One Month Later....

....and I STILL can't believe that a month has gone by.  It's weird that just this morning I was realizing how I remember things by the week now as opposed to day by day.

4 weeks ago, we arrived in BZ.

3 weeks ago, our friend Homer was here.

2 weeks ago, Brittany was here still with us.

1 week ago, we finally got our 'stuff' out of customs.

This week, Ray has been gone since early Saturday morning teaching.

So standing at the sink tonight doing dishes,  things just slowed to a stop in my mind and EVERYTHING felt so surreal.  The things I do as a routine now...fill the water bottles for the freezer and move the already frozen bottles to the fridge to keep things cold.  (only the freezer works)

Gathering up food to go across to the dining hall to fix lunch or dinner.  And ALWAYS, without fail, forgetting one little ingredient!

Ever so carefully pulling the dish cloth off of the towel rack to make sure there are no scorpions in it.  And doing the same, careful thing with the shower curtain each night.

Going outside to hang out the laundry and always stopping to put bug repellent on my legs first.

Always remembering to blow up the air mattresses before trying to sleep on a too soft bed....AND making sure not to make Ray's too hard, because he likes it 'too soft'!

It's a bit surprising to realize what creatures of habit we are and how easy it is to make new habits when the situation requires it.  Call it change in routine, call it adapting to unusual circumstances, call it WHATEVER!!!  Ya just better enjoy doing it or you are in a heap of unhappiness!!

For me, it's all good.  I like the new challenges....well, I like trying to find an easier way to do it instead of the way it's usually done.  For those who know me well, this is no surprise!!  One thing I have found out in a trial and error situation is that there are NO shortcuts to making tortillas.  And Rachel LOVES her tortillas.  Me, I can take or leave them, but Rachel loves her PBJ's on a tortilla and her chicken on a tortilla and pasta with her tortillas.   I'm looking to hire a tortilla maker.   

Other than tortillas, I am in love with Belize.  Hot?  Sure it's hot.  But sweating is supposed to be a good thing, right?  I was painting in the new house today and sweat was pouring down into my eyes, soaking my shirt, my pants, my hair, my sweatband...and all I could think of was how much I love the people here, the birds we get to see.....4 days ago we saw 8 toucans in one tree, all in a little group together... awesome!!!  And the jungle and the mountains are amazingly beautiful.

Ray and I (and Rachel, wether she believes it or not) are just simply blessed to be here. We know it's going to be a bit difficult at times and I'm not real keen on Ray being gone so many nights a month, but it is the job and every single job on earth comes with some personal sacrifice every now and then.  But with our job, the Kingdom just seems a little bit closer... every time a pastor comes to class and is excited to be one step closer to ordination... every time a sister shakes your hand in church and says

'God Bless'... every time someone writes to us to tell us they are praying for us... everyday.  Does it get any better than this??  I think not.  

God Bless,  Becki

A "Custom - mized" Experience!

We FINALLY got our stuff from Customs yesterday.

What an interesting, long patience testing process! I can say this with great confidence now: We are SO GLAD we had a broker working for us or we would likely still be there, shaking our heads, going in circles, wondering who, what , why are we in this line again, what did they say, what do you mean we don't have the right paperwork?!

I'll spare you the number of phone calls, hours of waiting, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc....that all came after 3 weeks of waiting and numerous phone calls, emails, and letter drops - and the broker saying "Give me just 5 minutes, okay?"

Um, okay....

Yet, by the end of the day we were on our way, too late to properly drop off the rental vehicle but we did anyhow, too late to grab a decent dinner, so we made do as we headed south, happy to be reunited with our truck and our "stuff".

Our granddaughter Rachel had prayed for God to put 'iron bars' around our stuff. Seems like God liked that prayer! Between that, Becki's resolution that it was all God's stuff anyhow and some healthy patience on all our part, we came through this with some new perspectives, new understandings of the system here and an appreciation of realized values.

The other thing we REALLY gained was all YOUR PRAYERS!

Thank you so much!!!

