Our Last Week and a Bit.

Last week Amy, Opa and I painted the Lighthouse. It now looks like a Barbie house. It is pink with white trim! Painting was a lot of fun. Opa, Amy and I had lots of laughs and good talks. It was hot, though, so we took several water breaks during the day.

The Lighthouse is the newest house here. The inside was just redone at the beginning of our time here (the house that I sewed curtains for the first week). The inside is very bright... with yellow walls, and red and orange accessories. The bathroom has bright green accessories… and now the outside is pink and white. Santi was joking about how if he spends to much time in that house he starts to walk all girly… his gestures were priceless!

Amy and I also learned how to make burritos this week. Miss Jaunita gave Amy and I the recipe and told us the little tricks for how to kneed properly and stuff. It was fun. There is so much stuff that I want to cook when I get home! My Mom is going to love that :)

Last week Ren Siebinga, the principal from Toronto District Christian High School came to begin the evaluation process. He began by talking to the students and getting their perspective and their take on the program. He talked to Mr. Kamphuis and Opa, he talked to Kathy, Santi and Lilliana, as well as the host families and placement over seers. He was supposed to talk to Amy and I as well, but he didn’t end up getting much of an opportunity to do that. We might be evaluated more when we get home. On Friday night Ren’s friend, Mr. Mersaw took us out for diner. Mr. Mersaw came with Ren because he is a supporter of Kings Children’s home (the orphanage) so he wanted to go there and see how things were going, and to offer his services as best as possible. We went out for Pizza to this nice pizza place. The building was nice and clean, the food was good and the manager came out and was talking to us. He was so friendly!

The DTS students came last Sunday. The students are all in their mid twenties. They are doing the outreach part of their DTS program. It was so good to have them here! We had a lot of things to get prepared for this past weekend’s conference. I have had a chance to get to know them just a little bit. They are really nice, I like them a lot. Some other ladies also came. The one lady was a friend of Kathy’s and she brought two other friends. They also helped to prepare things for the conference, and they helped to run the conference. They also prepared food for the upcoming banquet. God is faithful in sending people right when they are needed the most.

Tonight we are having an appreciation banquet for all of the host families and placements people. All of the students and us leaders will also be getting a certificate of thanks for three months of service. I hope that through this the students will realize just how blessed they have been to be a part of this program.

Tomorrow is our last day here. On Wednesday morning we will be leaving for home. We will start off with a twelve hour busride to Cancun where we will be spending a night in a hotel and then the TD students who are going to prom will be leaving on the Thursday and the rest of us will stay in Cancun and go to the beach, or shopping, or just chilling at the hotel. On Friday morning the rest of us will board a plane and head on our way home. We are expected in Buffalo at 8:00 PM home time.

Thank you again for all of your prayers. They have been appreciated. This trip has been difficult, but it has been so worth it. God is faithful.

Guatemala

On the weekend we went to Guatemala! We left early in the morning and headed for the boarder. When we got there the money changers came running to exchange out Belizean money into Guatemalan money. We parked our bus on the Belize side of the boarder and walked with out backpacks over the Belize boarder and the Guatemalan boarder. It was exciting to enter another new country, to get another new stamp in my passport. The other side of the boarder was a lot busier. And there was Pepsi! I learned on that day that Coca-cola has a monopoly in Belize and that you aren’t not even allowed to bring anything Pepsi across the boarder into Belize!

Thank fully we had a family who went with us from Belize. Ian and Shenny and their kids, Sheanne, Elisha and Joel. Shenny is from Guatemala so she knows how things work there, and she can speak Spanish. Once in Guatemala Shenny organized for us to rent these 20 seater bus-van things. We road in those for about 2 hours.

The roads in Guatemala were very wide and dusty. There were lots of random pigs on the side of the road. Our bus chose to drive on either side of the road… which ever side was better. About half of our ride was on a dirt road, the other half was on a paved road.

The place that we stayed in Guatemala was called Las Flores. It is a small tourist island. It was not a high tourist season, though, which was nice. We got set up in a hotel with two people per room… and a pool… and AC… and HOT SHOWERS! It was such a nice treat.

Los Flores was beautiful! The roads were all coble stone and the stores were all nicely painted and bright. I didn’t end up buying all that much there. Thing were pretty cheap, but I have spent so much so far so I thought that I should hold off a little.

On Sunday in the afternoon we departed from Los Flores and headed for Tikal, which is a Mayan City. It was amazing there. The other Mayan ruins that I have been to have only had one large temple and then a few other small buildings. This one had several huge temples and tons of small structures.

Going to Guatemala was so refreshing. It was relaxing, exciting, gorgeous, and I had a chance to get to know Lisa and Hannah better. It was so good!

May 14-18

The next week Amy and I spent a lot of time sewing curtains. During our break between placements Hannah’s family had come to visit and her Mom had come with fabric to make out house curtains. She did not get them all of the way done, so Amy and I worked on finishing them off. It took us almost whole week to do, though. On Friday Amy and I made several dozen muffins, some for the base, some for the up and coming DTS students and some for our team.

When Erin Came to Town

First off, I apologize for my lack of diligence in keeping this blog up to date.

The past

On the morning of Thursday May 3^rd I got a very exciting e-mail from Erin saying that she would see me the next day! Erin came to visit for one week, and it was so refreshing to have her here. Mr. Kamphuis and I went down to get here on Friday afternoon from the Belize airport. It was so exciting to see Erin again! There was so much for us to catch up on, so many memories to reminisce about… and lots and lots of laughs. On Saturday went out shopping with Kathy and Amy. It was nice to be able to travel around to all of these places that I go so often now. It gave me a perfect opportunity to show Erin Belize and to tell her more about what I have been doing way down here for so long. First we went to Spanish Lookout, which is a Mennonite colony. There is a store there called “Farmers Trading Centre. It is a store that is most like department stores at home. We like to call it the Mennonite Walmart. I personally love that store… I especially love the fabric section. Next we went to San Ignacio to do some shopping around. We went into a bunch of little shops down there and then we went out for lunch. We went to a restaurant that I have never been to before. It was nice there. They sold lots of tea there. Erin and I tried this really good Fiery Chai Tea. On the way back to the base we went into this really nice arts and crafts gift store. The thing that they sold in that store were gorgeous. There was so much stuff that I would have loved to buy, but thing were fairly pricey and I simply don’t have all the money in the world. I also don’t have all the space in the world to be able to take things home with me. In the evening we just relaxed watched some OC on my laptop.

