Out of Here!!

Wow, so much has happened.  School is out and I'm on break.  I've had my birthday since last time.  And tomorrow I'm leaving!  I can't wait I'm so excited!!!!  I need to go pack but I thought I'd write something real quick before I leave and not be using the internet that much.  Happy Holidays to all!!  Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and God bless.  Miss you and love you all!  Adios 

Long Long Time.

Wow, it's been a really long time sense I last blogged.  I meant to blog earlier, but I've been busy and tired.  Where to begin?  I don't really know, so how about a little summary of here and there.  The field trip from last blog I mentioned was a dud, the ship didn't make it and they didn't call us, so the ship we went to see wasn't there, so there wasn't anything to see.  We drove like 3 hours for nothing.  But I enjoyed being able to see more of Belize and a break from school.  Ha ha, which I could really use another break, a long one!  And I will shortly.  Then it was just the usually.  School and being busy.  Nothing really sticks out to me.  Oh, we are playing sports now.  There's four teams, there's the Blue House (mine and Mr. Cabanas' team), Red House (the Landeros' team), White House, and Green house.  There's two teachers for each team.  I made the schedule for the year and they play futbol (soccer), volleyball, basketball, and softball.  This goes all they way 'til the end of March.  Then we have a sports day in April to conclude it.  Games are played on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There's actually like 8 teams because we split up girls and guys.  Then there's actually like 32 teams because there's 4 different sports being played.  Yeah, its pretty crazy and will last a long time.  I really don't feel like a "coach" but more of like a "ref" for the games because not too many teachers are interested in sports. 

Last weekend was nice.  I finally got my package from home!!!!  It was so wonderful.  Lots of goodies and delicacies of home.  Like dried bananas and granola bars.  =D  Many more things too.  OOHH!!  Like my capo, thank you so much mum for the package, it was really nice and uplifting.  Then later on that day, Friday, I made a quick thank you video for PUC, and I was going to send it to them for vespers, but they said they wouldn't be able to show it so I didn't send it.  I'll try and make it better before I send it.  But it was fun to make and it's quite funny if I do say so myself.  I'll add a picture at the end so you can just get an idea.  Then Sabbath School was nice, it's getting a lot better.  I'm really excited about our youth group at the church, but I'll talk about that in a little bit. 

This past week has been a little rough.  I've just been so unmotivated.  I'm so exhausted in every way.  Physically, mentally, etc.  I really don't feel like going into too much detail about it up here, but I'm so exhausted.  I can really use a break.  Praise God that one is almost here, but I have to make it there.  One really fun thing that happened this week was Thursday night, some students invited Kelly and I to play futbol (soccer) with them against some older guys from the village and the village's field.  We went and played for like an hour and a half!  Oh my, I haven't ran that much in a long time.  I played middle center so I had the whole field to run.  I was impressed with how we did.  These are older guys and we kept up.  We ended it 2-2 as a tie, because people were starting to get upset and it had been long enough.  It was a lot of fun and a good way to show the students that we care about them and to be known more in the community.

Sabbath yesterday was nice.  It was children's day so the children led out the church service.  It was cute and nice.  We have a lot of kids here now.  When I first got here there was only a children's Sabbath School Class, now there's the little ones, Juniors, and Youth!!  I'm not taking credit for it at all, I'm just saying we got a lot of children since I've been here.  Yesterday, in our Youth Class it was great.  Kids are starting to talk more and ask for clarification and it's so great to see and hear.  The church is growing and moving forward.  It's so wonderful.  Also, our Youth Class is going to lead out in the Sabbath School portion before quarterly review in the church.  We're doing a little skit type thing and getting the kids involved.  We gave positions yesterday and ran through it once.  I'm excited, it was a lot of fun.  I'm actually more excited about the Youth class than school right now.  It's more what I've come here to do.  Not teach about Math and Science, but God!!  I like the freedom and variety that I can do with the Youth too.  Well I should be going, got church in a few minutes.  Sorry it's been a long time, I'll try and blog more often.  Thanks for reading, your prayers, and cares.  God Bless.  Oh, and if you want to help in anyway let me know.  Even if it's a nice little encouraging message.  =P 

Espanol and Chicken

Once again as usually, another week has passed.  Its funny how that happens once a week.  It was another good week.  Where to begin?  Well Monday I only teach two classes so I got a lot of planning and preparing for the week done.  And not having the crusade gave me a lot of time and each night I got really prepared for my classes.  Which made classes go really smooth this week.  Plus I'm getting use to everything now and know what works better than other things, and its really coming along.  It feels really nice. 

On Tuesday Mr. Cabanas (the principal) was able to pick up my package for me at the post office in Belmopan.  I didn't know who it was from and to my surprise it was from my old academy, Paradise Adventist Academy.  It was really nice and quite a surprise.  If any of you from PAA read this, thank you so much, it was a nice spirit lifter.  There was a lot of post-it notes which I am thankful for, and paper clips, pencils, school stuff etc which is useful.  They also gave an overhead transparency pen, and it made me totally think, why am I not using overheads.  So I've set it up and I'm totally going to use overheads this next week in classes.  I'm pretty excited for that actually. 

Friday was a holiday here this past week which was nice too.  But its not the same as back home where everyone is getting a week off for Thanksgiving, I miss the holiday seasons.  No Thanksgiving for Matt =(, well I'll be thankful, just no feast.  I really like food, so that will be a shame =P. Anyways, ADRA gave the church for the community two hundred pound bags of beans and people from the community have been coming for it.  Thursday afternoon not many people came because it was raining.  Friday morning was holiday so I slept in a little bit, until seven something and I went outside my house because I had to go to the restroom, and I see a man standing outside of the church.  I figured he was there for beans, so I went to the restroom and went back into my house and put more clothes on and grabbed the keys to the building where the beans were.  I came back out and met with him.  He didn't speak English, and I speak very little espanol.  In fact what I said, "No hablo mucho espanol."   But I was able to use my little bit of Spanish I know and was able to communicate with him and give him some beans.  It was a really nice way to start the day and to be able to serve someone and be used by God.  It's nice to know that God gives us what we can handle.  =) 

Then later that night we had our small groups meeting that we have split our church into.  We (Landeros and I) went to the Vasquez family's house.  There house is small and its a dirt floor, and I believe there's 10 in there family.  Then there was another small family.  There was 19 of us in all.  It was in Spanish too, so I spoke a little bit more.  Then after the meeting they gave us food.  Which was really nice of them and there's so many of them, I didn't want to be rude and tell them, I don't eat meat.  They're new members and I don't want to offend them and I don't want to come across as I am better than you, so I ate it.  Now today, I paid the price a little bit.  I'm not sick, just a little upset.  But it was worth it and I hope I did the right thing, and I have a funny story out of it now. 

