Catch up, and soon home!!!

Huh, the dreadful job of catching up with my blogging shall be done today.  It's a must since it's the last day of this month of May and I must at least blog once in each month.  Last time I blogged was right before my two week break.  Well, let's begin there. 

I first went to Bullet Tree for the beginning of break.  I didn't do too much there except relax with the Landeros at their parents' house.  We played some futbol, basketball, swam in the river, all that fun stuff.  I also got to go see a Mayan Ruin finally!  I believe it would have been a lot more exciting if I wasn't by myself.  I'm not going to lie, it seemed just like a pile of rocks.  I mean after going to Italy where everything is so ancient and well preserved and in great condition, the ruins were quite, not up to par per say.  It was still cool and I'm glad I got to go there.  That was about the first week and a half of my break. 

Next I ventured up to Corozal close to the Mexican border.  MANGO HEAVEN!!!!  Yum!!!  I ate so many mangoes during break.  Especially in Corozal.  I ate 2-4 a day.  The big ones!  =D  That makes a happy Matthew.  While I was there was a lot more relaxing again.  I did get to make it across the border into Mexico though which was fun.  It steps up a lot in the standard of living there for sure.  It was close to the States compared to Belize by a long shot!  Things are a lot cheaper there too.  I got some authentic *cough* Ray Ban glasses for 60 pesos.  Which is like 5 USD.  I got some other things as well, it was a lot of fun.  Then I headed back to school and began the cycle all over again.

This month has gone by fast and all kind of blends together.  I'll just give some highlights.  A student stole a small MP3 player from desk and a little bit of money which was for the school.  We had a good idea who was involved and the next day we found out and I got it back.  The threw it in the bathroom bit unfortunately.  Luckily it was to the side and not in the disgusting collection, but still, quite disgusting.  I haven't used it since.  I have cleaned it, not used it yet though.  It makes you think of what you're listening to is garbage or not.  There was also talk about maybe putting cleaning chemicals in my water, which is no bueno.  Matt no le gusta.  Apparently though, they meant putting salt or sugar and to be funny.  I was never worried, but still, no me gusta.  However, all in all, the one who stole from my has now been baptized.  Praise God!  God sure does work in mysterious ways.  I was so devastated when this situation arose.  I didn't care about the item, but it hurt a lot.  I'm here volunteering, trying to help others, serve others, and they steal from me.  I'm so unappreciated and it's heart-breaking when you honestly care so much for the students and they don't seem to care at all.  I prayed for justice.  For God's will to be done and not mine.  Praise God!  His will is so much greater than even my thoughts!  It was a great experience, afterward.  To look back upon.

Now, here I am.  We are in the middle of review week and next week is exam week and school is finished!  However, I won't be here until the end of school.  Leoni Meadows Summer Camp wants Challenge Course staff, which I am this summer, to come a week early to get trained.  The week of the 14th-17th of June.  Therefore I talked to the principal here, and emailed back to the PUC World Missions Coordinator last week.  Within 24 hours, everything was worked out and my flight got changed from the 15th to the 9th.  Now it seems that they won't need me up at camp that early.  I'll get a few more days to rest and to visit then.  A-ok with me.  Only 9 days and I shall be back home in the good ole U S of A. 

There has been other happenings as well, once again they all kind of blend together and nothing is sticking out too much in my mind at the moment.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask or comment away!  Thank you for all your prayers and love.  I miss you all and will see you all very shortly. 

Another Month

I'm not the most consistent with this blogging business.  It just takes so much work to blog for me.  Anyways, lots has happened this past month.  I got to go to San Pedro with the church's Women's Ministry.  It was sweet, I met a lot of new people and I got to go Scuba Diving at the Barrier Reef!  I saw lots and lots of fish, a turtle doing his thing, munching on some grass.  I also saw an eel and got to touch a shark and a sting ray.  I got some good pictures and videos of it all, do not worry.  I stayed with the pastor while I was there and he invited me to come any time.  I don't think I will unfortunately.  I also met a man there who is the manager of the water system in San Pedro, so I got a free tour of it.  It was sweet!  They had a million gallon silo there!

