July 8

Sometimes life's problems can seem overwhelming.

It appears like they are going to overtake us and we

have no way to escape. That is when we need to trust
our sovereign God. Because when you get to the other

side of the problem, you realize God has a beautiful

design for each of our lives.

This is something we need to remember as we hear about problems here that exist in the schools, in the churches, in the families - God is our sovereign creator.

Today was a good day in the classroom. One more teacher showed up for classes and they all seemed to absorb the materials like a sponge. Linda continued to help Elsa organize the files in the office - this is not just a one day job!

Since they do not have enough funds to put a roof on the new building, they are pouring much needed sidewalks around and between the buildings at Cornerstone. The team that is here this week has been working hard moving rocks and dirt so forms can be set up. And it IS hard work!

Here are pictures of what they accomplished today:

July 7

The first day of workshops began pretty much on time. Five teachers (all first year or new) showed up. The subject matter for this week is Classroom Management using "Shepherding a Child's Heart in the Classroom" (Ted Tripp) and The Effective Teacher (Harry Wong). It is a very quiet group, but they all seem to be soaking up the materials. Linda spent the day in the office with Elsa, working on organizing files, setting up new files for the new students, and her favorite task - wrapping coins to take to the bank. (here you have to make your own coin wrappers - it is a challenge trying to hold the coins while getting a piece of paper wrapped around them.)

In the evening we had dinner (Chirmole with home make corn tortillas!) at Albert and Romalda's. It was a wonderful time - Romalda and Linda got caught up with life happenings and Dale and Albert spent time comparing school notes and watched a movie with the kids. It was a late evening!

Pray for enrollement for the Worldview workshops next week - right now it is going slowly.

July 5 & 6

On Saturday we spent a good part of the day getting ready for the workshops, which begin 8:30 Monday morning. We had to go to the school to prepare the classroom - sweep, rearrange, make sure the projector was working, etc.

The first hurdle was finding someone with a key to the classroom - Milo the watchman wasn't home, so we drove out to Patchekan and Tito the maintenance man had gone fishing, so we drove around asking where Moises the science teacher lived - finally found him, and after an hour of driving around, we were back at the school setting up. Above is a picture of Linda sweeping up the rat droppings and one of Dale and Carla discussing how the classroom should be set up.

Later in the afternoon we went to Sam and Marc Summers to help greet a team of 40 that had arrived for the week and to eat dinner with them. Elsa and Alvaro and the San Narciso youth group had prepared the usual fare of BBQ chicken, cold pork & beans, and potato salad with a flour tortilla.

This morning we went to Sunday School in Cristo Rey and had lunch at Dorothy's. Dorothy leaves tomorrow to visit friends and family in the US - so we're glad we had the opportunity to spend some time with her before she leaves.

Tonight we will attend church in San Narciso and tomorrow will start a busy week of teaching for Dale. Elsa is looking forward to Linda's helping her organize the school office at Cornerstone.

Pray for a man from the team who arrived here yesterday who is on his way back to the states after suffering a gall stone attack early this morning. His name is Carl.

July 4

Today was a hot day in Belize. There wasn't any BBQ or fireworks and Corozal Town was hopping with people in town doing thier banking and buying, but Carla Stevens was hosting an "Open House" for us. So, it was a busy day preparing for the guests - we make Carla's famous carrot cake, prepared carrots, celery and broccoli veggies & dip, and popped popcorn. A couple of the missionaries made several different dips for tortilla chips. Then we fought off the little sugar ants who seemed to think they also have been invited to the party.

Several of the missionaries are in the States right now, Alvaro had a funeral to officate, and there was a rehearsal for a big wedding taking place Saturday in Cristo Rey, but we did have about 16 people show up and enjoyed visiting.

Here is Carla in her kitchen offering pineapple juice to her guests.

Sam and Mark Summers and Garry Chambers, MTW missionaries.

Jean Giles, MTW missionary and Clara (the lady who runs INK, the copy center), and her husband and daughter.

We've Arrived

We made it here to Belize with no problems - right on time - 10:30 a.m..  Carla (the Birthday Girl) met us at the airport, and after lunch a a new restaurant down in Belize City and stopping by Brodies to get groceries, made the 80 mile trip to Corozal Town.  We stopped by the school and surprised Albert & Elsa, who thought they wouldn't see us until tomorrow.  

We have moved into the house across the street from Carla, and still need to get organized - but we are very tired since we have been awake for 20 hours and we're going to bed real soon.  

Thank God for our safety in travel and the cool breeze to welcome us today.   

One to go!

In one short week we will be on our way to Belize!

As most of you probably know, we spent the past two July’s in Belize working with Carla Stevens on the establishment of a teacher education college for the Belizean teachers in the Presbyterian Schools in Belize. We had, on the average, sixteen teachers faithfully attending classes for 3 weeks each year during their summer break.

This past year the program was closed down by the Belize Department of Education. In God’s providence, while this seemed to be very disappointing to us and for all involved, it has turned out to be a positive! Where before, the program was optional for the teachers, we will now be holding “workshops” that may well become mandatory for all the teachers in the Presbyterian schools. The subject matter for the workshops will stay pretty much the same, however the classes will not be as intense, the days not so long, and the teachers will not be required to purchase the books or do all the pre and post course work. The principals in the four schools involved are very supportive.

While we are there, in addition to teaching workshops, Dale will be preaching in the San Narciso and Cristo Rey churches. Linda will be helping Carla with various administrative tasks for the workshops, hopefully helping Elsa in the Cornerstone office and being the librarian at Cornerstone on Thursday mornings. We are also looking forward to catching up with many friends.

We are very grateful to our church, First Reformed Presbyterian, for their financial support and the encouragement they give us each year as they send us off to Belize to do this ministry.

Please pray for our safety, health, and stamina. Pray that God will use us for His glory! Thank you for your prayers.

One Month to Get Ready

We can't believe we'll be there in one short month!

This weekend we will be giving a presentation to our church

about our last year's trip. Preparing our presentation and

looking at all the pictures is energizing us!

Pray for us and all our preparations during this busy month!