Yesterday the church was F to the ULL, super full!  It was really nice to see.  Oh, and my Sabbath School class is HUGE!!!!  There's like 20 or so, and they really aren't youth age so I really need to change my planning.  They're more, junior and early teen aged.  I'll have to plan more for that next week.  Sabbath was good as a whole, and I really enjoyed it.  I really do enjoy life here.  Now I miss everyone, but life is good.  The church is growing, and I'm super busy with school and church, and that's honestly about it ha ha.  It's really good though, I do have a purpose and that's to serve!  Thank you everyone for reading and keeping me in your prayers.  Thank you Thomas family for commented on my last post.  It was nice and encouraging, I was really wondering if I should keep blogging.  (hint hint others.  Please comment!!!)  Ha ha, well I shall share more eventually.  Maybe sometime this week, or if not, as usually I'll post next weekend probably.  Oh, tomorrow I have a field trip, so that will be an adventure.  Alright take care and God Bless!!  Offer still stands if anyone wants to help here.  =P

3 months!

Oh my its been a long time!  Its been two weeks now.  A lot has happened.  A whole crusade has gone by.  I'll give you some highlights and some happenings of these past two weeks.  It's been busy and has gone by super fast.  Two weeks ago I went to the bush!  We chopped down trees to use as poles for the tent we set up for the Crusade.  We had to march, cut, and climb our through.  Then we cut down some trees. Then the most fun part happened, we had to carry the trees out of the bush, climbing and maneuvering our way through.  Honestly, it was fun.  It was really tiring too but I'm happy I've done that and can say I have.  We didn't go too terribly far into the bush either.  Probably teen fifteen minutes into it.  Oh, and we woke up at 5 in the morning to go, that's another thing I forgot to say.  We got back around eight or so started setting up the tent.  We didn't get everything finished until about one I believe. 
I got to talk with a lot of people too which was nice.  I miss all of you and its really nice to communicate.  But its so hard to find time and it takes a lot of time.  Especially these past two weeks.  But yeah then I was exhausted the rest of the day and had to go to the crusade.  The week went pretty well, nothing too extraordinary happened.  But Thursday was a great day!  In the afternoon, teaching was a lot of fun.  I was able to joke and be serious at the same time and the students were paying attention and trying and understanding and that's so nice.  It was encouraging.  I was so tired at the end of that day though.  It was raining so we had the Crusade in the tiny church, so I'm pretty much sitting right in front of the speaker, straight up in my chair, sleeping.  Ha ha, I couldn't help it.  I was out!  Straight back and everything.  That was funny to talk about and laugh about. 
Friday I went to Calcuta, northern Belize.  I went with Alondra's mom who helps with the kids during the week.  We went right after school to catch the bus.  We arrived just in time at Belmopan to catch the bus to Belize City.  That bus ride was only about an hour long and it was a nice bus and we got seats.  Then once again, right when we arrived in Belize City, we had to run to the next bus.  It was packed!  I got the last seat.  Now it was a horrible spot, but I got the last seat.  It was right where the wheel is so you don't have any leg room, and it was next to this HUGE lady.  I was crammed in there, and the worse part about that was, sense we had to hurry up on each bus, I hadn't been able to go pee so my bladder was full!  I was crammed, and ready to burst.  The ride seemed to take forever.  This bus would stop everywhere and like every 5 to 10 minutes to pick up more people.  It took about 4 hours until we reached our destination!  I quickly went to some trees and relieved.  Then everything was better.  There was a time were I was trying to tell myself, it'll be alright.  This pain will be so worth it for how good it will feel when I get to use the restroom.  Unfortunately that wasn't true.  =P
I really didn't do much in Calcuta.  I went to church then next day and ate and sat around a lot.  The weekend was a lot of sitting which was unfortunate.  I also ate some dairy.  Which happened to activate some poison wood I apparently got when going into the bush the week before.  Poison wood is similar to poison oak.  That weekend it got really bad.  It engulfed my body from the waist up, all the way to my face.  Monday I went to the doctor and got a shot, some medicine, and some lotion.  That was pretty miserable.  Its pretty much gone now except its on my hands and my fingers.  They itch and are rubbed a lot and irritated because they're my hands and when you handle things its going to happen.  But I'm surviving and its going well.
Then something really special happened this past Friday.  Friday November 12, 2010.  Danielle and I have been dating for one year!!  That's so crazy and amazing!  Oh my, I've already written and said so much about it, not publicly, and its so wonderful.  Especially how much we have grown as individuals, and together!  How we are able to still be in our relationship, yet take a year off and serve others and be working for God.  It's not easy, but its so worth it and so great!  I am so grateful and so in love and I believe we are blessed so much and God is taking care of us.  =D
Then another wonderful and special event happened yesterday!  41 people got baptized!  Within the past 4 weeks 50 people have been baptized.  Our church has more than doubled.  Our church isn't big enough to hold everyone.  That's an issue, a great issue to have, but we need to figure that out.  Anyone want to donate money or know a church that could be a mother church and support us?  That would be nice.  But it's wonderful praise God!!  We have so much work now added to our already full plates.  Praise God!  We are so exhausted.  Praise God!!!  We can't do it, we need help of God.  Praise God!!!  It's easy for me to get overwhelmed with everything that we have to do, but that's the problem.  We don't have to do it, we only have to be willing to be used, God will do it.  We are working, doing all this work, for credit, to be acknowledged.  No, we are doing this for God!  Yeah, sure I'm tired, exhausted, behind in everything, feeling incapable, but God isn't.  That's why I'm here.  Please continue to pray and support me, the church here, the school.  We need it and if there's anything that you want to do personally feel welcomed.  If you want to come and teach here from January on, feel free.  One teacher is going to be leaving, plus we could use another teacher as is.  If you want to support with money, WE NEED IT!!!  We barely scrape by each month, if its coming and doing manual labor, WE NEED IT!  We need new buildings, fix ups etc.  If you want to preach or help train laity, or help give Bible studies, or give a crusade, WE NEED IT!  If you want to pray, WE NEED IT!!!  Thank you for everything.  And another wonderful thing that I should share is, that PUC raised some money for the damages done during the hurricane and will be sending the funds soon hopefully.  They said they raised over $350!  So that's wonderful!  These are some happenings of the past two weeks and my life.  I miss you all and love and miss you again and would love to hear from you.  So please comment, it's really encouraging and makes me feel loved and listened too.  Please share it with other too.  Thank you once again.  Much love and prayers!  Oh, and I've been here for 3 months now.  Crazy!