What else has happened.  We had our school's sports day and it went quite well.  Got some compliments on how it was better and more organized than last year.  Which is nice because I felt like it was a little hectic, but it all worked out.  Unfortunately my team took second.  It was still a good day and no fighting or arguing, and we had a lot of fun.  Then last Friday, I went to the river with some students.  I borrowed a student's bike and we biked about 5 miles round trip, but that's not a gear bike.  It's a cruiser bike going up huge hills and seats are way too low.  While we were at the river I met a man who caught two turtles and was going to sell them for meat.  It was interesting; I also got some free watermelon.  Then I came bike and was helping cleaning and preparing the church for communion.  They decided to burn some trash, and they walked away from the fire (people here are not safe with fires), then the fire got out of hand and they walked away and said there's nothing we can do anyways.  So a little later when it was heading towards a house, they someone else decided we should try and control it.  Oh my that was crazy, but nothing bad ended up happening.  People have been burning all their fields lately before the summer rains.  It's terrible!!!  So much smoke and they are destroying the land! 

This week we had a trip to Calcuta where all the Adventist highschools met to have a sports day.  It was not organized and was quite a dud, but it was still fun getting to go and travel in a bus.  I'm sure kids will look fondly on it in the future.  I also got to talk with some students and learn more about them and share more about myself.  I actually got asked a question about death and hell by one of the students.  I gave my answer, and they asked if I was going to be a pastor, because I made it really clear.  I have been doing studies about all those types of questions and more and it's amazing how when you study, when you obtain the knowledge and information, God will give you the opportunity to use it.  The next day I got to give a Bible study too!!  Alright well I got to go now!  It's spring break and I won't be around for two weeks.  Take care!!!

7 months Ahora

I have been here in Belize for over 7 months now.  Less than three months left.  I am TIRED!!!  Exhausted and I don't have much motivation or energy left.  I'm not a big writer, or a person who keeps in touch that well, and trying to write a blog has been very difficult this past week.  Plus with not having the key to get to the internet, the storm, and power outage, made it difficult as well.  I really don't know where to begin as usually.  I think this will be a short blog, maybe, I'll tell you of some things I have done though.

We have been doing school promotions for the past 4 weeks now I believe.  We go to different churches and do the church service and talk about our school and Adventist Education.  Therefore I've been able to get out more and have less time to be on the internet.  Anyways, two weeks ago we had a school promotion and then a three day weekend.  Mmm, also before the school promotion we ended the crusade and 4 more people got baptized.  Praise the Lord!  Over 50 people have been baptized while I've been here.  After that and the promotion, I went with the Landeros to visit their family in Bullet Tree.  We also crossed the border and I got to go to Guatemala again.  Unfortunately we had car trouble though so I wasn't able to go to a Mayan Ruin.  I've been here 7 months and have yet to make it to one.  But I did go swimming in the river at least.  Nothing after that weekend really sticks out in my mind for anything happening during that week.  Another normal week of teaching and being busy, etc. 

This last week though was quite a busy one.  I've been so exhausted and not really having the desire to teach (Now this doesn't mean I haven't been.  It's how I feel, but when it comes done to it, I do what needs to be done.  I teach.), and in a way, I got two days off this past week.  This past Wednesday was the Nutrition Competition.  I got to drive the van and 12 or so students to it.  While were there, we got 2nd place!!  Each participant got $200 each for 2nd place!  They made money!  As the coach, I got a picture frame, and a bag of whole wheat flour.  Ha ha, I'll have healthy tortillas now.  It's good seeing the students do well and be motivated.  Plus I got to drive the van!  Now I can finally say I have driven in Belize.  Then on Friday, Kelly and I took 15 or so students to a science fair. 

