July 30

 Busy day!   We went back to San Narciso this morning to try again for the second session of  the seminar.   Three families came so Dale went ahead and did a summary of the book , and they were all challenged by the material Dale presented.   We were encouraged by their enthusiasm.

We went back home for a rest before going to Patchekan for a 4:00 worship service to celebrate 80 years of life de la señora Soila Pott, Alvaro's mom.    What a God honoring way to celebrate a birthday!   

Señora Pott has had an incredible influence on the village where she lives.   She for many years ran a tortilla factory which involved many women in the community, and she involved herself in these women's lives - helping them and discipling them.   The message preached by Alvaro was  from Hebrews 13 on on a life lived by serving others and sharing what we have - because such a life is pleasing to God.

She has raised seven children, and has many grand children and great grandchildren.  

 A party followed at her casa a few blocks from the church.   We had the usual Belizean party fare of chips and cheese dip (picante!) followed by rice and beans with stew chicken, potato salad and fried plantain - and Cokes or Fanta for everyone.

These kinds of gatherings we so much enjoy!  

The yard was filled with friends and relatives.

Señora Pott and her son Ismael.

July 29

 Today was the last day of school for the schools in Belize.  Many of the children were finished last week, but the teachers at all schools were required to be on the job through today.    They now have the month of July off, have to attend workshops in August, and school will be back in session the first Monday in September.

We spent the day at the school.  I finished up in the library.  Most of the books are back in order, shelves straightened and dusted.  

Late morning we took a short drive over to Cristo Rey to visit with our friend Dorothy.  She was in the middle of making lunch for a team that is working at Presbyterian Day School this week.  We had a nice visit while her rolls were rising, and I helped her de-bone some chicken for sandwiches.   She has been preparing the meals for the team this week - 14 people!

When we got back to the school, my friend Elsa had brought her daughter Kristine to work today and I was able to spend most of the afternoon coloring and playing with Kristine.    She kept wanting me to draw her pictures - of butterflies, cars, houses, rainbows.  I told her I wasn't the artist in the family, but my son-in-law would be proud.

Kristine is 6 and goes to PDS.

The last of the teachers came into the office to collect their paychecks and turn in their books for the year.

Tonight was supposed to be Dale's first seminar in San Narciso.  After gulping down a couple slices of Romalda's delicious pizza, we drove  the 12 miles to the church.     The seminar never happened tonight- but sometimes this happens.  So many different things seemed to be going on tonight and only a couple people were able to come - so we will begin in the morning at 9:00 and try again.    Trying not to be disappointed.   We know that our times are in God's hands and he will bring to pass what he will. 

July 28

 Today was registration day for students at Cornerstone.   A steady stream of parents and students coming  - so I stayed in the school office to help out a little - and it also was a much cooler place to be.    

It was fun to be able to see several of our former students and parents - bringing siblings and younger children to re-enroll.

Dale spent most of the day in the library putting the finishing touches on his seminars which will begin tomorrow night and on Saturday morning.

Mid afternoon Dale took me over to San Narciso so I could attend the Thursday "Feminile" - Ladies Bible study.    There were 9 ladies, plus myself and Alvaro who is the teacher.   This group meets every Thursday and the ladies range in age from 12 to 6o+.    The lesson today was on how you choose leaders in the church (what qualifies) and also included what qualities you look for when choosing a husband.   It was in Spanish -Elsa interpreted for me.  

 Didier babysat for one of the moms while we were having our meeting.

Dale and I have spent a quiet evening reading while Albert & Romalda went over the border to fill the tank with gas. 

We are resting up for a busy weekend!

July 27

We had a break-in at the school last night   Dale and I woke up at our usual early time this morning - but our hosts weren't getting up.  Wondered why - very unusual.  Found out when they finally did wake up, that they had been to Cornerstone in the middle of the night because the night watchman had called at midnight that he had just chased some thieves into the cane field after they broke into the school office.  So, they make the 11 mile trip to the school to meet the police, who had already come and left by the time they got there. 

The police told them to go to the police station after 8 am to report the break-in, so we did that, and were told that the police going back to the school to investigate, then, after that, Albert would need to go back to town to the police station to make the report.   He also had to go to the hardware store and get new locks to replace the broken ones.