Hurricane Richard

Hurricane Richard hit last Sunday (October 24, 2010) night here in Belize.  I lost electricity at around 6:30 PM and didn't get electricity until Thursday morning around 6:00 AM.  We (the Landeros and I) relocated from our houses to the school library because our houses were shaking, and also water was getting into our houses.  We brought some things to the library and set up some couches so we could stay there for the night.  Edson and Ethan fell asleep right away (Kelly and Alondra's two little boys). The library was leaking water too so eventually the whole floor was wet.  The eye of the storm happened to come around 9:00 PM.  We ran around a bit, fixing some things and covering with more plastic.  One bolt on the corner of our roof of the school came off.  That's all a storm needs to pull off a roof.  Just one spot to get wind underneath.  I quickly climbed a bunch and was handed a drill and put in two bolts for safe measures.  Then we ran to the Landero's house and covered some more things with plastic there.  Coming back to the library I noticed that the little garage/awning for the tractor had blown right into the fourth from classroom and knocked out a window.  We get back inside the library and waited the storm out.  I was awake on and off the rest of the night waiting to morning.  The storm was done by 2:00 AM.  I just stepped out and looked at what was in eye sight, I didn't explore at that time.  We all got up around 5:00 and started the investigation and the fixation of the school.  We went outside and we could see zink (that's the roofing here) and fallen trees everywhere.  The school's green house was also destroyed along with a small plant nursery.  A tool shed was flipped over, a building was actually moved like an inch and made it difficult to open a door.  A basket ball hoop was broken and fallen to the ground.  As I said before, the garage was in the 4th form classroom and that ruined part of the roof.  Our bathrooms were destroyed as well.  Some of the roofing from the Landero's house was blown off too.  After finding out what damage was done, we began to work.  We repaired the roofing and put the window back it.  The window is bent a bit, but it's better than nothing. After that I had to clean out my house.  It was dirty and wet and had a bunch of leaves blown in there, but my stuff was fine and dry.  I covered it with plastic beforehand. After that I went to Mr. Cabana's house and helped him thatch his roof.  Which is intertwine a type of tree branch here to patch his roof.  That was new and exciting.  Then I cut some coconuts off the tree and had fresh coconut water.  DELICIOUS!!!!!  Now I'll post some pictures.  

Update on Storm

I believe its now Hurricane Richard is going to hit today.  It will hit directly South from where I am.  We will experience winds of a Tropical Storm, therefore 30-40 mph winds.  Also, it is expected to be 7 inches of rain.  It will hit sometime this afternoon.  This is the latest that I know.  I might not have internet for a little bit, I don't know.  I'll be sure to let everyone know what happened when it's done.  I need to figure out if I need to do anything, but I think I'm pretty much prepared.  Other than that, I'll be sure to take pictures and video and maybe even run a round a little =P  I'll be safe though don't you worry.  This is an update and go ahead and ask questions share concerns.  I might get on around noon my time but we'll see.  Thanks for caring!

Tropical Storm Richard

Another tropical storm is coming.  It's predicted to become a hurricane tomorrow.  This one is more on track of hitting Belize than any of the other two, but hopefully it's just another fake cry for wolf.  If a hurricane hits it'll really hurt Belize.  Tourists, ruined crops, famine, etc.  It's expected to hit tomorrow  night, so we'll see what happens.

Another busy week with school.  Tomorrow I have a lot of grading to do.  Grades are suppose to be in the office Monday, but if we don't have school because of the hurricane, who knows, I might be able to spread my work out at least. =)  Something beneficial at least.  Please pray for the church here too.  It's rough.  I went visiting with a couple of the Elders and a church member isn't coming to church any more and it's tough to see.  It just hard for me to see because he is so confused and not where he thinks he is.  It's hard to see people get so lost and confused about the Bible and how they change.  He kept on changing excuses and saying he's made up his mine.  It is so human oriented instead of God oriented and it's hard to see.  Especially because he is/was an elder.  I really don't know.  But please pray for the church and him. 

Oh I preached last Wednesday night.  Well, more led an amazing facts guide, but I led it.  It went pretty well even though it was last minute.  It was totally what I needed too!  I've been doing a lot of studying and focusing on God, but it has been difficult lately.  There's three things for a Christian to survive.  It's reading the Bible, praying, and witnessing.  I haven't had too much witnessing and I have done so much it seems since Wednesday now.  It feels really great and it is what I needed.  I led out in a youth Sabbath School today. Kelly and I were talking about the church last night and I said I'd lead a youth Sabbath School because they don't have one, thinking like in a week or so, so I could look over the lesson.  Nope, this morning in church while the kids were going to there class Kelly announced I'll be leading a youth Sabbath School.  I was a little surprised, but it went well.  I'm sure it will get even better as time goes on.  I'm excited!  Well, I should probably be going to bed.  Thank you for all your prayers and cares.  God bless and thank you for reading.

