Loggerhead Turtles by Landon & Tianna

LOGGERHEAD TURTLES

Of

KEFALONIA ISLAND

GREECE

            The Loggerhead Turtle is one of the seven different types of turtles, the most popular being The Green Turtle.   The Loggerhead got his name from its very wide neck and sharp beak.  Unlike the tortoise whose shell is arched over his back, Loggerheads have a flat shell that curves around his sides.  Loggerheads are the third largest turtle, the top being the Leatherback Turtle who is all black, and the largest it has ever became was 4 meters (the size of a car), and weighs 1 ton!!!!!!  As a hatchling the gender is determined by the outside temperature (hot chicks, cool guys).  Every time a hatchling becomes older it always goes back to the same beach it was born to lay their eggs when they are around 20 years old.  They usually eat jelly fish, but when people litter like a plastic bag or something that looks like a jelly fish they will eat it and it will stay in their stomach and they think that they are full and then they starve to death.

Projects worthy of supporting

You may be asking yourself “How can I help?”  

my answer would be “in many ways.”  

Below is a list of projects we were personally involved with.  Anything you can contribute will be used to help the underprivileged and a small amount (even $20/mo.) will not affect your standard of living but will greatly improve another person’s life!!  If you have trouble deciding which project to support I would suggest choosing one that you may have an opportunity to visit in person one day.  There is not a feeling in the world that compares to seeing how your contribution has made a difference.

EL SALVADOR

-      Ron & Sherry Lapka  (rslapka@gmail.com)

-      Wheels For The World - joni&friends   www.joniandfriends.org/

COSTA RICA

-      Collect and send used clothing for Betty to sell

to help support her family.

I will be heading this up when I return to Canada, so for now please save any good used summer clothing or contact me if you are planning a trip to Costa Rica and can bring an extra bag with you.

PERU

-     Water filters for Lima refugees (Lima Rotary Club Project)

-     Help send Sandboard champion Victor Chavez to the Olympics in snowboarding            (sandmaster_dito@hotmail.com)

         Kid’s Alive www.kidsalive.org/

    or contact Joel and Ginnina Posner (jgposner@yahoo.com)

-     Orphanage in Arequipa through Dennis & Ruth  (drlacoursiere@gmail.com)

SOUTH AFRICA

-      intercity school – soccer jerseys (I will be looking for a community in the Okanagan to support this project)

ZIMBABWE

-      Project Zimbabwe (see link to webpage on this Blog)

-      Borehole 36 - Orphan care, water, school feeding, fees, uniforms for disadvantaged families near Vic Falls. (contact me if you want to get involved and I can direct you to the right people)

MALAWI

-      Open Arms (Blantyre) www.openarmsmalawi.com

-      Somebody Cares Ministries (Lilongwe)

Keta Ngosi email: missionsbc@africa-online.net

UGANDA

-       Kyabirwa Primary School

Stay with Moses and his family and volunteer to teach at the school, no experience necessary just a big heart for helping kids.  The students are so eager to learn and you will build heart-warming relationships with these wonderful kids.

Or if gardening is your passion then come share your education with them.  The soil is rich and could likely grow anything but all the farms grow the same things because it’s their tradition.

Consider helping the girls in the school by funding feminine products, without this support these girls miss 3-5 days per month of school.
We also plan to begin a Soccer Jersey program for the 3 villages near Jinja.  They have just formed a committee and will be putting together projects and a proposal for our assistance.  I will be looking for a community in the Okanagan to support this project.

-      In the town of Jinja is a disabled older man in desperate need of a wheelchair, he has spent his entire life crawling on his deformed limbs.   I have contacts in the area if you want to bless this man.

Of course familiar charities such as Compassion Ministries & World Vision are criticized for their high administration costs and although this is true and we agree less money should be spent this way we are also happy to report that they still do make a difference in the communities they support.  For example, if it was not for World Vision Ozi’s family and community in Malawi would not have accesss to water.  Your monthly donation of $40 supports whole communities not just one child and even children not sponsored benefit.

Kind People

A gentleman in the Kelowna airport overheard us talking about Landon busking in various locations on our world trip, so he reached into his pocket and gave us 5 dollars to get him started.