Ray, Becki and Rachel

2 Districts - 2 Churches - 2 Blessings

Busy Sunday here! We left home at 6:30 am to drive to Belmopan. We picked up Tito along the way. He was thumbing for a ride and we gave in. Tito is an elderly man who only spoke Spanish so our conversations did not last long. We did finally make out that he was taking his heavy bag of potatoes to the market in Belmopan to try to sell them. As we parted, we gave  a blessing in Spanish which was returned with excited exclamations about God and Tito's heart! Nice.

In Belmopan, we met up with the Maya Mopan Church of the Nazarene and followed their bus along a long, winding bumpy, dusty, bumpy, winding, bumpy road to a vacant lot. This used to be the location of the church of the Nazarene in this village in the Cayo District, called Valley of Peace.  All that remains now, after a family that had lived there moved out, are several concrete pillars, a very broken thin concrete floor and a lot of trash. Undaunted, the people from the church spilled out of their bus and began to work. Some setting up the sound system, some gathering large rocks and firewood, to cook the lunch we would eventually enjoy. Others scoured the grounds and created some make shift benches. A number of children attacked a Golden Plum tree with glee. It was like watching a pinata being broken open, as they would throw sticks high up into the tree so that when one 'scored' and knocked loose some of the fruit, children would quickly run to collect the treasures!

During the service, Pastor Tiul revealed a remnant of the former church. This was all that was really left to show that anything remained of the once living church. He brought out a metal sign with the Nazarene logo on it. In Spanish, this aged sign still carried the declaration of Iglesia del Nazareno, Sanctidad o Jehova. Pastor Tiul wept as he shared its discovery. My minimal Spanish was not enough to understand all his words, but my heart understood his heart quite clearly! It was a very moving moment.

The Lord spoke into my heart this verse, "Once again, it will take root below and bear fruit above." 

This former church WILL rise again from the ruins to become a place where the lost can find their way. In addition to the busload of church people who came to help restart this church, a few from the village of Valley of Peace made a cautious return visit. Several young men came by on their bicycles, creating an impromptu gathering there in the road.

As we met under the shade of a tree, we sang, prayed, testified, preached and worshipped - all to the Glory of God, who is able to do exeedingly, abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine. Pray for this restart church in Valley of Peace.

Next stop, rush back down to where we live in Stann Creek District. We got back just in time to hurry to Hope Creek. This was to be the first of our Bible Story Telling times to help establish a new church here. To be brutally honest, I found myself very challenged as everyone was culturally late. Those who made it were far fewer in number than I had expected. Some of the young children that came with their mothers were SO distracting that the two mothers took their crying, squabbling toddlers and left. To their credit and my appreciation, they did come back again later. Discussion seem awkward and felt a lot like pulling teeth. In actuality, it probably went better than I thought but I had such high hopes for Hope Creek that I could not fight off my disappointments.

I found out later that there were 2 major events competing against us at that very same time. A Billiards Tournament just down the street and in the park across from that - a futbol (soccer) marathon. A quick glance down the street confirmed that most of the men of the village were there instead of joining this Bible session.

A dozen of the 14 did stay, mostly women ( I didn't count all the ninos and ninas running around). We discussed the story of Zaccheus and saw how God already knows our name and is looking for each one of us. PRAY that this holds true and becomes a personal reality for many new people in Hope Creek!

God's not Nice...

That statement, of course, is not true...

God is nice, much more than nice in fact. Yesterday I was lead to read Luke 6:27-36, you know, the "Love your enemies" part.

Which is why today, for the 2nd day of struggling with this, I am feeling a little bit of "God's not nice." The main reason is that we are still waiting, asking, complying, praying, hoping, waiting, calling, emailing, delivering, returning, waiting...for Customs here to release our truck and belongings, hopefully not in exchange for lots of cash. That last part seems less and less likely all the time. They say you can't beat the system - I'm starting to believe it.

Enter God's Word - messes with my whole perception. 

Thoughts like: 'Give to everyone who asks of you'...

       'If they take your cloak, give them your tunic as well...'

'If they take from you, do not demand it back...'

       'Do good to those who hate you...'

'Bless those who curse you...'

       'Pray for those who mistreat you...'

Really God - what do get for this?

Why should we even allow ourselves to be taken advantage of?!

Not surprisingly, the answer to my rants is right there in the passage:

1) my reward will be great

2) I will be a son of the MOST HGH

Permit me to indulge in a not so imaginary conversation with God for a moment:

Ray: "So, getting ripped off, taken advantage of, cheated, stolen from, etc - is a good thing?!"

