July 4, 2010

Happy Independence Day!    Boy, it has been a long and busy day.  We left for Sunday School this morning at 8:30.   Because we are sharing a vehicle with the Zantingh's, we had to drop them off in Patchekan before we went to San Narciso.   Alvaro's church has been studying the ABC attributes of God and today they were on "E" for God's enthusiasm.  At the end of the Sunday School time Alvaro went around and asked each person what they learned from today's lesson and it was really interesting to see the different ways God used the lesson in each person's answer.

After Sunday school we headed back to Patchekan where we were invited to eat lunch with the Zantingh's at Romalda's mom's house.   Above is the kitchen where we ate lunch.   This is where Romalda grew up and she said her whole family  ( the Chan's had 13 children) slept in this thatch hut which is now her mom's kitchen.   Pictured above are three generations - Romalda, her mom Victoria, and Brittany.

After a lunch of rice and beans (made over an open fire) we went to the outskirts of Patchekan to visit with Elsa and Tito and their children Kristine and Kevin.    (This is the Elsa I work with in the school office.)

We then headed to Cristo Rey for the 4:00 worship service.  Once a month four churches - Cristo Rey, Concepcion, Louisville and San Narciso gather together for a joint worship service.  This is something Alvaro has instigated to bring the churches into closer fellowship.   It was good to see many folks we haven't seen for some time and to renew acquaintances.  They sing, pray, read scripture and have special music from the grupo juvenil  (youth groups), then Alvaro preaches.   Afterwards they eat a meal that the ladies of the host church provides.   Tonight the food was  - you guessed it - rice & beans.  Actually, we needed to leave because of the car situation, but we were brought a plate of food for the road.   

We didn't get back home until about 8:30 pm - it has been a long but enjoyable day with our Belizean extended church family.

July 3, 2010

On our way to meet our friends in Corozal last night, we passed by the Paraiso town square where Jeremy and friends were playing volleyball. This is the same town square where our daughter Cydney used to take early morning runs when she lived in the village in 2000.  Once in town, we had dinner at RD's and spent the evening with friends Chayo & Amy. Chayo served this past year as the principal at Cornerstone. We are looking forward to them visiting us in Pittsburgh the week we return from Belize and looking forward to introducing them to our FRPC family. Here a picture of them in their dining room - yes, Carla, this room IS a real dining room.
 
 

This morning the big attraction in the Zantingh home was the Germany - Argentina football game. Here is the buzz cut duo with their eyes glued to the tv.

 

Later this afternoon we went looking for a place for Brittany to swim - and ended up at a small park by the bay. While we were there, the Cristo Rey youth group arrived and had devotions and a time of singing.

We are looking forward to a busy day tomorrow worshiping with our church family in San Narciso.

Sorry pictures aren't matching up with explanations. I'm having trouble with the downloading of pictures. Hopefully I'll figure out what's wrong soon.

Here is a good picture of the Cornerstone School property, showing the three buildings. The one on the left is the original building, the second building is on the right, and back in the middle is the third and newest building (only one story) where the new offices will be. FRPC teams helped pour the floor in the third building two years ago, and it is just now being completed for occupancy.




Here is one of the rooms in the new building.











We thought you might be interested in seeing a picture of the parking lot at the papaya plant.








Looking forward to dinner with some dear friends.

July 1 & 2, 2010

Never got around to blogging yesterday, so it's a two day catch-up.

In case you are wondering, it's still hot here in Belize. Although everyone is telling us this heat is unusual. Actually it's been semi-breezy the past two days and the breeze is nice and very welcome! Yesterday morning I went to town with Romalda to get some groceries (that meant going to the market, and three other grocery shops. Dale spent the morning with Albert and working on various things. In the afternoon Dale and I went back to town (we are staying in a village just north of town) and we stopped by to see some old acquaintances. Above is Clara, the lady who runs the copy shop. It was good to see her and her daughter again - renew aquaintances, catch up on life.

As you can see, the water level in Corozal Bay is really high - which might be a result of the storm Alex. We haven't seen water lapping over the sea wall like this before.

Last night, after a bowl of Romalda's delicious Chermole (black soup), we went to San Narciso where Dale attended the Thursday evening men's group and I spent the almost three hours visiting with Elsa P.. Dale enjoyed the time with the men - they were very interested in the book "Disciplines of a Godly Man" which Dale was introducing to them. And I enjoyed my visit with Elsa - she is such an encouragement to me.


This morning we went back to the high school. Elsa I. and I spent the morning getting into her bookkeeping program and starting the process of getting the schools books in order. We got a good start today and will continue working together every day next week. And Dale found out today that we are helping to move the school office into the third (and newest) building at the end of next week.

June 30, 2010

We were up at 5:30 am and headed to Cornerstone High School by 7:30. It was just like old times going down the Northern Highway to the school.
Today was "Registration Day" for the fall term. All families re-enrolling for this fall had to come to the school today with documentation from the bank that they had paid their first semester fees in full. Then they went through the process of getting a damage fee refund, getting their book list, a book report schedule, PE uniforms sized, and other information. Last stop was the library to pick out two or three books for summer reading and book reports. I helped Elsa with fee documentation and Dale helped in the library with checking out books.

Registration was over by 1:00 and we headed back to town for lunch. Pictured is Elsa and Chayo in the office getting ready for the day. We met some of the newer teachers on staff and reunited with the ones we knew from before.














Here is Dale helping out in the library














Alvaro & Elsa registering their son Aldier for 2nd Form..












And, if you look carefully, there is a hawk sitting on the goal post bar. He was watching us as Romalda and I were relaxing on their back porch this afternoon

Rice & beans and stew chicken for dinner! Yum!

June 29, 2010

Left Pittsburgh this morning at 6:15 am and arrived in Belize City at 10:30 am (12:30 pm EDT).
Had a smooth and easy trip down. We walked out of customs - and there was no one to greet us.
So I went looking into the airport and found Albert and Romalda and Brittany, who had run into
some friends and forgot that they were there to meet us.
I tapped Albert on the shoulder and brought him back to reality.
A couple shots of our decent into the Belize airport - lots of water left from the tropical storm Alex that passed through Belize City this past Saturday.

So glad to be here, so thankful for the safe trip! And very thankful for the faithful prayers of our brothers & sisters back home!

It's 97 in the house here - sweating is putting it mildly. Romalda is making beef stew for dinner. It will be an early night for bed.
Here's a picture of Dale and Albert cooling off in front of the fan. Notice Dale's new look.

June 21, 2010

Getting ready for another opportunity to encourage our friends in Belize....stay tuned.