On Saturday Mr. K picked up his daughter and friends from the airport.

Erin and I decided to get dressed up and go on a little picture taking spree. We had fun trying to be creative with out pictures. There are trees on this base that have SO much potential for amazing pictures. Sadly I do not have the creativity that it takes to bring out the tree’s inner beauty. After picture taking we discovered these really pretty pods on the ground. We decided to open them up and discovered that they had these really pretty seeds in them… seeds that people here make necklaces out of. We sat down and spent quite some time just opening up pod after pod. They were really sticky and they smelt kinds funny… but the sees were worth it. Now I just have to see how I can get them across the boarder. In the afternoon we went out for a bit just before dinner to hand out my beanie babies to the kids on the street right near YWAM. The kids were excited to get the toys. It was nice to have Erin there to be with me to do that. Handing them out went so fast, but it was something that God had really impressed on my heart. In the evening we went to church.

On Monday Amy Erin and I made invitation to the banquet and thank you cards for all of the people who had blessed our students during our stay here. It was a lot of fun. Amy, Erin and I had so much fun together… just laughing about everything and anything. In the afternoon we got all of the stuff printed. It took hours to print them. It was different printing something there. They let us go behind the counter and work on the computers. After hours of printing we treated ourselves with some ice cream.

On Tuesday Amy, Erin and I baked and baked and baked our little hearts out making tons and tons of cookies.

Wednesday to Thursday we went to the Caye Cawlker with Mr. Kamhuis, Rachel, Anita, Ayron, Nic, Justin, Amy, Erin and I. We left fairly early in the morning and headed for the bus. We took a public bus from Roaring Creek to Belize city. It only cost us $4 Belize, which is $2 American… for an hour and a half bus ride! It is so cheap to take the bus here! When we got to Belize city we walked to the water taxi terminal. It was a bit of a walk down lost of city streets… with an annoying suitcase.

The water taxi was nice. I think the water taxi ride was an hour and a half.

When we got to Caye Cawlker we found a hotel and checked in. We decided to go the cheap rout and squished 5 girls into two double beds. Erin, Amy and I shared a bed. The hotel was nice and affordable that way. We were all a little hungry so we picked up some scrumptious chicken burgers from this little pick up window. We ate them on the side of the water and then went for a little dip in the salt water. After lunch we went to the snorkeling booth to get all of our gear and then headed for the boat. The first place that we snorkeled was in sting ray ally. When we first got in there was a nurse shark in the water. It swam right at me! It scared me a little.. I tried to back up, but that didn’t work so well. I touched a whole bunch sting rays in the water. Apparently sting rays don’t sting you unless you touch the tail. The sting rays were very slimy feeling. After the sharks and sting rays we went snorkeling in some coral reef. It was so cool. It was like swimming in a Big All’s fish tank. Nic had an under water camera so he took some pictures. Hopefully I will be able to get a hold of some of those pictures.

In the evening we went out for dinner. The place that we went was nice. The food was really good… I got a shrimp quesadilla dinner. There was a problem with how we set up out bill, though. It took us FOREVER to figure everything out! Apparently if you have a group of people you get charged an extra tax or something. The thing is we wanted our bills all separate. That was a little frustrating.

In the evening we just enjoyed watching the stars.

The next morning we went out for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Erin and I tried “fried jacks” which are one of the Belizean specials. They were pretty good. They were these deep fried dough things and we put jam on them. We also went out and go some fresh juice. We discovered this guy who make fresh juice that is so wonderfully good. We stopped by his look booth fairly often during our stay on the caye. Amy, Erin and I spent lots of time just relaxing on Thursday. We spent some time in the water. The water was really warm, so I was able to stay in there for quite a lot of time. I tried kayaking. It was pretty relaxing. Apparently the one that I was using was a relaxing one… it didn’t seem to easy to tip. I didn’t really go anywhere in the kayak… I just went around in a little circle.

Erin. Amy and I decided to leave the caye earlier then the other folk. We caught an earlier water taxi back to main land. We had no idea how to get back to the bus terminal so we took a taxi. That was my first time in a taxi. It was kind of exciting. As soon as we walked off of the boat there were people all over us asking us if we needed a taxi. There always are people doing that… but this time we actually got to say yes! I personally found our trip to Caye Cawlker very relaxing and enjoyable.

On Friday morning Opa drove Erin and I to the Airport to see Erin off. When we got there we learned that Erin’s plane was cancelled due to bad weather. Continental switched Erin to another airline, though, and worked all of the stop over stuff out for her. It was a little nerve racking. Thankfully we got to the airport as early as we did because there was not sitting around! Everything was very rushed, in fact. It was sad to see her go. We hugged and kissed and waved. Opa and I went to the waving gallery and waited for Erin’s plane to take off. We had an interesting time there. We saw an ambulance go up to the plane that Erin was going to take and they took someone out on a stretcher and put then on the plane. We also saw some Amy guys putting out a red carpet. I guess someone important was coming to Belize. I saw Erin come out onto the tar mat and I waved good-bye to her one last time. Then her airplane took off into the horizon.

When Erin was here visiting we got two pieces of concerning news from home. That put a little bit of stress on our time together. I was so glad that Erin was here with me, though. At least I had a piece of home here to help me deal with the problems back home. Both Esther and Mark were in the hospital with potentially very dangerous illnesses. Thank God both of them are doing better now.

Overall, Erin coming to visit was perfectly wonderful.

I love you Erin and I am so glad that you could come and visit!

Second Placement:

(written on Thursday May 3, 2007… sorry it took me so long to actually post it!)

My second placement was at Octavia Waight Centre, as you know. Things went well there for me. Neither Lauren nor I spent a whole lot of time with the residents. Most of our time there was spent sewing curtains. We were given old curtains that they wanted made into new curtains. It took us a really long time to do because we first had to take apart the old curtains so that we could make the new ones. Apparently they change the curtains at the old age home twice a year. They don’t get new ones, they just rotate between the two. Mr. Luis, the person who run the old age home, made an interesting comment. He said, “We can’t afford to change our curtains every week like you guys can in Canada.” I told him that at our house we lived there for 14 years and didn’t change the curtains. He was pretty surprised. Lauren and I felt quite a bit of weight put on us about Canadian wealth. They would see our cameras and laptops and ask how much they were and then they would say that they couldn’t afford things like that. It put us in a very awkward position.

