an evening at Mount Hope...

Last night we were privileged to spend the evening with the congregation at Mount Hope Church in Unitedville.  The building was packed!  It was great to see so many young people and families out on a Sunday night for church.
 

We were blessed by the drama team...

Pastor Ron leading worship...

Tom speaking on Relationships...

The evening ended with a time for people to come forward and receive prayer for any relationship issues that they might be facing.  Tom, myself, Jadine, and Craig, spent time interceding for a number of men and women over various issues.  I listened to a lot of pain last night...so grateful there is hope in Him.  

We'll head back there next week for Tom to finish up this two part series.  If you're in town come on out and join us.  Service starts at 6:30pm.  If you're not able to make it, please lift Tom and the congregation up in your prayers!

Healthy Relationships and Sexuality at UB Central Farm

This afternoon CDF went out to the University of Belize's Central Farm Campus.  It is the agricultural school of UB. We only had an hour so we just used three speakers and I went along to snap a few pictures.  Shelly, our Administrative Assistant, and Tamara, one of our volunteers, and Tom did such a great job.  Despite some heckling and general giggling that comes with the discomfort of listening to a frank and open discussion on sexuality the students were troopers and it turned out well. 

Tom, Shelly, and Tamara getting their PowerPoint slides ready

 The room is beginning to fill up...

Shelly explaining who we are and what we do.

Tom's turn...

This topic is an attention getter... 

 Tamara got the crowd going with her talk on abuse and trafficking!

 by the end of the presentations it was standing room only

Ending with students expressing their thanks and taking literature with them!!

the gift Genograms...

 

For the past six Saturdays 12 students have met weekly for the fourth semester of the Christian Counseling Class that Tom is teaching at Belize Bible Center.  This past Saturday we took our final exam.  After the exam was over there were three students who chose to do an extra credit project called a Genogram.

I chose not to take photos of the presentations because it felt too intrusive to do so.  These students were sharing difficult and private things about their families and it was evident that this was more than just another assignment...it was major step in their growth process.

The presenters came from three different people groups here in Belize and yet as we listened to each speaker common threads emerged.  They were each putting together family puzzles, uncovering patterns, evaluating what it all means, and determining that they will be the change-maker in their families...it was inspiring, amazing, and humbling to hear their stories.  I am grateful that I was in the room to share in those historic moments with each one of them.

As I continue to count the gifts that God has placed in our lives I will surely ponder that precious class time and treasure it in my heart.

1041.  students who give up their Saturday mornings
1042.  Tom being able to use his gifts of experience and knowledge to train others
1043.  being one of the 12 students
1044.  our time of fellowship when the exams and presentations were over!

Morality Matters

1045.  Amy returning to Belize to teach Morality Matters again for CDF
1046.  and the participants who came...it was great to see so many men in attendance

Pastor Han

1047.  Pastor Han's message from Mark 11.  Exhorting us to be like the colt...bearing burdens in service to the Lord where and when we are needed.

1048.  learning two new worship songs before the service began today.

1049.  eating, laughing, and hanging out as a church family after the worship service.  

If you would like to read posts from others in the gratitude community just click on the box below.

the gift of lessons learned and party invites...

We are still trying to get into a rhythm here...being away for a month and then hitting the ground running with Tom teaching out at YWAM last week was a bit overwhelming.  This week the load will be much lighter and we have some spaces in our schedule to breathe.  Breathing is a good thing!    I have no complaints about our first week back...only gratitude.

901.  listening to Spencer's devotional and taking notes.
902.  watching as he had each person look into a mirror and repeat these words...

903.  Meesha's teaching on coming to Him like little children:

904.  Leroy's creativity:

905.  worshiping together...

906.  Tom's faithfulness throughout the week of teaching...

907.   the response to Tom's teaching on Forgiveness...nailing it all to the cross...

908.   Tom began the teaching on Grace by 'kissing' everyone!

909.  serving together...

910.  seeing a party hat in an unexpected place...

911.  attending a party to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary and a baby shower!

912.  baby shower games are not much different no matter where you are in the world...

pin the pacifier on the baby

guess how big the mom to be is!

will it be a boy or a girl?

914.  watching her open her gifts...

915.  and listening to the advice people wrote out for her...

920.  the home the party was held in is humble but the family is rich in love and unity.
921.  knowing that love and unity in a family is truly a huge blessing.
922.  getting to use the gift certificate from Happy Maids that Tom won for me for Mother's Day.
923.  having our home deep cleaned and the anticipation of three more weeks to come.
924.  quiet times with a book and tall glass of ice water...a priceless gift indeed.
925.  realizing how rich our life is...and learning to appreciate it daily.

 joining in with the gratitude community:

Tune In!

If you are looking for us on Saturday this is where we will be! 

Tom is one of the speakers for this one day event sponsored by CDF to train Youth Pastors and Youth Workers.   Please pray for those who will attend and for all of the people who are working to make this event a success.  And for all who take part in the seminar to come away feeling more equipped to handle emergency situations with their youth.

If you are here in Belize and work with youth come on out and join us!

counting the gifts...

Just like many of you this was a busy weekend for us...