Then yesterday we went way out to do another promotion and we drive by the Blue Hole.  After church we went back there and had lunch there.  It was really pretty and I wanted to swim so badly!  We hiked around in our church clothes and it was nice to be in nature again.  Then this morning I woke up, went right to work to do my laundry, and then half way the pastor brought some missionaries so I had to show the the school.  I talked with them, let them use my computer to get on the internet, and gave them pictures and the power point presentation I made of the school.  I also hadn't eaten all day either because I was about to eat right when they came.  I would've been done before 11:00, but I didn't end up finishing until around 1:30 and the spin dry wasn't working so I had to hang up my clothes while they were soaked still.  Oh, by the way, if you don't know about how I do my laundry, let me explain.  I have to pour about 4-5, 5-Gallon buckets that I have to walk about 100 feet to feel up the washer, then I wash my clothes.  Then I have to wring out my clothes, then rinse them in water.   Wring them a 2nd time and let them soak in a tub of water and softener.  Then wring them out the third time and put them in a spin dry.  After that then I hang up my clothes.  Therefore, doing laundry on average takes about 2 hours.  Anyways, a snippet of my life.  Well I should go, it's getting late and I should sleep and start out the week right.  I'm sorry for not blogging lately.  Please continue to pray and write me!  It's a little difficult right now.  I'll make it through though, no doubt.  God's on my side.  Plus I'm over 70% done, I've passed!

The Happenings

Well, I really don't remember what happened two weeks ago.  Last week I did plan to update but then, life got very busy with the crusade.  Still really busy, but I'm going to go ahead and blog.  Where to begin.  Oh, I remember some things that were two weeks ago.  Wow, that's only been two weeks, not even.  Well, I've been getting more and more involved with the students.  It's really nice and I feel more appreciated and important to them too.  I don't remember all details unfortunately, but I will talk about a Thursday.  Not last Thursday but the Thursday before that.  Oh, I'm remembering more.  I'll even go earlier than that.  I've been tutoring after school on Mondays and Wednesdays for those who want help in Math.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays are sports so it's too late to tutor after that.  I've been tutoring and it's nice to be more personable with the students and meet their needs.  Like two students in my First Form Math class.  They just sit in class and don't do anything.  Sometimes they talk.  That's pretty much it though, it's really frustrating because they don't even try.  They were still around after school so I told them to come in and I started helping them.  They were getting excited because it was making sense to them and they found out it isn't too hard.  One even said, "This is easy.  We just never pay attention."  Why!?!?!  It felt really good that day letting them know they can do it and it's not too difficult for them.  Unfortunately they still don't seem to try.  I've helped other students though and they have been improving.  Also helping one of those two boys helped him on his test score.  The tutoring has been adding to my busy-ness.

Then Thursday, after sports, a student named Judith stayed afterward and was playing with another teacher, Denny Cabanas, and I asked Kelly if he wanted to go play with them and he was down.  We got changed and went over and played for a while.  It was fun and got some exercise which is always nice.  When we were done playing though I went to the staff room because I still had to write a test for the next day and Judith just sat in there and talked with me.  I listened too, I wasn't just writing a test.  She was sharing a lot and I really think crying out for attention.  She plays the tough, cool kid, but she really listens to us teachers and respects us.  She told me she started drinking when she was 5 years old.  Her dad has always been into drugs and alcohol.  Judith has had a tough life.  We talked for a long time, well, more she talked and I listened but I did chime in every once and a while.  It was really nice.  That Sabbath she came to church too.  We talked a little after church and I was able to give her a Steps to Christ.  I'm not sure if she has finished reading it, but I know she likes to read.  She use to read Nancy Drew books in class.  She said she was going to go to church this week too, but I was out at another church promoting the school, but I'm sure she'll come again soon.

