicious juice, etc.

Paul has been teaching the preschool kids, has classes everyday, but wants to have a day for two off a week so he can do more visiting around, so is trying to cut out or consolidate some of the classes. Ruth usually went with him, as she helps with the little kids, and she has really been learning lots of English. Franklin Jr has been working for Dany so that has been good for him. The two of them left us last week to go back to Lima via Bogota and Quito for 2 months. They plan to come back, Lord Willing, in about 2 months, in time for our conference which is Sept 25-8/09. Anyone interested in coming??

Every Tues pm we go to Santa Rosa and visit Jaidro and Franscesca and her parents and sometimes neighbours come in and listen to the Bible study. We actually met them first when we were passing out calendars at Christmastime with the Totems. They had a turkey and we stopped to look at it. Well they have twins, 1 year olds, who only have 2 fingers on each hand, and 2 toes each. We took them to the dr to be assessed. They were proclaimed fine and intelligent, except for a little malnourished, so they are doing better in that area, as Grandpa and Grandma are now there to help put food on the table. The finger problem runs in the family I guess. Very cute girls. They have 2 other older girls. Shortly after this, Fransesca started reading the Bible we gave her to the family, and all were brightly saved!!! Parents included. There has been a big change in the husband, who used to be in the selling of coke business, and sort of a rough guy. We have also had visits with her sister, who lives near us, and we are not for sure if she and husband are saved, but there is interest there.

Saturday we were going to Fantasia Island, which is the first island out from Leticia, with a little lesson, picture to color and verse to memorize in order to receive a candy. But the river went up very high this year and so after about 5 months, we have just started back over there again as there is dry land. For many months, the houses were in the water up on stilts and many people had to leave their houses and move elsewhere. A family with 3 boys sometimes has been coming to mtg from there too. The 2 little boys come often to SS, Santa Rosa and to play with Matt at our house. They are here right now as I write, and they are doing what most boys do, make lots for noise, and I hear lots of wrestling-like noises above my head right now. You know… those thumps of bones hitting the floor, etc…..and one broke his arm last week near his home! Today they showed Matt how to make a home-made kite with reed sticks, string, tissue paper and glue. Since school is out for 3 weeks, he has had some other kids over too and it has been nice for him, but it does take some patience as they are so excited to see all these different things they seem to jump from one toy/interest to another, so you have to sort of follow whatever they are doing as they don´t realize the value of things and pick up things and break them if you are not there to say ¨cuidado!¨ They mostly like to play with his legos and create things, so that keeps them occupied for a long time. Sometimes we take them to the big pool down the road and it is funny to see their faces when they realize they are going to play in that HUGE pool!! They think they´ve died and gone to heaven!! For the most part, they are usually good kids and obey well.

Then on Saturday pm, Paul is off to Santa Rosa for a SS. Some of the SS kids go usually too. They sing, talk, and do a picture and verse also. They let him use the school, which is always open. Then in the evening is our reading mtg. So Saturday is a long day. I have to prepare something for the next day, which includes some sort of easy meal for maybe up to 20 people.

Well, I learned how to ride a motorcycle so now I ride to town on my moto for all shopping, which is often everyday, as you can’t take too many groceries home at one time on a moto. Bethany is learning, but is not on the road yet and hopefully not for a while.

People have been asking how Durley is, because she has been real sick and had to get treatment in Bogota. She has been up there since April sometime and is hoping to come back here this Tuesday. She may or may not have to have surgery later, depending if the medication works for her or not. It has been really hard for both her and Dany. She has been with her parents and aunt up there so at least she had family to take care of her.

Our jeep has had a complete make-over look to it. It is now fire-engine red….uggg, and Paul has been trying to sell it. If it sells it, it WILL be the fact that it is fire-engine red!! The people here LOVE the color. Not me thanks!!! I’d like to disappear into the woodwork, thank you! As it is, we get enough stares anywhere we go. He hasn’t had any serious bites on it, well they want to buy it but don’t have the money….so he is going to fix the engine and maybe keep it if it isn’t going to sell. So it is back in the shop.

I am going to try to do a diary-type blog for a while, and see if that works for me. Otherwise I don’t seem to get back to my blog for months! I will eventually add some pictures, but only with what time I have at the internet, as they take a very long time to download.

“The Lord’s mercies...are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. “ Lam. 3: 22-3

Love and miss you all,
Martha

Mud, Musical Chairs and Rivieras

Hello there friends and family! I have taken it upon myself to update our blog (this is

Bethany by the way) and to make the post an interesting one, no offence to Mom. So, I have decided

to show you Leticia and the surrounding countryside from my point of view, and then show

some pics and comments on the Rivera’s visit. So be prepared for a long post.

To begin with, I would like you guys to see Leticia through my eyes

First of all. . . .mud.

Something I detest, but would like you to see a few pictures of it anyways

Mud.

And more mud

And still more mud

(Someone looks a little exasperated here)

Next are ants. Everywhere. Big ones, red ones, little ones, black ones

itty bitty tiny ones. And there are some really cool leaf-cutter ants too,

but I don’t have a picture of them.

Anyways, here is a fencepost covered in ants.

Cool, eh? Oh, and I can’t help adding that Franklin told us that some people in Peru

eat ants. Live ones. Just stick ‘em down their throats. Ok, that was gross, next.

So now something I love- the rain. You do not know what rain is until you have been in

the Amazon. And to show you a real rain storm look at the following pictures.

And that is the street we are driving through, not a creek or something.

Love this picture.

And now a few pictures of the river. Although I will not consent to swim in it,

I love taking pics of it. I took these three, they are probably my favorites.

This one I took a few days ago- love it

Even a place with so much mud can have beautiful sunsets

Ok, so now the Rivera’s visit. Franklin Sr., his wife Ruth, and four of their kids, Franklin Jr. (who was

here with the Brimlows), Ruth, Jonatan, and Benjamin were here for two weeks. Franklin Sr. and Ruth

left for Lima on Mon., and Jonatan left a few days before they did. Franklin, Ruth, and Benjamin

will be here until Paul gets back from the States. Here are some pics of a river trip we took, and

also of around the house.

In the boat, Matt being weird, as usual

Just to give you a taste of how brown the Amazon is

We had a small gospel meeting In a little church that was all open (as you can see),

and a bunch of children and a few adults came.

“Ruthita”

Benjamin saying hi to the camera, well, actually is trying to hide his face.

This kid was so cute; I had to take a picture of him.

A group picture

Matt and Benji playing “futbal” with a coconut. If there is anything that

even slightly resembles a soccer ball within a radius of 5 miles, you can

trust a South American to find it.

Then they threw it in the river to see it splash.

There was this cool path I couldn’t help taking a picture of.

Making s’mores-Mom found real honest to goodness marshmallows, so we roasted

some of them over our stove.

Ok, just a few more things. Lots of kids for around the neighborhood come on meeting nights

and Sunday School and we have to think up some ways to keep them entertained. The first thing

we thought up was musical chairs. Here are some pics.

Somebody tricked me into this.

The two youngest of the group with Franklin- He’s a favorite.

All the kids gathered around the piano.

And now a goofy picture:

Well that’s it. Thank-you for reading this enormous post. I will probably be updating on our new house soon, so stay tuned! Bye for now!

Love to all-

Bethany

Mud, Musical Chairs and Rivieras