Recipe for Mexican Beans

A little while ago, I wrote about Trinity's love of beans and rice. I usually have some on hand, which is good, because she eats them almost every day.

Due to some recent requests for Mexican recipes, I decided to share my bean dish here.

I've been cooking up beans on a regular basis for the past few years. I'm continually modifying and tweaking the recipe. Here's one of our current favorites:

Ingredients
1/2 kilo dried pinto beans (about 1 pound)
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, quartered
Oil

To make:
Rinse the beans and take out any stones, dirt, etc. (In Mexico, the cheaper the brand of beans you buy, the more stones you tend to find. I buy more expensive brands in an effort to preserve our teeth).

Place the beans in a pot with 12-14 cups of water. Add a dash of oil (I use vegetable oil, but you can use whatever kind you want). Throw in the chopped garlic cloves and onion quarters. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 2-3 hours, adding water as needed. When beans are tender, add salt to taste.

And that's all there is to it! I usually serve the beans with hot, cooked rice.

This recipe can be altered quite a bit. You can throw in cilantro, tomatoes, chorizo, or whatever you feel like. Enjoy!

Getting a Phone Jack Installed in Mexico (or How to Put Missionary Kids to Work)

We recently moved to a house in a different part of Torreon. We've spent the last month or so getting settled in. Like most places we've lived in during our time in Mexico, this one came with a few surprises. Fortunately, none of these have been too serious, not like the hundreds of cockroaches living in our water system in our previous home, but I digress...

One of the things we wanted to change involved the phone hookup. There was just one phone jack in the house, located right by the front door. We wanted another jack installed in our office upstairs, so Mike called the phone company here and asked to have one hooked up. Sure, they said, no problem.

Three weeks later, there was still no phone jack. Mike tried calling the company a few times and they gave us the runaround, again and again.

Now. This is not that surprising in Mexico. We've lived here long enough to know that a few more phone calls were probably not going to get us anywhere. So we moved on to Plan B.

Mike and Trinity went down to the phone company. Trinity sat on Daddy's lap while he spoke with an employee there. After hearing Trinity chatter in Spanish and oohing and ahhing over her blonde hair, the kind employee said to Mike, "I'll see what I can do."

The phone jack was installed the next day.

Things I love about Mexico: Green Salsa

For those of you who know me, it won't come as a surprise that I happen to like (no, love) salsa. The hotter, the better. After living with me for nearly eight years, Mike also enjoys a good kick to almost every meal. I believe this happened because I could never make food bland enough for regular tastes, so he eventually just got used to it. Oops! But that's a tale for the book on how marriage changes things...

Anyway, here's one of our all-time favorite recipes for green salsa. I tried to tone it down, but feel free to adjust it to your own tastes and preferences. A note on jalapeños: if you like the taste, but don't want the heat, take out the seeds. That's where the heat in peppers is found.

Now, on to that recipe...

Green Salsa

Ingredients
4 tomatillos
2 jalapeño peppers (remove seeds for less heat)
small handful of cilantro
one quarter of an onion
1 garlic clove
salt to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

To Make
Chop the tomatillos and place in blender. Throw in the rest of the ingredients. Blend until almost smooth.

Transfer the mixture to a small pot or frying pan. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes, or until it reaches a smooth consistency. Serve with chips. Enjoy!

Things I love about Mexico: Bougainvilleas

As a continuation of my "Things I love about Mexico" series, I thought I'd write about one of my favorite flowers here. Pictured above is the bougainvillea plant in our backyard. We recently moved to a new house, and to my surprise and delight, it came with one of these!

You'll see bougainvillea plants all over Mexico. They generally come in shades of bright pink, magenta, and purple. Occasionally, you'll find other varieties like orange and yellow.

The plant is native to South America, although today it grows in many warm climates around the globe. You might spot it in the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Africa, the Caribbean, or in southern portions of the United States.

An interesting note about bougainvilleas is that the actual flowers on the plant are white. The bracts surrounding the flower, however, come in vibrant colors. The shades that catch our eye are actually thin, papery leaves. Here's a close up of the bougainvillea plant. Notice the tiny white flowers with the pink bracts surrounding them. They really brighten up my kitchen.

