Sunday Evening

Just a quick update before we leave.    We had a good time worshiping at San Narciso this evening.   It was again a joint service with their mission church, San Victor.  This time they brought San Victor to San Narciso with the church bus.   We were overwhelmed when the congregation had a time of testimony expressing their appreciation for us and for First Reformed Church and the support and encouragement we have given them over the years.   The service was followed by a surprise dinner of escabeche.   We appreciate our partnership with our Belize church family and only wish we could bring everyone down here to experience what we have experienced.    A Dios sea la gloria!

Above, the church filling up after the San Victor folks arrived.  Below, Escabeche Feast!

 

Sunday Afternoon

Our time in Belize is drawing to a close!    Friday afternoon we paid a visit to some good friends, Nehru and Norma, who were our neighbors where we've stayed in past years.    They belong to the Nazarene church and have hearts committed to seeing the Gospel spread in Belize.   It is always an encouragement to spend time visiting with them.

Yesterday Dale and Albert spent the day at Presbytery which was held in Belize City.   They left at 6 am to meet the bus load of presbytery delegates  at the "cut-off" by Cornerstone School.   They made the 2  hour trip to Belize city, picking up more delegates along the way from San Narciso, San Jose, Orange Walk.  ( Dale didn't take the camera, sorry there are no pictures.)      Alvaro was the moderator and the meeting lasted from 9 to 4:30, and then they made the 2 hour trip back on the bus.     Dale was encouraged by a few men who have already started reading and getting further insight from the book on Shepherd Leaders.

We are enjoying our last tastes of Belize - Friday evening we went to Cactus Plaza for some good salbute's and panuchos.  Last night Dale and Albert met Romalda and I at RD's for a late meal of fried chicken.   Romalda had a fried red snapper - the entire fish! She said it was delicious.  After Sunday School in San Narciso this morning, we had our third  of three Sunday dinners at Romalda's mom's in Patchekan ~ Rice and Beans & Stew chicken.  The Zantingh's have this meal at grandma's house EVERY Sunday.  We are going to have to keep up the habit - I told Dale I'd be preparing this meal every Sunday from now on!  Anyone want to join us?

This is Romalda peeking out from her mother's kitchen.

In a little while we will be going to San Narciso for Sunday worship at 5pm and tomorrow morning we will drive back to Belize City for our flight home.   We appreciate your prayers for our safe travel.

We certainly have been blessed by our time here!  We especially want to thank our hosts, Albert and Romalda who have been most gracious to us.   They have given us use of their car, fed us well, kept our clothes clean, and are dear friends  - they always make us feel so "at home" here in Belize.   

Friday Afternoon

Our time in Belize is quickly drawing to a close.  Yesterday we took a holiday and went with Albert & Romalda & family to Chetumal, Mexico.   We stopped first in the "Free Zone" where Dale wanted to see where a former student works.   There are many stores in the "Free Zone"  and many Mexicans & foreigners shop there freely, but it is hard for Belizeans to shop there unless you know someone who will get you a pass.  Romalda had a pass, we are foreigners.  So we went.

Then we paid a visit to the Sam's Club - where I have shopped in years past.  However this year they would not let us make a purchase.  The cashier said our card was blocked.  Who knows what the real story is - so we went to the new Walmart where you don't need a card.    We also went to the mall where Brittany and Jeremy went to the Transformer's movie and we shopped for a few things they can buy cheaper in Mexico - like cereal and paper products.   We were very tired when when we got home.  Crossing the border is an experience.

This morning we went back to Cornerstone so I could spend one more morning in the library.   Did the best I could with the time I had.   All the fiction, 200's, some of the 500's and 800's are in order.   Could have spent another two weeks.   Had several kids come in for books today, also.     While I was finishing up in the library, Dale went to San Narciso to meet with Alvaro and had a very productive meeting.

Today was also Elsa & Karon's last day at work - they will be off for the next two weeks and the school will be closed.   All teachers report back on August 1  to prepare for a new school year.

Tomorrow morning Dale and Albert will be up very early to travel to Belize City for an all day Presbytery meeting.  I will stay home with Romalda and get started with packing up.  Sunday will be our last full day in Belize and it will be a full day.