One morning Lauren and I helped out with doing physiotherapy. I enjoyed doing that. The nurse said that I was a natural at it. It was a little bit complicated at times because the residents would be trying to tell me what to do next or how to help them but some of them can’t speak or can’t speak English. Over, things went well though.

In the evenings Lauren and I would walk into town. It was good exercise because we had to walk down and then climb up this fairly large hill. San Ignacio was a really nice town. There were lots of little shops down the hill and there were some internet cafes. Lauren and I also found this nice little bakery/coffee shop thing call “Sweet Ting”. There was really good cake there… especially the cheese cake. Lauren and I ended up having cheese cake for dinner almost every night we were there! At the old age home they eat a lot of bread… for breakfast, lunch, and dinner... so we got a little sick of only bread. The bread was fresh baked, though, so it was good.

Over all, I enjoyed myself at the old age home. I loved getting to know Lauren; she was a ton of fun to be with. I liked that it was quieter there; it was kind of like a break for me.

The following weekend was a bit challenging. We had some more discipline issues to deal with, and also so challenges as leaders. Again, God brought us through that. Opa’s wife and daughter were also there that weekend, which was a huge help. Opa’s daughter, Carleen, was a God sent! I can’t even begin to express how helpful it was to have her there.

Last week and this week have been break weeks for us. We haven’t been doing a whole lot. Most of our time has been spent just hanging out at the house and relaxing. Amy and I were given our first real day off last week Wednesday. It was wonderful. We went out with Kathy, Carleen and Opa’s wife. We just went shopping and out for ice cream and lunch. It was so relaxing to get totally away and just be out with the girls. I got to do some fabric shopping, which was wonderful. I have spent a fair amount of money on fabric now! Thankfully most of the fabric isn’t too expensive!

The place that we went to for lunch had the best orange juice that I have ever had in my life! Mmmmm, so good! Belize has a lot of really good juices. They have fresh squeezed watermelon juice, pineapple juice, mango juice, papaya juice and orange juice. I love it!

Last week end we went to be National Agricultural Fair in Belmopan. This is one of the biggest events of the year. There was rodeo and two of your girls actually competed in it! There is a ranch around the corner from here and they spent a few weeks training our students to be able to compete! It was so exciting! Liesl got second place in one of her competitions. Unfortunately there were not enough girls signed up for most of the events so the girls had to compete against guys. They still did well, though. I am so proud of them!

God has been very faithful to me. Last week I was feeling very down and discouraged about everything that had been going on. On Sunday I was in church praying and asking God to refuel me and refresh me. I want to be happy here, I want to be positive. God answered that prayer. This week has been so good. There have been so many things that could have pulled me down… discipline issues, leadership complications, bad news from home, but none of that has been able to discourage me. God is awesome!

Thank you again for your prayers. God is listening and responding. Please continue to pray for me and my fellow leaders. We want to end off strong. We will need God’s strength to do that. Please also pray for the student that they would come home from this trip changed. We have seen positive change, but we have also seen many of them slide back to where they were when they came. Please pray that this would be a truly life chancing experience.

God Bless

The Old Age Home – Octavia Waight Centre

We arrived at Octavia Waight at about 2:30 pm. We spent a bit of time setting up out stuff in our new room. Lauren Gringhuis and I are staying at the Old Age home in a room upstairs. We will be here for the next two weeks. We took part in a Bible study. The lady talked about how our Bibles were wrong calling God “God” and “Lord” because that is not the name in Hebrew. She said that we don’t call President Bush something else when he is in another country. She said that it is using the Lords name in vain to call Him these other names. Lauren and I had a hard time really understanding her. She referred to a lot of different passages in both the New and Old Testament. I can’t remember where she all pointed us to. I am not really sure what to think about this lady. I will pray about it and see what God tells me is right or wrong.

In the evening we went to the circus. It was pretty interesting. There were clowns and acrobatic people. When we got in the tent the first person that we saw was a lady on stilts. It was fun being there. I think that my favourite part was probably the elephant. It climbed up on a fairly small stool thing and it stood on two feet, then it climbed off of he stool and then sat on it. It was really neat. There was also this lady who was doing tricks with a hula-hoop. She had so many of them spinning around her! It was amazing. There were several interesting tricks done by people. I took some videos of the performances. My camera wouldn’t take good pictures though, and it ran out of batteries half way through. I would say that my first trip to the circus was a good experience. I even bought a candy apple!

Before going to the circus we talked to the lady who stays here during the night. She said that the one lady, Hilda, tries to run away all the time. She old Susan that she planned to hop the fence that night. She is so funny… she even had a little sack packed.

We got up at 6:00 to be ready to work at 6:30 serving breakfast. After breakfast we played bingo with the old people for a while

I went to the hospital with one of the workers and Jose to get Joes eye checked out. He had a cataract surgery on Thursday and needed a checkup. The doctor there was a missionary doctor who comes here every year. Today was his last day in Belize. His assistant was a guy from Niagara Falls. He is studying to be a doctor at a school in California right now.

Hilda fainted at the beginning of lunch. They took her to the hospital. It was a bit scary because she wasn’t breathing at first and her pulse was really low and when we opened her eyes she didn’t respond at all. She is fine now, as far as I know. She had to stay at the hospital for a little while to get checked out by the doctor.

In the afternoon Lauren and I helped to shower people… I think we showered about 7 ladies in 45 mins! They were just quick shower to cool the elderly off. They didn’t want any more of them passing out.

Working at the old age home will be challenging. We have to do things that are somewhat uncomfortable… but that is all part of the growth that God wants to put us through I suppose. Please pray for Lauren and I while we are here.

Easter Weekend

On Good Friday morning we had our first sit-down meal. It was so nice to have everyone sitting around the tables.

Later in the morning we went to the Belize Zoo. The Zoo was really pretty. We saw some interesting animals. I really liked seeing the birds. There was this one bird that was so aggressive. If you got close to the cage it would peck at you and it could stick it’s beak about 3 inches out of the cage. It was a little bit scary.