Last Sunday, before we began our crusade, we had a Health Expo.  I helped set that up and then they needed someone to do the exercise portion, and so I was the man for the job.  I had to take people's pulse, have them exercise, take their pulse again, have them rest, and take there pulse one more time.  Now have about 50 or so people go through and keep track of all of them.  It was crazy busy for me and I can't multitask well, I'm a man and all, makes it difficult.  After my fun with touching people's wrists, I helped take down the place and move bricks, tables, whatever have you back to there places.  I got home, had to bathe and eat, then go right back for the meetings.  Ever since then, the crusade has been every night.

This last week was a busy busy week that has been very exhausting.  I'll share some positive and encouraging parts though, then I need to get to bed.  Earlier this last week, about 5 students came up to me and asked if they could start practicing and have me coach them for basketball for sports day.  Now let me explain a little.  Here in Belize there is 5 or 6 Adventist Highschools.  They all get together in April, and have a sports day and compete against each other.  I was a little surprised because it seems really early to me and I have a lot on my plate already, but I told them soon.  Maybe next week we can start, after the crusade.  They also invited me to play basketball in Belmopan on Sunday because they play there every week.  Another encouraging thing is a student in my Homeroom, 3rd Form Class, Daniel, has gone to a couple of the meetings.  He has always seemed to follow along in devotions and likes to sing the songs.  It's nice knowing that God could be using me to get to him.  It's sweet, he came again tonight too.

This weekend quite a bit happened too.  We went out and promoted our school.  We put on Sabbath School and Church Service for a place not too far away.  It went well.  Then since the boys invited me to play basketball on Sunday, I asked Denny if I could stay with him in Belmopan and he said sure.  We were chilling in the afternoon and had nothing to do, so I asked if he minds going to a little park that I've always seen and haven't been able to go to and he was into it.  We went there and I saw a lot of leaf cutting ants.  Also got to see a lot of different trees and it was nice to walk out in nature like that.  I've missed that for sure.  Then in the morning I woke up early to play some ball, then none of the students showed up.  I played anyways, I also got to meet the Belmopan pastor.  They all said I can play good and invited me to come again.  It was fun, I will most definitely play again if I can get a ride there and back.  Actually, after I played basketball I hitched hiked back to Valley of Peace.  It sounds dangerous, but it's honestly quite safe.  I was at the gas station right next to the turn off to go to Valley of Peace and there's nothing else out there so if someone is going down that road, they're more than likely going to go all the way to Valley, so I hopped in the back of a truck with a old man in his 50s-60s, an old lady in here 40s-50s, and a young lady in her early 20s with a little child either 2 or 3 years old.  All of us were strangers and it was really neat.  I was enjoying it and taking it all in.  The wind blowing through my hair, the sun was shining, all the beautiful bush and fields on the way to Valley.  I was free and traveling and hitch hiking in Belize!  I got back in time to talk to a bunch of my good friends too.  It was amazing and really great.  Anyways, I should probably get going and sorry everything is in too much detail.  I hope you still enjoy it anyways.  As I usually say, I'll try and blog more often, we'll see though.  Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.  I miss you all and love you.

Another Two Weeks

Alright, I'm sorry I didn't blog last weekend, unfortunately when I had time to use the internet, the internet was not working.  But I do indeed plan on talking about what happened two weeks ago.  Basically because a lot happened and was more interesting two weeks ago too.  I wrote last on a Monday.  That Monday I went to Belmopan, like the letter I got told me to, to pick up my work permit.  There they told me I had to go to Belize, the letter is wrong.  Oh when I say Belize, I mean Belize City, it's what we call it here.  The principal and I decide that Monday is the best day let's go to Belize.  We get there we show them the letter and the person at the desk gets the paper work out.  Then they tell us it will be $1000!  I'm a volunteer, that's ridiculous to have to pay $1000 for a permit.  We told them that too.  Apparently, whoever wrote the letter made a mistake and only wrote on the paper "Teacher" not "Volunteer Teacher"  so instead of paying $100, we would now have to pay $1000, or we could go back to Belmopan and get that fixed.  Let me say, Belize is about an hour to and hour and a half a way from Belmopan and Valley of Peace is 45 minutes away from Belmopan.  We decide to go back to Belmopan and figure it out, because it would be cheaper to renew my visa each month than to pay the $1000 for the permit.  We go back and see if they can fix the paper.  Apparently they can't just print another paper and it will take a long time.  It's frustrating and annoying, but life goes on.  It really doesn't matter for me to stay here, it'll just cost a little extra.

