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.