2 Months!

I have officially been here for two months.  It's crazy to think about.  Two months is a long time!!  And at the same time not that long.  But I am one fifth of the way done here.  That sounds like a lot though.  I'm kind of happy.  They say the second and third month are the hardest and I'm missing home right now.  It's raining there.  That sounds so wonderful!  We need rain here, we need some water, but that's besides the point.  It sounds so wonderful because having a cool or chilly temperature sounds so great, and to be in a well furnished house and to be with my family and friends. It's good here too, don't get me wrong.

Alright, 9 or 10 hours later, now I'll finish this.  The crusade ended the other day.  Yesterday we had 9 baptisms.  You person was bawling before they went to be baptized and looked as if she really didn't want to go in, but she went.  After she was baptized she pretty much collapsed.  They got her to walk up with help and then she was unconscious I think for a while on the ground.  I didn't knowing because I was on the side taking pictures.  Once I realized I went over and told them the little first aid training I had.  Keep her still, don't give her food because it will cause the blood to go to her stomach and elevate her feet because blood isn't need there.  But then I couldn't call 9-1-1 which is the next step.  So we got her to the bus and got everyone back to the community center where we've been having our meetings.  We got her inside and had our afternoon meeting.  She was becoming a lot more with it by the end.  It was crazy and I don't know what was going on but I think it was more spiritual battles going on than physical.  The devil is attacking, but God's on our side so there's nothing to worry about.

Then last night, someone broke into the staff room at the school.  Mrs. Cabanas, the principal's wife, one of the teachers, thought maybe it was me because there was a flashlight in there.  She was calling my name and knocked on the door and the light went out.  Then she came to the Landeros where I was and asked if I was in there and I wasn't.  Then me, Kelly, and Kelly's brother who was up looked around.  We found a window open and inside a draw was open.  Nothing is missing that we know of though.  Nothing valuable is in there either, just our books and grades.  Then the police came later, apparently someone else had stuff stolen earlier that night.  We turned on more lights and nothing happened.  We are fine and nothing seems to be missing. 

That's a little bit of what is going on here.  Tomorrow is the beginning of another school week and mid-semester is at the end of this week so next week grades are due.  Meaning I'm going to have a lot of grading to do this week and next weekend.  But there isn't any crusade meetings to go to this week so that will give me more time to catch up, or to rest.  Anyways, thank you for taking time to read and your prayers.  May God bless you and continue to work in our lives. 

Hurricane Paula

Hurricane Paula just appeared today and is on the coast of Honduras.  It is expected to hit Mexico hard but not really here.  We'll get a lot of rain though and with that flooding and mudslides in certain areas.  Also, when Honduras get's a lot of rain and flooding, it comes through here as well a couple weeks later.  So no school tomorrow, YEA!!!!  Expecting a lot of rain and maybe not being able to go to Belmopan for a couple days because of flooding, but that will be fine.  I found out that their was a hurricane coming about a half hour ago and just letting you know the information I just found.  Please keep me your prayers and God bless!

Miscellanious

Here are some miscellaneous stories or happenings that I haven't sure and that has happened somewhat recently.  I can't think of a way to combine them all, so here they are.

Last week, Saturday evening, I went into my house and I hear a creature running along my floor and can see a figure moving.  Instantly before I turned on the light I said to myself, "Aawww man, not another one!"  Yep, you guessed it, it was another tarantula.  My goal is never to kill them, I just want to get them out of my house.  When I turned on the light it stopped and huddled up near a plastic bag.  I got the great idea of trying to get him in the plastic bag.  But he took off in the other direction towards my open door and I was alright with that, but then he turned around and started heading back in and towards my bed.  He was about six feet in and I had enough of it so I went into action.  I've been playing a little bit of futbol, so I put what I've learned into action.  I kicked the tarantula and I never saw it again.  It went flying out of my house.  I thought it was kind of funny, but I got him out and I didn't kill him to my knowledge.  At least his body wasn't in my house. 

With the school now, there's a lot to do.  The principal went to a lot of principal meetings and he's trying to implement what he's learned.  Which is great!  But he's trying to do them all at once instead of one at a time and that's setting it up for failure.  It's really frustrating.  But then I found out we're trying to get money from government and we have to have some of these requirements.  Some though, not all of them.  I still believe he needs to decide what is most important, get those down, and then start adding new things, one at a time.  Otherwise the ones who work the most and hardest get exhausted and those that don't just get seen in the mass as not getting everything done and get away with not working as hard.  That's a little drama and difficulty happening here, but I have a three day weekend so I'll be able to hopefully get a lot of work done.  Even though I don't want to. =P

The crusade is going alright.  There is a decent amount showing up so praise God!!  The speaker is supposed to be speaking about God's love and is starting to talk about Prophecy which is interesting.  He really isn't ready for that and in January we are having another crusade and that speaker is going to be talking about Prophecy.  All in all, I think we need to remind him what his topic is suppose to be.  Now he said to the people that he was going to talk about Prophecy, but I think he should go back about God's love, because he presents it in a confusing way, and repeats a lot, and misses some important things. 

These are just some things going on.  I'm happy this morning.  Happy Sabbath to all!  Sorry the last two paragraphs were so happy funny stories, but it's my life here, there's a lot of difficulties.  But it's a nice sunny, cool Sabbath morning and I'm happy I don't have to work today.  =D  I get to relax!  Thank you all for reading, for your support, and prayers.  May God bless and have a wonderful Sabbath, or day, depending on when you read this. =P 

Crusade starts on Fire!!! Literally.