GOD: "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Ray: "Doesn't make lots of sense on this end."

GOD: "Makes perfect sense on MY end."

Ray: "But God, I live on this end of things. This sounds tough!"

GOD: "I never said life would be easy."

Ray: "People are going to take advantage of me."

GOD: "Yes."

Ray: "I'm going to lose things that I value."

GOD: "Yes."

Weeping can be heard...

GOD: "Why are you weeping?"

Ray: "Because I realize how silly that sounds. I shouldn't value things..."

GOD: "You're starting to get My point."

Ray: "I know that You value the people, even if they are wicked, stealing, cheating, lying, doing wrong to one of Your born again children."

GOD: "Yes, I do."

Ray: "I'm sorry God, this is going to be tough sometimes."

GOD: "I'm sure it will take a little practice."

Ray: "Your Word says "Do good to them..., bless them and pray for them."    

        "I think I will need some help in knowing how to pray for them."

GOD: I'll help you with that."

Ray: "I'm not sure that I will feel great about a future reward when I am being mistreated here."

GOD: "My Son did not feel good about it either."

Ray: (weeping much more) "God, I DO want to be known to others as Your son too, to be seen as one who carries Your Spirit in me!"

GOD: "You are. Just stay on the path you are on."

Luke 6:35-36 "...Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Village Bible School

Brittany and Rachel, Eva & Omega, from Silk Grass, along with Elisa from Pomona, all did a great job corralling an ever growing number of children that came to VBS in Hope Creek. The location was in newly closed bar which we successfully reclaimed for the Kingdom!

Tuesday started our effort with 88 kids

    Wednesday it grew to 107 excited children

         Thursday we managed to handle the swelling crowd of 135 rambunctious little  

               ones while about 15 adults watched from the wings.

Incredible!

The day had a strange turn of events as a Police vehicle came by during VBS. A woman was let out, who spoke briefly to her children, then was taken, along with her husband, to jail for an unknown length of time. She was allowed to inform her children that there would be no one at home when they finished VBS. These 3 beautiful little boys did not deserve to receive such harsh news. The oldest is maybe 10 yrs old.

The reason they are suddenly parentless is that mom and dad had 3 lbs of marijuana in their home. Such a small amount of hopeful quick cash to demand such a high price - especially in light of their heartbroken children.

We took them to a nearby village to be delivered to the home of an aunt. She agreed to take them for the moment but also stated that she did not know what to do with them. 

To me, this is one more reminder of how desperately Hope Creek Village needs the HOPE of JESUS!

God's Answer So Far...

Well, today did not go as we thought it might...

But - 

I am sure God's hand is stirring.

Last week in my personal Bible story-telling studying I had been reading about the woman from Shunem who Elisha told to take her family and leave because the Lord had decreed a famine to hit Israel for 7 years. She proceeded to do as she was told and went to live in a foreign land for 7 years, then returned. When she came back she went to the king to beg for house and land back. Now it "just so happened" that the king had earlier that day asked Elisha's servant to tell him all the great things that Elisha had done. He had just finished telling about the boy whom Elisha had raised from the dead when who should walk in but the mother of that boy, with her son.

When the king found that this was the woman, he asked to hear her story. She confirmed all that the king had just heard. The king then appointed an official to her case and instructed the official to return her house and land AND all the income from her land from the day she left the country until this day.

When I read that I started praying for "an official" here in Belize, who would help us. 

Today, I called the customs broker to find out that certain wording in our exemption was actually costing us a great deal of money in this case. No one here did anything wrong or intentional, it is just that changes have happened in the government, so some procedures are being handled differently than they were in the past.

It was suggested that if we had another letter with different wording, it would be worth a  great deal. So...travel to Belmopan...intending to pick up the first letter which should have been signed and waiting for us.

Just before we get to the capital building, we get in touch with the District Superintendent, so instead of going in along, we wait and go with him. That's official number one, but not a Government official. In trying to assess where we are and what we can do, we seem to hit a roadblock. While we are standing right outside the Finance offices, a lady walks out who instantly recognizes Rev. Tzib and calls him by name. 