*we had a banquet to attend Friday night for Christian Leaders out at the YWAM base in Banana Bank.  We met several new people.  We were amazed by the turn out. Close to 100 people in attendance. I think most of the various ethnic groups and denominations here in Belize were present.  We had a great dinner, an inspiring speaker and awesome fellowship with other leaders from around Belize.

*Saturday morning was the first class of the new semester at Belize Bible Center.  We had 16 students show up for this second course on Christian counseling...some returning students and some for the first time.  And we were told to expect new people next week as well!  Tom taught on Defense Mechanisms and he was thrilled to be teaching again.

*Saturday evening Spencer came by with some of his YWAM friends.  It was a great time of laughing with them and getting to know them a little better.  

*Sunday service at church was refreshing and the message shared was right on time and in tune with what I needed to hear.  Next week because of the number of Asian believers in our church we will be celebrating Chinese New Year with a meal together after the service...and that is exciting to look forward to!

502.  morning walks with Tom

503.  a hot cup of tea with a friend

504.  great conversations that you don't want to end

505.  crispy salads loaded with veggies and salmon

506.  warm garlic bread

507.  a buffet line with a glimpse of Spencer in the background

508.  a tasty dinner and dessert while chatting with some leaders from the Mennonite community.

509.  candlelight and fresh cut flowers

510.  a free book of choice for each couple or single that attended

511.  Having Spencer spend his free day with us on Sunday.
512.  A timely message from Pastor Underwood for me to process the week.
513.  the sun shining after the rain.
514.  being inspired by Tom's commitment to walk more.
515.  experiencing the calm that comes from breathing in deeply and letting it out
516.  realizing that although we don't have much materially...we truly are rich.
517.  Time with Spencer's new friends from YWAM
518.  the joy of five sugar free days last week

519.  learning not just to sing but to pray this chorus:

Lord, prepare me

to be a sanctuary.

Pure and holy,

tried and true.

With thanksgiving

I'll be a living sanctuary for You.

520.  appreciating the difficulty in this process of surrendering all that I hold dear to Him.

521. the delight of knowing that we are exactly where God wants us to be.

522.  a counseling client who is growing and changing and experiencing a fuller life!

523.  teens who desire to work through their feelings and issues in counseling.

524.  the diversity of cultures here

525.  Reading The Hunger Games late into the night.

526.  watching documentaries with Spencer on a quiet Sunday afternoon

527.  a bag filled with oranges from a gracious couple at church

528.  the calming smell of a freshly peeled orange permeating the air.

529.  homework from Tom's class that challenges the mind and the spirit

530.  for His enduring love that becomes more palpable each day

joining in with the gratitude community:

Tom's teaching in Kona!

Well, he's not literally in Hawaii.  He is using the wonders of internet video conferencing to teach from our living room here in Belmopan, Belize to a group of YWAM students sitting in a classroom in Kona, Hawaii.  He taught yesterday and is scheduled for tomorrow and Friday as well.

We woke up to the electricity being out on Wednesday morning.  I called the electric company, based in Belize City, and was told it would be out here in Belmopan until 1pm.  We were very happy when it came back on just before noon.  We both got excited, however, that excitement quickly faded as we discovered the internet was down.  After a phone call to the Belize Telemedia, our internet carrier, Tom learned that technicians were already at work on the problem.  The only problem was they gave no indication as to how long it might be down.

Fortunately, the internet came back on 20 minutes before Tom was scheduled to be contacted by the staff in Kona.  We can't say that it went off without a hitch. But he was able to teach the first session with only a few interruptions.  Once we lost our internet connection and a few times they lost theirs.  But all in all the jungle to island connection was fairly strong.

Spencer served as the emcee so we had the added benefit of seeing him as well!  And unlike having to get up at 7:30am when Tom taught for YWAM Latvia this week's classes start at 2pm each afternoon.  Pray for Tom and for the students, that the connections will hold throughout the week, and that these students will be enriched and encouraged by Tom's teaching.  

Tom teaching in Latvia

Without leaving Belize or even the comfort of our home Tom was able to teach for YWAM Latvia's Introduction To Biblical Counseling class.  Over the course of three days he used video chat when the video feed worked and using a phone line connection when the chat feature didn't work.  One of the days the audio was bad so he had to type in his teaching.

The Latvia base held the class in the afternoon to adjust for the time differences between the countries.  Tom taught from 8am to 10am & 11am to 12:30.  In Latvia the time was 4pm to 6pm, they took a break for dinner & then teaching resumed at 7 and ended at 8:30pm!

It is so amazing that we can be in the jungle of Belize, a country that doesn't have a highly developed infrastructure and be looking at people in the country of Latvia, a former member of the Soviet Union, which also does not have good infrastructure.

There were two translators in the classroom for the students.  One to translate from English to Russian for the Russian speakers in the room and the other to translate the English into Latvian for the remaining students.  The YWAM base in Latvia is small.  There are five people on staff and for this class they had five students.

We met the founder and director of the base when she and her husband were students of Tom's in Ternopil, Ukraine.  And we met the leader of this course when he and his wife were studying at the YWAM base in Kiev, Ukraine.  It was exciting for Tom to still be involved in the lives of former students...seeing them grow into leaders is rewarding.