Down By the Riverside

Tom had the privilege of baptizing seven people from our little fellowship.   Right now we are calling the fellowship, New Life, and the baptism represents the new life that each of these people have entered into.

Curlin

Robert

Jannil

Malcolm

Kimani

Aaron

Erica

Before and after the baptism we had a time of playing in the water and bonding as a group.  I am still working on a slide show of all of the photos from the baptism and river fun.  Hopefully, I will have it done by Friday.  We want to include photos of them getting their certificates and that won't be done until Thursday night.

Next weekend we have a baby dedication and a wedding to look forward too!

You know you're in Belize when...

When you see Mennonites selling their wares on the side of the road.
My favorite is a wagon load of watermelon...we have gotten some sweet & juicy ones this year!

Here or there?

After my trip to Texas I was back in the office on Monday. No vacation from my little vacation. I am still a bit tired but it is probably just the heat.  Anyway, here is where I am today.  Back at the office.  Not a complaint, mind you, a simple statement of fact.

However, I keep daydreaming about going down to Maya Beach and reading a book or studying the waves.

Maya Beach will have to wait until our anniversary in December.  But, a girl can dream, right?!

Until then, maybe I should change the screensaver on my computer.

So tell me, where are you now and where are you daydreaming about being?

Thought for Today

This photo was taken at Guanacaste National Park...
an awesome place for hiking and taking in God's handiwork.

His designs are so intricate, so beautiful and so elaborate.  I love His attention to  minute details.
May we always take time to pause and joyfully appreciate His creation all the days of our lives.

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Tasty Tuesday

Plantains and mangoes and plums, oh my!

All the fruit trees in our yard are bearing fruit right now.  But, everything is green.  So we don't expect to be eating from these trees anytime soon.  We have been told by our Belizean friends that the plums are best eaten green with a little salt and pepper.  I have not been brave enough to try it yet.  

We are right at the beginning of the rainy season here.  From June to November we will get intermittent showers throughout the day.  We are grateful for the rains and what it is doing for the trees and plants in our yard.  

I can hardly wait for the plantains to ripen... there are several of those bunches all around the tree.  And I am hoping for a bountiful harvest because I'm eager to give this banana jam recipe a try:

Banana Jam

from U Toucan Cook Belize

1 lb ripe bananas

1/2 pint water

juice of one lime

1 lb sugar

1 stick cinnamon

Peel bananas and mash with a fork.  Add the other ingredients and put to boil. 

 Boil slowly until mixture turns a rich red colour.  Pour into jars and cover tightly.

Sounds yummy to me... how about you?



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Reflections above the clouds...

I just returned from my time in Texas with my youngest brother and his family.  I am so grateful that I was able to be there.  I even met up with a few highschool friends for lunch one day and had a little 30 year reunion.  I was able to spend some time with my parents who came down from Kansas. I was able to hug on and chat with two of my oldest brother's sons who were there as well.

On the plane ride home I realized how tired I am.  But, I also realized how blessed I am.  We were just devastated when we found out we had to leave Russia.  But, if we had stayed in Russia and not come to Belize I would not have been able to make it my nephew's graduation.  I would not have been there to support Stephen as his oldest child reached this milestone.  I would have missed out on all the joy of the celebration and a chance to bond with the family.

There are sacrifices involved with being a missionary.  And they are not all about giving up the comforts of home in the US.  Many of the sacrifices are related to the loved ones left behind.  I created this blog six years ago to allow our family and friends a glimpse into our daily lives.  It functions well for that.  But it doesn't allow us to be present with all of them.  We have missed births, weddings, funerals, and so many other life changing moments with our family and friends. It is so hard to miss out.  Honestly, it sucks.

The blessing in all of this is that Tom told me to fully enjoy each moment and be present while with my family. And I did that.  I took joy in each and every second, in each and every happening or event, no matter how small.  From painting the center pieces to mopping the kitchen floor.  I treasured each moment because I was able to be there.  I didn't have to miss out that time.  And I am so grateful.