Long story shorter, this "official" not only knows him, but is a member at one of our Nazarene churches in Belize (one I have not been to yet, but WILL!) Louise hears our situation from the DS and immediately goes to see what she can find out. When she returns moments later, she suggests a new plan that MAY reverse the huge duties that are being levied against us right now. Yeah! It is not a done deal but it is a great mental boost for us.

PRAY that this second letter is approved and that ALL DUTY IS WAIVED!

We are still concerned about our stuff sitting on the docks as it could become vulnerable to theft, etc. - but Becki said God checked her on that the other day as she was getting anxious. She heard God say "You're hanging on." So she felt that nudge to release our 'stuff' that has already been purchased with God's money, send down here with God's money and is being protected or 'placed' with God's full awareness.

We are excited to see a testimony in the process of being built that will glorify God.

P.S. I shared with the 'official' - Louise the story from 2 Kings and told her that I was glad to meet her as I had been wondering who our God appointed official was going to be!!

Keep praying - we'll tell the rest as soon as it happens!!

Ray & Becki & Rachel  (& Brittany , who was with us for this long, interesting day...)

Scary things in the shower...

I love my wife. I love that God has prepared her for such a time as this.

The other evening while she was taking a shower I heard "Ray, could you come here a minute?" This was said quite calmly, showing no signs of distress.

When I went to see what was up - she simply pointed to her 'shower guest' and asked if I could remove it. She did give a little shudder thinking about being in there with a large scorpion just above her shoulder!

I removed the scorpion, from the shower and from the land of the living. He never should have come visiting, at least not there and not then.

Not too much later, Becki once again said "Ray, can you come here?"

I returned to find my wife just beginning to dry her hair and a smaller, though lively scorpion scuttling along the floor. It soon went the way of the first scorpion.

Ah, so I decided right then and there (again, not just for the first time) that I love my wife. No loud screeching about a horrid life-threatening discovery, no jitters afterwards that kept her awake during the night or wanting to flee. Just an opportunity for me to be her 'hero' and remove the uninvited guest.

Yep, I love my wife.

Ray

3 Shots Rang Out!!!

It was about 3:30 in the morning and quite dark outside when the first of 3 - 22 caliber shots rang out. When you awaken to hear that, very close to your house, and your wife whispers, "Did you hear that?" several things go through your mind!

"Yes." I whispered back and strained to listen for any other sounds, like voices or someone approaching our house.  

Didn't hear any...

                      or did I?

                           ...what was that? 

Should I go look? 

Probably not.

Don't know who was shooting.

Don't know what they were shooting.

Or if they're done shooting. 

I don't have a gun...I don't even have a machete in this little house.

I want to look outside but I don't want to present a target.

The lightning in the distance is not really helping right now.

Was that lightning or a flashlight that just swept by our house?

Becki's asleep, that's good.

I'm still listening...

Was that a man's voice?

It's been 10 minutes, seems okay

    It's been a half hour, we probably fine...

        It's been an hour, I can go to sleep now...

            It's been too long for me to go back to sleep now...

Another half hour, ah, it's getting light outside, must be 5:00 am. 

I go check the clock, it is 5 am -- I want my sleep back!

I doze for about an hour or more.

Later, I find out that it was our beloved friend and the Director of the camp here who fired those shots. They were awakened during the night by the whimpering of their dog who is locked inside his rough little doghouse in front of their home, as a "tiger" was nearby. They said they could smell the jaguar's sprayed scent but could not see anything in the blackness of the surrounding jungle, so...

...he fired off 3 shots.

My internal alarms went off...

I'm sure the jaguar ran off...

I'm sure Felize went off to bed...

I sure wish I'd known that and not wasted all that time listening to the darkness of the Belizean night!

Well, at least it made for a productive early morning prayer time!

Between laying there in the dark and peering out the windows I had ample opportunity to pray!

I'll know better next time (I hope!)

Ray

Man Found Dead Near Us

Here's abit of news from our neighborhood. For those who know the area, this is the village at the end of our road. A man from Guatemala was found last week in an abandoned building near the end of the airstrip at the end of our road. His body was left to be found by an unsuspecting jogger. Since the body had already decomposed during the approximately 3 or 4 days since he had been killed, his body was hastily buried right where it was found.