On the flight from Vancouver to L.A. ,the flight attendant gave Landon and Tianna each an Alaska airline flight pin, and did not charge for any of our meals. They even took the time to leave a comment on our blog! Fly Alaska Air!!

We met a guy in the bottom of the volcano who is a guide for a dune buggy company and he offered Landon & Luis to take the buggy for a free ride!!

Truly, if there was a “Kindness Award” it would have to go to Carlos & his family from El Salvador. Welcoming our family into their home after only receiving an email from a mutual friend in Vernon is what we feel God’s intention is for all his people. After only spending 4 days together we are family! Having Luis with us in Costa Rica is so special and from this initial meeting, two families are united forever. How cool is that!!!

We are so grateful to Alex, our airport shuttle driver from Costa Rica. He drove us from the airport to the beach town Jaco and to the hostel we booked online. After unloading all of our luggage we quickly realized that this place was not appropriate for children. We decided to move on and had to make several more stops before finding suitable accommodation. He was so understanding and helpful that we gave him a nice tip for sticking it out with us and not leaving us stranded!

We met a lady from Georgia who has been living in Costa Rica for 7 years, she was so nice to offer to take all our luggage up to the house in the mountain. Everything fit in her 4X4, including all our family, except me, I walked, or I should say scaled up the road behind them!

At the Eco Lodge in La Fortuna the rates were quite high for our family of 5 but the owner and her manager seemed to like us and gave us two rooms for half the price and even included dinner at a minimal charge.

Luis gave us his phone/camera adapter so that we could download our pictures from our phone to the computer.

We will be forever grateful to Elias, the Cordova's, Violetta, Dennis & Ruth, and Ramiro for opening up their homes for us to stay and for taking such good care of us while in Peru! Wonderful, incredible, hospitable, and loving people!!

How can we ever thank Dennis & Ruth for lightening our load by taking our purchases and non-essentials back to Canada with them?!

When we left Cuzco Vanessa hand-made us the most beautiful cards and gave us a painting she did of Huacachina.  What a lovely, kind and generous family.

Rick from Scarborough gave Tianna a chocolate bar and traded his peanuts for her roasted lima beans on the train back to Cuzco from Machu Picchu.

Rina’s brother Hipolito, sister-in-law Dianet and her little nephew Paul picked us up from our hotel for a day tour of Chucuito near Puno.

We met Mikolaj from Poland on our tour of Lake Titicaca, he came to our rescue by lending us money for lunch and since our battery died he took a picture of JC & Tianna next to the lake they had just jumped into.

Basil, whom we met sitting next to on the flight from Johanessburg to Cape Town, invited us to his house for a Braai (BBQ) with his friends and gave us lot’s of treats and Rand($$) for our road trip to Durban.

Jessica & Jason from Cape Town blessed us by providing beautiful accommodation and a personal tour of the Cape Town area. As well were amazingly helpful planning the next leg of our journey in South Africa.

Sue fed us lunch and tea while giving a history lesson on Zimbabwe.  Really wish we could have stayed longer!

Nyasha, for finding us affordable accommodation, arranging a driver, getting a discount on elephant rides, coming with us to purchase our bus tickets and everything she did for us while in Vic Falls.

Spray View Hotel shuttle driver lent us a Sim card for our phone.

Issac, got us a new cord for our walkie talkies.

Thanks to Deb, Sue and Cathy for offering to take some of our stuff home with them from Zimbabwe.   

Pastor Emmanuel graciously opened his home to us for a couple nights in Harare while we waited for our next flight.

A travel agent in the Harare airport let us use his internet while we were waiting to catch our flight.

After our visit with Ozi in Malawi, Pearson, the World Vision driver, took us to the bank and to the bus station to buy our tickets.

At a convenience store in Lilongwe, Malawi I was going to buy some cereal and milk but did not have enough Kwacha and of course no one takes credit cards but the manager who was standing by the check out offered to cover the cost if I could come back the next day to pay. Just another example of how friendly the African people are.

Demelza’s kids are very kind. When we left after only 4 days together they had wrapped presents for Landon & Tianna, so sweet of them!

Despite their busy schedules Kristine and her son Thomas opened their home for our quickest stay ever, arriving late in the evening and having to leave early the next morning.  However, we still managed to bond over a cup of tea.

