July 27,2009

We made it back to Pittsburgh safely and on-time. Thank you for your prayers.

Our last full day in Belize was an adventure with the San Narciso Church.

We left San Narciso at 8:00 am, a bus full of 46 people, mostly children. We made several stops along the way picking people up, and arrived at Altun Ha (a Mayan ruin) at about 10:00 am. We were greeted by millions of mosquitos! So the first thing we all did was apply our bug spray!


We moved the food and everyone into this shelter where the mosquitos were even thicker.

We had about 35 minutes of worship - singing and Alvaro gave a devotional on Eph. 4:1-6 . After that some games - here we are doing tug of war.


After the games we toured the Mayan ruins and had a lot of fun climbing the temples.


Around noon we all gathered back in the mosquito shelter for lunch. Dale, Carla and I had to let several families share thier food with us - rice and beans, fried rice, fried chicken - all delicious. We certainly didn't go hungry.





After eating we packed up the bus and retraced our route for about 18 miles to this new ECO PARK - Croc-land. We headed for a shelter there in the park where we had our second worship service.
Dale gave the devotional and we did a lot of singing, and there was a very special time of sharing were several people stood up and thanked Dale and I for coming to Belize every year and for all we have done for them. It was very humbling because these people bless us much more than we think we ever bless them.


Alvaro gave a special thanks to our home church, FRPC for all they have done for his seminary education. It was all very special.





After a tour of the crocodiles, we spent about 90 minutes at the swimming pool.


It was a perfect day!


We left the Eco Park around 5:00 for Belize City where we spent the night at the Best Western before heading out of Belize in the morning.


What a blessing these people are to us! We are so grateful for the opportunity to spend another July with them.





Dios te bendiga!

July 25, 2009

This last day in Corozal Town has been a busy one for us - and still will be. We were awakened at 5:40 am by some one weed-wacking right outside our bedroom window. Once we were up we had breakfast and started packing up for our trip home.



We spent last evening with Chayo and Amy. They will begin working at Cornerstone next week when Summer School begins. They are moving into our house as soon as we vacate it.
Please keep them in your prayers. This move back to Belize will be a big adjustment for them - especially Amy. Her parents (MTW) missionaries will be here for 2 more years, so at least Amy will have her mom nearby.



Back to this morning - about 9:30 Loli & Viany stopped by with Abdiel and Viany's mom (in picture) to say goodbye. We enjoyed visiting with them for a while and then a couple of former students of ours came by to see us - Herminio and Antonio Loza. They both graduated from Cornerstone last year and have spent a year working in the cane fields and for the papaya industry to earn enough money to continue their
education. Herminio, standing next to me, wants
to be a doctor! Antonio wants to pursue IT. It was so good to see them!

We had an invitation from Elsa and Tito to go to Patchakan for lunch, and they served us rellano - Dale's favorite. Elsa is in the picture dividing up the chicken and rellano into bowls while her cute little daughter Kristine looks on. We enjoyed our lunch, stopped by and saw Yadira (another teacher friend) and hurried back to town because we had to take a friend to catch a boat to San Pedro. We saw a couple manatee in the bay while we were there waiting for the boat - first time for me, Dale has seen them there before.


Late afternoon Albert & Romalda stopped by to say goodbye and ended up staying for dinner.
Nehru and his wife Norma were making us BBQ
chicken for dinner - so we all sat around our table

and had a wonderful time of fellowship and singing together. They all have just left, it's now 7:15 and we need to finish up our packing and cleaning up the house because we leave here in just twelve hours for a day of worship, fellowship, and fun with our San Narciso church family.


Tomorrow night we will be in Belize City and then fly out Monday morning - back to Pittsburgh. Pray for our last day here with our Belizean friends and for our safety as we travel to Altun Ha (by school bus) with the SanNarciso congregation, then on to Belize City to fly home on Monday.

Our next blog will probably not be before we arrive back home in Pittsburgh.

July 24, 2009

Friday already! Where has the week gone?
Here is a picture of Dale next to Ryan (the boy who he is helping with a sermon). Ryan has prepared his rough draft and he and Dale need to go over it, probably this afternoon.

