Thanks for reading and writing! We miss you guys, too! I’ve been reading your blog and keeping up with Sam. He’s really growing! If we ever get to LV, we’ll give you a call…

Blessings to you,

Alan

Steve & Karen (& Sam too!)

What a beautiful child…..how proud I know you are. Jim & I were talking about ya’ll the other day. We are about to begin our 2nd year of AWANA @ Belle Park Baptist Church in Bellevue & were talking about different missionaries, when I thought of ya’ll and were hoping we could let the kids know about ya’ll. Do you have any info or anything literature to give the kids that I can pull off of your website that might be useful?

Michael is now beginning his 2nd year at college (yes, college) he is a Music Education Major (chosen to be #2 out of 5 trumpet section leaders); (50-70 trumpets) in the band, he is has about 310 “Spirit of Northwestern” members in the Northwestern State University Band in Natchitoches, LA – here’s the bands website……………….awesome !!!

http://www.nsula.edu/demonband/

He is truly a blessing. Luke Teutsch will be attending the same school this year.

Take care, we love you, and God Bless & congratulations on the new baby, I’m sure Shelby is the “MAMA” here, huh?

Forever Friends in Christ,

Jim, Jean & Michael Germain

It sounds like you guys have had an eventful return to Mexico. And to find Diet Dr Pepper in Mexico is an awesome. Will be praying for your guys and your work.

Carolyn

Come on down! You guys are always welcome!

Thanks for reading and praying for the requests.

The agua de sabor is like Kool-Aid, only its made from scratch with fresh ingredients. It’s really quite tasty.

Yes, hibiscus is a flower. You can buy them dried, either in bulk or prepackaged in celophane bags. You steep the flowers in hot water, much like making tea. (In fact, if the beverage is served hot, it’s called hibiscus tea, but when served cold, here in Mexico its called jamaica (pronounced ha-MY-ca). After steeping, the liquid is strained and a deep red concentrate remains. Add water and sugar and you have a beverage that tastes very similar to cranberry juice. If it’s very cold and very sweet, it’s delicious.

Tamarind is a fruit that grows on tamarind trees. It looks like a large, brown, fuzzy bean. Similarly, you must steep the bean pods in hot water to extract the juices. I think that the cooked beans are actually liquified in the blender and added to the water and sugar. Aqua de tamarindo has a unique, tart flavor–for me it’s definitely an acquired taste–but the Mexicans love it. I can drink it, but it’s not my favorite.

Horchata is made by cooking rice thouroughly until it disintegrates into a white, viscous liquid. Sugar and cinnamon are added, and sometimes other flavorings like vanilla or coconut. The resulting drink is white and thick, like milk. It’s not bad either.

The fruit based drinks are usually made by liquifing the fresh, raw fruit in a blender. In the case of orange, canteloupe, watermelon, and such, the fruit is peeled and seeded before going into the blender. The resulting drink is translucent and tasty. For guava, the fruits are washed thouroughly and liquified–peeling, seeds, and all. (We had guayaba/guava yesterday at home.)

Probably our favorite is limonada (lee-moe-NA-da) or in English, fresh-squeezed limeade. We buy the small, green, limes by the sack full. We cut them in half and hand squeeze about a dozen to make a putcher of limeade. Add cold water and sugar to taste and there you go. Sometimes we put the whole pitcher in the freezer to make it slushy. Many times we make it with mineral water (club soda) for a sparkling limeade. This is perhaps the most popular of the aguas and is normally on the menu in all the restaurants.

By the way, check out the produce section at your local supermarket and I expect you can find hibiscus flowers and tamarind fruit. Sometimes the hibiscus flowers are called “flor de jamaica” on the bag.