July 27

The sky was clear, the sun was HOT today - our last full day in Belize. Here we are ready for church. Dale's preaching tonight on Psalm 46 went very well. He received hugs from some of the older men in Cristo Rey and another lady brought me a tortilla warmer as a gift - it's actually a gourd that has the top cut off for a lid.

In San Narciso the bugs were plentiful tonight, but there were many expressions of gratitude from the people. Alvaro expressed his appreciation for our church's (FRPC's) part in

helping to provide his ACCESS training at Covenant Seminary. This lady, the one with the short hair, her name is Rosara, told me how much she appreciates Senor McLane's preaching and how practical and easy to understand he is.

She was the cook for the Escabeche dinner the church had for us after the service. They indeed make us feel very loved and welcome!

The day was only dampened by a broken window in the Montero we are borrowing from Albert and Romalda. We think someone wanted the jar of peanut butter that was sitting on the back seat. Pray that it is something that can be fixed. We have no idea what kind of car window repair service there is in Belize.

So, tomorrow we will be traveling home, leaving Corozal around 7 am and flying out of Belize City around 11:30 am. Please pray for our safety and for no complications getting through immigration and customs in Houston.

Please keep the Presbyterian Church and Schools in Belize in your prayers. We can plant seeds but only God can change hearts and lives. Dios Le Bendiga

July 26

We woke up this morning to this guy, passing by on the other side of the street. Mind you we live just 2 blocks from the center of town. Who knows where he came from.

The bay was very calm this morning as we went over to bid our FRPC friends goodbye around 8 am. We were able to spend some time in prayer with them before they left..

Everyone seemed ready to get going and I'm sure that as I write this, they are enjoying long hot showers or are already in their own little beds fast asleep.

Around 10:00 we headed to Belize City with Carla to pick up Alvaro and Elsa, who were flying home from St. Louis at 2:45. Being a couple hours early we passed by the airport and had a nice lunch at the Biltmore, Best Western Hotel and did a little shopping at Brodies, the SuperWalmart of Belize. Arriving at the airport around 2:15, we walked into the terminal to find Miguel and Omar sitting there (they were the guys who drove the team to the airport on the PDS Bus). We asked them what they were still doing there - their response, "We've waited here to pick up Alvaro and Elsa." Alvaro had asked them a week before he left if they would be picking up another team today. Since their answer was "No more teams this year," Alvaro had assumed they wouldn't want to wait 4 hours for them to come in, so had made arrangements with us to pick he and Elsa up. Miguel and Omar had assumed he wanted them to wait for him.


Needless to say, they headed back to Corozal with an empty bus and we went to watch for the plane to arrive. Mario, an elder at Alvaro's church in San Narciso, and also a teacher at Concepcion School just happened to be arriving on the same plane as Alvaro and Elsa. He was on his way home from a month of math training in Korea. So we had a fun time waiting with his family- his wife Nela, three beautiful daughters, and his parents, a brother and a cousin.

When we reached San Narciso with Alvaro and Elsa, we found he had no car to go over to Patchakan to pick up their three boys, so we drove them on to Patchakan. And after dropping them off we decided to stop and visit the Vallejos family, and it was after 6 when we arrived back in Corozal. The day didn't end there, but I am rambling.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Belize. Dale will be preaching at Cristo Rey at 5 and San Narciso at 6:30.

July 25

This morning I rode a bus in Belize for the first time! I went with the teams to Lamani - a Mayan ruin about 1 hour south of here.

It took two boats to take the 37 of us up the New River for 33 miles to the "Archaeological Site." (If our guide used that term once, he used it 100 times.) The boat ride is my favorite part of the trip, next to

the delicious Belizean meal they serve us under the big palapa once we arrive on the "Archaeological Site." The food was outstanding - rice & beans & stew chicken with a fresh salad, potato salad, chips, soft drinks. After we took our fill

we began our tour of the "Archaeological Site" which included several temples, a royal palace, and a ball court. Here is most of the team on top of the largest temple. Even the older men made the climb! I had to stay at the bottom and take pictures. Somebody had to do it.

It was a fun day for me. Meanwhile, Dale stayed back in town. He helped Albert with a teacher interview this morning, and spent the afternoon working on his sermon for Sunday among other things.

The team will be on their way back to Pittsburgh tomorrow, but they have done a terrific job here, both at the worksite and with Bible School in Chan Chen. The Patchakan elder who oversees the mission church at Chan Chen was very impressed with the Bible School our team ran. He said it will definitely make in impact on that village. The Gospel was clearly presented and there was several children who responded to it.

Keep us all in your prayers as we travel tomorrow - the team to Belize City to fly out around noon and Dale, Carla and I will also travel to the airport in Belize City to pick up Alvaro and Elsa returning from their week at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis.

July 24

We began our last day "on the job" with group singing - the teams, the Belizean teachers taking the workshops, the Belizean workmen and the missionaries. We sang "Across the Lands", a very fitting song for the occasion.

The teams got much accomplished - the library ladies mended lots of books, the last of the sidewalks was poured,

The cement mixing area was scraped clean,

The shovels were cleaned and ready to be wheeled back to storage,

The cement wall on the basketball court got painted,

and there was a short game of soccer between the Belizean workers and the team.