Last night was the first night of the crusade.  It started a few minutes after seven.  A little late like ever good first night of meetings.  Started it off with pray and then some songs.  During that a puff of smoke and then fire started to appear at the front left of the building where the fan switch is located.  The system happened to be overloaded and the switch decided to get hot and catch on fire.  People started to run out; I grabbed my flash light and went to the front.  The building is made of concrete so I was worried at all.  We cut the power and then blew the fire out.  Then made sure it was off and continued on!  It just made things delayed a little and made the meeting last longer.  It was a pretty good turn out.  I believe I counted 18 people I haven't seen at our church before.  Not counting the little children.  That's a good amount really, I hope they come again tonight and bring more!  The devil is trying to attack and discourage and scare us, via fire, but that won't stop us.  That won't stop God!!  These next two weeks are going to be really busy with school, mid-semester, the crusade, and trying to avoid being sick, but it will be a great two weeks!  Only hopefully I'll get home before 9:30 each night unlike last night.  Please pray for us and the crusade.  That the devil will stay away and the Lord's will shall happen.  Thank you so much for reading and all your support.

Duds and Floods

Tropical Storm Matthew...........was a dud.  It went west into Guatemala and didn't even hit.  That day ended up being so depressing.  I was wanting forever for it, and it never came.  All the anticipation and excitement when down the drain.  Anticlimactic to the max!! 

My yearly plans for all my classes are due at the end of the month.  It happens to be, I didn't start on it until this last weekend.  I have finished my Biology classes and Math classes, I only have my Physics yearly plans left.  I'll be finished with those by Sunday.

Monday night it did rain for a couple hours though, pretty hard too.  I had a big leak and water was pouring in.  I decided I should fix it because it is supposed to rain here all week.  I went out in the rain with shorts and flip flops and my leoni rain jacket and made a great cover for my leaking window.  I wrapped some 2 by 4's in plastic and drilled it to my house and it worked.  But doing everything by myself, in the dark, and so on and so forth, I was in the rain for about an hour.  Now I didn't think anything of it, but the next day I had a sore throat and a runny noise.  That next night was horrible, I had fever and my head was soooo heavy.  I got about 4 hours total of sleep.  The next day my throat wasn't sore at least.  It was in my head and my noise.  Luckily I was able to take a nap yesterday from 4:00 - 8:30, then sleep again good that night. 

I was illegal for half the day yesterday.  I thought my vise expired the 29th, but it expired the 28th.  I went to extend it and no problems!  They lady stamped the extension, and then I think she realized the date was quite right, but she already stamped so she didn't say anything.  Thank you God!!!  It was funny and made me laugh.  Oh, and I got to go to the post office and pick up a package!!!  Thank you so much Mrs. Jenson!  It was wonderful!  It's so nice to get packages from back home.  It's so exciting and I just feel so loved, and so cared about.  It made my day better, and helped the sickness bearable.  I can't wait to eat the food, but I need to ration it.  Also I want all my taste buds back so I can enjoy it all. 

Well that's what has been going on.  Oh and week of prayer for the church because we're going to begin the crusade next week.  So even busier!!  Yippee. 

Tropical Storm Matthew

Oh it's ever the most ironic and perfect name I think.  Today in about 4 hours, Tropical Storm Matthew is supposed to start hitting Belize.  It's expected to hit Saturday evening/Sunday morning.  It's predicted to bring six to ten inches of rain.  Also after it hits Belize, it's predicted to turn into a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and then hit Mexico.  That is all the information I really know.

I'm super excited too!!!  I love it, I'm so going to run around outside in it.  It's a bummer that it is going to hit mostly during the night time and it won't be bright out, but it'll be fun.  I wish I had someone here with me to experience it and record funny and ridiculous videos with.   Oh well, I'll have to try by myself.  I'm prepared and have my house in order.  The most important stuff is in Ziploc bags.  Then everything is on my table and in my bags and covered in plastic.  A little bit of water leaks here and there so the ground will get wet, but my stuff will be fine.  When it hits I will lose electricity and that means internet too.  By Monday at the latest then I should have both.  Unless something goes wrong, like a electrical line goes down or something.  Yep, that's what's going on here.  I'm super excited and the temperature is comfortable and there is a nice breeze right now.  I think I'm going to go lay in my hammock.  Oh here's a sweet picture of a butterfly from yesterday. 

Super Macro For the Win!!!

Independence and Rain!!

Happy Belizean Independence!!! Oh, my this has been one tiring week. Monday we walked around the village. Then we prepared and made our signs and fixed up our float for our march in Belmopan. It's a lot of work for only a few teachers to be in control of 90 kids. It was crazy. Plus I got some color! It was a lot of fun and chaos, and hard to get the kids to get in a good line and be presentable. We should of prepared more, but it was still good and fun. It rained on us during the parade too. I'll put some pictures up.

So I'm super excited! I read a book and it was talking about someone who promised God to win ten souls in one year. In 7 months he already had 8. So why don't we do the same thing. I have a bunch of texts that pop into my mind but I'll just put 1 John 5:14,15 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him." So why don't we ask for more? Ask for it all? This is been on my mind lately. So I promised God to help me win 5 souls in one year. Unfortunately it seems that I'm not so confident as I'm saying why not ask for it all, and my lack of faith shows. But taking a step in the right direction though, and I want to challenge you to do the same. So I was talking with my class this morning, I didn't know what I was going to do for devotions because I have devotions with them every morning except Wednesday, and it was all God given praise the Lord. I've been really wanting to be searching in our Bibles during that time and finding answers to questions they have and are important to them. So I was asking them what or were we should begin. Someone said Revelation. That's so amazing!! I was and am very excited for that. It's going to take a lot of preparation and careful studying, but I totally want to do it. Also, we are in charge of chapel next week. We got a theme of "Communication" and they were saying like why doesn't Jesus come to us and talk. It just makes me excited to hear that they have questions. Now my goal is to get them to want to find questions to their questions, to get them seeking! Well, not my goal, I can't do that. But for God to press on their hearts for that need! I'm so excited and please pray for them and for me.

Now, more rain!!! There's a tropical storm starting to hit. It's Tropical Storm Matthew! Ha ha, what a perfect name for it. After it hits Belize it's expected to become a hurricane and go up in Mexico. But it's not going to be too big of a deal here. I'm perfectly safe. I'm getting and going to get a lot of rain. And more wind. Yep, so that's what's going on. I'll try and put up some pictures.  The pictures aren't uploading right now, so maybe later.