My prayer for anyone reading this is that you would truly take the time to enjoy what is going on around you with those you love.  Don't let the stress of life cause you to miss out on the joy of life with those who are important to you.  Don't let the time slip away and leave you with regrets.

Be one that can say I am so grateful that I _________ and not one that has to say I wish I would have__________.

Promise me.  If you do this, you too will be blessed.

Congratulations Jalen!

  

We are all so proud of you!  

The house is brimming with the love and laughter of a large family.  Both sets of grandparents along with aunts (I am one of them!), uncles and cousins have gathered to celebrate Jalen. We are so excited for this milestone he has reached and we all know he has a bright future ahead! 

His graduation ceremony is tonight and the party is tomorrow... the weekend is packed.  It feels so good to take in all in and be present with family.  This doesn't happen often.  I am truly grateful to be here and want to enjoy every minute.

Have a great weekend!!!

5 Stress Relievers for the International Traveler

Yesterday I traveled from Belize to the U.S.   I had never been to the international side at the Dallas airport before and I must say that I was quite impressed with how quickly I passed through passport control.  There must have been around five flights or so that they had to clear and it went very smoothly.

Anyhow, I was looking around and noticed a lot of stressed out people.  People on their phones, talking about making connections and looking overwhelmed.  It made me realize that with all of the international travel we have done I have learned a few things beyond the obvious ones like: , pack light, don't check any bags if you can avoid it, and don't buy tickets with tight connections.

 Alida's Stress Relievers: 
1.  Remember... this too shall pass.  Not everything is worth getting upset over.  Take a few deep breaths.  Close your eyes for a few seconds and rethink the situation.

2.  Allow humor to be your traveling companion. Laughter is a great stress reliever.

3.  Be open to learning a new way of doing things.  Be humble, teachable and flexible.

4.  Bring a good book, your favorite music or a few magazines and take some time to mentally escape from whatever drama may be going on around you.

5.  Interest yourself in the other travelers.  Count the number of languages you hear around you.  If you are bored with waiting make up stories about the more interesting characters to entertain yourself with.


I hope that when you take your next trip or your first you will think of these and smile.  And to all my fellow travelers...what do you do to relieve stress at the airport?

Thought for Today

It was a hot day down at the riverside when we saw this woman washing her clothes. Many people here don't have washing machines or other appliances of convenience that so many of us from the U.S. take for granted.  There were two other people with her washing clothes, splashing water, laughing and having a good time while getting their work done.  I wondered "do I work for Him with this kind of joy?"  She is hard at work, in the hot sun, with a smile on her face.  I was dripping with sweat from standing there... taking in the view and capturing a few memories.  She was making the most of her task.

May we approach our work...whatever it may be, with the right attitude.

 Not with dread, but with joy. Making the most of each day for Him.

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Tasty Tuesday

One of my favorite restaurants here in Belize is Bird's Isle.  It sits on it's own little island. Located in Belize City; it is one of those places that we had to have someone else drive us to the first time.  Now we can find it on our own and we try something new each time we are there and have not been disappointed.

We took Nathan there when he was with us:

We have enjoyed eating simple things there.  The burgers are great!  Nathan ordered fried shrimp, Tom had grilled shrimp and I had chicken.  Yeah, kinda boring.

Bird's Isle has an incredible harbor view:

and a great atmosphere:

 Even the view from where we parked our car was awesome:

As I was looking online for a link to Bird's Isle Restaurant I came across various reviews but they don't seem to have a website of their own.  I found several blog posts about the place and one of them stood out above the rest.

Megan, who writes a blog called My Bohemian Life has an adventurous spirit and she doesn't seem to be afraid of trying new things.  I found a [blog post] of hers where she describes eating gibnut.  This is not a regular item on the menu.  Megan got a special heads up when it became available.

Megan's photo

This dish looks tasty and here is her description of the dish from her post on May 13th :

 The meat was prepared in a stew and the first bite was tender like pork, but with much smaller bones that I had to work around. Gibnut is gamey, but not like rabbit. It’s white meat, but not like chicken. Essentially, gibnut tastes like gibnut.

