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