I know the man who had hired this now deceased man from Guatemala. In fact, he is actively helping us plant a new ministry here in Hope Creek. 

There is more to this than I can share here, but... it does remind us that we never really know who is around us.

And, it emphasizes again, that we "need to make the most of every opportunity."

Pray that we do.

HUGE BLESSING!!

We just received this most abundant blessing, so we wanted to share it with all of you:

The Ministry of Finance here in Belize approved the request sent by our District Superintendent Rev. John Tzib and has granted us a FULL IMPORT DUTY EXEMPTION for our truck and belongings.

Rev Tzib said, "Thank God for all His goodness." We heartily agree!

This is worth several thousands of dollars not being paid in import taxes!

Thank you for praying with us!

Ray & Becki

ps - - before getting this posted even we received word that one of the 2 letters needed was not signed............. so, it will be sent back , signed and returned again - and uh, did we mention that the lady who needs to sign it is out of the office this week?!

So close!

Reading and Phones

Hey, just a thought here -

If you are reading these sporadic blogs of ours - jot us a note once in awhile. We know that people are reading but its nice to hear from you once in awhile since we can't see you any more!

Also -we learned last week that Nokia is the brand of choice here for holding connections better. And I am learning this week that my old Verion Motorola is quickly dying - the battery won't hold a charge for a day even.

So, if you have a Verizon serviced Nokia phone that you are not using and would not mind getting to us somehow, drop us a line first so we can talk about how to get it here. (We pay even for packages shipped in the mail, so we want to think about options...)

Thanks!
Ray & Becki

FIRST PASTORS CLASS

Even though it was a last minute crisis for the previously scheduled teacher…
Even though it seemed ‘coincidental’ that I happened to stop at the church of the education coordinator…
Even though he had my phone number recorded wrong so that none of his messages were getting through to me…
Even though I did not have free time on my hands as I was at a conference, trying to learn something myself…
Even though my wife was FINALLY being freed up to come to Belize and this would be my first time to see her in 6 weeks…!
Even though we had only a night at Advance to dump our stuff, repack and leave again…
Even though Rachel has ‘no clue’ where she is sleeping or what is going on…
Even though we would have liked to work on settling in and attempting to “get our house in order”…
Even though we did not have all the plans together yet for feeding the pastors, etc…
Even though we did not have sheets enough for ourselves even…
Even though we did not know how many would attend…
Even though there was no gas for the stove when we arrived…
Even though food had to be purchased right then…
Even though I was still trying to prepare the lessons while traveling…
Even though the printer at camp ran out of ink…
(and was manually refilled repeatedly!)
Even though we ran out of copy paper and switched to notebook paper…
Even though there were many unanswered questions…

God was faithful and we had a wonderful class!

“Thank yous” to Darin, Jafet, Agapito, Sabastian, the ladies who came last minute to cook and I’m sure others whose help I did not immediately see…

The pastors were a bit discouraged early on as we were late in arriving. They have gathered there before only to sit all day when no one ever shows, so they were beginning to wonder. Once that was talked out and explained, we were on our way. Their hunger to learn was evident as they asked questions, stayed up at night studying and were typically sitting at their tables doing homework long before I began to teach each day.

There still are challenges involved as so many need to still go to work (some were hindered from returning because of the threat of the loss of their jobs). Many others leave their farms unattended while they come to class, so they will have extra work to do later. Others have so far to travel, whether by bus, or walking, or hoping to catch a ride, just to come to class or to return for Wednesday night services. It is humbling to see one of our pastors here, a 62 year old man, faithfully riding his bike several miles over rough roads to go serve at the church he has planted over the last year’s time. His stamina and perseverance are incredible. Pray for him as he works so diligently for the Lord!

Thank you for your prayers in supporting this effort. Many in Belize will be blessed as we serve them through training their leaders.

P.S. Pray for our travels - and continued ministry efforts as right now we are a bit stranded down South - we headed home yesterday and after 2 1/2 hours, had to turn back when we saw that the temporary bridge was washed out by the 2 days of rain. And we had another full night of rain all last night which will hinder getting the bridge fixed --- again!

Is life here boring...?! Nah! How 'bout you?!

Ray & Becki & Rachel