I am just amazed.
 I don't think I could eat it.

 I mean he is too cute to eat...don't you think?

Megan's photo

 I have bookmarked Megan's blog so I can read more of her Belizean adventures... I hope you do too!

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bonding between women..

One of the ladies who attends our little fellowship does nails.  Works of art in my opinion.  She asked me if I had a color in mind and since I didn't she just decided on her own what to do.  These are not decals.  She painted each design free hand.  I admired her passion for her work and her gentleness with me.

I have to admit this is not something I normally take the time to do.  After all as a missionary I should be devoted to more serious pursuits, right?  Like investing in the lives of people.  This gal has had her share of life struggles.  She has 4 children.  The father of her youngest son was recently killed.

Something told me I needed to spend some time with her away from church.  So I drove over to her salon; which is a hole in wall that was not easy to find.  She beamed with joy at seeing me.  We chatted a bit.  And then I left with toes done and a sense of a new stage of relationship between us.  At church today she drew me close and whispered for me to come by and see her again.

A few of the other women had also gotten pedicures that week.  And we all stood around showing off our toes, talking about hair and, you know, bonding.  The pedicure cost me $5 USD.  But, I think it was worth so much more.  And time will tell just how much of a return that investment will yield.

What's in the news here in Belize?

Homosexuals are fighting for their rights here in Belize...according to what we have heard from the friends who mentioned this to us last night this will be a nasty battle that could turn bloody.  There are those who claim that foreigners are forcing their agenda on Belize.

This graphic shows a poll that was taken by one of the newspapers here in Belize and here is an article from this week's paper:

Belize churches join GOB in court battle against homosexuals

Posted: 22/05/2011 - 10:46 AM 
Author: Adele Ramos - adelescribe@gmail.com 

The Belize Association of Evangelical Churches and the Council of Churches have applied through heavyweight attorneys, Rodwell Williams, SC; Eamon Courtenay, SC; Jackie Marshalleck, Christopher Coye, and M. H. Chebat, to join forces with the Government of Belize in defense of Belizean laws against sodomy—laws which are being challenged in court by Caleb Orosco and the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), an organization which Orosco leads.

Belize’s criminal code calls for imprisonment for 10 years for persons who have intercourse “against the order of nature” with a person or animal, once they are convicted of the act. UNIBAM is challenging the constitutionality of the law.

  

UNIBAM is represented by Lisa Shoman, SC, and is supported by the International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, and the Human Dignity Trust, as interested parties. These agencies have hired two other attorneys to litigate against the government: former Belize Attorney General, Godfrey Smith, SC, and former British Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, QC.

  

The churches made the application last week to join the Attorney General of Belize, whom UNIBAM is suing over homosexual rights, to defend the laws currently outlawing sodomy. The churches are seeking to be added as an “interested party” in the Supreme Court case, to be heard on July 13.

  

According to the joint press release from the churches on Wednesday, May 18, “This [UNIBAM] lawsuit was filed to establish a new ‘right’ to engage in homosexual acts in Belize. In every country that has granted a new ‘right’ to homosexual behavior, activists have promoted and steadily expanded this ‘right’ to trump universally recognized rights to religious freedom and expression.”

  

They also say that this “homosexual agenda” demands that same sex marriage be recognized.

  

The press release further states that, “This advocacy group has been heavily influenced by foreign interests who seek to impose a worldview that directly contradicts the supremacy of God as reflected in our laws, challenges our national sovereignty, and threatens our very way of life, not least by targeting our children.” (The full press release appears elsewhere in this edition of Amandala.)

  

May 17 is dubbed International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia by those who support homosexual, bisexual and transgender persons (those who identify themselves as a gender other than their biological sex, such as a man assuming a female identity).

  

Amandala has given the public a chance to have a say through our online poll, atwww.amandala.com.bz.

  

The question of legalizing homosexuality, and particularly sodomy, is very controversial, and one that many people feel very passionately about. This is reflected in the record number of hits to our poll this week.