The other night a group of boys were playing American football between Carla's and our houses, right in the middle of the road. They seemed to be having a lot of fun!

Yesterday I went to Chetumal, Mexico with Albert and Romalda, and Gary and Anita. We had a long day, but really enjoyed our time together. I have a Sam's card, so I was able to get them in to the Sam's Club and they were able to get some things at much more reasonable cost than they can in Belize. Anita bought two gallon-sized containers of Metamucil for the clinic. (She said they go through it like koolaid and was happy to find that quantity at such a reasonable price.)

The only problem with shopping in Chetumal is that at the end of the day we have to carry everything we've purchased through customs - which means getting out of the vehicle at the boarder,
grabbing all the bags, walking through the customs/immigration building, (hoping they don charge you customs for anything) and then putting everything back in the car. Yesterday we came through with the two gallons of Metamucil, two pillows, 8 boxes of cereal, 8 cartons of boxed milk, some yogurt, and all the little things we had purchased. Our arms were full and they let us pass with no problemo.

The two ladies in the picture are Anita and Esther (the lady Cydney lived with when she was in Belize back in 2000) We ran into Esther at the boarder going into Mexico and also in this department store downtown.

I took the bus picture is to show you how the buses in Mexico look like insects. Albert told me they are pure luxury to ride - smooth, and very comfy inside.

After we arrived home around 7:30 pm, we had to go to Patchakan for the wake of the 12 year old boy, Jonathan, who had died on Wednesday. They still don't know for sure what led to his death, but it involved a hammock and his neck had been broken. When we arrived at the house, there were over 150 people sitting in rows of chairs singing and listening to sermons being preached by elders in the church and Alvaro. It is so, so sad to see such a young, healthy life snuffed out. This child was active in the Presbyterian church in Patchakan, helped with the mission church in Chaibe, and had many friends.

Please keep this family in prayer. They are in shock. The funeral is today, but we decided not to go back to Patchakan for that. We are trying to wrap up a few project before we need to start packing for our trip home.

July 22, 2009

Yesterday afternoon Dale and I went to the village of San Narciso to run a couple errands- first we needed to deliver the sewing machine the FRPC Pioneer Club girls collected money for this past year. We gave it to Veronica -( she was mentioned
last week in our blog- we went to her birthday party.) Veronica is a widow. She has 3 daughters and 2 sons, the oldest who died 3 years ago. Her husband died 2 years ago. She does a couple things to make money to support her family - she raises chickens and she sews. She makes clothes without using a pattern! I am so impressed by that! She is a faithful member of the San Narciso church - and a sweet Christian woman. She was very grateful for the sewing machine - and especially the pair of Fiskar scissors that we also gave her.
After we left Veronica's house we had to stop by Alvaro's and get some passport information so we could get his airline tickets for his trip to the states next month. We are excited that he will be spending 4 days with us in Pittsburgh on his way to St. Louis for his presentation of his final seminary project.
Next we stopped by Mario's house. Mario is a teacher at the Concepcion school and has 3 beautiful daughters. Dale has been able to spend some time discipling with him over the past few weeks. He was putting up a tent/canopy on his back porch so his girls could have some shade to play in. I had fun playing catch with the girls, and they seemed to love the attention.

Today Dale spent several hours at the school helping to interview candidates for teaching positions that are open at Cornerstone. I had lunch with Elsa and Alvaro and their boys - Chirmole, delicious!

Dale also has been helping Neru's son, a 12 year old named Ryan, who is supposed to preach a "sermon" on Sunday at his church. He goes to the Nazarene church and wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

Other than that I've been typing, typing, typing for Carla.
I'm getting really good at it. This is good for my wpm test.

In the past hour we received some very sad news. The 12 year old son of a teacher at the Presbyterian Day School died late this afternoon. He was strangled in his hammock. Please pray for the Medina/Chan families.