Hello All

So it’s Sunday. Another day here in Belize, I have a lot to do. Work never seems to cease. There is always work to be done. I have to grade so so so much and I have to finish my yearly plans for my all my classes by the end of this month. Then we are going to have a crusade which is like an evangelistic series and that start the 3rd of October. That will last for two weeks of meetings every night. I will be an usher for that. So it just adds more to my load, but I really don’t feel over burdened. I give to Lord and I don’t worry about it too much. It’s a little annoying though that I’m never done or caught up with my work.
I have dealt with the fourth formers. I need to talk with their parents now. It’s difficult because they don’t speak English so it complicates the parent teacher communication even more. But those fourth formers are a mess. They really don’t know their basics and only about three passed the test. One actually studied and it shows for sure. They don’t put any effort in or care. I need to get them to start trying, or else they will fail. I’m thinking of giving them another test and weighting them so they are beneficiary but not too much. Also, of slowing down, even though we are already behind, and go over some of the basics again because they’ll keep on failing if they don’t get the basics down. By the basics I mean conversions and checking units. For example, a question you should ask yourself, does my answer for finding force come out to be Newtons? Because it should. Or for mass, do I have kilograms. These are simply ways to show that you made a mistake and you need to fix it. So I’ll have to cover those again.
But at least this week will be different and not too much school. It’s independence day on Tuesday. So we are marching around Valley of Peace with all the other schools tomorrow. Then on Tuesday we are going to go to Belmopan, the capital, and have a float and march with the other schools. So it’ll be fun and different. I’m excited!! I need to get out. I really haven’t been out of here for a while. But today I got to start making the float and then we were looking for some stuff, so I got to travel around Valley of Peace which was nice to finally see more of the village. I wish I had someone to explore with. I was lonely for a little bit today. I feel like I could use a friend, but I can survive. I knew I just needed to sleep and I’d be fine, but it’s too hot in my house during the day. So I laid on a desk in the staff room. Just about feel asleep and then Alondra walked in. But it was good enough. I was feeling better and went to work grading papers. I got a lot graded. I have everything graded except for dang Math. We are going to start grading in class so I can actually keep up with it. Anyhoo, that’s what’s going on. God is good. Taking great care of me, and I’m at peace. Well, off to church!

Four Weeks.

Hey sorry I haven't been blogging, life has been busy for sure.  I have been trying to get all the grading up to date and preparing for classes and figuring out what I'm teaching in Biology, ha.  It's not too bad really, just some reading when I can and trying to understand it enough to teach it without looking at the book too much.  I'm learning a lot actually. 
Things are going really good.  I'm happy.  I have little moments were I'm lonely and I miss everyone, but that's expected.  I can't wait to see everyone!  But it's good here.  There's a big storm coming in right now.  It's not a tropical storm but it's still a storm that's going to bring flash floods.  It's nothing to worry about where I am though.  So don't worry I'm safe.  I'm really excited about it though.  I really like storms!  There's so much life to them.  I like it a lot.  It makes me smile and want to just watch.  I want too see lightning strike close by.  And this year I want to get at least one good picture of a lightning strike.  Also with the rain and a storm coming in, it was a gorgeous sun set, I like it a lot.  But with the storm I'm not going to have internet and I might loose some power so I shouldn't take too much longer.
The fourth formers took all their papers back, but four of them turned it papers that cheated so I have to deal with them.  And it's hard to communicate with their parents because they don't speak English.  Hardly any fourth former parents showed up for the meeting today and none of the parents of the academic students showed up.  That's the students I teach.  Oh well, it's just another thing I have to do.  But tomorrow with 3rd form Biology we are going to make edible cells!  I made the jello about an hour ago for the cytoplasm, and then we'll use candy for the organelles of the cell.  I like science.  Especially when it's edible! =P  Alright I should go.  There's a little update of my life and what's going on.

BATTLE ROYAL!!!

Not really that epic but it sounds cool.  Last night, I was going into my house to grab my bucket and stuff to get cleaned up.  I got my bucket first and starting to fill it because the water just trickles and it takes a while.  I went back into my house to get my stuff, and something catches my attention in the corner of my eye.  Right next to my shoes is a nice, hairy, six inch tarantula! I really didn't like it.  I wasn't scared, it was just like, oh man, now I have to deal with that.  Now, I didn't want to kill it.  It was late, the Landeros were sleeping and I don't have a broom.  For my doorstop I use a piece of wood that's about a foot and a half long.  I decided I would try to use that to scare it out.  It started to head to the door, but then it darted back at me and I really didn't like that.  I tried to scare it out again but it went back by my shoes.  I decided there was no hope, and I really didn't want to sleep knowing that there was a tarantula somewhere running around; I had to terminate it.  The piece of wood I had was pointed which was useful. (read in an intense manly voice) So I went in for the jab,  the nasty monster took a hit and was paralyzed for a second.  I retrieved my weapon from the victim to take another jab, but it ran off. I took off a leg but that was it.  He coward underneath my recliner chair that's in my house.  (normal voice) Then I remember I was filling up my bucket so I had to go run and turn that off. (back to manly voice) I get back looking for my victim.  I start moving the chair ready to be attacked at any moment by this villian.  Yet the coward was right next to my hammock, with his back to me.  I would not let him enjoy the thought of even being able to touch my precious.  I went in for the sneak attack.  Direct hit!  I spun around with the blade still in his body, then I went for the final blow.  Sweet sweet victory was mine!  Bring it on, creatures.  I can take you all!  Battle Royal!!

Annnnnnnnnd scene.  I haven't done too much today.  Just planned for the week.  As you can tell, I decided to have a little fun with that experience and sharing it with.  Other than that, just chilling.  Hope you enjoyed my little story.  Peace.

Another Week

Hello again to everyone!!