  

The poll question was: Do you believe homosexuality laws, including sodomy, should be erased off the law books or repealed, so as to legalize same sex relations and marriages in Belize?

  

At press time this evening, there were over 2,000 votes – 73% disagreeing with the notion that the laws should be changed to accommodate the UNIBAM agenda to abolish laws against homosexuality.

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.  

Thought for Today

May we all marvel at His creations and know without a doubt that it is good! 

Although I still get chills of fear when I see an iguana I do appreciate its beauty.  And I am grateful for the zoom on the camera that means I can appreciate but not have to get too close.  Nathan actually spotted this one when he was here.  

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Tasty Tuesday

Yesterday was a holiday here in Belize.  It was Commonwealth Day... it used to be a day to celebrate the British Queen's birthday and now it is a celebration of belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations.

We noticed that businesses closed up on Saturday for the three day weekend.  A while back I discovered that Farmer's Trading Center, a Mennonite supermarket, is on Facebook.  They are located in the village of Spanish Lookout about a 20 minute drive from Belmopan.

photo from FTC website

I happened to see an update on Facebook from them saying that they would be open today... on a national holiday.  What smart business people they are!  The store was busy when we arrived.  They were using all four checkout lanes and we actually had to wait in line for the first time.

We found some interesting things in the produce section like huckleberries:

and lychee:

Both of which we chose not to buy... we opted for more traditional things like avocados, corn on the cob, bananas, and lemons.  And if the lemons had not been labeled I would not have known they were lemons because like the oranges I wrote about a while back (click here)  the lemons were also green.

We found everything we needed on our list and a few things that were not on the list but we felt like we needed them anyway!  After our shopping trip we came home and I made dinner from our haul at the supermarket; barbecued ribs and corn on the cob.

To have tasty ribs in just 4 hours put 2 1/2 pounds of ribs in the crockpot and cover with about a half a bottle of barbecue sauce and set on high.  Your reward will be falling off the bone meat and a house that smells divine.


Oh and we even got to Skype with Spencer...Yeah, it was a great holiday!!

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Resourcefulness

We saw this truck when we were filling up with gas in Roaring Creek not long ago.  It appears to be a trash truck... but this is not the normal trash truck that we have seen here in Belmopan.  It is fascinating to us how people use their creativity to make what they need to get the job done.

What's in my garden?!

I wish I knew all the names of the plants and flowers in the yard.  We are seeing things now that were not in bloom when we first moved in to the house.   We lived in an apartment building on the 4th floor in Russia and have not had a yard since we left California six years ago.  It's all so beautiful!

I am hoping to make some contributions to the landscape here... but need to decide what to do.  I would love a vegetable garden.  Any suggestions for a beginner?!

God is good...all the time!

Yesterday the people that we had been borrowing furniture from came to pick it up.  So we were left without living room furniture, a dining room table or a bed for the guest room.

We brought the plastic lawn chairs into the house.
We ate our meals sitting in those chairs.
Nathan and Tom took turns inflating the air mattress for Nathan to sleep on.

We made do.

We went to the zoo and enjoyed our day... we moved on.

Another friend had baked a birthday cake for me.  I went to pick it up.  I made dinner.  We watched a movie.  We accepted our situation without grumbling.  Nathan is here.  We have each other.  Nothing else mattered.

God is good... all the time.

The people in our fellowship found out that we didn't have furniture in the living room or dining room.
Things started to arrive.  A picnic table, an end table, a few chairs.... and then they came over to pray.


They prayed for our home and for it to be filled with all that we need.
They prayed for us.  They prayed over Nathan.
They filled our home with laughter and love.
All we gave them in return were cups of cold water and heartfelt thanks.

In time we will purchase furniture.  We have been saving up for the things we need.
Tonight we saw that part of what we needed was to be surrounded by people who care.

We came here to Belize to offer help, be of service...show God's love,
And here we are receiving...experiencing generosity from those who don't have much and yet are willing to share what they do have... and we are humbled.


God is good...all the time.