July 16

Elsa brought Kristine (and Strawberry Shortcake) to work with her today. Kristine will be 3 in November, and she is as cute as a bug in a rug.

Speaking of bugs in a rug. Her daddy, Tito, found this scorpion out in the futbol field when he was chopping (mowing). Kristine had no fear.

Dale's workshop on Worldview began yesterday. At first it looked like only one teacher would be there, but eventually 3 showed up. The teachers that were there are attentive and excited about thinking Chrisianly and there was a lot of good interaction and discussion. One teacher in particular, a man new to teaching, is particularly excited about what he is learning. Wilbert has worked for the government in Belmopan for several years and is making a change in his career.

To end our day, we took Elsa and Alvaro out for dinner. They are always a joy and an encouragement to be around. Please pray for them as they serve the church in Belize. They always seem to be burning the candle at both ends because they never let an opportunity pass to do what they feel called to be doing. Also remember them as they travel to St. Louis on Sunday and spend the week taking a course at Covenant Seminary. We will be taking them to the airport on Sunday morning.

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July 15

I was following this kitty cat down the road in Chetumal yesterday. (it was from a circus that was in town)

Yesterday, while Dale went to work at the school for another day of workshops, I took the day off to go to Chetumal Mexico with Romalda Zantingh.

It was a nice day of shopping at the market (Parasina material store) and then at the mall. We stopped by McDonalds just before we crossed back to bring hamburgers to Jeremy and Dale. When we got back, we found Jeremy and Dale eating dinner at Patti's Bistro with Albert, so we brought the hamburgers into the restaurant and ate them ourselves. You should have seen the eyes of other people in the restaurant - Where is a McDonalds?! (They were young people from some mission trip group.) Dale told them the food at Patti's is better than McDonald's anyway.

Gas in Mexico costs about $2.50 US. They actually build refineries and drill for their own oil. (Dale made me say that.)

Pictures have been added.

July 15

After a long night last night - the dogs seemed to bark continually and the trash collectors passing several times in their very noisy truck, it is now 6:30 am, we have had our breakfast and someone in the neighborhood is weed-wacking their yard. Just to give you a flavor of the sounds of Belize.

Yesterday, the second workshop began (Teaching Redemptively) and we had no idea how many to expect, would it be one person or two? We actually have 5! The teachers are on "vacation" in July, and since these workshops will be offered again during the school year, we are thankful for those who give up their "vacation" to attend.

After a long day at the school, we had supper at Jean Giles. Above is Carla and Jean doing the dishes after dinner. Below is a picture of their dogs - Sampson (Carla's dog on the chair) and Freckles (Jean's new dog) were meeting for the first time. Needless to say, Sampson is a wimp and all Freckles wanted to do was play. Perhaps the problem was that Carla cut Sampsons hair just before we went over to Jean's.

After dinner, I made some zucchini bread for Nehru and his wife, Norma, and they came over to enjoy. They are a Nazarene family who lives around the corner and have taken on the responsiblity of watching out for Carla. Nehru teaches at the Methodist school in town and Norma runs a little shop selling used clothing. They are wonderful neighbors! It was interesting to hear their testimonies. Nehru told us that the very house we're staying his brother-in-law buildt and his sister used to live and it is where a visiting missionary from Oregon led him to the Lord. He was raised in Corozal Town. Norma was raised in a family of 11 children in the village of Caledonia and says she never was really a true Christian until about a year ago when she finally understood what Christ had done for her.

July 14

Saturday evening we went out to dinner with Gary and Anita Chambers and the Zantinghs. We were helping Gary with a project he had to do for his Master's Program.

It was a very good evening with stimulating conversation.

After we were finished eating and with the project discussion

Alvaro Pott walked into the restaurant to order Sunday dinner for the team, and Elsa and Mrs Lacy were outside waiting in the car, so Linda went out to chat.

We had a very nice Lord's Day - Sunday School in Cristo Rey, but since Dorothy is in the States it was all in Spanish and easy to follow, but we missed a lot.

Linda made pizza for Carla and Jean for Sunday dinner. Sunday evening we worshipped at the San Narciso Church with Alvaro preaching - he is becoming more and more passionate every year.

We are starting a new week of workshops today.

July 12

We've had the last two days "off" as far as the workshops go, but we have kept very busy.

This is a picture of Linda's shopping trip on Friday to Orange walk with Jean Giles and Elsa Itzab and Nehru's wife. Here, we were checking out at People's grocery store. Orange Walk is about 30 miles south of Corozal Town, and has better shopping.

There is a Goodwill type store in Orange Walk that all the ladies love to go to - the name of the store is Boundries. It was so hot in there! The store is a big two story warehouse with racks and racks of used shoes, and shelves of used dishes and nic-nacs and tables of used clothes. The ladies will spend hours in this store searching for items they can use.

While Linda went to Orange Walk, Dale did errands around town - like go get water (5 gal jugs). He also walked over to the bay and was enjoying the breeze and looking at the water when he spotted 3 or 4 manatee playing in the water in front of him. It is unusual for them to be in Corozal Bay, so he was pretty excited to report about it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the camera with him.

This morning (Saturday) we were invited to the Zantingh's for breakfast. Romalda made us waffles! They were delicious. After breakfast we went to town to find some foam to make Romalda a cushion for her chair, and the rest of the day we have been working on projects with Albert and Romalda, Jeremy and Brittany. The end result was a basketball backstop and cushions for Romalda's chair. The last picture is Brittany showing off her kittens.

What a blessing is our friendship with Albert and Romalda!

July 11

Today will be an officially HOT day in Belize I think. We have had mostly cloudy skies, a little rain here and there, but this morning the sun is out, the sky is mostly blue.

The first week of workshops ended yesterday. The teachers that attended were somewhat overwhelmed by all of the material that was given to them but they were excited about applying the principles and trying many of the new ideas in their classrooms this fall. One teacher said that when they usually have workshops they just watch things but never talk about them. Having discussions and interaction was something new to him and he felt it was a great benefit and was thankful.

Last night we tried out the new restaurant in town, R D's. It was really a nice atmosphere and very tasty food.

Here are a couple pictures to share - one is Yadira and her daugher Kayly (10 months)stopped by the school office to visit. In the picture, Elsa, Carla, Yadira's little sister, Kayly, and Yadi's. Belizean children are so beautiful! The second picture is of the house we are staying in. Right across the street from Carla. Could use a little paint!

Whoops, since I started writing it has started to cloud up - maybe it will rain again, who knows?!

Dale just went out and took this picture so it is very fresh!

Today Dale will do some lesson planning and sermon preparation and I am going with Jean Giles (a missionary) and a couple Belizean ladies to Orange Walk to do a little shopping.

We are enjoying our time here - sometimes it seems like we have never left.

July 10

Just a quick post this morning. We need to leave for the school in a few minutes and we just got internet service back. It was a long night - rain and lightening and thunder - very noisy, came in the window occasionally. The power was even off for a while, so we are thankful this morning to have power and water and no rain at the moment.

Yesterday another teacher came to the workshops, so we have had a total of 7 for this week. This is the last day of classes for the week, so pray that it will be a good wrap-up day of the subject and for the teachers who attended that it will be an encouragement to them as they prepare for a new school year.