Close Your Eyes and Dream On!

This is a post about food! Most of these pictures depict what we get per that meal for a serving. Not all of these meals are mine for a particular reason… I am thankful for the food though there are particular dishes (just like at home) that I avoid. Seasonings are different down here which can add a different twist to a familiar dish (such as black beans and rice, a favorite of mine). The school also seeks to cook things the kids will eat. We are dealing with a different culture and the school does try to plan menus that are culturally sensitive…somewhat anyway though a number of these wouldn't be considered Bolivian. The standard meal here in the lowlands (if one can say such) is rice, chicken, and yucca. Needless to say we don’t exactly replicate that…

I was going to reorganize the pictures, but given the number plus I'm using my touchpad mouse I'll leave them in the order they are in. So sit back and enjoy and maybe, just maybe at the end of this post you'll be hungry...or not...haha - sorry, humor greases many an axle. All-in-all, God has been good and has provided.

Sabbath Breakfast: sweet roles (generally 2 per person) and Bolivian style oatmeal or non-chunky granola (I guess a number of the Bolivians don't like chunky granola). It isn't all that uncommon for one to find little sugar ants inside the role as it is taken apart.



Bolivian style oatmeal is a little bit of oatmeal in sweetened water (essentially). 'Gringo style' is would be more in line with what we are used to.

Sabbath Lunch: This is a somewhat common dish for Sabbath, at least when there is soymilk Sabbath morning. The patties are made from the…curd(?) that is strained out while making soymilk. Rice again… Sometimes there will be a leaf of lettuce accompanying.



While Lyli cooked up the tofu (next picture), Kody and I made the curried potatoes. Making our own meals isn’t all that common but makes for a nice treat.

A rare treat – Lyli cooked up some scrambled tofu and thankfully I was able to see what she put in it. The tofu has to be brought from the USA.

One of the additives I use from time-to-time.

Friday night: Pizza!... Putting it into a hot skillet and slightly searing the top and bottom adds a nice touch.

Majadito…I’ll just say this isn’t a favorite of mine… :)

Lentils and Rice is a normal fare. This occasion they deep fried some eggplant in a batter and served it. I was able to nibble on a couple pieces of the eggplant before I let it slide a different direction than down my throat…

Probably my favorite meal – lentil hamburgers! Two per person is the serving with no condiments. I am thankful to whoever invented ketchup! I have been using ketchup on rice as well.

Another rice and bean dish with beet salad.

Potatoes with a ‘salsa’ and salad. I generally skip the salsa since I don’t care for the seasoning and just add some salt to my potato. As noted earlier the students don’t really like potatoes, so potatoes really are for the sake of the gringos.

Sabbath Supper: bread and popcorn. Generally two pieces of bread and a cup of popcorn per person.

Yes this is spaghetti. It is not like one would expect…

When there is ‘excess’ rice, use ketchup…at least that is what I do. I am so thankful for the ketchup.

Rice and I don’t know what along with beet salad and a leaf of lettuce.

Corn bread. Generally one piece is what is served per person – that is the meal.

Black beans and rice without potato. This is one of my favorite dishes though I tend to add a bit more salt.

Black beans with potato and rice. Potatoes aren’t all that popular here in the lowlands, it is a highlander food.

Rice and sort of like a potato soup.

Peanut Soup which I have yet to bring myself to try though others vouch for its palatability.

Lots of rice, salad, and peas. More than I can eat now.

Well, these are the majority of meals. Missing are burritos, plantain and salsa, and saltanias. There are other foods which do appear from time to time, but are not the general fare. The cost of these meals for everyone comes to around $500USD ($b3500) per week which is why developing agriculture at the school is so important.


“When the Lord gives a work to be done, let not men inquire as to the reasonableness of the command or the probable result of their efforts to obey. The supply in their hands may seem to fall short of the need to be filled; but in the hands of the Lord it will prove more than sufficient.” –PK 243:1

“The call to place all on the alter of service comes to each one. We are not all asked to serve as Elisha served, nor are we all bidden to sell everything we have; but God asks us to give His service the first place in our lives, to allow no day to pass without doing something to advance His work in the earth. He does not expect from all the same kind of service. One may be called to ministry in a foreign land; another may be asked to give of his means for the support of gospel work. God accepts the offering of each. It is the consecration of the life and all its interests, that is necessary. Those who make this consecration will hear and obey the call of Heaven. –PK 221:3



I wrote this blog middle of last week. In the mean time I have been doing some reading and would like to share a couple excerpt with you:

Chap. 117 of “Conflict and Courage” - "Give Me This Mountain"

I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. . . . Now therefore give me this mountain. Joshua 14:11, 12.

Before the distribution of the land had been entered upon, Caleb, accompanied by the heads of his tribe, came forward with a special claim. Except Joshua, Caleb was now the oldest man in Israel. Caleb and Joshua were the only ones among the spies who had brought a good report of the Land of Promise, encouraging the people to go up and possess it in the name of the Lord. Caleb now reminded Joshua of the promise then made, as the reward of his faithfulness: "The land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord." He therefore presented a request that Hebron be given him for a possession. . . . His claim was immediately granted. To none could the conquest of this giant stronghold be more safely entrusted. . . .

Caleb's faith now was just what it was when his testimony had contradicted the evil report of the spies. He had believed God's promise that He would put His people in possession of Canaan, and in this he had followed the Lord fully. He had endured with his people the long wandering in the wilderness, thus sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty; yet he made no complaint of this, but exalted the mercy of God that had preserved him in the wilderness when his brethren were cut off. . . . The brave old warrior was desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had deemed unconquerable. Caleb obtained the inheritance upon which his heart had been set for forty years, and, trusting in God to be with him, he "drove thence the three sons of Anak." . . .

The cowards and rebels had perished in the wilderness, but the righteous spies ate of the grapes of Eshcol. To each was given according to his faith. The unbelieving had seen their fears fulfilled. Notwithstanding God's promise, they had declared that it was impossible to inherit Canaan, and they did not possess it. But those who trusted in God, looking not so much to the difficulties to be encountered as to the strength of their Almighty Helper, entered the goodly land. -CC 123

What would happen if we each said what Caleb did? What if we each chose a street, a neighborhood, a town, a city, a county, a region, a nation and said ‘Lord, I want to win that for you”? What would happen? Caleb wanted that mountain and he went out and took it for God, he acted and God blessed.