July 21,2009

Our time in Belize is winding down, and there seems to be so much to accomplish - well, not accomplish exactly, but it seems as though everyone waits until we only have a few days left and then they are wanting our time. Tomorrow Dale will be spending another day doing interviews for Cornerstone teachers, and also the Education Commission of the Presbytery wants to meet with him regarding the one school board idea. Romalda has asked us to come to dinner tonight for Chirmole and again on Thursday for breakfast. We'll be having dinner with Chayo and Amy on Frinday night. This afternoon we plan to make the rounds to San Narciso (to deliver a sewing machine) and to Cristo Rey and then to Patchakan to stop by and see some friends we haven't been able to see yet.
This picture was from Sunday evening when we met up with Chayo and Amy after church. Also in the photo are Amy's parents Gary and Anita.
It was so good to see Amy and Chayo again. They have just relocated here from Jackson, Mississippi and plan to work at Cornerstone. They will be moving into our casa on Monday when we leave to go back to the states. Please pray for their re-adaptation to Belize, the climate, the lifestyle, and all the changes that have occured here since they left 3 years ago.

On our last day here (Sunday) our church family in San Narciso is going on an all-day outing to a Mayan ruin towards Belize City called Altun Ha. They will leave at 7:30 am, get to the ruins about 9:00, have a worship service, play some games, tour the ruins, have lunch, then leave for a swimming place to spend the afternoon. Alvaro announced to the congregation that each family should bring extra food for the lunch so that Dale and I can eat a little from each family's meal. A young lady came up to me after the service and suggested we stop eating after Monday so that we will have room for all the food. Dale will be giving a devotional at the end of the afternoon before they all head back to San Narciso. We plan to just leave from there and go on to Belize City (since we will be pretty close) to spend the night before we leave Belize on Monday morning. It will save us making the 90 minute trip back to Corozal (probably not getting home until around 10:00), then having to get up to leave at 7 am and driving the 2 hour trip back to Belize City. Just seems a wiser use of time and gas.

July 19, 2009

I haven't had a chance to blog since Friday morning!
Well, we never did lose power. They say that we could be losing power for a while at any time, but they can't say when - that was two days ago. Go figure.
We have been very buzy - let's see....Friday morning, after I wrote the last post, Romalda called me and asked me to go walk to town with her so she could price some shoes for her son Jeremy. So, since Dale was at the school doing teacher interviews, I accepted the invitation. It was quite fun walking from store to store with Romalda - she knows where things are and what to ask. Then I spent the rest of the day editing Carla's teaching modules.

Dale didn't get back from the interviews until after 3:30. And right about then Carla got a call from a potential buyer about Jean's car. So they went over to meet the lady, and SOLD THE CAR! They came back an hour later with $12,000 Belize dollars in CASH! We had a late supper and after dinner, Sandra, a lady who Carla gives food to, came by with her two little girls. Both were wearing sweatshirts (in 85 degree weather) and the little one in the ski hat has a "cold" so her mother had dressed her in warm clothes. They are very, very cute kids. Just wanted to hug us over and over.



Saturday morning we left Corozal Town at 7:00 am for the 2 hour drive to Belize City for the
stated Presbytery meeting at the Unity Church. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 9:00 am, but the men were still waiting for the church to be opened at 9:40 am. This church is in the "burial grounds" part of the city (I think I mentioned it last week). It is built in the middle of the very poor people who live in the swamplands around the cemetary. This church has helped the community get "cleaned up" a bit. It also has started a school. Here are some pictures of the classrooms. LOTS of stuff on the walls - very colorful. The pastor of this church was the first man to ever graduate from the Presbyterian Seminary (just a couple months ago) and is waiting to be examined by Presbytery

for Ordination. His name is Ernest (shown here with Albert) and he is one of the friendliest men I've met in Belize. He was a perfect host. The other picture is one of the 3 ordained pastors in Belize, Arturo Mendez. Cydney lived with he and his wife 9 years ago when she was in Belize.