Thank you for the Letters

We recently received a package of letters from a 5th grade class at St. Paul's School in Lake Mills, WI. Their words were so encouraging to us. These kinds of things really make our day.

I often say that mission work comes with "high highs" and "low lows." Some days and weeks are difficult, but others are so joyful we feel like we are going to burst with praise to our wonderful God. Letters that arrive on our doorstep lift our spirits and help keep us motivated to keep going, day after day.

So we'd like to say "muchas gracias!" to Mrs. Thorman and the 5th graders at St. Paul's. We hope you have a great rest of the school year and fun summer vacation.

New Mission Vehicle for Zaragoza Sur

Mike has been looking for a vehicle to use for the work going on in Zaragoza Sur for the last couple of months. Last week he spotted an ad in the newspaper that looked like it might be just what he needed. He made a call and then headed out to look at it.

He returned a few hours later, driving a 1978 Volkswagen van. This is a solid vehicle to use in Zaragoza Sur. It's not flashy, it runs well, and it is very spacious inside.

It may have been around a long time, but it's ready to go to work here on the Mexico field.

A letter from Missionary Hartman

I'm excited to announce a special guest appearance on the blog today: Missionary Mike Hartman!

In light of some of the recent events happening in both Mexico and the United States, Mike decided to stop in and share some of his thoughts with you.

The letter is a bit long, but very worthwhile the read! After reading it, feel free to leave a comment or email me (rachelmhartman@gmail.com) with your thoughts, concerns, questions, etc.


Dear Christian friends,

These last few months in Mexico have really been something! While we were on furlough last winter it became obvious that the drug war was spreading into our neighborhood in Torreón. Shortly after we returned to the field in February, we felt it would be best to look for a quieter and safer area of town to live in. Thankfully, God led us to a nice home in a gated community. What a blessing! We moved in April 20th.

With packed boxes still cluttering our new home, news of the swine flu began dominating conversations. On April 27th we celebrated Rachel’s birthday. Since I’m not much of a cook, I took her out for dinner at a nice restaurant. On the way home, we stopped at the local grocery store to stock up on a few basics such as diapers, medicine, and of course, plenty of beans and rice. We wanted to be prepared for a possible nationwide shutdown that the government leaders were discussing. I lost track of the number of people wearing medical masks after counting over 50 in the store.

Security and health crises such as these, while scary, often bring an opportunity with them. You see, God uses them to give us a chance to focus on what truly matters. Why live in a country that the U.S. government recommends avoiding all nonessential travel to? There’s only one reason: Mexicans need to know what Jesus did for them so that they might have the same peace and hope that we have.

All this has led me to reflect on another situation we’re currently facing, this one involving our church body. Ten years ago I was called to serve as missionary to Mexico. When I arrived in Mexico in the summer of 1999, I was one of 16 WELS’ missionaries in Latin America. According to WELS’ statistics from that time, those missionaries served 1,487 souls in 34 congregations and preaching stations scattered throughout 6 Latin American countries. We were supported by 5 national pastors and 16 national seminary students.

Today there are 2,119 souls being served in 60 congregations and preaching stations scattered throughout 7 Latin American countries. There are now 18 national pastors and 27 seminary students which support the work. We have been blessed with very steady growth in all areas. However, the number of WELS’ missionaries has dropped to only 7!

I would love to say that the drop in the number of missionaries is a result of us not being needed any longer in Latin America. After all, our goal as missionaries is to work ourselves out of a job so we can go on to other areas that have not yet heard the Gospel. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I believe that without exception, all reductions in missionary positions have been financially motivated.

The truth is that there is a strong need for WELS’ missionaries in Latin America, more now than ever before. While our Mexican, Brazilian, and other Latin American pastors may be able to take over much of the congregational duties, these new church bodies need men to help guide them. They also need men capable of teaching and preparing those new seminary students. If we had more missionaries we could teach more seminary students and get the Word out faster.

The growth we have been blessed with is encouraging. It shows that God is in control and blesses our work, sometimes almost in spite of us. Still, the reduction in missionaries is hardly ideal. And there is a strong possibility that more missionary cuts are coming later this year.