Keta picked us up & drove us to the airport in Lilongwe.

Maria gave Tianna crochet lessons in Uganda.

Winnie, in Uganda helped us make salvation bracelets to hand out to the P6 class.

While trying to cross a very busy street in Maadi, Egypt a man stopped the traffic and escorted me across the street.

Rod & Susan for allowing us to stay in their beautiful apartment in Egypt for almost 2 months and of course for agreeing to take all our purchases (a whole suitcase plus) back to Canada with them!

Zafer was the coolest guy ever!  He was more than our 'couch surfing' host, he made our time in Amman, Jordan so special by meeting us downtown and treating us to a delicious meal prepared right on the street.  We were so full and then ate dessert!!

Niko in Israel, gave us his Sim card for our phone to use while we were in the country and was a wonderful tour guide of the area around The Sea of Galilee.

The sweetest Jewish couple Amitai and Nurit from Jerusalem we stayed with for one night thanks to belonging to Servas.

Khalid, the cable-car attendant in Jericho, who invited our family to his house for a traditional muslim dinner and then to spend the night.
Stephane, from France, gave us a ride to the Ferry in Aqaba.

The two security guards, a teacher and IT Tech. from the school and Mark who witnessed my unfortunate interaction with a thief in Maadi.  Two of the young men accompanied me to the police station to be my interpreter and as witnesses.

The whole village of Pasakoy, Turkey who welcomed our 'family of 8' to their town celebration and shared all their delicious food with us.  And especially Turgay who was the perfect host.

Too Funny

In the Vancouver airport JC let go of the luggage cart to look at our boarding passes but what he didn't realize was that we were on a slight incline so his cart rolled down heading right for a glass wall, Landon sees this and quickly runs after it but in doing so he let go of his luggage cart which rolled away as well. We all laughed so hard, even the airport workers who saw the whole thing were chuckling.

In the L.A. airport my mom was flagged by the airlines as a person to go through extra security checks. What this meant was she was escorted though security with a female guard, frisked from head to toe and all carry-on scanned by hand. We gave her a standing ovation when she was finally cleared from security!

One of those life’s most embarrassing moments for my children but oh well what are parents for if not to embarrass their children? We arrived at the airport in El Salvador and all the shuttle drivers were lined up with passenger names on cards all waving them at us. I walked by the long line saying ‘not us’, ‘not us’, 'not us' until finally I see our name and I screamed ‘that’s us’ and gave our driver a big hug. I’m not sure who was more embarrassed him or our kids?!?

Worried that the kids are not getting enough French with their studies I decided to download a french book onto our E-Reader. The problem was the kids weren't with me so I picked a book that sounded french based on the title but it turned out to be spanish!

At Carlos's house we were all standing around their backyard bar working on our Blog and giving Landon a hard time for his stinky feet when we suddenly realized it was the block of cheese (Carlos makes his own cheese) and not Landon's feet!

In Costa Rica Tianna, Landon and Luis had certain words or phrases that they would repeat over and over.  for example, "who does that?", "sonnnnn", "do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth", "get your hands off my barbie doll ummmhumm", "what the heck do you think you're doing sonnn?"  "put your bag in the back, put your bag in the back, no no no no you put your own bag in the back, I'm not a sky captain".  Of course they watched the movie Rush Hour a billion times.

Landon, Tianna & Luis all shared one room at Gumbo Limbo in Costa Rica, the fan above them made a very annoying ticking noise so one day they decided to investigate to see why.  Landon climbed on top of Luis' shoulders to take a look and what he saw was a dead gecko stuck in the fan and when he tried to remove it, the head snapped off and landed on top of Luis' hair!!  Lot's of screaming and laughing at the expense of that poor little gecko.  What a way to go!!!

The tour bus from Lima to Pisco began wonderfully, we met a really nice girl Linda from France who spoke French to the kids (bonus!) and shared her delicious cookies from France with us. On the luxury PeruBus we watched 2 movies, well almost, near the end of the 2^nd movie ‘Footloose’ we got off the bus at our stop but after sitting and waiting for our ride from the hotel owner we suddenly realized it wasn’t ‘our stop’!!  We then had to re-board another bus, which drove an additional 30 minutes to Pisco our actual destination!  Oops!!