We saw some Keel-Billed Toucans, which is the national bird. They were so pretty! I saw one in the wild one day at the base… but I didn’t have my camera with me then so I didn’t take a picture, but I got one now.

We went out for lunch at Amigos.

After lunch we headed for Belize City to pick up Mrs. Kamphuis. We were dropped off at the Princess Hotel, which is the most expensive hotel in Belize City. The hotel was really nice! We went swimming there. There was lots of stuff there… including a movie theatre, bowling, arcade games, massage rooms, workout room…. and of course a pool. Most of the stuff wasn’t open, though, because it was Good Friday.

On Saturday we just stayed home. It was a relaxation day. That was nice. I don’t think that I had anything that I had to do. Oh, I had to scrub the kitchen floor as punishment. On Friday Amy and I were late in getting to the bus so we had to spend half an hour scrubbing the floor. We ended up scrubbing everything… the counters, the oven, the cupboards, and whatever else we could find to clean.

On Sunday we went to a Mayan Temple. This temple was amazing. We took a fairy across a river, like the last time. This fairy was too small to put the bus on, though, so we had to walk the rest of the way after the fairy. The walk was really long… and tiring… and hilly… and hot… but totally worth it.

The temple was 13 stories high! We climbed to the top up stone stairs that were sometimes huge, sometimes tiny, and sometimes steep. From the top it looked like we were in Ireland. The view from up there was gorgeous. We could see the Guatemalan boarder from there.

In the evening we went to Pastor Scott’s church, which is right around the corner from the YWAM base. The worship was really good. After worship Pastor Scott asked for three people from our team to share how God was working in their lives on this trip. We ended up having four people go up… and some of them were unlikely people who don’t like going up in front of people. I am always amazed to hear how God is working in the lives of the students. Sometimes it feels like nothing is happening spiritually with them, but there actually is. I hear them talk about things that people have said, and I am surprised at what they remember and what speaks to them because often times I totally forget that a person has said what they remember them saying.

Pastor Scott was very supportive of our group. He is going to get all of us 8hrs worth of worship music so that we can worship outside of church. Many of the students come from Christian Reformed churches and so they don’t know the songs that are sung in church here.

It didn’t really feel like Easter this weekend. I am disappointed about a few things. First off, I am disappointed that we didn’t really do anything for Good Friday. We also didn’t do a whole lot for Easter Sunday. In Belize Easter is a huge deal so I am not really sure how we managed to make it just a regular weekend.

I am also sad that I didn’t go to the Bike Race on Saturday. It is a big deal in Belize and I missed it!

This weekend had some major struggles, and also some major rewards. I am learning over and over again how much service this trip takes, and also how tiring that is. I am also learning how important it is to spend time with God and to be refreshed by him. I often get so spiritually drained.., which makes me physically drained and emotionally drained. When that happens the Devil starts to attack my thinking and my attitude towards this trip. I am learning that it is so very important to be revived by God everyday.

Thank you again for all of your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Monday April 2 – Thursday April 5

VBS

Monday was mostly just a preparation day. Everyone set up their stations and made sure that everything was ready to go for the next morning. Some of the students cleaned up the grounds.

Tuesday was when the VBS actually started. The kids started arriving at about 8 AM, the VBS started at 8:30. We didn’t have that many kids the first day, which was kind of good. I think there were about 21 kids the first day… and we had 23 workers. It was a nice manageable amount of kids. The group leaders were able to really connect with the kids in their groups. The second day we nearly doubled our numbers. I think we had about 45 kids the second day. On the third day I think that we had about 47 kids.

The students did their assigned tasks very well and really seemed to enjoy themselves. The whole VBS ran remarkably smoothly.

The theme for our VBS was “You are special.”

The people who did the teaching/singing part did very well. They were so enthusiastic with the kids. Their Bible stories included skits, singing, puppets and games. They were able to keep the kids very interested.

I was so blessed to see things work out so well. I have never organized and ran a VSB before, and neither had any of the students. It was good to have everyone know their roles, and willingly do them. Amy and I were the ones who assigned people to their tasks. We prayed about it and we put people in the places that we felt God telling us to place them. God know what He was doing, that is for sure. We could see that through how well things went. God certainly is a God of order.

Videos

Hey Everyone,
There is a girl on this trip name Laura and she is making movies of our trip as one of her credits. If you want to watch some those videos and get a taste of what we are doing you can go to youtube.com and search for "lmikelso"
Enjoy!
Bethany
PS. We got a kitten today!

Corozal - March 28 - 31

Our trip to Corozal was so good! First off, I got a package from my family on my way there, so that made the ride wonderful. I just sat there with it on my lap… reading the letters, looking at the pictures from James and Brandon, munching on snacks… and just thinking about my wonderful family. The drive there took a few hours. When we got to Corozal we had a little picnic and then tried to find a sandy beach. We asked several people where we could find a sandy beach and they kept on telling us different directions to go in… and we never found a sandy beach. We decided that these people don’t actually understand what we mean by a sandy beach. When you ask for a sandy beach they think of sand being on the ocean floor… not sand on the shore. We ended up just swimming off of the ocean wall thing. They have opening in the wall that have some steps where you can get in. The ground is really “oozy” as Opa says. We all had to get past that! The water was really warm, which was nice. It tried to spend a bit of time in the water each day because I know how good it is to be in salt water.

In the evening we went to the Zantingh’s house. Mr. Zantingh is the principal of a school in Corozal, which is where we planned to work. At the Zantingh’s we made some dinner and hung out with them. They were such a blessing to us. We met his family as well as Derek and Morica who are living in Belize for a few months (5 or 6) and they are helping out at Mr. Zantingh’s school.

The Zantingh’s had some kittens that were a few weeks old… and so cute!

After dinner we headed to the school where we would be staying. Mr. Zantingh opened up some rooms for us to sleep in. The girls slept upstairs in a locker room. There were no doors, just gates. I loved sleeping in there. The whole floor was covered in foam mattresses and suitcases, and there was a beautiful breeze flowing through from one side to the other. Some people took showers outside in their bathing suits with a hose. It was an adventure. I slept amazing well considering the fact that we were told that there might be rats!