Then that next day, someone from the Education Ministry from the government came.  Asked each teacher some questions, what students we teached, and what books we used.  She used up my lunch time so I had to teach 6 classes straight and be interviewed and have no lunch.  Then on Wednesday, we had the Math Olympiad.  Kelly and I took about 20 or so students to it, five were participants.  Everything was last minute and we didn't get information about it until the week before and grades were do so we didn't prepare at all.  This was the school's first time participating in it too.  We got some points too!  It was great, we beat three other schools.  The students were really motivated and excited.  They felt good about themselves and about being from Valley of Peace and felt better about our school.  That they aren't the worst, they know this stuff and are just as good as the others if not better.  It was really nice to see the students motivated and being excited.  The ones that participated also got given nice new scientific calculators.  The whole event was great and students we'll be more prepared for next year and will do better no doubt. 

Then Friday, I went to Belmopan.  I was hoping to have a package in the post office, but to my misfortune, there wasn't any.  I was a little sad and was walking to the market, then someone asked me if I would like to buy some weed.  I told the man no thank you and continued walking, but it made me smile and laugh to myself.  He made my day, ha ha!  Later that night we had small groups.  We were singing in our small group and a drunk guy comes to the door and we invite him in.  It was something.  He was like a Pentecostal, Catholic, Adventist mix religion.  He knew some hymns from the Adventist Hymnal, he was clapping and also doing the Father, Son, Holy Spirit crossing.  It was fun.  He spoke English so I could talk with him.  His name is actually Matteo.  He was crying and telling me he doesn't want to drink anymore and some other things.  He also at the end said he would come back the next week; unfortunately he didn't show up this week.  But it was still a great experience.  It made me think of how the Pharisees asked Jesus why does he dine and in the company of the sinners and tax collectors.  The healthy don't need the doctor, the sick do!  Being in the presence of the drunk man and inviting him in to participate in our small group made me smile.  Made me think this is how we should act to everyone, especially those looked down upon. 

The Sabbath last week was "Fellowship Day" in Belmopan.  The whole country of Adventists went to meet in Belmopan.  They had the vice president of the GC there and they treated him like royalty!  It was crazy.  How they walked him in and how they had a banner that said welcome Lowell Cooper.  I believe that's his name.  It was something, it was also nice to experience something new. 

This past week not much has happened.  I have been teaching my classes and more talkative with students. Kelly and I played basketball with some students for a while after school last Thursday.  There's also some students that have been wanting to play me one on one.  I had time to play and one guy was asking me so I told him alright let's do it.  I should have probably made it closer for his self esteem, but also want to show him whose boss and what's up.  Long story short, playing by 1 point per basket, 21-5.  Also, with some points taken away because of some comments he said and I didn't want him to have any excuses.  The next day though he did ask for a rematch, so I'm excited ha ha.  I know I shouldn't take this much pleasure in beating highschoolers at basketball, but it's so fun! 

Who stands out?  My students are actually only on the first two rows.

Four of the participants at their table.

Participants, me, and Kelly getting our rewards.

Behind the school near sunset.

Sabbath evening with the Landeros. 