This troubling situation is not only affecting WELS missions in Latin America. Effective May 1st, WELS’ leaders had to cut 13 world missionaries serving in many places throughout the world. While Latin America has been blessed with steady growth during the past decade, many of these other areas of the world are even more fertile for the harvest!

My heart and prayers go out to our leaders who had to make such gut-wrenching decisions. I know and trust that these strong Christian men are doing their very best to guide our church body during these difficult times. While a natural reaction during crises is to start shifting blame, that’s not what God wants. He has a very different intended purpose for us when we see signs of the end times. Famines, wars and pestilence all remind us that the place where we currently reside isn’t the end all. This isn’t as good as it gets. Something much better awaits us.

Occasionally you hear some refer to the current economic crisis as the worse our country has faced since the Great Depression. Whether accurate or not, that’s not the point. I bring this up to share with you an encouraging story about WELS during the Great Depression. In 1935 WELS had an outstanding debt of more than twice its annual budget. The debt was so great that it had become a significant obstacle to ministry.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of the worse economic depression in the history of our country, WELS congregations joined together and actually increased their offerings during that time. They were able to pay off the debt and focus once again on ministry. It was shortly after the debt was paid off that WELS really got started in world missions.

Rachel and I have personally discussed this very thing, and have decided to significantly increase the percentage of our income which we give in offerings. We want to give back to our God who has so graciously blessed us.

I don’t write this in order to brag, far from it. The truth is that living and working with our Mexican brothers and sisters leaves me feeling humbled. I have been able to witness, firsthand, their dedication and the sacrifices they make on a daily basis. Their actions encourage me, and so I would like to encourage you. Take some time to consider the crises you’re currently facing, whether they deal with security, health, or the economy. Try viewing them as an opportunity to think about what’s really important in your life.

When you do that, I think you’ll agree with me that what’s most important in our lives is the Word. Think about it. The Word is everything! It means life after death, and others need to hear about it so that they can enjoy the riches of heaven with us.

As a synod, we walk together, but changing our course in world missions so that we are once again increasing the number of world missionaries is something that must take place one person at a time.

Serving the Risen Savior,

Missionary Mike Hartman

Church Dedication in Sasabe, Sonora

Last weekend Mike went to Sasabe, which is in the state of Sonora. This town is located on the Arizona border. It takes about a day to get there from our place in Torreon.

He went there because the congregation "Cordero de Dios" (Lamb of God) in Sasabe dedicated a new church - a very exciting event! Pictured above is Missionary Ron Baerbock greeting people at the entrance to the church. Missionary Baerbock currently serves the congregation.

Mike made the trip with Señor Jesus Vega, president of the Mexican Lutheran Church. Below you can see Señor Vega cutting the ribbon to open up the new church.


Mike came home full of good news from Sonora. The congregations there are growing and they need more workers. President Vega and other church leaders are looking into ways to get more help to Missionary Baerbock. This is good news indeed!

When he comes back from a trip, Mike almost always brings us a present. This time it was a Sonora specialty: huge flour tortillas! They are delicious. Here's a pic of Mike making us breakfast with these creations. They taste yummy served with eggs and refried beans.

Things I love about Mexico: Beans and Rice

You're looking at what Trinity has eaten every single day this week, for either lunch or supper. When I ask her what she'd like to eat, she responds with, "Beas and wice please." It's hard to say no to that.

Especially when beans and rice are so nutritious and low-fat (at least the kind I make is). On top of that, the dish is inexpensive. I think Trinity's total food bill for the week came to about $1.50 for her beans and rice consumption.

I've heard people say that beans and rice is sort of Mexico's version of mac-n-cheese for kids. In the past few years, it has become a staple in our home. I make it at least once a week. I often serve it with fried plantains or a guisado (meat in a spicy sauce). Mike and I always eat it with a healthy amount of homemade salsa.

Part of getting into the Mexican culture for us has been incorporating Mexican foods into our regular diets. It's easier on the food budget, since we don't have to pay high prices for imported goods from the U.S., and it's fun to try out new recipes. I often get these from friends and church members. The recipe I currently use for beans came from our good friend Claudia.

Today at lunch Trinity finished up the supply of rice and beans I had on hand. This afternoon, while she napped, I whipped up another batch. When lunch time tomorrow rolls around, I'll be ready.