Another week has past and I find that I have been here in Belize for over a month now. I am getting to know the people and they are getting to know me as well. I almost can recognize certain streets and how to get to certain locations. Jim was in the States for the first three weeks I was here, taking care of some business for their family. The week that he arrived back home Debie’s mother’s heath declined rapidly and two days after he arrived we were taking her to the airport to be with her mother. Her mother passed away a few days ago so prayers would be appreciated for their family. In Debie’s absence Becka has come back to stay with us which has been a blast. It is an adjustment to function at Jim Tucker pace, but we are having much fun.
Friday brought much excitement as we went to watch the start of the Ruta de Maya. It is an annual canoe race that lasts four days. It starts in San Ignacio and goes all the way to Belize City. It looked like almost the whole country came out for it.
Last Saturday Becka and I were able to go with Magdalena, Diana and about twenty of the kids from Los Tombos on a field trip. First we went to ice cream, then to the river for swimming, lunch, and singing songs. I attempted to learn the kids’ names and was only about half successful. It was such a blessing to be invited by Magdalena to come. We had so much fun. I was able to talk more with both of the ladies as we watched the children swim and learn more about their lives. Here is a picture of us all stuffed in the back of the pick-up.
We had so much fun that the little guys fell asleep on the way home. This is the pastor’s son Samuel and his best buddy Nemia.
This past Sunday morning Magdalena asked me to teach Sunday school so Becka and I were able to take the kids while she was able to sit in service. The lesson was on Joshua and the battle of Jericho. After studying for that lesson many of the tasks that God has given me don’t seem as difficult. Afterwards we were able to play games with the kids, which was of course great fun. While some of the adults don’t speak English many of the children do, except for the little ones, so I was able to teach in English. The main church service is always taught in Spanish as Pastor Eric doesn’t speak English.
Monday was a holiday, as it was the last day of the big canoe race so it was a bit of a quiet day at Octavia Waight. Tuesday we had to go in Belmopan, the capital, so that I could get my passport stamped as I have been here for a month. Wednesday was another day at Octavia Waight, which I am getting more and more comfortable with the staff and the residents. Some of them call me by name now.
There is so much that I have learned from Belize
1. Guano on your bare hands feels the same as mud
2. A little itch never hurt anybody
3. I like the echo of geckos at night
4. Not only am I a bad volley ball, I’m a really really bad volley ball player
5. There is nothing like the feeling of liquid plastic (aka bug spray) first thing in the morning
6. 80 degrees is the new 60 degrees
7. Sitting in a hammock does require a certain level of skill
8. Butter and cheese may look the same but it tastes a little different when you bite into a chunk of butter
9. Water pumps are definitely a gift from God
10. Don’t leave the full jug of laundry soap on an uneven surface but if you do make sure you angle it so it dumps in the washer
11. Frogs aren’t so bad if they are being flushed down the toilette
These are lessons that I’m sure will come in handy in the future.
Something I read in my devotions the other day struck me.
Then the King said the Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2 Samuel 24:24
Eternal life is free to us but it cost God His only son. Why do we expect our service to God to cost us nothing of ourselves yet our salvation cost Jesus His life? God wants my everything but He takes my everything, shows me that its really nothing and then gives me His everything which is more than anything I could have ever imagined. Am I willing to serve God by following His will for me life even if it costs me everything? Am I willing to take that step so that I can discover how infinitely more valuable a life lived for His truly is?
Pray for
Debie and family as they grieve and rejoice at her mother’s homecoming to Christ
A possible clinic in Los Tombos
A group of nurses that are coming to Octavia Waight next week from New York
Jim as he teaches in Los Tombos Saturday night and Sunday morning for Pastor Eric
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