That same evening we walked to a family owned restaurant and had some good laughs at ordering our food. The waitress spoke zero English and the entire menu was in Spanish so it took some time but with the help of our Spanish/English dictionary and our limited Spanish we managed to order a pretty decent meal. Luckily they thought it was funny too and at one point we had the entire family at our table trying to help us order. We miss you Luis!!!!

The language barrier gets wider the further into Peru we get. In one day we thought we asked for fried eggs and got scrambled, ordered 2 pineapple and 1 papaya juice and got 3 pineapple, then Landon was asked his name and he answered 'once' which is eleven in Spanish, the waiter laughed and said that’s a cool name. We’ve discovered that no matter how slow, loud, or times the word is repeated it will still not be understood and that applies to both nationalities!

Since we only have one movie(on a data stick) the kids can watch they now have Happy Gilmore memorized.  "Happy watch out", "I'm sorry babe I didn't mean that, I just get so scared, scared of being a nobody, why don't you come upstairs hmmm I'll give you the ole kissy wissy smoochie smoochie you know Happy's going to make it all okay" and "you too can count on me waiting for you in the parking lot"...Adam Sandler would be so proud!

On the flight from Brazil to South Africa Landon fell asleep while watching a movie, his hands were cold so he had put the bright orange airline socks on them before falling asleep. When the flight attendant came by with his meal he gave her his garbage but she said “no this is your food” handing it to him. He reached up with his bright orange hands and grabbed one thing off the tray and fell back asleep.

When we checked into the Budget Lodge in Lilongwe, Malawi we were pretty pleased to have this new hotel all to ourselves but were surprised when we crawled into bed and heard a crunchy noise…..they failed to remove the plastic from the new mattress hiding under the sheets!!

Funny now….not so funny when it happened…..it was late, everyone was in bed and our kids were in the bathroom brushing their teeth at Demalza’s when all of a sudden we heard them scream and shout at each other. I ran into the room to discover that Landon’s toothbrush had fallen in the toilet and of course he was blaming Tianna! I got mad for their yelling and even Demalza came in to find out what was going on.

At the airport in Uganda while Maddy was changing the flat tire on his car I heard a Rooster and thought that’s funny a rooster in the parking lot at night but then heard Maddy answer his phone.  The rooster call was his ringtone!

Maddy was driving us back from Source of the Nile when all of a sudden a goat walked in front of our car.  Thankfully, he had time to stop and yelled out his window "Mr. Goat, please be careful with your life!" I'm not sure why but we all thought this was really funny and laughed so hard!

While JC was teaching PE at the Primary school in Uganda he had 100+ kids to instruct.  The P3 and P4 boys removed their shirts for PE which seemed normal but when it was time for the P2’s all 200 of them, boys & girls, came out in just their underwear.

Late one night, in Uganda, in our pitch black room Tianna woke me to say she had to go to the toilet.  Because it was so dark we were bumping into things and each other in our room.  When we got outside she was doing the “peepee dance” not wanting to go across the yard to the toilets because she heard the pig.  So I said come back and we’ll go behind the building.  I could tell she wasn’t going to make it so I picked her up to squat then she pee’d on my foot!!

Landon & Tianna joined their new friends for a 3D movie in Cairo, none of them brought enough money for snacks and barely scraped enough money to buy the 3D glasses, in fact Gaylin and his friend shared one pair of glasses with one lens each!

Crossing the border from Jordan to Israel the process was taking so long that Tianna repeated over and over...."geographically we are in Israel but politically we are not"

Tianna was saving jelly fish on the shores of the Red Sea by throwing them back into the water when she brought one over to me to look at.  I said I wonder what that purple marking is and she replied "it's the testicles".........she meant tentacles so we had a really good laugh!!!

On the train in Istanbul I lost my grip on Landon’s guitar and it fell on a man’s toe…oops!

When JC was lost on Buyukada Island in Turkey I had trouble communicating to a small store owner that I needed a pen and paper to make a sign for JC, luckily a lady that spoke both English and Turkish was able to pass on my request and presto a sign was made and posted.