We woke up super early because we had to have breakfast and get everything cleaned up and in the bus again by 7:00 am because school started at 7:30. In the morning we went to the ocean and had some group devotions on the shore. After that we dropped off 5 people from our team at an American couples house. On the previous day when Mr. K was sitting at the beach he was wearing a shirt from an outreach that he had done and a lady biking by stopped and asked him about it. They talked and Mr K found out that they were a couple from the States who had sold everything and moved to Belize two months earlier. They were a little stressed about the fact that they needed to paint their house. Mr. K offered some of our students to help out. So, we dropped some people off at their house and they painted their living room. It was amazing how God connected us with those people and how we were able to fill a need of theirs.

The rest of us went to the house of the security guard of the school that we slept at. We painted his house and also prepared the house next door for painting. We had to scrape the other house and tare the back part of the house down.

At lunch time Mr. K saw some people on bikes with packs peddling on by so he called them over. They were a couple who were biking from Cancun, Mexico to the bottom of South America. They had already been biking for two weeks and were planning to take 11 months to do the whole trip. We offered them some of out spaghetti for lunch. It was really interesting to meet them. They were also impressed by what we were doing as a school.

In the afternoon we went to the beach again. In the evening we went to a restaurant. It was a small place… and they were not expecting us to come! They kept on coming out and telling us different food that they had fun out of. They had no chicken, they ran out of hamburgers, they ran out of watermelon juice, and fries, and milkshakes… and some other things. It was kind of funny.

In the evening we went and slept at the school again.

On Friday morning we didn’t have to get up as early as on Thursday because there was no school. We still ended up getting up and everything fairly early because the sun only stays down for so long.

On this day we did mostly the same things as the day before. The people who painted the American couples house went there again and continued painting there. The rest of us touched up paint on the security guards house and painted the house next door.

For lunch the security guards wife made us tomalleys (spelling?). They usually make lunch to sell to the students during the week. They kind of have a little store/cafeteria in their house.

In the evening we went back to the beach again and then to the Zantingh’s house. In the evening we watched some children’s movies. It was amusing because no one has really watched anything in the last month so everyone was very involved in the movie. It was funny to just watch everyone else watching the movie. Mr. K and Rick bought us some ice cream and bananas and chocolate sauce for banana splits. We wanted to celebrate one month down!

At night we spelt on the Zantingh’s roof. They have a roof that is half flat and the other part is slightly sloped. The guys slept on the slightly sloped part and the girls slept on the flat part. It was so nice to just fall asleep looking at the stars. It was a bit cloudy that night, but we could still see quite a few stars. Again, I slept well despite the fact that they said that there were scorpions and tarantulas! I guess I am just getting use to the fact that I might get attacked my bugs in my sleep. I woke up once at about five and the starts looked amazing because the moon was no longer lightening the sky and the clouds had all cleared. It was beautiful! I tried to take some pictures but sadly the camera just can’t catch all of the stars no matter how hard I try.

On Saturday morning the Zantingh’s made us breakfast – some nice banana pancakes. After eating breakfast and packing everything back into the bus once again we headed out to see if we could find some cane cutters. During the day on Friday a few of the students and Mr. K had went to visit some cane cutters in the field and gave them some lunch and prayed with them. In the afternoon that day we collected some money to drop off for them. They work very hard, and don’t get paid very much. The one man working was 82 years old and was still expected to cut 6 tons of cane in one day, with not very much pay. We wanted to bless them, so we collected money for them. We tried to drop the money off to them on Friday but they were no longer working when we went to find them. We still wanted to bless them so we went to find them in Saturday morning. We were successful in finding them and they were grateful. They gave us some sugar cane to try eating. I had tried it before, but I liked having it again.

After that we went back and picked up the Zantingh’s and then headed off to see a Mayan Ruin. The ruin that we went to see was not too far away from where we were staying, but we had to go on a fairy to get there. We drove down some rough dirt roads to get to the fairy. The fairy was not very big, but was big enough for a truck and a bus to fit on. The river that we had to go over was not very big… but like 75 meters wide. The fairy was attached to cables and it was moved across the river by one man cranking a wheel. It was an interesting experience.

The Mayan ruin was as impressive as we were hoping that it would be, but the view from the Mayan ruin was amazing. It was right on the ocean and the water was beautiful looking. I have never been to a Mayan ruin before so I didn’t have anything to compare it to. It was kind of cool. There were big faces carved into a fairly large structure thing. I am not really sure how to describe it. There was also this other high alter thing that was built into a hill. It had stone steps leading steeply up a hill leading too a flat area.

After the Mayan Ruin we drove the Zantingh’s home and Morica sang us a song. She is hoping to become a music teacher someday and she likes leading worship so Mr. K asked if she would play us a song. She was good.

On our way home we made a detour to Belize City. We got there when it was just getting dark so I didn’t get to really see what it looked like. From what I saw it looked pretty interesting. I would like to go back there during the day. Our reason for the detour was to go to SUBWAY! It is the only chain restaurant that lasted to Belize. Everyone was pretty excited about going there.

I personally loved this trip. I got to experience so many amazing things. I especially loved sleeping on the roof.

Thank God that things went so well during this trip.

Monday and Tuesday March 26 and 27, 2007

On Monday the team worked on planning a VBS for next week. We put people in groups and assigned different tasks to the different groups. Things went really well. Everyone finished their tasks quickly and with success. I am looking forward to how things will run next week. Amy and I were in charge of overseeing everything. I was so happy when things went well because I wasn’t totally sure what I was doing!

In the afternoon Amy, Kathy and I did some errands. We got the passport visa stamps. That was a big blessing. In Belize you can only be a tourist for a month I think and after that you have to pay $50 American per month that you are here. We were expecting to get a student visa which would cost us $40 to get, but would be good for the rest of the time that we are here. Kathy went in and talked to the people at the passport office and they ended up giving us another visa that was free! Thank God for His favour up on us!

Today we worked on more preparing for VBS. The students did a lot of base clean up. This evening we will be packing ourselves up for a few days. We will be spending the rest of the week in Corozal. I think that we will be painting a school and doing some clean up. We will also be taking time to relax on the beaches there. Please pray for us as we go.

Again, I am sorry that it took so long for me to post. I hope that everyone is doing well. It is good being here, but I miss home! God Bless.