So much has happened since I have blogged last. Oh my, ok where to begin? Alright, last weekend. So Sabbath was nice and peaceful, got a book from the school library and read and took a nap. The next day I went to Guatemala with the Landeros. My goal was to get a hammock. Goal accomplished. ;) I got it for $30 Belizean which is $15 US and it’s a nice one person one. I napped it today finally. But yeah I got back from Guatemala and then finally started my laundry late that night.
Then the week took a bad turn. Devil started attacking hard. It made me realize that I want and wish and long for someone to enjoy and experience all these new things with. And then it got worse. One of the teachers wife was expecting to have a baby. She went to the hospital and some complications happened and the baby didn’t make it. We still don’t have a new teacher so it gives us more work and still some of the classes aren’t being able to be taught. Then I found out I need some paperwork that says I have an equivalent to an Associate’s Degree, which I don’t have. I mean I do have the equivalence, but I don’t have a degree. So that’s a lot that happened. But I think the Devil is attacking hard because great things are going to happen here! God is great, and these are just some of the hardships that come along the way.

The School

And there’s even more with the students. But I need to be careful how I view everything. God is good, and everything is possible and fun and enjoyable with him. With one class I have to be a little strict to keep them in line, and I really don’t like it. Hopefully this weekend I can find or think of another idea and another way to teach to make it more fun for them to learn and for me to teach. Then with the 4th formers, the copy each other’s homework. I had eight papers turned into me, and there are only two papers to grade. Meaning I’m not going to grade them at all. It’s so disappointing. But it was a little fun to see their expressions after they took their Biology test and I put a bonus question on the board if answered thoughtfully. The question was, “If you were a teacher and your entire class copied their homework, how would you discipline them, and how would you fix the issue?” I think it let them know I know what’s up and I’m going to do something about it. And that it is unacceptable.
It was nice not to have to worry about all that today. I really enjoy Sabbath. I got to take a nap in my hammock like I said, but it was so hot!! And I’ll have to start working on solving problems and grading and preparing for the week tomorrow. But tonight I think I’ll stay up a little bit and see if I can talk with Danielle and bucket it up. Oh, and I should post some pictures.


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My House

My Bed

Bath house (not my bucket though)

My Table Dresser

Double Rainbow!!

Mr. Matthew

I am a teacher. I so I’ve been acting like it. Well, I really haven’t been teaching, I’ve just been used. At first I was quite proud of myself how I pulled some things off yesterday. But thinking about it later it wasn’t me at all. As I have been praying continually to be Spirit led and for help. Our God is great and such a help. Yesterday was my first day actually teaching classes and I had to teach six. I was only expected five but on my schedule it didn’t show another class I was supposed to teach. The Math classes were really easy for me so I really don’t ever have to spend too much time planning for those classes, except that a lot of the students have the 3rd edition book and I have the 2nd edition, so I have to look at their books and find the same problems so I can assign them their homework. The Physics class is quite easy as well just because I have been doing that for quite a long time now and I am really comfortable with it especially after this last year of school. But the biology class is interesting. The books here are way different than the books in the States. Books in the States are big and thick, have lots of pictures and examples, words and a lot more information to be blunt about it. An average chapter in the Biology book here is two to three pages. And I have about three to four weeks for each chapter so, it takes a lot expanding. At the same time though, there is a lot of memorization in Biology so I’m going to have to do a bunch of different activities so the information will stick in the students’ brains. So I’ll have to play games, do presentations, color and draw, and lots more. But I’m feeling good about it. I have been having a lot of fun.
Right now I haven’t taught yet today and I have had quite a bit of time. I have used it well too. I have cleaned my desk and organized it. I’ve got all my record files on my computer for grades. I have my week pretty much figure out as well for what to teach during my classes, so I’m feeling good. And, I have some free time so I’m decided to blog, even though I won’t be able to post it ‘til later. Well, I’m about to teach 1st Form Math now so I should get going. Much love and prayers too all of you!
PS
There’s a sweet double rainbow!! I’ll try and put some pictures up soon of where I am. And the double rainbow.