Thursday Morning

Wednesday was a busy day of visiting.   First we stopped by the school to leave a message with Karon, then we went on to San Victor to check out what the team from NC was doing at San Narciso's mission church.  On the road we met Alvaro, headed to town for some paint brushes and varnish.

This is a common sight - families going places with bikes as their only mode of transportation,

In San Victor we found the team busy at work.  They unfortunately had had a couple days where they weren't able to do much because of all the heavy rains, so they were working hard to catch up.  Dale had a good opportunity to talk with Lupe - the foreman & coordinator for the MTW teams.  

Many of the village children were hanging around, and it was fun to see these girls interact with them - helping them with English words.   The team had around 100 children at their Monday's VBS in the village - that means there are many children with families this mission church could reach out to.

Passing back through San Narciso, we stopped to see Taco - an elder in the San Narciso church and the secretary of the Presbytery.  He is currently un-employed, lives by himself (although he does have some family near) has been crippled since birth, and a very intelligent man - computer technology is his main skill.   We wanted to get a feel of his ideas of the potential for some kind of micro-enterprise in the future at San Narciso.    He had an American flag plaque hanging on his sparce walls.

Then, after picking Karon up at Cornerstone, we headed to Patchekan where we had a delightful lunch of rellano (Elsa's mom had made) and a time of fellowship with Elsa's sisters, mom, Kristine & Kevin.

We went back to Alberts, and Dale helped him do some clean-up around the house before we left for a late afternoon swim for Brittany.    The place we were going to swim was closed, but we had a chance to visit with another former student - one who never finished at Cornerstone, but has developed a business of his own in mowing lawns.   Pray for Chistian- he told us he wants to visit the Presbyterian church because he often remembers Dale's Bible classes (back in 2004-2005) and how much he learned.

Wednesday Morning

Yesterday morning we returned to the school to work on the library - still lots of work to be done there, and I'm sure I won't get it all done in the time we have left.   Dale left me off and went on to San Narciso for a meeting that never happened, so he was soon back at the school in time for it to start pouring again.

Soon Elsa and Karon, with little Christine came into the library with their umbrellas up and soaking feet.   They told us they were closing the office early because she needed to go to town to the bank to get a payment made and to get more checks so they could prepare the payroll.  (When they run out of checks, they have to go to the bank, where the bank teller hand stamps numbers on a new batch.)

We were supposed to be at the Nah's in an hour for lunch, but since it was raining and didn't look like it would let up, and we didn't want them to have to walk out ant stand by the road waiting for a taxi or bus,  we told them we would take them to town and to their home and then we would go for our lunch date.   It was POURING rain and we all got soaked just going from the library to the car.   (Except Christine - she had on a fancy, dancy raincoat!)  On the way into town, Christine fell asleep.  (Christine had come to work with her mom Elsa because she hadn't seen Mrs. McLane yet and was anxious for the "sweets" I always bring her.   She was quite happy with her "Cars" fruit snack.)

We made the circuit through town, through Patchekan dropping off the girls, and on to Cristo Rey for lunch with the Nah family.   She makes the best salbute's in the world!   We have had a long friendship with this family, but haven't had a chance to fellowship with them for a couple years.  Danai (second from left) was one of our students 7 years ago.  She is now married and expecting a baby next month.  

We have never been in Belize when there was so much rain - hard rains, water everywhere.   Our hearts go out to the many many homes we pass where their houses are surrounded by muddy water. 

Monday Evening

It has been a soggy day in Belize!   There was rain early this morning before we woke up, but when we got up at 6:45 am the sky was bright with sunshine.  We left for Cornerstone around 8:30 and the sky was getting grey.   It started raining just before we arrived, and soon the sky started pouring buckets of rain.  

The aftermath was lakes everywhere and frogs croaking like we've never heard.   Sounded like the cicada's (sp?) that we hear some summers in Pittsburgh.  Very loud!  I guess they were happy for all the extra water.

While I was working on the books in the library,  a former student stopped by to visit with Dale.  Here they are discussing the wonders of cell phones that have internet access.

We were invited to Veronica's for lunch.   She had killed two chickens this morning to make her birthday lunch - one pot of escabeche and one pot of relleno.   Delicioso!   Dale had two bowls of the relleno, and when I sat down there was a bowl of each at my place, complete with a chicken foot!   The meal was topped off with a slice of chocolate cake (Veronica's mother had baked for her) and a slice of cake from a quince años party they attended yesterday.