We had a funny moment while posing with our families for a photo at Pamukkale when a young, very well fed, boy in his underwear wouldn't move away despite our asking him very nicely he just repeated his response "uh-uh" while shaking his head.  Wishing now we would have taken his picture just to remember him.

On Kefalonia Island in Greece we slept on the beach next to the turtle nests when in the morning a dog came running over to us, lifted his leg and pee'd on Landon's sleeping bag while he was still asleep in it!

THE BEST

As a family we've rated the BEST, here is our list......

Host/Tour Guide – Carlos (El Salvador), Elias (Lima), Clever (Cuzco), & Niko (Israel)

Pupusa’s – Ron & Sherry's, La Libertad, El Salvador
Breakfast – Maria Luisa in Salcoatitan, El Salvador
Beach – Playa San Diego, El Salvador

Coffee – with Karen from New York (Israel coffee)

Burger – Casa Del Mar, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Dinner – Betty’s house in Santa Teresa

Surfing – Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Hostel - El Roble, El Salvador

Ocean view sunset – Santa Teresa

Airline – TACA Air, Alaska Airlines

Hot Springs – Termales Los Laureles, Costa Rica

Canopy(zip line) – Eco Glide, Costa Rica

Rainforest Tour Guide – Usiles Alvarez, Eco Lodge Costa Rica

Lunch - Cordova family (Rocio) in Peru (Couch Surfing)
Educational tour - Ballestes Islands, Peru
Pizza - Trattoria Pizzeria Los Farolitos, Huacachina
Sand dunes - Huacachina, Peru
Milkshake & pancakes - Banana's, Huacachina
Soup - Ruth in Arequipa
Mango - Arequipa, Peru
Chocolate - from Dennis in Arequipa
Hot shower - Pirwa Hostel, base of Machu Picchu
Garlic Bread - Machu Pizza in Puno
Braai aka BBQ - Basil's house, Cape Town, South Africa 
African meal(meat stew & chakalakah) - Jessica, Cape Town, South Africa
Sudza - Zimbabwe
Community event - Oziyasi's village in Malawi and Circumcision Party in Pasakoy, Turkey
Biggest Avacado - Jinja, Uganda
Porridge - Kyabirwa Primary School, Uganda
Nicest Airport staff - Ethiopian Airline
Sweetest Duty Free Shop - Ethiopian Airport
Spaghetti and cookies - Susan in Egypt
Indian food - Kim in Maadi, Cairo Egypt
Unusual experiences - Floating in Dead Sea in Jordan and Calcium Pools in Turkey
Day of Swimming - Sea of Galilee, Israel
Most unique home-stay - Muslim Family, Jericho, Palestine
Snorkelling - Red Sea, Jordan
Coolest Family to travel with - Zachest's from Melbourne, Australia
Caves - Melissani Cave - Kefalonia Island, Greece

Favourite Family Verses

If God is for us who is against us?
Romans 8:31

May the God of Peace.....equip you with everything good for doing His will and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him.
Hebrews 13:20-21

Don't forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16

Although it is true that we may not know what the future holds, we know who holds the future.
Romans 8:28

J is for Jesus
O is for others
Y is for yourself
If you put the will of God first and the needs of others above your own, you will find Joy.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord
Joshua 24:15

Todo lo puedo en cristo que me fortalece
Filipenses 4:13

Our new friend Joey from USA now living in Peru for 3 years!

Tianna's favourite verse:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8

Landon's favourite verse:
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and place it under a bowl instead they put it on a stand for it to give light to the whole house.  In the same way let your light shine before man so that they may see your good deeds and praise to your father in heaven.  Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:13-18

But I have trusted in your loving kindness; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
Psalm 13:5

A.O.K. (acts of kindness)

Our plan is to do at least one Act of Kindness every day of the trip!

Jan 30

Our kids rescue a toddler who ran away from her Mom in the Vancouver airport

JC helped an older lady with her luggage on the flight from Van to L.A.

Jan. 31

Landon helped a disabled lady with her crutches from the overhead compartment.

Feb. 1

JC worked up a sweat helping to dig a foundation using a pic axe into the ground which was hard as rock made of solidified volcanic ash!!

Feb. 2

Our family playing soccer with all the kids from Compassion created the biggest smiles on all their faces!!
We gave money to a man with only one leg outside of the church in Salcoatitan.