Saturday and Sunday March 24 and 25

Saturday was just a relaxation day. Thankfully we have the pool to keep people entertained. Amy, Kathy and I did some planning in the afternoon. Thankfully that didn’t take long.

Sunday morning I went to a church within walking distance of the base. The morning service was a youth group meeting basically. The youth there talked about a conference that they went to. Each one of them had to say how God spoke to them and what they took home from the conference. It was pretty good. It was hard to understand what they were saying some of the time, but it was good none the less. In the afternoon we did some relaxing, swimming, tanning, and house cleaning. We found out that we have cockroaches in our house so that was a good motivation for a lot of people. Right how we have the whole team home so the house gets very messy and dirty very quickly. It is a challenge for everyone to keep their stuff neat. I am proud to say that my stuff has stayed amazingly neat this whole time. For those of you who know me well… that is really quite impressive. :)

Wednesday – Friday March 21 – 23, 2007

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday went by quickly. On Wednesday and Thursday I just worked on the base. On Thursday one of my jobs was cleaning this grossly dirty house. I found a cockroach in there… I was not too overly happy about that! It wasn’t a huge one, but I still didn’t enjoy it’s presents.

Later in the afternoon I spent some time just sitting alone in the kitchen listening to my music. I was making pizza and I had to wait for the cheese to come so I just relaxed. It was nice to be able to just listen to my music and just be alone. Sadly I can’t really just play my music in the house. Every time I try it just gets drown out by someone else’s music.

As I was sitting in the kitchen I heard some yelling and commotion outside and I looked out the window to see five guys running around with ropes trying to lasso a bull! Two of the guys were actually professional cowboys! They were running around wearing cowboy hats and boots. It was quite entertaining. At first they were chasing after it with a quad and then they resorted to a horse. It took them about three hours to actually catch the bull… and they ran everywhere… even through the jungle.

On Friday morning we went out to the market and out for ice cream. We took all of the students who were working on the base and treated them. It was nice to go out. I actually got a little bit of colour that day!

Tuesday March 20, 2007

On Tuesday we went out with elderly people from Octavia Waight Centre. It was quite interesting! It took about 45 mins to load all of them into the bus. Some of the people were blind and many couldn’t walk. It took a lot of lifting, guiding, prodding and awkward positions to get them all on the bus. We first went to an iguana conservatory where we had lunch in a grass covered shelter. There was a man there who played some tunes on the keyboard and sang for us. There were a few elderly people who stepped up and danced. It was quite amusing to watch.

I went for a walk with some people to see the iguanas. There were lots there! And there were some pretty big ones that were more brightly coloured. I’m told that those ones are poisonous.

After lunch and some relaxation and some dancing we loaded back on the bus and drove to Spanish Lookout to the Western Dairies factory for some ice cream.

When we got to the ice cream factory we field of the bus with all of the people who could walk and had a tour of the factory. It was… interesting. We first had to cloth all of the people in robes, hairnets and plastic bags on their feet. Then we walked through a noisy place with several old people who couldn’t touch anything. The lady that I was helping asked that they never took her there again! The tour was kind of useless because we couldn’t even hear what the tour guide was saying.

After the tour everyone got some ice cream.

Over all the day was good. The elderly had not been out on a trip in eight months, so they enjoyed just getting out.

Monday March 19, 2007

During the week I spent most of my time at the YWAM base. Monday was a somewhat insane day. Mr. K. was out dropping people off at the airport. On his way home again the tire tread started to come off of his tire. He stopped and wanted to change the tire, but the jack wouldn’t work so he couldn’t. He got back in the van and prayed and prayed until he got back to the base. When he got back Ellis changed the tire to the donut tire. The donut tire had some leaks in it, though, so that wasn’t going to last long, but it had to last for a little while. Mr. K then went to pick up some of the students from the school that they were co-oping at. On his way home from the school the break failed on that same van. He was on his way down a hill and he knew that there was a curve coming and a narrow road. He again prayed and pumped the breaks and then they started working again.

On that day Mr. Rick was also out with Santi dropping off the other students at their placements. After dropping off the students the bus that they were driving broke down. They had to call around and find another ride home. Santi brother or brother-in-law drove them home, but on the way they stopped at many places and visited with many people and… because Sanit is so talkative… these visits too a long time.

That evening we finally got the ground ready for the pool. I spent some time in the evening with Mr. K. and Nathan spreading dirt and sand to make a level area for the pool. It wasn’t until after dark that we got to spreading out and pumping up the pool. That proved to be an interesting endeavor. We put the hoses in and left them for the night to start filling the pool. We knew that the pool filling would take hours because the water pressure is very low here.

At 8:30 we had devotions, but before we could do that we had some problems with and student being very disobedient and rebellious. It was hard to get into devotions after that, but we pressed in. After devotions we had a meeting with that student. The meeting was harsh and straight to the point. She really didn’t see at all how she was wrong and how selfish she was being. She came to the realization of what had happened and apologized.

Monday was a crazy day, to say the least. God was faithful, though, and He gave us the strength to make it through.

Sunday March 18, 2007

On Sunday we had some morning devotion, some relaxation time and some major house cleaning time. In the evening we went to church. No body really wanted to go to church at night. There was a lot of opposition. We got everyone to get on the bus and we headed off. When we go to the hotel where the church usually meets we found out that they weren’t having church there that night because some other people had booked their room. There happened to an elder there, though, who told us that church was meeting in the pastors house instead. We called the pastor and asked him if he had room for 22 extra people. He told us that he did! We drove to his house and packed ourselves in there. A lot of people had to stand… the actually congregation didn’t even fit in the main room. We tried to offer them our seats, but they insisted that we sat in their seats. God really met a lot of the students at church that night. He did amazing things in so many people’s lives. It was no wonder that there was so much opposition.

During the service I was thinking about how I went the orphanage on the Thursday before. As soon as I got there I didn’t feel that that was the place that God was calling me to. It was strange because I thought that God called me to Belize to go to the orphanage and give out my beanie babies. At first I thought that maybe the orphanage just wasn’t what I thought it would be and that was my reason for thinking that I wasn’t called there. I asked God what was going on there. Why was I called? Why didn’t I feel like I should be at the orphanage? If I wasn’t supposed to bring my beanie babies there, then where was I supposed to bring them? Then God brought to mind the kids that we had saw at the dump. I think that God is telling me that I am supposed to bring them to the kids at the dumps and the kids who live in the shacks along the sides of the roads with their families.