 We finally got to school soon after 9, and we helped Karen clean up the office.   The thieves had taken the secretaries' computer monitors, the keyboards, a laminator, and the trash can, among other things.   Money kept in the office, so they didn't get anything like that.   This picture is of Karen cleaning up the dumped out files in the storage cabinet.

On the way home from school this afternoon, we had to stop a 4 different hardware stores to find a couple other locks (none had the ones we needed) and ended up at the metal place to get a piece of steel to reinforce the door jamb.

They had to cut a very long piece to give us a piece of metal the size that we needed.

Dale and Albert then went to the police station to file the report - which took over 2 hours!

When they finally got home around 7 pm, we had a delicious dinner which Romalda had prepared - BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes & vegetables.
We enjoyed a good time of fellowship with Garry Chambers, the country director for MTW.   He arrived with us last Friday after spending the past 5 months on home ministry assignment (HMA).  His wife Anita will be here in a couple weeks.

So it's been a long day, and Albert and Romalda are especially exhausted after being up most of last night - so good night!

July 26

 We're getting up each morning between 5 and 5:30 to get ready to leave for the school around 7:30.   This morning at 6:00, right outside our window, the neighbor came to cut down a couple trees.   This man lives up the road and he makes charcoal for a living.  He has to find trees to burn to make the charcoal, and our hosts let him chop a couple from their backyard.  A very interesting process - so we will have to walk over there one of these days and take a picture of his charcoal making system.

Don't know how that would go over in our neighborhood back home if someone started cutting down trees in our backyard at 6 am!

As we left the house there was this snail walking across the back porch.  It is about 4 inches long.
So many interesting creatures in this world!

Another hot day working in the library.  

A visit to the San Narciso Presbyterian Pre-School while the children were having recess.   They are so cute!   This is their new swing set the parents built as their project for the year.   This preschool meets in the lower level of the San Narciso church.  We missed "graduation" this past Saturday for those children going on to Infant I this Fall.   This pre-school is run by one teacher - Leidy, and she had over 20 three and four year old's this past year.  

And a sweet visit with Elsa and two of her boys.    Didi just graduated from 8th grade, and Eliezar is still in grade school.

We went out to dinner tonight - it was my turn to cook :) - at R.D.'s

Pray for Dale as he continues to prepare for this weekend's seminars (Friday night and Saturday).    Pray for us as we seek to encourage our friends here.  

Also pray for my family (mom, brother, sister and families) in Colorado Springs where fires are raging out of control.   It's tragic to see what the fire has consumed.

July 25

 Monday morning - time to get to work.  I was impressed with how tidy the library was when we arrived this morning.   Tidy, but dusty.  I got to work on sorting the book cards, but by the end of the work day, I had removed all the books from these three shelves, dusted, check the card pockets, mended several books with book tape and alphabetized and put back on the shelves.   These three shelves take you through the "G's" of the Fiction section of the library.  Lots of books missing and many need to be replaced because they are worn pretty bad.
 

 Dale spent the time in the other side of the room  getting prepared for his upcoming seminars - first ones this Friday night and Saturday.

Best part of the morning was seeing my friend Elsa!  She is still doing the Bursar/secretary job with her sister - and keeps everything well organized.   She also does some cooking for selling lunches during the school year, managing the snack bar,  and organizing and decorating for special events.     She is looking forward to July when she has her "vacation" time - getting to stay at home with her two children for a few weeks.  
I'm thankful for her dedication to her work at Cornerstone and the professionalism she has displayed  over the past 7 years. 
 It  always amazes me to see which machines are still working in the office each summer - the heat and humidity are so hard on electronic equipment.  The Riso machine (duplicator) we purchased 7 1/2 years ago, thanks to a generous donor back home, is now on it's last leg.   It is amazing to me that it has kept on working (withregular maintenance) this long!   There is an air conditioning unit  working in the office now, but they use it sparingly because of what it does to the electric bill.

It felt good to me after working all morning in the hot library to sit with Elsa and Karen in the air conditioned office for lunch, but Dale and Albert had their lunch outside in the shade.  Today was mucha calor.  (very hot)  It was at least 95 actual degrees last we checked, but, according to Accu-weather, 115 degrees feel like temperature.

Right now we are enjoying the coolness of a rain shower which just moved through.   The clouds below were forming as we ate our tortillas and beans for dinner.