Last night we had a night of prayer.  It was from 6pm to 12am.  There were a lot of talks, and we prayed too.  We had it for the up coming crusade.  Oh, by the way we're going to have another crusade.  It begins the 20th.  It's going to be family talks and we'll have a Health Expo too.  Anyways, probably the part I enjoyed the most last night was when Mr. Tun, a deacon in the church, came up to me and told me to hang on.  Don't look and keep hanging on.  It was nice and encouraging.  Then he invited me to see his farm.  He said he's astonished and truly blessed.  Others have been complaining about their crops and his are flourishing.  I believe he is truly blessed.  He has been doing so much for the church this year and I believe God is blessing him.  It reminds me a little bit of Abraham and how no one could claim to have made him rich, only God could because of his blessing.  I've been going through Genesis recently too.  Well that's what has happened and is going on here in Valley of Peace Belize.  Now I am off to bed and starting another week.  I miss you all and thank you for reading and your prayers.  God bless! 

The New Year.....kinda =P

Alright, it's been waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too long.  I know, I'm sorry and I apologize.  Lately blogging has been looked at as such a hassle.  The date is a big motivation to me right now.  I at least have to blog once every month.  Let's see.  Where to begin?  Well, I went to Italy for break.  Danielle and I decided that we should see each other and meet up in Italy.  It's somewhat the middle for both of us and Danielle had some family friends there, so we could stay somewhere too.  I don't feel like that's quite the missionary experience, but it was wonderful and really needed.  Five months is a long time not seeing someone you truly love, but it's better than waiting 10 months!  Now, if you want to know more about Italy, you'll have to ask me or Danielle, and I'm sure you can find photos on Facebook, but this blog I want to be more about being in Belize and my mission experience.  Therefore, that's more what it is going to be about. 

When I got back school was already in session.  Because of the hurricanes and days off, they came a half week earlier than originally planned to make up for missed days.  I came back and was not in the right mindset at all.  It was rough coming back.  It was a review week though and it was alright to not be completely back into the swing of things.  It was review week because the next week was exam week.  I was suppose to write 8, 2 hour long exams that first week.  I didn't, I wrote like 1 and a half that week.  So during Exam week I was busy writing exams and grading exams.  That week there's not much to talk about besides I was a busy beaver pumping out exams and grading them just as fast.  I graded all 150 or so exams that week!  Then this past week was finishing up getting grades in order and starting the new semester. 

I've made some new changes this new semester.  I've been wanting to make changes and this is the perfect time too.  First of all to help classroom management a little bit, the first class for all my classes was time to talk with the students of how to help our class.  New rules, things that can help their learning that I can do, and that they can do, working together to make learning easier, and more fun.  Now they're small changes and not too much, but makes them more aware and I have a better idea already what to do and it's working well.  Improvements are already noticeable.  It's been really enjoyable lately.  I've also been focusing a lot more on here and putting a lot of effort into it.  I've also been talking with the students a lot more and building relationships with them.  Slowly but surely.  I really think it helped being away from it all and coming back.  To really see what needs to happen, what needs to change and what this year is for.  I also think I've been trying to do too much too.  Being so involved with the church takes me away from being here.  Spending time with the students.  Reaching out to them.  To help them learn, and to be there for them.  Hardly any of the students are Adventists.  Now that's not my goal to make them Adventist, but to show them love and let them know that someone does care about them.  Show them Jesus.  That's more my goal for this semester.  To live more, day by day.  To stay up with grading and lesson plans and with the students too.  Be more relational.  I was also a little afraid at first to be there friend, because I need to hold the authority as teacher.  Things are good though and getting better.  I'm getting this thing down.  Live and learn.  That's what is going on right now in the life of Matthew in Belize.  I miss you all and love you.  I'll blog more often now.  I have finally done the deed now for the new year and I'll continue to.  Maybe I'll blog about my adventure today for trying to pick up my work permit.  But that can wait until next time.  I'm tired and should get to bed.  Happy New Year to everyone!!!! Ha ha, a month late.  But the same month none the less. 

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.