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!

Friday Morning

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We can't believe it's already Friday morning! Time is going way too fast. Yesterday was a hot humid sticky day here in Belize, but no rain. We spent the morning at the school where I worked some more on the library. On the way back to town for lunch we stopped at a couple stores so I could get some ingredients to make some bar cookies for the refreshments at the seminar. Elsa's kitchen is in disarray because they have been painting, so she asked me if I could make some cookies. That is what I did in the afternoon while Dale finished preparing for the first seminar.

The seminar went very well. There were 35-40 people there (if you count the children). We got started pretty much on time (6:30) but people were arriving for the next half hour. Dale ended up speaking through a translator (Alvaro), which made it longer. We arrived home after 10. Thank everyone for their prayers! Dale will appreciate your prayers again tonight. The people seemed very receptive. There were elders represented from 8 churches, plus some of their wives and others just wanting to learn more about church leadership.

Wednesday Evening

It's really green here in Belize.  Could that be because it has been raining 50% of the time since we got here?  Yes, and the mosquitos are plentiful and I have the bites to prove it.  

We have spent the past two mornings out at Cornerstone - I have helped Elsa with a few Quickbooks problems she was having, and I have been cleaning and reshelving the books in the library.   (That is not a cell phone in my pocket - it's my nifty little Off mosquito repeller.  It really seems to work if you are sitting in one place.)      Dale has been working on his upcoming seminars and meeting with a few people.

We have been enjoying our time with Albert and Romalda.   Albert has been working on his bathroom tiling project and building a new shelf for storage in the bathroom.   Dale helped him a little with the shelf construction.

We just returned home from having dinner and fellowship with Alvaro and Elsa at R.D.s.   We are always encouraged by our time spent talking with them.   Pray for their three sons who are all sick with a stomach virus and weren't able to join us this evening.  

Tomorrow we will be back at the school to do some more work in the library and tomorrow night Dale will have his first of two evening seminars for church leaders.   Pray that what he has prepared will be absorbed and applied in the churches here.

Tuesday Morning

Started out our American Independence day by stopping in at INK to see our friend Clara and drop off some copying that needs to be done for the church leader seminars on Thursday.   She always greets us with a big smile!

Then we went on to Cornerstone to see Elsa and Caren (her sister) and to make plans for helping out in the office and library at Cornerstone.  We'll be headed there in a short while - Dale has a meeting with the General Manager of the Presbyterian Schools in Belize and I will get started on whatever Elsa has for me to do.

Dale spent the afternoon preparing for the seminars and Romalda and I went to town to get some vegetables for a salad for the 4th of July dinner we were invited to.   The is no lettuce available - so salad plans were changed to a vegetable tray.  We found cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and some shriveled green peppers and even some ranch dip - but it took 3 stops to gather all the ingredients.  We took them home, soaked them in some bleach water and cut them up.

A good time was had by all at our Independence Day celebration at Garry and Anita's, who live behind the clinic in Patchekan.   In addition to our vegetables, we had hamburgers & chicken burgers, three bean salad, mashed potatoes, pork n beans, chips and guacamole, brownies and strawberry cheesecake. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all!  7 Americans, 1 Canadian, and 3 Belizeans.