School's in Session

Hello Everyone!!!
Things are improving day by day. Just adjusting and figuring myself out and why I’m here and my purpose. I went askew somewhere along the way and just confiding in Jesus helps a lot to figure things out. And to be comforted. We should always confide in Jesus even when things are great; especially when things are great.
I’ve been meaning to blog lately but every time I get on I get distracted. Not distracted; just I really enjoy talking to people that I really miss. But anyways here I am blogging without internet access so this will be posted later. Tomorrow is the first day of school. Finally going to start being really busy. So I know what I’m teaching now. I am teaching First and Second Form Mathematics, Third and Fourth Form Biology, and Third and Fourth Form Physics. I am also the Third Form home teacher. That means I make sure the kids clean what they’re supposed to, do their community service, and I believe do devotions for their class in the morning, and whatever responsibilities come with it. Therefore, I have my own classroom, but a lot more work.
As I said school starts tomorrow. We still don’t have one teacher that we need so that is going to be interesting. If anyone wants to come to Belize and teach English and Bible, I can probably hook you up. You’ll have your own room/house and be feed meals. But yeah tomorrow is only orientation and a half day so not much will happen. I get to meet my class and tell them what’s expected; get to know them a little bit. I have the smallest class. Eleven Third Form students are registered but I was told I’ll probably have fifteen of them. Then hopefully tomorrow we’ll figure out our schedule so I can start planning what to teach on what days.
Oh, I’ve attended the church. There were more people there than I expected. The church was still small but I was told about three families attend. It was a nice little service. I really do enjoy just singing hymns and always having music that we “youth” listen to. I really do enjoy a good hymn. But the sermon, I don’t know how I liked it. There was a great meaning behind it and some of the stories really didn’t tie in, but the people here when the talk, I’ve noticed they really like to repeat what they have already said quite a bit. Then it becomes almost said too much and loses meaning. I know that sounds bad but he was talking about marriage and how young people need to be careful and communication is important and said the same thing over and over and when it becomes lessened like a no duh type of thing and not as meaningful to me. Yet, that could be just because how I’ve been raised in my own culture compared to theirs, or maybe it’s just my thinking. I don’t like the feeling of being told what to do over and over again especially when it seems obvious. But there were good points like, oh if that is a problem with someone else, that could become a problem for us, how do I fix/prevent that. And how when you become married the two shall become one in flesh. You’re no longer two individuals. You are one. You take care of each other like yourself, you make sure everything is going ok and working fine and that you can make life easier and exciting and adventurous, make your dreams come true. Now all that wasn’t said but that’s what I got from it. So many people just think of themselves, even in marriages nowadays and that’s where the devil attacks hardest; on the special gift God gave to us; companionship.
Well now that I have gone of rambling about marriage, I should probably get to bed because tomorrow starts the beginning of the school year. So please pray for me, for guidance and for the Holy Spirit to be in charge of my teaching and life. For it not to be me by myself, because I can’t do it by myself; I must be Spirit led. And I’ll probably add more to this before I post it so thank you for the ones that are praying for me. I love you and miss you all.
So today was pretty amazing not going to lie. Orientation was long and boring of course but I meet all the students and it was fun and exciting. Most of them are really shy to me right now, mostly because it’s the beginning of the school year and I’m a lot different and do things a little different than the other teachers. But when I was introduced and I was making a little talk about how exciting I am and what classes I teach, I accidently said Third and Fourth Farm instead of Form, because the way they pronounce Form here sounds like Farm. Oh well. Then when Kelly was talking, he said that we were already good friends and we both do math and science and we’ll be working together and he really complimented me and I appreciated that a lot. His family has been so great to me. All of them, Kelly, Alondra, Ethan, and Edson. The Landero family. I really enjoy them and I’ll probably spend my holidays with them and be able to travel with them and see wonders. And hopefully some friends, you guys will come and visit and we can travel as well.
So my home room. There is only twelve Third Formers so far. They were really quiet, the quietest of all the classes today; but at the end after all the teachers went to each class they were already more talkative. I want to make sure all my students learn a lot and have fun at the same time. And I’m positive they’ll warm up, it’ll just take a little bit of time. Right now, as the schedule reads I’ll be teaching 25 classes, be in charge of 4 devotions and clean up duty for my class each week. And as of now, I haven’t planned at all and I need to start doing that. But I must share one more thing.
I went with Mr. Cabanas (the principal) today to drop off some students at Belmopan. Then we went to drop something off at a school in Santa Elena so I got to see that and then we just crossed the river so I could so San Ignacio. I was so great to see more of Belize. I was just a few miles away from the Guatemalan border as well. And it was a lot hillier there and mountains were there and I really like that terrain better. It’s prettier to me and more adventurous. Like what’s over that hill? Then you can see everything and it’s so gorgeous, I love look out points. Anyways it was great to go explore more. Well, I guess I should get going and start planning. Thank you all once again for your prayers. Please pray for me and that I may be Spirit led in all that I do. Much love to all.

Culture Shock!

So here I am; I am at Valley of Peace Academy. I’m in the middle of NOWHERE!!! (Which is actually like a place I wanted.) I have super culture shock, or had. Last night was a little rough. It was a combination of things like being super tired, so dang humid and missing Danielle mostly (Sorry if I offended anyone, she’s not the only one I miss, but mostly =P). Also realizing it’s not like this for a week or two, or even a month, I am going to be here for ten months and there’s no easy way to just go home for any reason. But now I am already feeling so much better. I feel like I’m starting to get use to the weather, the humidity doesn’t seem as bad. But what about the community, the school, my living situation? Just hold on I’m about to get there. So the community has a lot of housing that is just tree’s for the house and branches for the roof (it actually is really sweet to me though). There are concrete houses too. The sky is so open! It’s pretty flat where I am and we happen to be at the top of a hill so the sky is so huge and there’s lots of clouds. The school is a decent size and has its own bakery, wood shop, computer lab, library, science lab, farm and I think four classrooms. Oh and a kitchen. There is suppose to be eight of us teaching and more like around 90 students, not 100.
My living situation… it is actually really nice and pretty big, but all I have in it is a bed, a small desk and a chair. I have a lot of room in there and nowhere to really put my stuff. I want to make it homey but I really don’t know how. The toilet is kind of like an outhouse style but it’s an actually toilet so that’s not bad at all, but I have no shower. I have to fill a bucket with water, and then bath myself. So that’s pretty exciting.
I eat all my meals with the other two teachers who are married that live on campus. They are very nice and so good to me. They have two boys, Edson (6) and Etan (4). Those guys are fun and already have a special place in my heart. We’ve played a lot today and they have given me something to do. So the meals. A lot of the meals, actually all of my meals I have had rice and beans. I have had fried planta a few times too already. I’ve tried some fruit as well, mommy (how don’t know how to spell it but that’s how it’s pronounced) and guava.
Tomorrow we must drive about two hours and go to Belize City and do my paperwork. Other than that I really don’t know what I’ll have to do. Oh and if you want an address it is
Valley of Peace
Cayo District
Belize C.A.
They said that will be good enough. Well I should go and hopefully eat soon and go bath with my bucket. God has been good and has been showing me lots of things and has given me great people to help me. Pease continuing praying for me especially as I am adjusting. Goodnight, I love you guys and miss you.

Destination Out of Here!!!

So it begins.  I'm leaving my house in 12 hours to head to the airport.  My flight is at 6:15 am and they want travelers there three hours early.  Who needs sleep anyways?  I'm going to land in Houston and then fly to Belize City, Belize.  I'll arrive in Belize at 2:44 pm.  (Belize is in mountain time for everyone's knowledge.)  There I will go through customs and be picked up by the principal of the school I'll be teaching at.  I'll be teaching at Valley of Peace Academy which is 15 miles from the capital Belmopan and about 50 miles from the coast.  It is a small community with a population of about 2000 and around 100 kids attend the academy.  There I will teach Math and Science to the high schoolers. 

This is going to be one amazing year!  I'm super excited and I'm going in God's name and as I like to say, "This is a year I'm running away with God!"  And we are going to have one crazy adventure.  So for all of you who are reading this please keep me in your prayers, I miss you guys and love you.  I'll try and post regularly for everyone to read what is happening in my life and in Belize.  Thank you everyone for your support.  Soon more shall come.