During the morning session, Romalda and I and Ismael & Alvaro's sister Lydia went downtown Belize city - still looking for shoes. We came back while the men were still eating lunch, and Mrs. Lacey said she wish she could have gone with us because she hadn't been downtown Belize for over 5 years. So after she finished eating, I took her on a ride through the city. She was so pleased! Here she is standing by the Bay next to some grafitti bearing her name written on the sea wall. When we returned to the church we
sat another 5 hours, until after 6:00pm, while the Presbytery finished their agenda. Carla was translating the whole day for Dale because it was all in Spanish, and like a true presbytor, he wanted to join the discussion. Of course he couldn't because he was just a visitor. I should mention, it was VERY HOT! And the pews are VERY HARD (mahogany). On the way home we stopped in Orange Walk for dinner at a lovely restaurant and didn't make it home until almost 10:00 pm. Needless to say, we were exhausted!
This morning, after Sunday School in San Narciso, we came home and had a spaghetti lunch. Here we are sitting around the table in our casa, once again eating! - from the Right: Mrs. Lacey, Karen (a nurse at the clinic), Dale, Carla and I. After an afternoon of rest we will return to San Narciso for the evening service and afterwards we are meeting Chayo and Amy for a bite to eat. We haven't seen them since the got into the country on Thursday.
Tempterature right now is 91, with the Accuweather feel-like temperature of 110.

July 17, 2009

It's Friday morning - another warm one in Belize.

They say the power is going to be turned off for the day So
I'm hoping I can get this posted before it goes away. Dale is on his way to the school where he will be helping with interview for new teachers. I think they have six interview scheduled for today.

Dale has been keeping busy with all sorts of things, editing Bible curriculum for the teaching modules, meeting with Isael Vallejos, counseling several men for different reasons, and preparing for a short sermon the last Sunday we are here.

Our schedule has been so different from years past, but, I have to say, it is not so exhausting.

The first picture is of Carla and Dale coming back from dropping Jean's car off at a man's house who is going to clean it up and try to help her sell it.
The next picture is me on the back steps of our "casa". I had never even wandered back there. We have a nice large back yard. Wish I had a BBQ.

Wednesday evening Alvaro and Elsa and their family came over so that Alvaro could finalize the order of his project and get it ready for binding. The boys watched a movie and enjoyed popcorn while Dale, Alvaro, Elsa and I spent about 3 hours just talking. We so much love spending time with them!

Yesterday morning was Library Day and we spent the morning at the school. It was a busy library day, and we had the extra joy of seeing two students who we taught when we lived here four years ago. It is so fun to see how mature they have become. One girl actually is being interviewed today to be a teacher at Cornerstone!

Last night we took Elsa and Tito and Kristine out to Cactus Plaza. Our first panuchos, salbutes, and tortas of this trip! Of course we enjoyed every bite, but more so, we enjoyed spending an evening with this delightful couple and their daughter. Elsa is pregnant with her second - due in November - another girl!

Well, I need to post before power is gone..... that will again change my plans for the day. I had a full day of scanning and editing for Carla.

July 15, 2009

Good Morning from Belize! It is another warm, or I could say HOT day in Belize. We did have a short cooling rain about 6:30 this morning.
It is now half-time of our trip here. We have had an interesting time so far - we have been able to do some of the things that were in the plan and we have had many interruptions to our plan. But we know it is all in God's plan and we can see that. We are grateful to know that many are praying for our time here - we feel it.





Yesterday, Tuesday, was an example of our plans being interrupted. We had made arrangements last week for a meeting between Ismael and Dale to talk about school board for 9:00 Tuesday. At 8:30 Ismael calls to say there is another meeting he had to go to in Orange Walk, so they made new arrangments for a 1:00 meeting. That meant we needed to reorganize our day. That's how it has been going.





Pictures: Carla has been left with Jean Giles car to sell. Every morning Dale drives it down by Hotel Maya so people can see it is for sale. Every evening we go back to pick it up. So far no bites.





Raymond is a young man who lives nearby and often comes and asks Carla for a job. Instead of just asking for food, as most of them do, he asks for a job. So yesterday we hired him to pull the weeds out of our walkway. We were so impressed with young Raymond.



