Black Beans
My mind immediately runs to black beans burgers…which of course are AMAZING! or even the bag of black beans my mother buys at the local grocery store. Before coming on this trip, I knew I would have to eat black beans & rice….a LOT.
Let's just say I have a whole new perspective on these babies. Why? Well since you asked so nicely….
I am currently sitting at my first ministry contact in Guatemala. It is a home for children 1-18, who need a safe place to live. The children are absolutely adorable, and we have so much fun! However, we do not just get to play with the kids all day. NO SIR!
Ricardo, a young man of 20 that finished the program here, is now our boss 😉 And a tough one at that!! The man works us to the bone 😉
Seriously though…Our first day was eye opening! We woke up, & reported for duty by 8 am. It was cold wet and rainy. It has rained here everday, all day, since we arrived….no fear though…we get about 20 minutes of sunshine 😉 Our first job was to shuck beans. So, we walked over to a garage type building..open to air…the floor covered with dry bean casings. So, the four of us girls sit down to begin shucking beans..one by one with some of the older boys. (Wade and Jake had to go fix the rabbit cages). We worked for about an hour with the boys constantly laughing at our lame attempts. Then, one boy suddenly jumped up, grabbed a potato sack, filled it with beans, and began to beat this bag repeatedly with a metal pole. (This apparently opens all the casings, allowing one to merely shake a hand full of casings to empty all the beans from the pod).
Naturally, I immediately jumped up and followed suit. However, I apparently did not hit the sack hard enough, because one of the boys "showed" me the correct way to do it. Imagine a slap shot….the sack was now the puck. The boys had a great time watching me join in the fun. The "fun" continued until Ricardo informed us that we would now go pick more beans.
Alright! Let's do this! ………. Did I mention this was the rainy season? So muddy wet grass and constant rain…..k. Picking beans involves "walking" (slidding/tumbling) down the side of a small mountain! Then we proceed to grab a potato sack from earlier, and pick beans…easy right? The bean vines come up to my mid-shin, so its a lot of bending over & hunting thought the forest to find the beans. After we picked beans for another 4 hours, we carried said sacks back up the small mountain….hello quads and hamstrings…haven't seen you in a while…..OUCH!
Fear not though, the bean field has become one of our favorite past times. We have begun to play games of random questions…thus getting to know each other better! Crazy ridiculous questions too (thank you Wade!).
So, then we get up the hill and Ricardo informs us it is dinner time! Praise Jesus this chicka is starving! ……
What's for dinner tonight?
Beans and rice!
Tomorrow?
Rice and beans
…….
YUMMY! So, new perspective! One of the many God has blessed me with so far on this trip!! Those of you back home……be THANKFUL for the black beans that come in a bag!