Sunday, July 24

We attended church this morning in San Narciso.  The tradition has always been to have Sunday School in the morning and the worship service in the evening, but they have started a new tradition of having both Sunday School and Worship both in the mornings on the last Sunday of every month.   They also have designated it as the day they serve the Lord's supper. 
Alvaro preached on Ezra 7.  It was all in Spanish.  Didn't quite get the gist.  However,  it was very good to be back worshiping with our Belize church family!

 We had lunch at one of Romalda's sister's homes in Patchekan.   Rice & Beans & stew chicken, but also one of Dale's favorites - Rellano (a black soup with a slice of sausage/egg mixture and a piece of chicken, eaten with fresh corn tortillas). 
After a cooler morning, the heat did not disappoint.   We are thankful for how welcome people make us feel - even when they don't really know us.
The above picture is Romalda with one of her eight sisters and her mother.  The one to the right is another sister, who reminded me a bit of my own mother in looks. 

Tonight we went with Albert & Romalda to their church in Patchekan.   They have been without a pastor for many years and the ruling elders take turns preaching.  Tonight's message, also all in Spanish, was on Acts 12 where Peter had escaped from prison and showed up at the home where his friends were praying for him, and they didn't believe he was at the door.   A lesson on how often we pray earnestly about situations, but aren't really ready for His answers.

The mosquitos sure were enjoying a feast during the church service tonight!

Tomorrow we will go to school early in the morning to get to work on the library.   Albert says it is ready for some intensive care.  Pray for us this week that God will give us servant's hearts and listening ears.

July 23, 2012

 A typical Saturday morning in Belize.   I went with Romalda to town to pick up fresh vegetables at the market and some chickens and groceries at the Chinese store.   Town is always a bustling place on Saturday mornings.   Dale and Albert stayed home to work on their computers.

Before lunch Dale and I took a little walk to look at the subdivision going on with the acreage next door.   This is a view of Albert's home we have never been able to take before because behind me used to be a wall of trees and brush.   There is now a road lined with zericote trees (pronounced ser e coat a).   That is the wood they use to carve all the wooden boats and bowls that they sell to tourists. Looks like the Zantingh's will eventually have new neighbors!   I was watching carefully for snakes.

Mid afternoon we drove to Orange Walk for a 6th Form (8th grade) graduation ceremony  at New Life Presbyterian school.   Albert was to be the speaker at the graduation.    This school (Pre-K - 8th grade) was not doing so well 6 years ago - but Ruth Ku became the new principal and was the right person for the job.  The school has 245 students and uses every desk and chair they have.  It is housed in a three story building connected to the Orange Walk church.  The recently completed auditorium is on the 3rd floor - it has a brand new steel roof!  It was a climb to get up there!

The ceremony was supposed to start at 4 pm, but it was more like 4:30.   It was pretty hot, but thankful for the fan that was placed behind us!





This is Ruth Ku, who used to work at Concepcion School and was a good friend to our daughter Cydney was she was her in 2000.


Below is her daughter who we knew as a baby.

One of the male graduates.   

Her is Albert speaking on the class's theme verse - Ezekial 36:26.    He spoke to the graduates about the importance of letting the Lord give us new hearts of flesh, filled with his Spirit  -  Hearts that will never die, hearts that live their lives for God's glory.


Afterwards, we made the 25 mile trip back north, stopped at Cactus Plaza for some salbutes, panuchos, tortas and Dale's horchata.

We are now looking forward to church tomorrow morning in San Narciso.   

June 22, 2012

We were in Pittsburgh this morning - this evening we are in Belize!   God was good to give us a safe trip down.   We had only one glitch in our travel.    When we arrived in Atlanta and were beginning to deplane, a lady collapsed in the aisle at the front of the plane.   Even though we were a few minutes early, we didn't get off the plane for another 30 minutes - leaving us less than 30 minutes to get from that gate  to the furthest terminal and gate away.  As we walked up to the deserted gate, the two gate attendants were there asking, "McLanes?"  They hurried us on to the plane and shut the door behind us, only to make us all sit there another 45 minutes while they added fuel to the plane.   Despite the 45 minute delay, we arrived in Belize on time and made it out of the airport with no problems.   

We are thankful for our good friends the Zantingh's for always welcoming us into their home.  We are thankful for the opportunity to be here and ready to see what God has in store for us during the next couple weeks.   We are also thankful for cold showers and looking forward to a good night's rest. 

June 22, 2012

Always a gecko chirp to welcome us.

June 17, 2012

God willing, only five more days until we are back in Belize!