That night I was also feeling rather discouraged with leading. I kept on thinking that I wasn’t strong enough and I wasn’t “spiritual” enough. I felt like God wasn’t talking to me the way that He was speaking to the other leaders. I talked to a few friends about it and they reaffirmed me that I could do this. Then in Church I really felt God was telling me that I am where God wants me to be. That reaffirmed me God was speaking to me and He was with me. Sometimes I don’t feel like God is speaking to me the same what that He is to the other leaders, but He IS speaking to me.

Saturday March 17, 2007

On Saturday the 17^th we went to the Blue Hole. It was pretty there. We started by hiking along a trail through the jungle towards a large cave. We had a tour guide who told us about everything that was passed. We saw an “all spice” tree and everyone got to pick a leaf off. I never knew before that “all spice” was one spice… rather then all spices mixed together!

We went through the cave and could barely see anything because we didn’t have very many flashlights. I tried to take pictures in the cave, but they didn’t turn out very well. It was so dark in there! We saw cool formations on the roof of the cave; one was a “jellyfish formation”. We also saw some mien pottery.

On our way back through the cave we stopped and went swimming. That was interesting because it was pitch black so we had to swim with a flashlight and we couldn’t see what the water was like… or what was in the water. We didn’t swim very quickly through that water! Thankfully the water was shallow for the most part. It was a lot of fun.

After the cave we trekked back through the jungle and had lunch. At lunch we met a Jewish man. He was sitting at the table that we were eating at. The poor man was sitting there trying to fill out a survey and we were all making sandwiches and stuff practically on top of him. We told him that we were Christians… and his response was sad, and somewhat unexpected to me. He said “Oh, I didn’t notice.” It makes me realize that people really are watching and observing and our actions speak for us. We talked to him a bit and asked him to pray a blessing over us.

After lunch we went to swim in the blue hole. It was really pretty there. We had to decent down several steps into a valley. It was beautiful. The water was so pretty. We had a fun time just swimming and playing around in the water. We also went swimming into another cave. We couldn’t go very far in that one though.

On our way back home we drove passed a dump. We noticed that there were children there who were searching through the garbage for food. We decided to stop our bus and give the kids the rest of our bread that we had left over from lunch. As soon as the kids saw us slowing down they came running.

The day was an overall good day.

March 19, 2007

Another week has flown by! This week has had is its ups and downs, but over all it was good.

At the beginning of the week I worked on the base. In the mornings I spent most of my time in the kitchen. I learned how to make corn tortillas. Man, they take a lot of work! I am hoping that the cook here will give me the recipe so that I can make them when I get home.

I spent a lot of the afternoons in meetings. We are trying to nail down a schedule for the rest of our time here. We are trying to figure out all of the financial information and what we can all do with the money that we have. There are several outreach trips that we would like to do, but aren’t sure how much we can afford.

On Thursday I went to the orphanage with Hannah and Ben. It went well there. I was really tired by the end. I’m not sure if it was just from being at the orphanage, or if it was because of everything else that has been going on

Monday, March 12, 2007

This past week has been good. I worked at the placement on the base finishing the curtains for the first half of the week. They turned out well. On Thursday morning we finished the house for Mr. K and his wife.

On Thursday afternoon I went out with Kathy to run some errands. We went to the grocery store to get some food and cleaning supplies. Everything is really expensive in the stores. It is more expensive to buy things here then in Canada. They are always asking people to bring things with them when they come to Belize because it is so much cheaper. The only things that are cheap are fruits in season and chicken.

Kathy and I went out for lunch at this little international restaurant. The food was deep fried. A lot of things are deep fried here.

Later in the afternoon we went and picked up some of the students from their placement because they were having a really rough time there. They are working in a classroom of kids that are move challenging and the teacher wasn’t there because her father passed away. The students at the school had no respect for out students who were trying to teach them. We went out for ice cream with them… because as Kathy says, “everything looks better on the other side of an ice cream!” The students were roughed up, but determined to return again the next day and try again.

Mr. Vankampen and his wife Petra came on Thursday, as well at Mr. Kamphuis’s in-laws.

On Friday I was working on the base again. I did some cleaning and sweeping. At lunch time some of us went down to watch the Canoe race. There were several teams of people racing from one side of Belize to the other. The race takes a total of four days. The river that they go down goes right through the base so we could easily go and watch for a few minuets.

In the evening we went and picked up all of the students from their placements and then we went to In His Will Ministries where some of the students are staying and we had a BBQ. The land that In His Will Ministries has is amazing.

On Saturday we went to the Cayes for the day. It was so pretty there! The boat ride was kind of long, but enjoyable. On the way there we passed by this bird island. There were a few kinds of birds there. There were these male birds that had this red sack thing that they poofed out really big when they landed. It was their mating dance thing I guess.

We went snorkeling off the island. That was amazing! They have the second largest reef in the world in Belize. We got to see so many beautiful bright fish and a lot of coral. I found snorkeling a little bit scary at first and I often got some water in my snorkel and had to stop and empty it out. My lunges are still sore from the way that I was breathing while snorkeling. The Caye that we were on was very small. You could walk from one side to the other in about five minuets and from end to end it took about half an hour maybe. I was hoping to walk all the way from end to end but there were some fences up so we thought that maybe it was privet property and so we thought that it would be best if we didn’t. I wish that I had had a disposable under water camera so that I could have taken some pictures of the fish and coral reef. We might go back there again later in the trip, so maybe I can get one before then.

On Sunday we went to church on the base because they were doing a youth retreat called Legacy. The worship was amazing. I have not been in worship like that in a long time. . In the evening service I was really able to meet with God during worship. It brought me to tears to see so many teenagers worshiping so passionately. They were all up at the front together, singing and jumping and just totally excited about God. The whole building was shaking!

Today I went along to drop all of the kids back off at their placement. We first dropped off about half of the students at Kings Children’s Home. Then we went and dropped off the students that stay with different families. It was good to be there. It really makes me want to have a placement off of the base and in with the people. It was nice to meet the families that people are staying with. When we were in Spanish Lookout we went to this farmer’s market store thing. They call it the Walmart here. It is a lot like a Walmart, but it is run by the Amish people.