Dale and I ended our day eating dinner at Albert and Romalda Zantingh's. (Rice & Beans & Stew Chicken)

July 23

As our time here in Belize winds down to just a few days, we seem to be getting busier. This morning our day in the classroom began with singing, and instead of singing to the music of a CD, as is our custom, Caleb Crawford came up to the room and accompanied us on the guitar.

The hard working First Reformed team got another span of sidewalk poured this morning, and the ladies got a lot accomplished in the library repairing and numbering books - however the news of Katie, JJ & Eric's nephew going into heart transplant surgery changed the mood a bit. They stopped what they were doing for a time of prayer for little Robby. We were thankful to hear just a short time ago of how well God answered those prayers and Robby is doing well post surgery.

Dale and I left the school around 11 am to go to Cristo Rey. We needed to pay a visit to Rueben, a Cornerstone teacher who was hurt in an accident over 4 weeks ago (broken kneecap, ankle, and nose) and has been in bed ever since. He still has another week before they will put a cast on his ankle and he will be allowed out of bed.

After that visit we drove over to the other side of the village to the Nah's. Natalia and Hilario had invited us for lunch today.

Natalia made us Salbutes - another one of our favorite Mayan foods. While we were there, a Chinese pastor friend from Taiwan stopped by and we had a fun visit talking about the differences in the way Chinese prepare food - and the unsual things they eat - snake, cat, dog -can't even remember how we got on that subject, but it went on for quite a while.

After classes were over for the day, we went refrigerator shopping with Carla. First to Courts, then home to measure her fridge, then back to Courts, who wouldn't be able to deliver until next Wednesday. She needs one sooner so we went to Cinty's, then to the Cinty's around the corner, then to an Indian appliance shop, and to another Indian appliance shop up the street where she FINALLY found one they could deliver sooner. Then we had to go to the bank to get some money to pay for the fridge, went back and paid the man - and by then we were hot and hungry.

After dinner at RD's, we arrived back at Carla's to find Loli and Viany and Abdiel waiting for us. Viany had made me a beautiful set of pillowcases. (They are a couple that live in San Narciso and attend Alvaro's church.) We have spent the past two hours visiting with them,

and some of the FRPC team members stopped by to use the internet and had fun interracting with Abdiel. He is a precious little boy.
We promise to have more pictures of the team tomorrow. It's been such a busy, but fulfilling day.

July 22

Another action packed day! Our friends Elsa and Tito had us to their new home in Patchakan for lunch. It was such an enjoyable visit! Elsa and her mom made Dale's favorite - Rellano. (Stewed chicken that has been stuffed with sausage and hard boiled eggs and a spicy black ricado.) Elsa and her mom spent the morning preparing it. They had to do it at Elsa's mom's house, which is about 2 blocks away because Elsa doesn't have electricity yet or running water. They are very proud of their new home.

And, of course one of our favorite Belizean "ninos" is Kristine, their daughter. But, back at the work site- the team was getting a lot done today. They poured about 50 feet of sidewalk. They were very thankful for the breeze that was blowing and the occasional cloud cover. A couple of the really hard working ones did some book repair work for Carla in the library ...

While the rest of them did a little manual labor outside in elements. Here is the group filling buckets with rocks and sand to mix with water and cement....

Then a few more of them wheeled it over to the sidewalk area....

Where a Belizean worker is waiting to help them dump it in the forms...

and here is some of the finished cement work. It poured rain about 30 minutes after they had made the last wheelbarrow dump. The cement now has a nice raindrop texture!

Finally, here they are getting ready, in the living area of their "home," to listen to Carla give a Power Point presentation on the history of the Presbyterian Church in Belize. It really helped to show the team that what they are doing here in Belize is important! They also are having a good time with 60 to 70 children (so far) in Bible School in Chan Chen Village. (Sorry, no pictures, we don't go with them to Chan Chen)

July 21

Monday, the first day of a new workshop week. Carla started hers today with 4 teachers, Jean Giles will be starting one tomorrow for elementary teachers. Dale is doing devotions each morning and and whatever else Carla has for him to do and also trying to spend some time encouraging Albert, Cornerstone's principal. Linda is still working in the school office organizing files and being gofer.

The excitement for us today was seeing "our" team arrive at the worksite - raring to go. Her is Jessica Roseum, first off the bus.

Then they all began to pour out of the bus and get instructions for setting up their "refreshment area."

Here is a group of them hard at work moving dirt. Forms are being set up to pour some sidewalks. A couple ladies in the group were dealing with too much heat but no wonder since it was the hottest day we've had since we came on the 3rd. The reason - the currents of tropical storm Dolly are sucking up all our air leaving us with little breeze. It was pretty still and hot. Thankfully there was occasional clouds covering the sun.

We met the team at the Summers for dinner after their first Bible School afternoon in the village of Chan Chen. For a dinner we had rice & beans and stew chicken. (voted by me tonight as "Belize's Best") - in Carla's words - "Dinner was a cut above." Gloria (Lupe's wife) is cooking for the team this week. We're thankful to be invited.

Above are two of the team's fearless leaders after a hard day of work. They all look great, but I'm sure are ready for a cold shower and a good night's rest. We are enjoying sharing Belize with them.