Feb. 3
Landon and Tianna taught Luis (Carlos son) english on our hike through the volcano, "how much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a..........." and Dad helped carry a Chilacayote (the size of a BIG watermelon) from the bottom of the crater up the hill and back home.

Feb. 4
Tianna helped Carlos wrap cheese (not really act of kindness but close because it was stinky cheese!)

Feb. 5
Shelley picked up some glass off the sand at the Playas (beach)

Feb. 6
We spent time trying to bring some joy into the lives of people waiting for a wheel chair fitting.

Feb. 7
We gave the security/maintenance man some pizza at Cabana's Iguana in Jaco, Costa Rica.

Feb. 8
Tianna entertained some of the passengers on the boat from Jaco to Montazuma with her string trick that her cousin Victoria taught her at Christmas.

Feb. 9
Tianna played hide n' seek with a little boy Jackson at the Beach Break Hotel

Feb. 10
JC helped clean the pool

Feb. 11
Saved a spider from drowning in the pool (my kids laughed at this one but it does qualify as an act of kindness for the spider:-)

Feb. 12
Landon & Tianna served Luis his lunch while he lay reading in the hammock!

Feb. 13
today was pasta making day at Pastas La Nonna and I washed all the dishes for them

Feb. 14
Tianna spoke french with a fellow Canadian from Montreal now retired in Costa Rica...not really an act of kindness but it did make him smile!!

Feb. 15
washed the restaurants dishes again

Feb. 16
Landon & Tianna saved a fish that had just washed up on shore by throwing it back in the ocean

Feb. 17
helped a HUGE beetle who had flipped on its back and was going no where!

Really embarrassed to report that our family has failed miserably in this department......the days we spend at the house when we don't go anywhere does not give us much opportunity to do acts of kindness....and even though Landon thinks A.O.K. is 'cheezy' I think it's important and will continue to look for ways in which we can make a difference!

Picked up garbage off the beach.

Helped a young guy at the market pick up a bunch of tiny beads that were overturned in the sand by a dog running through his display of jewelry and beads.

Gave some money to our new friend in Santa Teresa to buy another pair of sandals since the ones he just purchased were stolen off the beach while he was surfing.

Tianna gave some of her clothes to Betty for her to sell at her little shop in Santa Teresa. We plan to send more clothes to her when we return to Canada.

JC helped a lady in Lima with her propane bottle.

Gave a donation to a man in a wheelchair at the market.

Gave some money to the owner of a store who gives candy to the kids waiting to be picked up and taken to Elias's church. Supporting their 'Candy Ministry'.

Landon gave a little girl some chocolate after she slipped and fell on the stairs and was crying.

I french braided a little girls hair outside the store.

In Lima Landon gave some money to an older man who appeared to be blind.

I helped Elias's parents peel Lima Beans to get them ready for roasting.

Tianna and I helped Katherine from Australia pick up garbage on the Sand Dunes. Unfortunately some people don't appreciate the beauty of Huacachina and leave their litter behind!

Our family helped set up clothes etc. for the church sale then worked all day at the sale.

Landon used a frisbee to collect water from the stream which he gave to the grazing sheep where we had our picnic in the mountains.

Picked up garbage from the stream at the meadow in the mountains outside of Arequipa.

Helped Ruth make oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies to take to the orphanage.

Landon purchased building materials for an orphanage and he and his Dad helped re-roof the playground equipment.

We gave all the love we had to 2 babies at the orphanage, taking turns holding them and loving them.

We took 11 orphans to the park to play.

Tried to comfort little Pedro after he fell from the swing and hit his head on the cement at the orphanage.

Did a 'Colvin Cafe' for Dennis & Ruth (banana pancakes of course!)

Our wonderful children gave us the best surprise for our 12th anniversary, including a candle light dinner, wine and cookies.

Left some money with Dennis & Ruth to help a family in need.

Handed out Easter chocolates to all the children from the orphanage after church on Easter Sunday.

Treated the family of 6 that we are staying with in Cuzco to the Chocolate Museum...yummm!

Landon made his famous banana pancakes for Ramiro and family!

In Cuzco Tianna fixed the rubix cube and gave it to Kim.

Both kids played for hours with Lia, Liam and Kim in Cuzco.