After dropping everyone off we went out for lunch at this really nice hotel. And, Mr. Vankampen and his wife Petra paid for the meal!

Dropping everyone off at their placements took up the whole day. We went back and picked up the students that were at Kings Children’s Home and then we went to The Art Box. That was a really neat store.

This past week has been good and bad. The students are doing fairly well in their placements. Those that have had a hard time aren’t allowing that to break their spirits. They are willing to go back and keep on pressing on until things work out well.

As far as leading goes, it has had is rewards and its difficulties. As leadership we still need prayer. We need to make sure that things are communicated properly and we need to make sure that we are staying united. Please continue to pray for us.

Monday March 5, 2007

Today was our first actual work day. Most of the students were off at their different placements. I was here at the YWAM base working. My first task is sewing curtains for a new house on the base. I have never sewn curtains before so this was a somewhat scary task. The instructions that I was given were fairly basic, though, so it wasn't too bad. I finished the bedroom curtains and they seem good. I tried out the "White" sewing machine that was donated to me. It works very well. It took a little while to figure everything out, but once I got going it was good.

Sunday March 4, 2007

This morning we went to a church that is walking distance away from the YWAM base. The service was good. There was no worship team; they just had a tape playing with one man leading with that tape. Everyone was very lively. After worship the pastor invited people from the congregation to come up and share things that God was doing in their lives and what God was speaking to them. Several people went up and there was a common theme. The theme was the bondage of un-forgiveness and being set free from that. The pastor decided not to preach after these people shared because he felt that if he spoke it would be over kill. He decided to just share a passage with us and then open up the alters. Over all, the service was good.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Yesterday in the morning we had time to relax and settle in. We met Kathy, who has been organizing everything for us down here. She is an amazing lady! We had orientation and a tour and we were told where our first placements will be. I found out that my first three week placement will be here on the base. I will be working with Kathy a lot. She wants me to sew curtains for a new house that they have built. I will also be working in the kitchen.

I am not sure when I will be going to the orphanage. I will be going there for one placement, but I am not sure which one. If you plan to send me letters, then send them to the YWAM Belize base. :D

I am not feeling homesick yet. The fact that I am here and that I will be here for three months hasn't really hit me yet. Everything feels surreal.

Today is a quiet day. Most people are gone for the day. They are all being dropped off at their first placement. It is nice to have some time to just relax.

I saw a pretty bird today. It was so brightly coloured! I didn't get a picture of it, sadly, because I didn't have my camera with me at the moment.

There is a large fire outside right now. We are a little worried about it. We smelt it and heard it a few hours ago and now we are starting to be able to see it through the thick jungle behind out house. We aren't doing anything about it. Rick and I said that we would save our laptops first. We were told that it is common to see grass fires in the fields because they light the grass on fire before they harvest the gain out of a field. I'm not quite sure how that works, but that's what they do.

Tonight we are going to have a bonfire. Santie says that it is a sin to waste the full moon. Tonight is going to be a full moon, so we will be outside enjoying it. Last night the moon was nearly full and it was very light. Once the moon gets smaller we will be able to see the stars better.

Well, that's all that I have for now. I hope that things are going well in Canada! I heard that you're storm was pretty bad!

Please pray for us here. Pray for the leaders that we will be able to lead the students well. We need God's grace, mercy and strength.

Thank you.

The Journey There - Thursday, March 01, 2007

We arrived! God has blessed us with safety and heath so far.

We started our journey at about 1:15 AM March 1, 2007. The HD part of the team began by meeting at HDCH. Mr. Vankampan met us there and prayed over us. From there we headed to Grimsby where we met up with the TD part of the team. We left Grimsby with our last Tim Horton's beverages in hand. When we got to the US border we had a little trouble crossing, but nothing to serious. Everything went well at the Buffalo Airport. I found two kind boys who packed light and therefore where able to take my sewing machines as their luggage.

We flew to Atlanta where we had a stop over. We had to circle around for a bit in Atlanta before we could land because of the weather. The Atlanta airport is HUGE! Our next flight was on the other side of the airport so we took the monorail to the other end. In the airport we saw a vending machine type thing that sold iPods!

Our flight to Mexico was good. It was quite warm when we got off the plane and we got to go off using the stairs! Then we took a shuttle bus to the airport where we went through customs and got out baggage. We had a hard time with the sewing machines there. They wanted the invoice and proof of purchase and stuff like that. We told them that we didn't have it and we weren't sure how much they cost. They let us through this time, but they said that if we wanted to take something again then we have to have that information. When we were leaving the airport we had a lot of stuff to take out so we were going to take things out in stages. We when we went to go back into the airport they wouldn't let us. Thankfully the people still in the airport discovered that they couldn't leave and come back so they paid a Mexican to bring a cart with the rest of the suitcases. The Mexico airport was pretty. There were palm trees everywhere.

We met Santie, who is the director of Belize YWAM. He led us around. We had to take a coach bus from the airport to where our bus was parked. We ended up moving our luggage SOO much! I think we probably had about 60 or more pieces of luggage between all 22 of us. We moved our luggage from the coach bus to this one corner, then we were told to move it to another corner, and then we had to take it across the street and to this other corner and then we had to take it down to street to the bus. There was this Mexican guy who helped me cross the street and then he just stood there and watched us. We weren't sure if he was waiting to steel stuff or if he wanted to help. Eventually we gave him some money and then he helped us move some of our baggage. At 4 PM we boarded the school bus that we had bought. Our bus is quite interesting. The front half of the bus has seats, but not the back. We put all the luggage in the back and some people sat on it. The bus ride to Belize took about 10 hours. We had to stop at the side of the road for a pee break and we stopped at Burger King for dinner. When we got to the Belize border we had to unload the bus again. We brought everything inside and they checked through our bags by actually opening them and rummaging through. We had to pay duty on the sewing machines. It cost $72 American. Santie said that they were very gracious. They could have charged us duty on all of out laptops and cameras and everything, but they didn't. They didn't even look through our bags very thoroughly. We had another two hour bus ride from the Belize border to Belmopan. We stopped on the side of the road for a min to dip out feet in the warm ocean water. We finally arrived at out base at 3AM Belize time, which is 4AM in Canada. Our journey took a total of 27 hours. We were all tired, to say the least.