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