He stuck to the task for about 4 hours in the hot sun and not only did he pull the weeds, he got everyone of them, picked up what he had pulled and put it in the trash can. He told me he is 13 and goes to St. Paul's by the Sea (a Catholic school) He also told me, "This is an excellent job for me because I love to chop (mow the lawn with the machete) and I love working with the plants." We gave him drinks of water often and a sandwich for lunch, and paid him $7.00 BZ. I also gave him a granola bar for a snack and he said he'd never had such a snack and asked where in the world did I get it.

We had dinner at Albert and Romalda's last night. Romalda made us tostadas and, of course, they were delicious! Well, I better get to work - lots of scanning I need to do today. Dale has a meeting with a man later this afternoon, so we will be out and about Corozal.

July 13, 2009

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to San Narciso for Sunday School in the morning. Alvaro is doing a series on family and communication - kind of similar to the Peacemaker materials, but in Spanish. I am so thankful that Carla translates for me. Dale likes to sit and listen to the Spanish and try to get the gyst of what is being taught on his own.
After Sunday School, we came home and made lunch (taco salad) for us three and Karen from the Clinic. We usually spend our Sunday noon meal at Dorothy's in Cristo Rey, but she is in the States for the next three weeks - so we are on our own for Sunday lunch.

Here is a picture of Dale and his faithful friend, Samson (Carla's dog). He likes to sid on Dale's lap and play catch with his tennis ball.

We went to San Narciso for the Sunday worship service at 6:30. Her is Alvaro's son, Aldair warming up his guitar for when the youth led a couple choruses. It was really neat to see him playing the guitar while the congregation sung. Usually there is not any accompanyment at San Narciso. The gentlman in the back center of the picture is Don Aldo and his wife. Don Aldo led worship
last night and Alvaro preached.
So, here is a picture of what I did all day today.
Sat at the computer doing a couple projects - not related to the modules. I was asked by Alvaro to print out his "project" for his final presentation at Covenant Seminary. I spent the morning trying to get the printer to work - was getting very frustrated - but finally I got the project printed out. about 300 pages front & back. (Carla isn't really bigger than me, I'm sitting in a lower chair)
The lower picutre is the CD label I designed for Alvaro's materials. It was kind of fun to do. I hope Alvaro likes it. Carla said I needed to blog about it because she thinks it's so cool.

Dale spent time today running errands with keys and also spent time with Albert.
Dale will be meeting with Ismael tomorrow morning to give Ismael direction regarding creating just one school board to govern all the schools.
Pray that that meeting will go well, that the preparation that Dale has done will be well received.

July 11, 2009

Yesterday we were invited to Veronica's 43rd birthday party. Veronica, shown here with her mom, was the woman who's husband died two years ago while we were here. She is the sweetest Christian woman and very active in the church. We were told the party was at noon, so we arrived about 12:10. Most of the rest of the people started arriving about 1:00. First they served us a piece of cake, then a plate of chips with cheese dip & a glass of Cola, and then we had the choice of escabeche (onion soup) or BBQ chicken with rice and beans. Of course Dale had to have both! He also was pretty much the only man at the party. Most of the invitees were her "Feminil" group from church and their children.

Tables had been set up under a tin shelter, which is actually Veronica's kitchen. The food was delicious! The flies plentiful. Baby chickens under our feet. It rained off and on. Interesting party, but always a great time of fellowship with our Belizean friends.

Last evening we were invited out to Patchakan to Gary and Anita's house for a scrumptions dinner of porkchops, potato salad, avacado salad and fresh brownies. Gary is now the acting director of the mission team in Belize. His wife is a nurse at the clinic. They now live in a house in Patchakan which belongs to Alvaro & Elsa. We have been in the same house several times when Alvaro and Elsa lived in Patchakan - back then the house that had no running water and no bathroom. Gary and Anita have modernized it and it's really a cozy little place!

Just so you all know, eating and partying is not all we have been doing. It is hard to describe what all goes on between these times of fellowship. I still have been sitting at the computer quite a bit helping Carla with her teaching modules and Alvaro with his "project." Dale had been so busy just spending time with different men, counseling them, advising them, encouraging them. Pray that God would give him wisdom as he is helping these men work through several situations that are serious and will have long-term consequences.