On the hike to Machu Picchu we picked up garbage off the path.

JC helped carry a bunch of potatoes up to the fourth floor of the hotel in Puno

JC came to the rescue of a very old lady needing help up onto the curb in Puno

Tianna was the best babysitter ever, keeping little Noah entertained in the car while driving all around Cape Town.

All the missions work we did with the Zimbabwe Project including giving food, some of our clothing, shoes and sleeping bags. Running the kid's camps.

Landon presented his book Spirit Wolf to the new library in Chikumbo, Zimbabwe.

Landon & Tianna donated their term 2 schoolbooks to the new Chikumbo Library in Zimbabwe.

JC gave up his seat for about an hour to a young girl on the bus from Vic Falls to Harare, the bus was overbooked and she never had a seat.

Paid for our new friend Never to get his abscessed tooth pulled.

JC gave blood in Malawi.

Landon helped a French tourist with translation in the Kenya airport.

Sharing the Salvation Story by making salvation bracelets with kids, reading and giving them the story to color.

Helping teach english, PE, & math classes at the Kywbirwa Primary School to hundreds of students.

JC provided impromptu swimming lessons for some kids swimming at a Resort in Uganda including Winnie & Daniel.

Purchased 3400 feminine products for the girls of the Kyabirwa School so they do not have to miss 3-4 days of school each month.

We invited Maddy, our driver, to join our family quading. It was his first time driving a quad and he had a blast!!

Landon treated John to quad riding in Uganda.

As a reward to all the P6 Phonics students we bought some special Cadbury candy to hand out on the last day.

A man who works as night watchman at the school contracted malaria, we had extra anti-malaria tablets which was enough to treat him.  We pray he is cured.

Tianna donated 2 of her English storybooks to the Kyabirwa Library.

As a family we gave stickers to the teachers to use on students school work, crayons & paper to the art class, and shared the salvation story with all the teachers including a bracelet.

We left the remainder of the candy with Moses to use as a reward for students “caught in the act” passing on the idea from Beairsto.

To thank Florence for all her delicious cooking and for how hard she works we gave her some money to spend on herself.

We had some stuff in our packs that Maria could use for her crafts class, which we were happy to give to her project helping the Jinja women.

We left presents for all of Moses’ family.

Our mosquito nets that were never used, were left with Moses which he can pass on to a family in need.

In Maadi (a city in Cairo, Egypt) there is garbage everywhere but despite this picked up garbage on our way home.  It did not much of a difference but trying to leave it better than we found it.

I offered to be the chaperon for all the Maadi house kids so they could hang out at the mall one day.

On several occasions our family has given money to the poor begging on the streets of Maadi.

Mailed a phone card to Moses and our kids school books to Kyabirwa Primary School in Uganda.  Also, sent some money to Maria for her craft project with the Jinja ladies.

Invited the Aussie family, we met in Peru, to Cairo and found them free accomodation.

Drove Niko from Sea of Galilee to the Telaviv Airport in Israel.

Helped out a couple from the USA by renting them our rented car in Eilat, Israel since they missed their bus and the car rental companies were closed.

Many opportunities to take pictures of couples or families so no one would be left out of the photograph.

On the way to our gate in the Cairo airport we walked past a Muslim woman with an infant in her arms and a wailing toddler standing next to her.  I could tell that she was having a really hard time getting the toddler to walk with her.  I went back and asked if I could help.  I picked up her screaming child and walked through the airport all the way to their gate with him crying the entire time!!  Moms in any culture are the same, happy for getting help when they need it the most!

Tianna picked up and returned an item dropped by a chinese tourist in the spice market in Turkey.

Several times we picked up garbage and discarded water bottles on the shore of Katelios and Mounda Beach in Greece.

Helped the volunteers of the turtle project dig for a turtle nest on the beach.

Landon scooped out a bunch of garbage out of the sea near where the Loggerhead Turtles come to feed.

Saved 7 baby turtles just hatched on Mounda Beach, Kefalonia Island, Greece.

Upon arriving home to Vernon I made arrangements through Moses to get Isiiko(the man I met on the street) money he needed for transportation to get to Kampala for a new wheel chair.

Moses with Isiiko in his new chair!