Felize CumpleaÑos! 

We had a delightful time with Veronica and her family - son Zair, (one of our former students) two of her daughters and her two grandchildren.   We are invited back for her birthday lunch next year!  Hope we can come. 

On our way back through town we ran into some more friends from Cristo Rey and we are invited there tomorrow for lunch.  

Sunday Evening

Just as I mentioned in the last post - we did go out for salbutes last night.   We ended up at Diana's Saloon (a little hole-in-the-wall place to eat) because Cactus Plaza was way too busy.  But our food was great - we also had garanaches and fish empanadas and some coconut tarts for dessert.   It all hit the spot!

Today we had two worship services with the San Narciso church.  A team of 25 people from North Carolina arrived yesterday and will work this week on the church building in San Victor - this church is the new mission church for the San Narciso Church.   It is about 5 miles from San Narciso but takes about 25 minutes to get there because the road is so bad.    Anyway, one of the pastors in this group preached this morning in San Narciso during the usual Sunday school hour and this afternoon everyone traveled this road to San Victor for their first service in their mission church. 

The congregations of the San Pablo, Louisville and San Narciso churches all met together for the second worship which was to start at 4, but in reality started around 4:45.   There were at least 150 people in the church builiding, on the porch and standing at the windows.    The senior pastor from the team's church delivered the sermon and the service was followed by a meal of rice and beans with stew chicken and coleslaw.   On our way through San Narciso we picked up Lilybeth and her daughter and Taco (an elder in the San Narciso church who's back you can see in his red striped shirt).  They were waiting along side the road to catch a ride on the church bus, but a rain storm was brewing and we knew they would be soaked if they waited for the bus to come by.

This is a picture of the graveyard across the street from the San Victor church.  The hills in the background are in Mexico.  This village is very close to the Rio Hondo and the Mexican border.

Between the services, we ate lunch again in Patchekan at Romalda's mothers thatch kitchen.  We have had 3 meals of rice and beans and stew chicken in the past 36 hours!    We are invited to Veronica's house for lunch tomorrow and to help her celebrate her 46th birthday.  

There were so many children at the service in San Victor.   It's hard to describe the background noise a church full of curious children cause.   They are precious in His sight!

Saturday Evening

Oh my, it's already Saturday evening! It has been a busy two days. We started out the day yesterday morning (Friday) by stopping by the market to get some vegetables for the veggie tray Elsa wanted me to make for snack time at the second Shepherd Leader seminar. They are trying to be healthier in their snacks - and I was surprised that the vegetables went very quickly! Also had some Ranch dip to go with, some store-bought cookies and some sweet biscuits a lady in the church had made.   

Then we had to stop by Ink to get more copies made for the seminar - more people came than we had planned for.  We went to Cornerstone to do some more work in the library, then back home to cut up the vegetables and get ready to go back to San Narciso. 
The Second night of the Shepherd Leader seminar went very well - there were over 50 people that came for the second night.   There was much discussion at the end -and the men seemed to be encouraged and challenged by the material Dale presented. They seemed to be anxious to go back to their churches and have further discussion with their fellow elders.
We arrived back home just before 11 pm. It was a short night - I think we lost an hour of sleep on both sides of the clock.

We were up early to make the 50 minute drive to Orange Walk where the School Board Governance seminar was held at New Life Presbyterian School. This seminar was also well attended - around 40 representatives from the 9 Presbyterian schools were there along with the Education Commission of presbytery. principals, school board members, and some others with an interest in the subject matter. We got started almost 45 minutes later than planned waiting for people to arrive.

There was much interaction with the audience, and it was a productive and encouraging meeting . We had a lunch break at noon - rice and beans, stew chicken, fried plantain and cokes.

The seminar ended around 2:45 with the Education Commission committed to having more meetings to discuss the one-board system and to meeting with the Ministry of Education to see if it is a system they could work with.    Thank you for your prayers.

We are pretty exhausted - Dale more after three intensive days of speaking.  We plan to relax this evening - maybe go into town a little later to Cactus Plaza for some salbutes!